Page 19 of Sleeping with the Frenemy
He tugged her to his good side and dropped a kiss on her head when she buried her face in his chest. “It’s okay, Mami.”
“I’m a terrible mother,” she sobbed in Spanish. “I can’t believe I hurt you like that.”
“No,” he told her. “You’re the best mother. That was my fault. I went to the gym and did too much. It was already hurting.”
She tipped her head up and looked at him. Everyone wanted to talk about how much like Abuelo Papo he was, but Leo knew that he looked a bunch like his mom. They had the same shaped eyes, nose, and mouth. It was why he and Kamilah also looked tons alike whereas their older brother, Saint, looked like their dad and the twins were a mix of both parents. “Are you supposed to be going to the gym?” she asked, jumping right back into Mom mode. “Did you clear it with your physical therapist first?”
“Of course.” Leo did his best not to look like the liar he was. The truth was that he had...to a point. What he hadn’t discussed was how he would be training to retake the CFD physical exam. He knew his body wasn’t ready yet and she was always telling him not to rush the process. But he knew himself better than she did and if he didn’t push himself, he would end up depressed again. He’d done his best to accept the changes in his body and in his life. He’d tried to tell himself that he was happy behind his desk in the CFD office, making drinks for the bar, and making music, but the truth was that he wouldn’t be happy again until he was back actively firefighting. Only, no one in his family knew that was his plan. He didn’t want any of them to know until he’d passed the Physical Ability Test or PAT. He couldn’t bear disappointing them again, so he told his mom the same thing he told himself in the mirror every morning. “It’s okay, Mami. Everything is going to be okay.” He shot a pleading look at Kamilah and she understood what he needed right away, because sometimes his sister was awesome.
“Mami, Sofi is going to have to leave soon I’m sure, so let’s finish talking about the reception.”
“Yes,” Sofi agreed. “I have an early and full day tomorrow, so I can’t stay much longer.”
Leo jumped back in. “I’m sure you don’t want to just sit there listening to wedding planning,” he said to Doña Fina while giving his mom a gentle nudge in Kamilah’s direction. “Have you seen the distillery yet?”
“I have not,” she said.
“Great,” Abuelo Papo said before Leo could. “Come with us. We’ll show you.” He held out his elbow and she slipped her hand through the crook. “Did you know that it belonged to my best friend, Killian?” he said to her as he began leading her to the doorway that connected the two businesses.
Leo followed and together they showed Doña Fina everything they’d done to the distillery.
“One of these days you will have to play the guitar for me,” she told Leo. “I miss hearing it. My husband used to play, you know.”
Leo hadn’t known that. “Sofi never mentioned that.”
“That was before she was born. When we were young, but then he got in a bad fight in his twenties. It ruined his hand. He couldn’t play after that, but he did sing. Not very well, but well enough.”
Leo winced. He understood that all too well. He’d struggled to regain his dexterity after his injury. He could finally get all his fingers to move when he wanted them to, but it wasn’t a smooth or graceful movement. His stupid fucking ulnar nerve was basically still shit. His radial and median nerves were mostly okay, so they picked up some of the slack. However, his fingers had the tendency to tremble like a bowl of Jell-O if he did too much.
Abuelo chimed in. “We’ll sing for you. We sing together all the time.”
“Really?” Doña Fina asked with a flutter of lashes. “That’s so impressive.”
Abuelo Papo looked ready to fall to his knees and Leo bit back a grin.
Sofi’s grandma was a flirt just like her granddaughter. But where Doña Fina’s flirting was all old-timey coquette, Sofi’s was daring and in your face. Doña Fina coaxed attention. Sofi demanded it.
“Do you know any boleros?” she asked.
Leo smiled. “Boleros were the first kind of music I ever sang. They were my abuela’s favorite.”
Abuelo nodded. “Especially Daniel Santos and Julio Jaramillo.” The Puerto Rican singer and composer Daniel Santos had sung one of his abuela’s favorite songs, “Lamento Borincano.” While Julio Jaramillo, the prolific Ecuadorian singer, was well-known all over Latin America.
“Oh yes. Do one of their songs.”
Leo already knew which of the songs he wanted to sing. It was actually from both the famed singers and it was one Leo had been singing a lot lately since it was about both loving and hating someone. Leo opened his mouth and began singing the first verse. He knew that Abuelo Papo would catch on by the time he got to the chorus. “Te odio y te quiero,” they sang together in perfect harmony and then Leo enumerated all the reasons why he loved and hated her from the inferno in his chest to the way she was responsible for both his hours of bitterness and also the ones of honeyed sweetness.
Abuelo picked up the verse at the part where the other man sang about how he’d like to move on, but he can’t. Abuelo’s version of the chorus was a bit softer and more sad whereas Leo’s was more forceful and angry. No surprise there.
They sang the chorus again then concluded with a bit of a flourish.
He looked up and found Doña Fina staring at him in a way he did not like. She was looking at him like he was the second half of a map she’d been missing.
“I’m going to help you win back my granddaughter,” she told him in Spanish.
Leo almost fell out of his chair. “What?” He shot a panicked look in Abuelo’s direction and found him staring at Leo with a delighted smile on his face.
“Don’t lie on my account,” Abuelo said. “I’ve known about it for a while.”
