Unedited.
Chapter Forty-One
For the rest of the afternoon, it was a rush to get everything finished before everyone got there. When Lan got back from the store, she looked a little irritated but Tiny looked triumphant. Something obviously happened but when asked, Lan just handed me a gift bag, told me not to open it yet, and went on to something else. Tiny, who was helping her mother by carrying in the rest of the groceries, just smiled at me and told me I would like it.
It. What the hell was it?
Trying to be sneaky, I attempted to peek in the bag but Lan came right back and snatched it out of my hand.
“I knew I couldn’t trust you,” she joked. “You’re just like my kids. Ridiculous.”
After that, I didn’t give the bag, or what it might possibly hold, any thought as I rushed around the house with Lan, trying to help where I could even though I was a guest and she tried to persuade me not to.
I regretted it. Seriously. The woman was a machine and I could barely keep up with her. Cooking, cleaning, setting up stuff outside…
It was controlled chaos and I loved it. The house smelled amazing from the food. Spices I’d forgotten permeated the air and reminded me of the way my abuela’s house would smell when I visited her during the summer. It made me miss my own family and wonder if this was something we could’ve been if I’d never gotten sick. My brother wouldn’t have joined the gang…everything could’ve been normal…
Right?
I was outside when I was thinking about that, spraying down the several dozen lawn chairs Lan had me drag out from the shed that also happened to be where Rey’s motorcycle was kept while he was on a case. The spray from the water hose made a rainbow and for some reason, I quickly compared it to my experience of normal. The rainbow came from the combination of the light and the water and once you take one away…the rainbow was gone. The same could be said about the experience I was having here. So many factors went into making it happen but the most important two were Rey and these two days, including the place and all the people that went with it.
You take one of those things away and it would be over.
One would be up tomorrow and the other would be taken away shortly after that.
As if I’d caused it, a cloud drifted over the sun, blocking out the direct sunlight. The rainbow was gone even though the water still came out of the nozzle. I released the trigger and the water stopped even though the cloud moved on and the sun came back out.
Without both, the rainbow wouldn’t come back…
I didn’t want this weekend to end because I didn’t think I would ever feel like this again.
When I was grabbed up from behind this time, I wasn’t expecting it. Total surprise and it showed with me releasing a rather girly cry and my hand tightening around the grip of the nozzle. Water came spraying out, the rainbow coming back for a split second before Rey overlapped his hand with mine and turned it on me.
Within seconds my whole front was drenched and I was squealing and trying to get out f his grip while he laughed at me.
“Rey! Oh my god, it’s so cold!”
“That’s not what I imagined you saying but it works.” He released the trigger on the sprayer and held it out of my reach. “Now…” he twirled us around so the play set was in full view, “tell me what you think.”
All day I’d been getting glimpses of the thing but I hadn’t been able to actually look at it. Now it was completely done and just like everything else in the backyard, the monstrous structure fit in perfectly. Like it’d always been there. The roof was rainbow mesh tarp stretched over a central beam.
It looked good…but I wasn’t going to tell him that no matter if he had a sprayer pointed at me or not.
“It’s…shiny.”
He squeezed the trigger and I got a few more seconds worth of water in the face before he stopped. I was blubbering and wiping off my face before trying once again to twist out of his hold. Granted I wasn’t trying too hard since this whole thing was amusing but I did my best. I didn’t expect him to let go, not when he had me right where he wanted me.
“Try again, Oranges.”
Still not wanting to give him the satisfaction of hearing he did a good job, I said. “Crap. It’s complete…crap! Don’t!” He turned the sprayer on again and this time let me go so he could chase me around the chairs with it. Everything was going to be soaking wet if he kept on but he didn’t seem to care. Incurring the wrath of his sister didn’t seem to change his mind about drenching me. “Stop!”
“No!”
The best plan would’ve been to circle around to where the hose was hooked into the shed for the water but I wasn’t thinking that far ahead. Getting away was my only thought as I darted across the yard hoping he wouldn’t be able to reach me on the opposite side.
“200 foot hose, Oranges. I can chase you wherever you go in the backyard!”
“Shit!”
“No swearing,” he chided and punctuated his comment with a nice cold shot of water up my back.
“It’s nice!” I yelled. “Wonderful job. Congrats!”
“Too little, too late!”
He chased me around a little while longer, both of us slipping on the grass at some point and landing in the mud. Lan was going to be pissed when she caught us. We did indeed figure out if the hose stretched as far as it was supposed to and when Lan did came out to see what we were doing…she was not happy.
“STOP!”
I froze but Rey didn’t and ended up slamming into me, dropping us both down to the wet grass.
“Ow!” I whined. “I think you killed my kidney!”
“Kidneys are in back,” Rey retorted.
I thought about that for a few seconds before saying, “You killed my liver!”
