Her love

Chapter 11

......

I cried all night until my head could no longer take it and then went upstairs and cried again this time to sleep.

I woke up Sunday with a headache. We had to talk about this, we were already doing the long distance thing. What if this was the straw that broke the camels back. I tried texting him, but got no reply.

I even stopped by the autoshop hoping to catch him but his uncle told me he wasn't coming in.

Right after leaving the garage, I call Steph praying she would know where Santi was.

"Hello?"

"Hey Steph."

"He left this morning." She says her voice laced with sympathy.

"But he's not here." I say confused.

"No. Kat, he left for school." She clarified. "I'm sorry."

"But he's not supposed to leave until tonight." I argued the tears threatening to start again.

No more crying. I'd told myself.

Me- Santi please we need to talk.

I text him again.

Why am I tracking him down? Maybe he was done? Maybe I needed to be done?

********

Christmas break came shortly after and a new hope that I would see him sparked. I took my mom's car to the shop as an excuse to see him, just in case he was there... He wasn't.

********

"Niña, ¿Qué necesitas? (What do you need?)" Santi's uncle, Tio said to me.

I wasn't sure if his name was Tio or if everyone just called him tio because he was their uncle.

I mean we call most family friends close tow our mother's age Auntie, even if there's no relation.

"Hola Tio, my mom's car is making a weird sound so I came to check it out."
I told him praying he wouldn't see through my B.S.

"No hay problema. (No problem.)" He replied.

"Kat?" I turn and see José.

"José."

"I can take care of her, Tio." He tells Tio walking towards me. The older man nods and walks away.

"What are you doing here?" José asks.

"Umm... There's a problem with my mom's car." I say knowing he knew the real reason I was there.

"You and Santi still haven't talked, huh?"

I look away, biting my cheek to hold back tears. "Umm... No. I think he is avoiding me."

"Just give him sometime, it's not you. He has some shit he needs to work out and he's just protecting you."

"Is he?" I ask doubtfully.

"What are you doing here anyways I thought you were in the navy?" I ask ready to move on from the subject.

"I am but I'm also studying at LSU I go back for training when I'm called. And I pick hours here when I'm home."

"Oh."

"Yeah. Lemme check your car for you."

José did a general inspection and turned to me, "Nothing seems to be out of place and everything sounds fine."