I see Sydney in an entirely different light than before.
“And you do?”
“Better than you. We were wrong about her. At least, I was. And yes, our arrangement leaves space for someone to misconstrue the point of it, but I’m not going to sit here and let you tell me how to live my life.”
Selena nods and then drops her hand. “Does she know? About your time in prison?”
I shake my head slowly before running my hand through my hair. “No. And I don’t think she needs to. That’s something personal and we don’t venture across that line.”
“Not now, but it’s bound to come up. Javi, I just want you to be happy, you know that, right?”
“Well, getting my dick wet at night makes me happy, so leave me the fuck alone,” I reply sarcastically as Andre chuckles on the couch still.
“Gross,” Selena grits through her teeth and then takes a deep breath. “But okay. I guess I have to accept it.”
“Yeah, you do. And if she goes to your salon, you’d better be nice to her. She doesn’t deserve your nastiness. She hasn’t done anything to you.” I point my finger in her direction again.
She throws her hands up in surrender. “Fair enough. I can give the girl a shot. But now that that’s over, I came by to tell you that Mom called earlier. Her and Emilio are going to be in town in a few weeks and want to have dinner and stuff. You know how those two are. They’re going to stay for the weekend, so I wanted to have them use the guesthouse. Are you okay with that?”
My mother remarried about five years ago to a man named Emilio. He was a business owner that kept flirting with her every time he went in to the laundromat where she worked. He owned a chain of restaurants and would bring in his suits to get cleaned almost every day just to see her. After flirting relentlessly, she finally caved and agreed to go on a date with him, and the rest is history. Emilio retired a few years ago and now they live in Florida during the winter, and he has a place in Montana that they use in the summer. When they come back to Texas to visit, they always stay for a few weeks to visit their friends, us, and Emilio’s kids as well.
Seeing my mother happy again after losing my father made me realize how lonely she was. Maybe she hid her grief from us because she suddenly had to figure out how to keep the roof over our heads with one less income and two bratty pre-teens on her hands. But the way she came back to life after Emilio came into the picture was a wake-up call to how sad she truly was. Selena and I love Emilio too and couldn’t have asked for a better man for our mom to be with.
“Yeah, that’s fine. I’ll just sleep in your guest room.”
“Exactly.”
“You know you could have texted me all of this … you didn’t have to come back here and bang on my door.”
Selena smiles and then pinches my cheek. “I know, but I saw the car and wanted to know who the hell was here. I was being your annoying little sister. It’s what I’m good at.”
I smack her hand away as she laughs and her and Andre prepare to leave. “Yup. You’re a goddamn pro.”
“Love you, Javi,” she calls over her shoulder and then proceeds to walk back to the house as Andre stays back.
He turns to me with a narrow gaze and then smiles mischievously. “It’s more than sex, isn’t it?”
I stand there frozen, unsure how to respond. His question is the same one I’ve been asking myself after every meetup between Sydney and I, every text message conversation, every glance in each other’s direction.
“That’s what I thought.” He chuckles.
“I didn’t say anything,” I counter defensively.
“You didn’t have to. I like her for you, Javi, for what it’s worth. Your sister might not see it, but I know what you need. You need a woman like her.”
“A woman like what?”
“Confident, stable, beautiful. Someone who can tease you and remind you to have fun. You can’t go through life just working and not living. Even if it’s just sex, I can tell you’ve been more at ease lately, less irritated, and you’re smiling more. That means something.” He nods once and then walks through the door, leaving me speechless in my house when I realize that he’s right.
She might not be who I envisioned to bring me out of the hole I’ve been living in, but maybe she is exactly who I needed to do that.
Chapter 19
Sydney
“Hey, Sydney. The usual today?” Hattie greets me behind the deli counter of Russo’s once I make it to the front of the line.
“Yes, please. Vegetarian sub, extra dressing.” My mouth is salivating just knowing I’m about to sink my teeth into the fresh baked bread and mountains of veggies.
“You got it.”
I watch Hattie assemble my sandwich, adding extra pickles and tomatoes since she knows they’re my favorite, and then I meet her at the register to pay. Just as I hand her my debit card, a familiar voice pulls my attention to the right.
“Seems you and I had the same idea for lunch today.”
My head twists in the direction of the voice, and I’m taken by surprise when I see Javier in his construction uniform, sitting all alone eating his sandwich. His jet black hair is hidden beneath his bandana and his sculpted arms are hidden beneath a long-sleeve orange t-shirt. Except I know what those arms look like underneath, and
