“I will handle her,” Graciela is in the middle of saying, her voice low and directed at Liliana. “She’s mostly just being stubborn, and that’s keeping her from being open-minded. She’ll adapt.” She lifts one hand delicately to gesture at Auggie, who’s totally occupied by the screen of his phone while he nurses a glass of tequila. “I adapted. And we’re fine.”
“Yeah, but you didn’t start outhatingAuggie,” Liliana hisses, pitching sideways in front of Auggie to get her face closer to Graciela. “IslahatesMalachi.”
Gracielatsks. “She does not. They dated when they were teens, and she liked him just fine back then. She hates being told what to do byPapá.That’s the real problem here, and she’ll get over it.”
Liliana sighs long and loudly, slumping back in her chair and tossing her long, black hair. “You’rewrong.Esto es malo. Él es cruel con—”
“Hey, is that the jet you were talking about?” Joaquin pipes up, addressing Colin and pointing at the iPad.
Colin glances up and then gives the iPad a push across the glossy table toward Joaquin. “Yep.”
“Daaaang…” Joaquin gives a low whistle as he taps through the photos and specs. “This thing is so fuckin’slick. And he said he’s gonna buy some?”
Colin gives a nod, his thumb dragging across my pulse point, and I have to blink to keep my eyes from rolling back in my head from pure wantonness. “That’s what he said this morning.”
“Nice.” Joaquin continues to tap and scroll as he calls over his shoulder. “Papá!”
There’s a surly growl from down the hall.“¿Qué necesitas, hijo?”Ernesto barks.
“Hey, while you’re buying these planes from Colin,también deberías conseguir uno para nosotros.” He chuckles and lowers his voice. “Andthen, you should let me take it to Fiji or some shit.”
Graciela snickers, and Auggie continues to mindlessly scroll on his phone.
“You mean, letustake it to Fiji,” Liliana pipes up, thrusting a champagne flute through the air toward him. “If you get to play withPapá’splanes, I get to play with you.”
“Nah, I’m thinking this’ll be a guys' trip.” Joaquin snickers again, and Liliana reaches to swat his shoulder.
“You’re not allowed to leave me out,” she snaps. “Mamáwill make you bring me.”
The two siblings continue to bicker, but all I can hear is theka-chingof a cash register over and over and over as my mind produces a picture of me writing a check to pay off my loans. My head turns toward Colin on its own accord, and he’s wearing that panty-melting half-smile. The knowing gaze he’s sharing with me practically screams that he’s thinking the exact same thing.
Ernesto is going to enter this room momentarily, and it’ll only be a matter of measly minutes before Colin closes the deal and effectively turns us both intomillionaires.
And at that thought, I go ahead and let myself give in to the temptation of that mouth again. You know. Because we’re celebrating. Sort of.
The kiss stretches longer than it probably should in such a setting, but he and I supposedly beingseriouswith each other seems to be a license that allows it. And I haven’t had any alcohol since the night before, but I’m getting drunk right now.
I’m so drunk on the scent and taste of Colin that I barely notice the stomping of feet into the dining room, and the cacophony of more angry conversation in Spanish. The only thing that shakes me out of it is when Ernesto barks Colin’s name mid-sentence with a Spanish inflection, and Colin rips his mouth away from mine.
Back in a completely sober state of mind, I see Ernesto swipe the tablet out of Joaquin’s hands. “Si crees que voy a comprar estos aviones, estás loco.”
“¿Qué?”Joaquin flips his palms, bewildered, and Colin’s face is suddenly carved with that intense focus I first saw the moment he waltzed through the coffee shop doors six months ago. “¿Por qué no?”
Ernesto drops the iPad on the table so hard that it’s shocking it doesn’t shatter. “Él sabe lo que Lili siente por él, y luego trajo a esta chica aquí.”
Based on a number of interactions I’ve witnessed over the past two days, I know Colin’s not fluent in Spanish, but the expression that blanches his face along with the widening of his eyes tells me he understands well enough what is being said. And it’s clearly not good at all.
“Oh myGod.” Liliana groans and slumps in her chair. “Papá…seriously?Esto es embarazoso.”
“No,” Ernesto growls, shoving the iPad to slide it back across the table toward Colin, who catches it under his fingertips. “Es irrespetuoso.”
“Ernesto.” Fortuna claps her hands emphatically right in front of his face. “Cálmese.”
Colin clears his throat, lifting his hand neutrally as he pushes away from me, and then sits up taller. “Ernesto, I’m having trouble following here, but I can gather that you’re not happy with me right now.”
“Oh!” A booming, sardonic chuckle shakes Ernesto’s hulking shoulders. “You cangatherthat I’m nothappywith you right now. What asmartboy you are,mijito.”
It’s clearly not a compliment, and I can’t do anything but sit like a stone statue, flicking my gaze back and forth between the both of them.
