Total pages in book: 139
Estimated words: 130380 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 652(@200wpm)___ 522(@250wpm)___ 435(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 130380 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 652(@200wpm)___ 522(@250wpm)___ 435(@300wpm)
“Oh, I know how to make coffee,” I said.
She arched that brow at me again, looking at Leo who held up his hands in surrender.
“Be easy on her, Mamá, I want to keep her.”
Valentina sucked her teeth, but then smiled up at me. “Trust me. You don’t know how to make it how I do. But I’ll show you. Come.”
The boys were in a tizzy at Mrs. Hernandez being at the house. They cleaned as quickly as they could as I joined her in the kitchen, and I chuckled to myself as I heard them fantasizing about the guava pastries she’d brought with her. I worked on plating one for each of us as Valentina pulled a can of coffee out of her purse and got to work at the coffee pot.
When Leo said he wanted me to meet his mom, I didn’t exactly have a surprise birthday meeting in mind.
But once I got past my nerves, it was so easy to talk to her that I felt like she was my own mother — you know, if I had a mother who actually talked to me, that is.
Valentina couldn’t ask enough about me, it seemed. She wanted the story behind each one of my tattoos, wanted me to show her my entire portfolio. Then she pleaded with me until I showed her pictures of me and my family and demanded that I come to the house next time Leo did so she could return the favor by blessing me with embarrassing baby pictures of Leo.
That I was excited for.
The boys stole most of her time at the table once we were seated, especially since they had to run out the door to practice soon. I watched Leo licking powdered sugar from his lips while laughing at a story his mom told us about how he’d gone around calling people bicho — which meant dick sucker — because he’d heard her say it under her breath after getting off the phone with his father so many times. It made my heart squeeze seeing him so happy, and I loved that I was a part of his birthday this year.
I wondered if, maybe, I’d be a part of it every year now.
When the boys had to run out the door to head to the stadium, Leo pulled me into his arms and melted me with a warm kiss.
“I can’t wait for my birthday present tonight,” he whispered in my ear low enough for only me to hear.
“Who said you’re getting one?”
He just smirked and made sure his mom wasn’t looking before he swatted my ass and skipped out the door.
When Valentina and I were alone, we cleaned up the coffee cups and plates from breakfast. I managed to ask her a few questions before she was desperate to know more about me, and she looked so sad when she told me she had to get going or she’d be late for work.
She wrapped me in a fierce hug when I walked her to the door, her eyes a bit glossy when she pulled back. She held me there in her hands, like she was debating her next words.
“He loves you, you know,” she said after a moment. “My son.”
Heat rushed over my neck, and I smiled, looking down at the floor as my hair fanned over my blushing cheeks. “I don’t know about that.”
“I do,” she said. “And I’m his mother, so I know better than anyone.”
I swallowed down the knot in my throat when she pulled her hands from me, adjusting her purse on her shoulder and opening the front door.
“Ten cuidado con su corazón, Mary,” she said with a smile. “Be careful with his heart.”
“I will,” I promised, all the while smoothing a hand over my own heart to soothe the way it was aching.
Valentina nodded like she knew I would even before I told her, and then she pressed up on her toes to kiss each of my cheeks and made me promise we would both come see her soon.
Later that night, after I was done at the shop and Leo was home from his evening classes, we sat in bed together while he unwrapped his present. He was silent when it was finally revealed, running his hand over the navy-blue velvet cover of a thick sketchbook.
His eyes found mine, and then he looked back to the book and opened to the first drawing.
It was a simple doodle, one of some of the flowers that bloomed in the garden over the summer before the weather had grown too cold. The next was of Palico, curled up in a blanket.
When he flipped the page, it was a scene — of that first morning where Kyle made pancakes. Leo stood in front of me, shirtless and hot as ever, one hand absentmindedly toying with his chains as I scowled at him over my plate that held that smiley-face chocolate chip pancake. Kyle and Braden laughed at the interaction between us.