An Exceptional Twist (34 page)

“Yeah,
macho
,” she giggled, and his focus
dropped to her mouth.

Those giggles were going to do him in. “So
you’re not with him, but you’re dating?” Stefen wanted to gag on
his own words.

“We’re just seeing each other.” Scrunching
her nose, she added, “It's complicated.”

What a jackass. What’s complicated about a
gorgeous woman wanting to be with you?

Oh yeah—I was that same ass not that long
ago.

Tucking those thoughts away, he wanted to
know more about what they were talking about earlier. “What was up
with that friend he was talking about?”

She bit her bottom lip
like she wasn’t sure she should tell him. “He’s a few years older
and went to school with Dani. He spread rumors about her all over
school, so when I saw him years later at that party, I went up to
him to tell him off. The next thing I knew, we were in a bedroom,
and he was on top of me. I didn't feel like explaining it all to
Ben. But I hope I
never
see Matt Heller again.” She shivered at whatever
memory was replaying in her head.

“Is that the whole story?” He felt like she
was hiding something. Suppressing a growl, he sat back and prepared
himself.

“He was…” She paused, swallowing as she
tucked her hair behind her ears. “…aggressive, but nothing
happened. I don't want to talk about it. And please don’t ever
bring him up to Dani. She doesn’t know about the party and doesn’t
need to rehash what happened to her. And before you ask, it’s her
business to tell, so I’m not going to.” Leah pointed her finger to
him.

That was my next question, she knows me
well.

“Fair enough.
For today
, but…” He let
that sentence hang, then added, “if I ever run into him, I’m
kicking his ass.” He was livid again, just thinking about
it.

It was unbelievable that any guy thought
they had a right to anything a girl wasn’t willing to give. He’d
found ways to manipulate women’s feelings, but he never forced
himself on anyone.

Then again, the more he thought about it, he
realized he wasn’t much better.

“Did you like the food?” Pulling him out of
his negative thoughts, Leah took her last bite before wrapping the
second half up.

“Delicious.” He grinned. “Thanks for
bringing me here. Are you done?” He pointed to her half-eaten
sandwich.

“Stuffed. I'll take the other half to my
mom. She loves this place, too.” Leah put it in a bag the waitress
had brought earlier.

“Shall we?” Getting up, he pulled her chair
out as she stood.

“Thank you. Such a gentleman. Your Mama
taught you well.” The corners of her mouth rose as she stood
up.

He chuckled.
Damn right, I’m a gentleman
.

That was the one thing he was still
confident about. “All of those years at prep school. I just assumed
all men treated ladies that way. Guess not.” He was hinting at Ben,
but she didn’t seem to catch it as she walked in front of him to
the door.

“Are you up for a little stroll down Main
Street? I could show you around before we go to my mom's.”

Although he was starting to feel a bit
tired, he also wanted to see where she’d grown up. Onlookers could
naturally make the assumption that they were a couple.

“Lead the way.” He spread his arm. “I’m all
yours if you don’t mind being seen with a one-eyed pirate.” Stefen
opened the door for her and took the sandwich bag.

“Stefen, pirates are ugly
disgusting dirty hairy men.
You
are no pirate, my friend.” She patted his face on
her way through the doorway, surprising him with both her words and
her actions.

He would be exhausted tomorrow.

No pain, no
gain
, he told himself, threading her arm
through his. He would walk to the ends of the earth with her like
this.

They’d walked around for several hours and
arrived at her Mom's house right before dusk. It was fun showing
Stefen all her old hangouts, but no matter how much he’d denied it,
he was worn out.

Leah got out of the van before Stefen had a
chance to open her door.

“Nice house.” He gazed at the one-story,
Spanish-style home, and she noticed he’d left the eye patch in the
car.

When he wasn’t in public, he would get tired
of wearing it and switch back and forth. She liked that he was
comfortable enough for her to see him like that.

“I love this house. I grew
up here.” The majority of the residences in Alhambra were
Spanish-styled, since the city was originally named after
Washington Irving’s novel,
The
Alhambra,
which was based on his travels
to Spain in 1832. Like so many others in the city, Leah’s childhood
home was located on long pieces of land. “My grandparents bought it
back in the fifties for only twenty-thousand dollars, then gave it
to my mom when she got married. They moved back to Mexico and
passed away before I was born.”

In typical fashion, her mom came charging
out of the front door, practically knocking her down with a
hug.

“
Mija!
Two visits in a month. I love
it!” Then came the loud, smacking kiss on the cheek.

Leah stepped back, making
introductions, “
Hola,
Mami
. You remember Stefen from Abby's
wedding?” Leah pointed to a weary Stefen standing behind
her.

Her mom pulled him in to get a closer look.
How did older women get away with stuff like that? Leah could only
imagine the reaction she would get if she pulled some random hot
guy toward her, just to get a better look.

“
Huy
, of course. He's so handsome,
how could I forget? You danced together.
Muy guapo, mi hija
.” She hugged
Stefen and shot Leah a look.

Leah just shook her head. Her mom had no
idea what had already gone down, but she would understand
eventually that her wanna-be matchmaking skills were not going to
work with them. Leah would just have to prove what good friends she
and Stefen were.

Stefen looked like he was turning blue, in
need of some air.

Leah patted her mom’s
shoulder. “Okay,
Mami
, you're making him a little uncomfortable. You can let go
now.”

Stefen laughed, “It's nice to see you again,
Mrs. Valdez.”

“
Venga
, come in, dinner’s ready.”
Leah’s mom motioned them inside.

