Fernando snorted. “I can see why Mateo and Abel would help, but Valentina doesn’t do manual labor if she can help it.”
“She wanted you and Walker to have a nice home.”
Walker and Fernando both froze in place, staring at Grammy.
Pug started laughing. “I knew it! This is great. The baby can have this room, and I’ll take the other when I come to visit. Beans will really like it here. He can do his business all over the place.”
“You’ll sell us this house?” Walker asked, surprised. He had money saved up so they could do a down payment easily. “How much are you thinking?”
“Zero.” Grammy shrugged. “It’s been here longer than Gerard, and I have. No one in the family was interested in it, but I wanted to keep it just in case. And here we are. I have a new grandson who needs a home and who happens to like working in the cranberry bog.”
“Grammy,” he said, shocked.
Fernando was already wiping his eyes. “Really? I’ll help in the bog too when you need me, Grammy.”
She shook her head. “Nope. I’ll be helping you two. The bog comes with the house. You can provide berries to Farm Fresh and sell them at the farmer’s market every weekend in the fall. I usually make a tidy little sum. It will be a nice supplement for you two.”
“Grammy,” Walker said again, tears filling his eyes.
“You’re family now, Walker.” She hugged him close, and he got that mysterious warm feeling again. He knew what it was now. It was love.
The next day,Fernando left Grammy and Walker in the cranberry bog. The two got along a little too well, if he was being honest. Walker might pick up some bad habits.
Fernando fought a grin.
The middle school auditorium smelled faintly of dust, old curtains, and fresh paint. Ms. Bautista stood at the edge of the stage holding a clipboard while a dozen theater students sat scattered across the first few rows. Some leaned across the seats talking, a few were already flipping through scripts, and one kid in the back was trying to balance a pencil on his upper lip.
"Alright, alright, settle down," Ms. Bautista called, clapping twice. Her voice echoed through the empty theater.
The chatter slowly faded.
"I have someone I want you all to meet." She turned toward where he stood in the wings and gestured.
Fernando stepped out from behind the curtain, feeling slightly overwhelmed by the size of the room. He wore jeans and a faded band T-shirt, and carried a stack of folders awkwardly pressed to his chest.
"This," Ms. Bautista said, smiling, "is Mr. Medina. He’ll be teaching English next year, but for now, he's going to be substitute teaching and helping out with the theater club."
Fernando lifted a hand in a small wave. "Hi."
One of the seniors in the front row squinted at him. "Helping how?"
"Everything," Ms. Bautista said immediately. "Sets, rehearsals, tech week, costume runs, the occasional emotional breakdown."
A few students laughed.
Fernando chuckled nervously. "Hopefully not my emotional breakdown."
"No promises," someone muttered from the back. Fernando recognized the boy Valentina had a crush on.
Oh, we’ll be spending a lot of time together, he thought, maniacal laughter filling his mind.
Ms. Bautista continued. "Mr. Medina just graduated from university, where he minored in theater. He was brave enough to volunteer his afternoons with you, chaos goblins."
"Hey!" a girl called out.
"Accurate though," Valentina’s crush agreed, shrugging.
Fernando stepped forward a little, still clutching the folders. "I did a lot of stage management and lighting in college. I also built sets, painted backdrops, and once had to fix a prop door five minutes before opening night."
