Hector (26 page)

Hector opened his mouth wide in protest. “I’m not laughing!”

That only made his mother’s glare even more severe since he
laughed while saying it. Abel laughed now too. Hector was sure Abel could only
imagine what he’d been thinking.

She turned on Abel now. “Don’t encourage him. You should be
setting an example. You’re no spring chicken. When are you going to start
looking for a nice little Mexican girl?”

Hector muffled a laugh into his fist as soon as his mom turned
her back on them. Abel’s head was already hanging back defeated. It was the
same song and dance with his mother. Abel wasn’t even twenty-two yet, but by
that age, she and all her siblings had been married with kids for years. So to
her, Abel should be looking to settle down—with a nice little Mexican girl, of
course.

“And the younger the better,” she added.

“Oh, good.
We’re getting the long
version tonight.” Abel said, standing up with his plate in his hand.

“
No seas
grosero
,” his mom snapped.

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry,” Abel kissed his mom’s forehead as he
passed her to get to the sink. “I’m not trying to be rude. Go on.”

“Did you get full?” she asked, immediately losing the angry tone
and sounding concerned, as she if
ever
served them too little

“Stuffed actually.
But it was good.”

His mother smiled, satisfied, then continued with her rant. “I’m
just saying. The girls these days are so different from back in my day. The
days of innocence and saving yourself for your husband are long dead.” She
huffed. “So it’s best to get them younger when they’re still a little bit more
innocent. You know, less experienced.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,
Madre
.”
Abel kissed her forehead as he walked past her again. “I gotta go. Don’t wait
up.”

“Where are you going?”

“I gotta go take care of some business,” Abel turned back with a
wink, “respectfully, outside of your house.”

Hector’s mom placed her hand on her hip, pressing her lips
together with a frown but didn’t say a word, watching him until he was out of
sight. She turned back to Hector who was now sitting at the table, and he wiped
the smirk right off his face, shaking his head in disapproval.

She rolled her eyes and went on about the age thing. Hector knew
that argument was a bust. Younger wasn’t always better. Noah was proof of that.
Roni was eight years older than he was, and those two were insanely happy. But
he’d never bothered to argue the whole Mexican girl part. It’d never crossed
his mind that he’d ever have to. Now he was curious. He had a feeling the
answer would be based on some of the stuff his mom had said in the past. Still
he decided to bite.

A little annoyed that Charlee was back front and center on his
mind again, he waited for his mom to stop and take a breath before interrupting.

“So why only Mexican girls?”

His mom turned to look at him, raising an eyebrow as she piled
the food onto his plate. “They don’t
have
to be Mexican. But it’s just better if you stick with your own culture. At
least stick with Latinas.” She set the plate in front of him. “And hopefully to
the ones whose parents were born in their country, not the second generation
Latinas. They’re just as bad as non-Latinas—too
Americanized—
too
modern for their own good.”

Hector rolled his eyes now, ready to chuck this theory in the
fire pit along with the “the younger the better” theory. “And what does that
mean?
Too modern for their own good?”

He grabbed a
tortilla
and started rolling it up already, doubtful that his mom would have a valid
argument for this one either.

After setting a glass of milk down for him, his mother sat across
from him and picked up the home profile papers. “Well, you mean aside from the
obvious? They don’t cook.”

She said that with so much conviction Hector laughed. Figures his
mom would think
that
would be a deal
breaker.

“And?” he looked up from dipping his tortilla in his
chili
verde
.

His mom frowned. “
Mijo
,
they’re just
too liberal about everything. You wanna nice girl that still has some of the
same good old-fashioned values you grew up with. You stray away from what
you’re used to, and you’ll be treading into unknown waters. They are brought up
believing and being told things Latinas are not told. Like that it’s okay to
jump from one man’s bed to another’s just like that because men do it all the
time. This equality stuff is constantly shoved into their modern-day heads.
Some things are still sacred, and behaving that way is still frowned upon in
our culture. Well, my era. And while I don’t have any daughters, just as I harp
to you and Abel, I would like to think women like me from my era in
my
culture are also passing their
beliefs and morals down to their girls.”

