“God damn it,” Ari cried, the words coming through a throat that was thick with unshed tears.
Luis eyed Ari sharply before turning to Reine.
“Reine, cariño, ve a sentarte en esa mesa en la esquina y mira tu iPad mientras tu mamá y yo limpiamos este desastre. No tomará un minuto y estaremos aquí todo el tiempo.”
Reine looked at Ari, who was dabbing at her eyes with a cheap paper napkin. “Mummy, are you okay?”
“I’m fine, lovely girl. Just fine.” Ari shook her head, dabbing again at her tears. “I spilled my coffee is all.”
“Reine,sigue,” Luis said. “Te volveré a llamar en un momento.”
He blew the child a kiss as she picked up her iPad and headed for the corner, turning back to Ari and looking at her keenly.
“I spilled my coffee, Luis,” she whispered helplessly, and he gave her an understanding smile.
“We can get you a new coffee, honey.”
“Yes. Yes, we can.” Ari cleared her throat and sat up taller. “I need to get it together,” she told Luis in a low voice. “For Reine’s sake.”
“Reine’s fine,” Luis replied. “She’s jetlagged and tired, but fine. It’s you I’m worried about.”
“I’m okay.”
Luis gestured to the table stained with coffee. “The furniture and I would beg to disagree.”
Ari gave a small smile. “Maybe I’m not fine. Maybe I’m not okay at all.”
Luis nodded, reaching over the table to take Ari’s hand.
“The coffee on your shirt—” she began to protest, but Luis shook his head.
“I can buy new shirts. In fact, I can design and make my own shirts, if I really wanted to. The shirt isn’t important. You and Reine are my priority right now.”
Ari nodded, squeezing Luis’s hand. “He lied to me, Luis,” she said, her voice small. “Heliedto me.”
“Yeah. Of course he did. He’s an asshole.” Luis shrugged. “The fact that it’s taken seven years for you to figure that out is somewhat surprising though. You’re a smart girl, Ari.”
“Not where he’s concerned, I’m not. Where he’s concerned, I’m the world’s biggest fool.”
“Incorrect.” Luis sat back, sipping from his own drink. He kept a tight hold of Ari’s hand, rubbing his thumb on her palm. “He’s the world’s biggest fool, firstly for lying to you, and also for ever letting you go.”
“He used to say he was a fool for me.” Ari half-smiled, half-cried. “He had this playing card. The fool. He carried it everywhere.”
“Oh, Ari.”
“He told me he had a family emergency,” Ari said softly. “That’s what he told me. A family emergency. His father wassick. He had to leave me in... where was it? Germany? He wouldn’t give me an address. Just a phone number that led to nowhere. He kissed me, told me to get on with my life, and said that he would find me again.”
“Oh, honey,” Luis said with a sigh. “He really did a number on you, didn’t he?”
“I loved him. I really did. And I so wanted to believe him. I so wanted to believe that he wouldn’t do what he did to me, or to Reine.” She swallowed hard. “But he did.”
“Does he know about Reine?” Luis asked, glancing at the little girl over Ari’s shoulder.
“By now? I should imagine so. His mother is—” Ari paused. “Something else.”
“Okay,” Luis replied, nodding. He looked as though he was thinking, tapping the fingers of his free hand in a puddle of black coffee. “Okay, so they know.”
“It’s pathetic, really,” Ari mumbled, shaking her head. “I so wanted to be the one to tell him about her. When I was pregnant, I used to imagine him finding me. I would let him stroke my belly and would imagine his eyes lighting up at the thought of a family.” She gave a bitter laugh. “He always inferred that he didn’t have one, like me. But not only does he have a family, and afiancée,” momentarily, she let the word hang unhappily in the air, “but it turns out they own half of fucking Connecticut too.”
