Ignacio shrugged. “So what? There will be something else. You’ll either be here or in Los Angeles. You’re not going back to Miami or telenovelas.”
Ashton resisted the urge to roll his eyes, tamping down the petulance his father still sometimes managed to bring out in him. “You can’t know that.”
Abuelita Bibi spoke up then, without looking up from her knitting. “Iknow that.”
Abuelito Gus nodded, a firm believer in his wife’s “feelings.” Ashton, who’d been down this road before, didn’t bother to argue.
“So why is Yadiel staying here?” Ashton asked, and a grimy little hand pressed to the side of his face.
“Because Iwantto,” Yadiel replied, likeDuh, most obvious answer in the world.
“Yadi, you have school—” Ashton started, but his son interrupted him with a shrug that was so much like Ignacio’s, Ashton fought a grimace.
“School is overrated,” the boy said. “I want to be homeschooled. You know, you can do it all online now, and in fewer hours of the day. It sounds like a way better deal.”
Clearly this argument had been rehearsed. “Won’t you miss your friends?”
“Well, yeah, but I can still go visit them, right? And make new ones.”
Ashton swallowed hard. How had he ended up with such a well-adjusted kid? He looked to his father, who likely deserved all the credit.
“This isn’t a normal life for a child,” Ashton warned. “Are you sure?”
“Daaaaad,” Yadiel said, which was how Ashton knew he was being outmaneuvered. Yadi had picked up the drawn out “Dad” habit from some Nickelodeon show, and he used it whenever he wanted to imply Ashton was being an idiot. “I’m not a baby anymore.”
“Everyone already knows about him,” Ignacio pointed out. “Your career is about to take off, and you won’t have time to fly to Puerto Rico every weekend. You can get tutors and a nanny. And if I can spend more time at the restaurant, we won’t need help.”
He meant financial help. Ashton knew it pricked his father’s pride to accept money.
But his family was bigger than just his father and son. Ashton turned to his grandparents. “And you?” he asked them. “What do you two want?”
They exchanged a glance, then Abuelita Bibi announced, “We’ll be staying with you.”
“Part of the time,” Abuelito Gus amended. “We’ve spent our whole lives in Puerto Rico, and we like traveling. But we also want to be around Yadi while we can.”
Ashton’s heart constricted. They meantwhile they were alive.
“What do you say, Papi?” Yadiel pulled on Ashton’s neck with his good arm. “Can I live with you?”
And as Ashton looked down into his little boy’s dark, shining eyes, he was hit with the realization that Yadiel wasn’t a little boy anymore. He was almost nine. Ashton had missed a lot during those years, and he didn’t want to miss any more.
Jasmine had been right. He couldn’t have it both ways. If he wanted the fame, he had to come to terms with being more visible. If he wanted to keep his private life completely private, then he couldn’t be a celebrity. The two just didn’t mesh.
He’d blamed her unfairly. She’d handled her rising fame far better than he had, with clear eyes and a thick skin.
And he couldn’t continue to live in fear because of one terrible incident. He deserved better too. He deserved to feel free and happy... the way he felt when he was with Jasmine.
He owed her a whole lot more than an apology. And he finally knew how to make it up to her.
With a jolt, he checked his watch. Good, it was still early. Maybe there was still time to salvage... something. If he wasabout to change everything about his life, he might as well go all in.
“Yes, you can live with me,” he said. Yadiel cheered and pumped a fist into the air, narrowly missing Ashton’s nose. He shifted Yadiel off his lap so he could stand up. “One more thing. The woman I’m in love with asked me to attend her abuela’s eightieth birthday party today.”
Ignacio raised an eyebrow. “Well, you’d better get there then.”
“Stop sitting around blabbing,” Abuelito Gus teased.
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Abuelita Bibi tossed her knitting aside and leaped to her feet as fast as the arthritis in her knees allowed. She began to rummage in the clothing Ashton had strewn about the room. “What are you going to wear? Where’s that nice blue suit?”