Leah rubbed his back. “You okay? You look
really tired.”

Tucking his head so only Leah could hear, he
chuckled, “I’m fine, but I almost blacked out there for
second.”

Cracking up, they walked straight into the
dining room where Leah introduced Elena, her niece and nephew, then
turned her attention to the gentleman at the head of the table.

“This is my mom's fiancé, Sal.”

Stefen walked over and shook his hand. “Nice
to meet you.” Then he cocked his head, asking, “As in Congressman
Salvador Ramirez?”

Of course Stefen was into political affairs.
She should have guessed.

“Ah, you know politics. Yes, I am.” Sal was
so proud of his position. He’d worked his ass off to get there and
deserved the recognition. Leah adored her soon-to-be step-father.
He had salt and pepper-colored hair, a strong jaw line, and deep
set brown eyes. Each of his twenty-five years on the police force
reflected in those eyes.

“Very nice to meet you, sir.” Stefen’s voice
went down a few octaves. It was so comical, Leah had to stifle a
giggle.

“You remember Dani,” Leah said as her middle
sister carried a dish to the table before taking her seat.

He nodded toward Leah’s older sister. “Yes,
nice to see you again, Dani.”

“Likewise,” Dani snickered, triggering
Leah’s stink eye.

Her sister knew way too much. Now she was
like a ticking time bomb of information.

Sal directed them to join them. “Grab a
seat, so we can say grace and eat.”

The only two empty chairs left happened to
be next to each other. Everyone settled in, and Sal led the table
in prayer.

“Dear Lord and Heavenly Father, thank you
for always blessing us with time to spend with our friends and
family. Thank you for providing all of our needs. We ask that you
bless this food into our bodies. It's in your precious name we pray
this evening. Amen.”

Amens were heard all around the table before
dishes were passed.

“We normally start with
soup,” Leah said, leaning near him. “This is called
pozole
. It has pork,
spices, broth, and hominy, which is kind of like corn. Wanna try
it?” She hoped he was up to eating something new.

“Yeah, I'll eat whatever’s here. I love
trying new things.”

Their eyes met for the
briefest moment. Leah still couldn’t believe the pull he had on
her, even with their new friendship status. “Here are some corn
tortillas. It's delicious if you add some avocado and lime.” She
passed him a couple small dishes. “When you're done with that, we
have chicken with
mol
é
sauce, and
lime and cilantro rice.” She pointed to the other serving dishes on
the table.

Confused, he asked, “What is mole-ay
sauce?”

Leah glared at everyone at the table, hoping
they didn’t laugh at his pronunciation.

Naming each ingredient, she counted off on
her fingers. “It has cocoa powder, chili powder, coriander, lemon
juice, tomatoes, onion, and honey. It's really good.”

“Sure, I'd love some.
Sounds
delicioso
.” He winked, and she couldn’t help but laugh.

Last Wednesday, Madison was watching Dora
the Explorer when Leah got to their house, and she caught Stefen
sitting on the couch repeating Spanish words with the little
girl.

Leaning into him with a smirk, Leah nudged
his shoulder. “I bet you thought Mexican's only ate burritos and
tacos, huh?”

Everyone at the table was
quiet, observing their interaction like Ben had done earlier, until
Leah's nephew asked,
“¿Tia, es Stefen tu
novio?”

She looked at him sternly.
“No, Antonio.
Stefen y yo somos sólo
amigos. ¿Escucharon todos?
” She scanned
the table, making sure everyone acknowledged what she’d said,
especially her mom.

All heads bobbed up and down, and Leah
turned to Stefen. “Sorry, he just...”

Stefen’s mouth was smiling, but his eyes
were not. “I know, he wanted to know if I was your boyfriend. I
remember a little bit of college Spanish.” He chuckled, but it
didn’t seem like he thought it was funny.

I wonder what’s going on
in that mind of his.
Leah began to eat her
food, noticing Elena was uncharacteristically quiet. She wasn’t
normally the life of the party, but it seemed like something was
wrong.

Dani saw Leah staring and mouthed, “I'll
tell you later.”

Leah nodded.

After dinner, Sal announced that he had to
leave. He shook Stefen's hand once more, kissed and hugged everyone
at the table, then Leah's mom walked him out.

Leah brought a stack of plates to the
kitchen. “Give me a minute to show Stefen out back, then I'll help
you with the dishes, Dani.”

Picking up a farmer’s basket, Leah motioned
with her head for Stefen to follow her. She led him through the
kitchen and out the back door. This yard brought her back to all of
those carefree childhood days. There was enough land back here to
build two more houses if they wanted to. It currently had peach,
plum and apricot trees, as well as a few palm trees.

He peaked out of the back door. “This
property is huge. I'm surprised there isn't a pool back here. You
could even add a tennis court.”

“We didn't have a lot of money growing up,
so a pool was never in the budget.” She stepped onto the grass.

It was already dark, but the flood lights
lit the immediate area.

“No rose bushes back here?” Stefen chuckled
as they walked. “Is that why you don’t like them?”

So he did catch my smartass comment that day
at my shop.

She swung the basket back and forth as they
made their way to the vegetable garden. “Nope. I didn’t grow up
with roses, and I just don’t think they’re a very original flower
to give a girl.”

They stopped in front of the planters.

“What kind of flowers do you like?” he
asked, tilting his head to the side.

Smiling warmly at him, she squatted down by
the plants. “Pretty much anything that isn’t a rose, but my
favorites are proteas and hydrangeas.” Moving her fingers through
the soil, she searched for some potatoes.