Total pages in book: 143
Estimated words: 136743 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 684(@200wpm)___ 547(@250wpm)___ 456(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 136743 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 684(@200wpm)___ 547(@250wpm)___ 456(@300wpm)
I point to her and grin. “Told you it’s the best. It’s a crisis of faith and a sexual awakening.”
“I couldn’t go to confession for a month.” Nayeli crosses herself. “God forgive.”
“Okay.” I take a stool at the counter. “I really do need to start this ‘Cook with Me Live’ in a few minutes, so what’s this about, Lola?”
“I’m moving to Austin.” Lola eeeeks and covers her face.
“As in Texas?” I ask, willing all my frown muscles not to flex.
“Yes, Texas,” Lola says.
“And you’re endangering your reproductive rights for what?” I ask.
“Books,” Lola says simply. “I’m opening a bookstore with Olive.”
“Olive, your best friend,” Nayeli clarifies, “who you recently realized you’re in love with? You’re following her to Texas?”
“I’m not ‘following her,’” Lola protests. “We’re doing this together.”
“And if you just happen to slip and fall between her legs”—I shrug—“oh well.”
“That is only a possible enjoyable by-product, not my primary motivation.” Lola’s expression loses all levity. “I’m done teaching. I need to do something different. You know I love books the way Mami did. This is what I want to do. I’m even gonna have Cat’s Corner.”
Catelaya.
“It’ll be a section for Mami’s favorite books,” Lola says, her eyes bright with unshed tears and enthusiasm. “And we’ll have a banned books library. If a kid’s school doesn’t carry those books, they can come to us and check them out. Can’t you see it? This will be amazing.”
“I see it,” I say softly. “If this is what you want, I support it.”
“I guess I do too,” Nayeli says grudgingly. “Just make sure you’re chasing dreams, not a piece of ass.”
“That’s a really crude thing to say.” Lola beams. “Proud of you, Sis.”
I roll my eyes but can’t suppress a grin. “So when will this move happen?”
“I’ll finish this school year,” Lola says. “But come summer, we’re packing it in and relocating. Olive may go ahead of me and move in the next few months.”
“You have money saved up?” I ask. “Like for the transition?”
“I do,” Lola says. “But I thought a cushion might be good too.”
“Cushion?” Nayeli walks through her house, holding the phone to stay on FaceTime. “Sorry. I need to check upstairs. It’s too quiet, and I should make sure no one has done a sibling bodily harm.”
“We have to think about what we’ll do with the house when I move,” Lola says.
I freeze, shocked that wasn’t the first thing I thought about. I love that house. We all do.
“Do we want to sell it?” Lola asks.
“No!” Nayeli and I say in adamant unison.
“Don’t get your panties twisted.” Lola laughs. “I figured as much, but we can’t just have it here empty and collecting cobwebs. I wondered about using it as an Airbnb. It would generate some income, which I need during this transition. And I know you could use the money, too, Sol.”
“Always,” I agree. “Though things have been good lately. I’m getting the hang of this influencer thing.”
“You have videos go viral like every other week,” Nayeli says. “I’d say you are.”
“That doesn’t always translate into cash,” I tell her. “Matter of fact, most of the time it doesn’t. But the more visibility, the better chance I have at getting brand deals, ads, et cetera… Anyway, the moral of the story is that I always need more cash.”
Which reminds me I should finalize the menu for the CalPot Christmas party. I’ve been trying not to think about it because there’s a chance I’ll see Judah there. Bad enough I think about him all the time. Dream about him. Fantasize about all the things he could do to me. The things I could do to him. How good we might be together.
“Did you hear me, Sol?” Lola frowns at me on-screen.
“Huh?” I mutter, sitting up straight. “What was that?”
“We asked if you want to give it a shot,” Nayeli replies.
“Um… sorry. Give what a shot exactly?” I ask.
“Updating the house before we start using it for Airbnb,” Lola says.
“Yeah, that could be cool.” I force myself to tune back in.
“Okay. I just wanted to run all that by you,” Lola says. “We can talk more details later. In the meantime, Christmas is coming. What we doing?”
“I’m sorry,” Nayeli says, her tired eyes flicking from me to Lola. “Six kids traveling cross-country is hard at any time, but the holidays, and they’ve all been so sick? I think it’s best if we stay here in Cali this year.”
“Ain’t no thang, Nay,” Lola reassures her. “We get it. Olive and I are going to Austin after Christmas to look at spaces and get the lay of the land, but I was thinking of visiting you guys the week before, Sol.”
I wish I could reach through the screen and squeeze her. I’ve been blessed to have Yasmen and Hendrix here with me through all the shit Edward left me to deal with, but the ache of missing my sisters is tangible and deep.