Page 36 of Truth or More Truth
My heart rate increases as I say in a rush, “I called her when I was at the hotel earlier. She sounded a little off, and I could tell something was wrong and dragged it out of her that her mom had a mild headache a couple days ago, and it hasn’t gone away. In fact, it’s worse today. ”
He gasps and puts a hand over his heart in a way that would seem dramatic if any other man did it, but it works for him. “Oh, no. What does Nanette’s doctor say?”
“She can’t get in to see the doc until next week because of the holiday, so they’re both pretty stressed about it.”
“You, too, I bet.” He claps his hand on my shoulder.
“Yeah.” I’d be worried about Nanette no matter what, butsince the headaches are my fault, I feel a crushing weight on my chest that’s only getting stronger.
“It’s not your fault,” Diego says, reading my thoughts.
“How is it not my fault?”
“You didn’t drink and drive and blast through that stop sign.”
I close my eyes. “Can we not talk about this now?”
“Okay, but we’ll be talking about it later.”
I have no intention of doing so, but I say, “We’ll see,” before opening my eyes again.
Diego nods. “So you’re heading back to L.A. after the wedding, then?”
“I had planned to, but I don’t want Melissa to have to drive back home by herself. Before I knew about Nanette, I told her I’d go back to Chicago with her the day after the wedding and then fly home from there. I should be able to catch a red-eye as soon as we get back.”
“Ah.” He grins at me.
“Ah, what?” I cock an eyebrow at him.
“The lovely Melissa.” He shimmies his shoulders and manages to not look absolutely ridiculous in the process.
I sigh. “What about her?”
“You cannot keep your eyes off her, my friend. I like this for you.”
My whole body jerks when Melissa pops up beside me and says, “Did I just hear my name? You know it’s rude to talk about people in a language they don’t know.” She’s grinning, so I know she’s not that upset.
Diego says in English, “We were just talking about how lovely you look tonight,mi encantadora.That means ‘my lovely.’”
He takes her hand and kisses the back of it, and she giggles, which I can somehow feel in my chest.
“Diego,” she bats her eyelashes at him, “if I didn’t know better, I’d think you were flirting with me.”
“Of course I am! You see, I have no date for this wedding. And it appears you don’t either.” His eyes flick to me and back to Melissa. “So I can flirt all I want and not get into any trouble at all!”
Diego takes Melissa in his arms and tangoes her across the room, resulting in more giggles from her and applause from the people nearby. I feel an odd pulsing in my chest as I watch them. After a few minutes, he dances her back over to me, salutes us, and moves off to chat with Randall and Wendy.
“You having a good time?” I ask her. I stuff my hands into my pockets so I won’t touch her.
“The best! Almost all of my favorite people are here in this room, other than my parents.” She sweeps her hand out to encompass the room. “What’s not to like?”
“I hear you. But why aren’t your parents here? Or are they coming tomorrow? Didn’t they go to Randall and Wendy’s wedding?”
“Yes, they went to Milwaukee for that wedding, and they were invited to this one,” Melissa says, “but it’s tough for Dad to travel very far these days. Everybody understood why they couldn’t make the trip down here. They took Ash and Leslie out to dinner to celebrate a couple weeks ago.”
I smile. “That was nice of them.”
“They’re good people. You’d like them. In fact, you should meet them. Dad would love to talk sports with you.”