“Liver’s up here.” His hand went up my shirt and all I could do was suck in a breath instead of trying to pull his hand down from where it shouldn’t be. “So is something else…” his voice dropped so only I could hear.
“RONNIE!”
He muttered something in Spanish I didn’t catch before tossing the nozzle and hose a good distance away and sitting us up. He dropped his hand so his arm was innocently wrapped around my midsection and holding me as close to his chest as possible. The grass we were sitting on was wet, not that it mattered because I was completely soaked and didn’t really notice. Rey, however, had remained dry for the most part. Only his knees and the random parts of jean over his shins were wet from where he slid on the grass.
We both looked at his sister in blamelessness. She was standing on the back steps, dressed nicely and staring at us in unbelievably.
“Si no fueras mi hermano, yo te mataría.” If you weren’t my brother, I would kill you.
“Qué?”
She just glared at her brother, not even acknowledging the fact that I was there. I thought it was rather funny that he was getting all the blame. I did it with my brother and it was…nice to be able to compare their relationship to the one I had with Vince.
“The pair of you…get upstairs and get ready. Everyone should be here in a few minutes.”
“Everyone?” I asked.
“I said six, I meant six. They’ll start showing up at six and it is now ten till. Em, you can use my shower. You look like he drowned you in a mud puddle. The blow dryer is under the sink and what you’re supposed to wear is in the bag I gave you and then took away earlier. It’s on my bed.”
“I brought my own clothes…” That glare was turned on me and I instantly stopped arguing. “Ok.”
“Go.”
Rey and I quickly tried to scramble up from the ground but our limbs just ended up getting tangled together. We ended up back on our asses, me laughing hysterically and him trying not to laugh because his sister was still glaring at us.
“Unbelievable.”
She bought me a dress.
I stared at myself in the full length mirror and fidgeted with the flowing skirt. The various green patterns were enough to make me a little dizzy the longer I stared at it. The door behind me opened, Lan’s head popped in and took a look around.
“I can’t wear this,” I said before she could say anything. “It’s…”
“Perfect. Everyone is supposed to…”
“Can’t you just let me run to the room and get some jeans and a tee? I’m not comfortable in this at all.”
“No.” She didn’t look surprised at all at my objections. “Dressy clothes. It’s Sunday and since most of us no longer go to church, we make up for it by getting dressed up and having dinner every once in a blue moon. So do something with your hair and come on.”
“Lan…”
“Now, Elina.”
My eyes widened at her tone and her usage of my name but she just ignored me and ducked back out of the room. How…rude. Very Full House of me, I know, but damn if she wasn’t being mean. Something really must’ve happened at the store to piss her badly enough that she still wasn’t over it. Or maybe it had something to do with me being unable to go with her. I knew why Rey had stopped me from going. Technically I was supposed to be tucked away at the FBI safe house, not gallivanting out in the open where anyone could see me. So it was understandable that he didn’t want me to go somewhere as public as the store. His reaction, however, did make me wonder about how big this case had gotten since I’d been in custody. I hadn’t watched the news at the safe house or here. If the TV was on, it was tuned to cartoons.
How were things really going back home?
As I went over it, person by person, I did something with my hair, deciding nothing spectacular was needed. Half up, half down, secured with bobby pins, and I was headed out the door. The upstairs hall was oddly silent, something I wasn’t used to since the kids made noise no matter where they were. No voices drifted up from downstairs and it made me wonder if anyone was here yet. However, if it was anything like Michelle’s family get-togethers, they would all be outside and I wouldn’t hear a peep out of them until I got there. A few of the women might be milling about in the kitchen to help Lan but the bulk of them would be outside.
My stomach instantly tied up in knots and for the first time since being here, I became nervous. What if Rey’s people didn’t like me? What would it mean if they did? Would it even matter if they did?
Of course it would matter. It was crazy even to think otherwise. I wanted their approval for some outlandish reason.
I found Lan shuffling around in the kitchen, finishing up the last touches and making sure all the food was ready for dinner time. Several women were flowing around her as well, most of them grabbing something and leaving out the back but three of them remained. It almost felt like I was intruding when I stepped into the kitchen.
“¿Algo que puedo hacer?” Something I can do?
Everyone stopped but Lan, who started smiling down at the pan of tamales she was arranging. “Llegaste justo a tiempo para ayudar a llevar la comida.” You arrived just in time to help bring the food.
“Yay,” I joked nervously.
Lan ushered me forward and placed a hand on the back of the woman to her right. “Se trata de nuestra Tía Paulita, primo Ernesta y hermana de Casta, Crista. Las señoras, se trata de Em, amigo de Ronnie.” This is our Aunt Paulita, cousin Ernesta, and Casta’s sister, Crista. Ladies, this is Em, Ronnie’s friend.
I waved. “Hola.”
All three of them smiled mischievously. “Hola.”
Oh…I was in trouble.