Mist's face paled in shock when I told her I quit my job at the restaurant.
"You just quit, Izan? Left the family business with no warning?"
"Yeah. I'd told my family what my terms were -- said I'd continue working at the restaurant as long as nobody stopped by to talk about anything unless it was work-related, and if they did, I'd walk out immediately. So today was just me keeping that promise."
"Who stopped by?" I knew by her face she had already guessed one of the visitors.
"Pilar and Yvette. I'd already told Yvette she no longer exists for me, and I'd blocked her on my phone. She must not have thought I was serious."
I almost laughed at the gee, I wonder why look on Mist's face.
"You don't have to say anything because I can tell by the look on your face what you're thinking: she didn't think I was serious because I'd let her get away with all the shit she'd pulled in the past. And you're right. But she fucked up today and found out just how serious I am about protecting what I have with you."
"What happened?"
God, that breathless tone in her voice made it hard to focus on the conversation.
A knock on the door of my office interrupted my review of the wine invoice compared to the inventory list in front of me. Something was off and I'd been trying to figure out where the discrepancy was for the last ten minutes.
"Come in," I called out. Pilar poked her head in, and I assumed she had some liquor invoices for me since she was in charge of the bar.
"Got a minute?" she asked.
"Sure," I said, and Pilar pushed the door open and she and Yvette walked in. Without a word, Yvette shut the door firmly behind her. She was standing in front of it as if to say I wasn't getting out of my office without going through her.
That could be arranged.
"This is ridiculous, Izan," Yvette started right in. "We've been friends since we were babies. You owe me more than just telling me you picked that girl over me and were cutting me out of your life because her feelings got hurt. Boo-hoo. Give me a break."
I'd known Yvette a long time, and I knew she was trying to provoke a reaction from me. She wouldn't get one, as I'd promised.
"And you know that your family is never going to let me be banned from your home, right? I'm part of your family, more than Mist ever will be, so you better get used to seeing me around. Your girlfriend should stop being so pathetic and needy and learn to get along with your family and friends."
Before, that definitely would have gotten a reaction, but today she got nothing, so she kept poking at me.
"Izan, you know you're going to regret it when you realize just how unsuitable she is for you. She doesn't fit in with our families. She's an outsider, and you're letting her end our friendship because she has some golden pussy or something, but you should know that never lasts. When someone's that unsuitable, you'll eventually realize she causes more trouble than she's worth and get rid of her."
I pretended to be scrolling through my phone, giving my undivided attention to the small screen instead of Yvette.
"At least have the guts to look at me when I'm talking to you, Izan!"
She was thoroughly exasperated, I could tell, but I made sure my face revealed nothing to her. Getting no response from me was much worse than me yelling at her, and I was enjoying hearing her unravel. Yvette didn't like being ignored.
"Izan! I'm trying to have a talk with you so we can reach some sort of understanding. If you're that set on her, fine! We'll be nice to her. We won't even say I told you so when you get tired of her granola, hippie ways and dump her." She waited a second, then, "God! Could you just fucking look at me?"
Scroll, scroll, scroll. My eyes never left the screen, and I never gave away that I heard anything she was saying.
Pilar tried next. "Izan, you have to see that Yvette's right. You've never even given Yvette a chance, but you had no problem wasting your time with someone like Mist for two years now? Someone who's trying to drive a wedge in our family! Just give yourself a chance with Yvette -- she's your best friend! You already know our family loves her, and she'd be a way better fit for you than Mist. Everyone always wanted you and Yvette together."
I still didn't acknowledge that I'd heard a word from either of them. I could feel them exchanging frustrated glances, but I didn't give a fuck.
"Izan, you may think it's OK to ignore me, but you can't ignore your sister."
Yeah, actually, I could ignore both of them, no problem.
"Say something," Pilar pleaded with me. "Please."
Standing, I gave my sister a very hostile look.
"OK. I'll say something." Then I pointed at Yvette while looking at my sister. "Get that cunt out of my office and have fun explaining to Papa why I quit and why I'm not going to attend family functions if you're there."
The door to my office flew open, knocking Yvette out of the way.
That was one way to move a bitch.
My father stormed in, his brown eyes snapping with anger as he took in Pilar and Yvette in my office.
"What's going on?"
He'd lost no time responding to my I'm quitting and if you come to my office, you'll see why text.
"These two didn't take my warning seriously and made the mistake of thinking I hadn't meant what I said. So they came to my office today to tell me why Mist was wrong for me and why she was a waste of my time. Then Pilar listed some of the reasons why I should date Yvette instead and wanted to know why I wouldn't give Yvette a try. The answer to that, by the way, is I'd rather saw off my dick with a rusty hacksaw than date her."
Yvette spluttered at the insult and my father scrubbed his hands over his face, a sign he was about to lose it.
"So, just in case of this eventuality, I wrote an instruction manual for my job -- it's in my top right drawer -- about everything I do that you'll need to handle until someone takes my place. All my contacts and suppliers are listed, there's a how-to on paying bills, steps and timelines for everything I do. Sorry it's come to this, Papa, but you can blame these two. I won't be coming by the house if Pilar's around, and definitely not if the other one's around."
Papa's eyes were resigned but understanding as he looked at me.
"Now, go find a job that makes you happy," he said at last, and I nodded.
In anticipation of this happening, I'd already put out feelers and it looked like there was an opening at Sullivan Motors. Mr. Sullivan, who knew me from the days when I played football with his son in high school, had told me he could use another mechanic and to let him know if I suddenly became available.
Grabbing the two pictures of Mist off my desk, I walked out to the sound of Papa continuing to yell at and berate my sister and Yvette. I'd never heard him yell like that and it was so bad, both of them had already burst into tears before I was more than six feet from my door. Yeah, he'd officially lost it.
"This has turned into such a mess," Mist sighed. She hated discord.
I shrugged. "It needed to happen, Mist. They know just how serious I am now. Pilar's going to be on my father's shit list for a long time, which is going to kill her because she's his little princess, and Yvette...well, I suspect she won't be around much because my family's going to be pissed as hell that she did what I warned everyone not to do. Now they're going to have to scramble to cover for me until they can find someone to take over my job and get up to speed."
"I can't believe you left your family's restaurant."
I shrugged, surprised I wasn't upset in the least.
"Well, now I can do something I really enjoy. I'll probably end up at Sullivan Motors, and maybe I can help out on the commune when I'm not working."
Mist looked away from me. "Don't push, Izan."
"I'm not trying to push, Mist. I'm just letting you know what I'm thinking, what possibilities there are for me."
I walked right up to her.
"For us."
Pressing a kiss to her temple, I gave her long braid a little tug.
"Now, since I have an unexpected day off, can we spend it together?"
Her phone chimed and she read the text, then she looked back at me, her grin huge.
"I would love to spend the day together! And I know exactly what we can do!"
I should have asked for more details. Deworming some cute, fluffy rescue calves that had just arrived at her grandmother's wasn't really what I'd been thinking of when I'd asked Mist to spend time with me.
But at the end of the day, I'd gotten to be with my girl so I didn't give a fuck what we did. Watching Mist laugh so freely at the little calves' antics, I realized I'd be happy doing whatever as long as we were doing it together.
There was no way I'd risk losing Mist ever again.