SEVEN YEARS AGO – DÍA DE LOS REYES MAGO
New York City
I changed my mind.
Tony haunts me. And I don’t want the feeling to go away.
It’s been less than a week, and Amelia and I are all settled into our cozy new apartment. The apartment that is located five blocks from Tony’s.
Tonight, we’re on our way to Amelia and Tony’s parents’ home. They also live nearby, and I can’t wait to celebrate my first Three Kings Day with their family. I’ve already met Amelia’s mom countless times when she visited Miami, and I love her like a second mother.
Sometimes I feel guilty for gravitating toward Anna more than I do my own mom. But the woman gives the best hugs that make you feel like you’re wrapped in a love cocoon. Almost like how Tony made me feel the night we met.
Amelia and I enter the apartment and are immediately greeted by shouts and cheers. “¡Feliz Día de los Reyes, mi amor!” Amelia’s dad, Ramón, says as he pulls her in for a bear hug.
“Welcome, Nikki, to your first holiday with us. Consider it the first of many, please.” He kisses me on my cheek.
I can’t stop smiling as I’m passed around the living room to receive similar greetings.
I sense him before I’ve even laid eyes on him. I hear the front door close and see Tony standing there with his eyes already on me.
God, he looks so good with a white button-down shirt stretched tight across his chest and dark jeans. I want to run to him. Apologize for being an absolute fool and maybe see if we could go out on a date. Something small, like coffee, of course. I don’t care what the next steps are. I just want to do them with him.
I offer him a small smile and wave. I can hear the breath he releases all the way from where I stand, and he smiles back at me.
Okay. I got this. We can do this. I mouth, “Talk later?” and he nods. I smile into my drink and try to jump back into the conversation with Amelia’s tías.
Three hours later, I’ve yet to speak with Tony. He’s been sucked into a game of dominos while I’ve been sequestered in the kitchen. Not to cook, but to gossip. At first, I was interrogated by all the tías, who wanted to know everything about me. I almost offered them my social security number at one point. Then they started talking about how their husbands drive them crazy, followed by good ole neighborhood gossip. Toward the end, Tía Carmen offered to teach me how to make Dominican cake. Tía Lourdes promised to introduce me to a friend of hers who works at the same nonprofit I’ll be interning for, and Anna has announced that she has formally adopted me as a daughter. Everyone laughed at her theatrical declaration while I had to force myself to not tear up at the act of being claimed, of being wanted.
I was even invited to their family cruise this coming summer. An actual family vacation. Something I’ve never experienced before. Mainly because you need a family to attend one of those.
Later, the cousin crew ladies swapped out tías and picked up on the gossip train.
I mostly laugh at all the silly comments made, especially because I have no clue who they’re talking about.
But then Amelia’s cousin Priscilla starts talking. “Amelia, don’t be mad, but I got some tea on your lovely brother.”
Amelia rolls her eyes. “Leave it alone, Priscilla.”
I can’t help myself. “Leave what alone?”
Priscilla smiles devilishly. “So, my buddy Mark, who bartends at the sports bar on Ninety-Sixth and Amsterdam, told me that he sees our little Antonio there all the time.”
“He’s not very little, and going to a bar is hardly salacious, Priscilla.” Amelia pins her with a hard look.
“I was getting to it! So anyway, Mark says that without fail, Antonio picks up at least a girl or two each weekend. And rumor has it he’s a one-night-only kind of guy. He’s even run into a couple of former one-night stands at the bar, and he turns them down for round two. Can you believe that? I mean, I know he’s still not over—”
My stomach drops. One night only?
Is that what we were supposed to be?
I mean, I knew a man who looked like Tony must get around, but it still isn’t a nice feeling to hear it out loud. And who is he not over?
“Ew, Priscilla, can you please stop? I don’t need to hear about my brother’s sexcapades. And we really don’t need to be mentioning his ex.” She huffs. “Besides, he’s made it no secret that he doesn’t do relationships. Why do you think even Mom has stopped trying to get on his case about finding a nice girl and giving her grandkids? It sucks, and I hate his reasoning, but if this is what makes him happy, we should respect it,” she scolds.
He doesn’t do relationships? Even his mom, the woman who has started askingmewhen I’m going to give her “gringo grandbabies,” has given up on her only son to meet someone and have a family?
This doesn’t sound like the guy who was vowing to be the only man to claim my kisses from here on out.