And there you had it. Another one of his mother’s theories
completely deflated. Although he’d met enough of the sweet Latinas his mother
spoke of, he’d also met plenty like Leticia and Miriam. His mother’s suggestion
that only the Latin world still held morals was ridiculous.

Even he and Abel were perfect arguments against that. While his
mother had managed to instill most of the morals and values she harped on about
so often, neither Hector nor Abel had any qualms about engaging in a few acts
his mother would certainly protest, so long as the girls were all for it.

Charlee was another contradiction to his mother’s belief. He
frowned, realizing that once again he was thinking about her, even as
infuriating as that afternoon had been for him. It didn’t make sense.

Uncontrollable desire was something even the most innocent would have
a hard time masking. Hector had felt it in her kisses. It was exactly what he
was feeling with every stroke of her tongue in his mouth. But the depth he’d
felt in her kisses wasn’t because of the level of skill she possessed. It was just
the opposite. If he had to guess, that might’ve been her first time doing
something that arousing, and except for that heavenly moment his mouth veered
downward to her neck, it’d only gone as far as kissing. Even then, her entire
body had come alive, but not as he was used to. There was something so chaste
about her body’s reaction to what he did to her, and he hadn’t even done much.

That’s why he’d been so stunned about her
forgettable
comment. What he felt when he kissed her was hands down
new to him, and almost two weeks later it was still so fresh in his head. All
he had to do was close his eyes and
feel
it all over again.

He stood up, once he’d polished off his food. His mother asked
the same thing she asked both him and Abel every single time they finished
eating. “Did you get full?” Hector nodded, placing the plate in the sink. “You
got real quiet there all of a sudden.” Hector glanced back at his mom’s
inquiring eyes. “Is there a reason why you were asking about girls that were
not Mexican? Are you seeing one?”

His mom was a sly one. Too bad she was wrong. “Nope,” he said,
rubbing her shoulders as he came up behind her. “I was just curious.” He kissed
her on the head. “I’m gonna go to the gym for a while.”

“I thought you were there all morning?”

“Yeah, I was, but I still have some paperwork to do in the
office.”

It was partly true. He did have some work to do but nothing that
couldn’t wait until the next morning. He just didn’t feel up to sitting around
watching T.V. because he knew he’d be plagued with thoughts of the inevitable. He
only hoped Walter had already worked out and left. It’s why he’d come home
first and taken his time eating. The last thing he needed tonight was to hear
the guy go on and on about Charlee.

Chapter 16

For as long as Charlee could remember, Drew had done
the very thing she was now doing—tried to turn a negative into a positive. Ever
since lasts weeks’ outburst from Hector at school about her talking to Ross,
Drew was trying to convince Charlee that, once again, this was a good thing.
That it only confirmed even further the very thing that Drew had been talking
about just prior to going back for her paycheck: Hector had a serious thing for
Charlee but didn’t do commitment.

Only after seeing how crazy it made Hector to see Charlee with
Ross, Drew now had a plan—a plan Charlee refused to take part in.

“I don’t understand why you’re being so difficult, Charlee. You
agreed there was no doubt about it. He was jealous.”

“I never agreed that he was jealous.” Charlee said as she took a
seat outside of Starbucks. “I agreed he was angry and rightfully so. Here I was
being all friendly to the guy he’d saved me from and who put his good friend in
the emergency room just weeks ago.”

Drew sipped her latte, shaking her head. “Difficult.”

“I
am not
being
difficult,” Charlee insisted. “I just think
playing head
games is
going make him think even less of me than he already does. I’ve
made the most awful impressions on him already—each one worse than the last.
First, I come off as a total bitch trying to show him up in front of the chess team
on his very day there. Then, I easily give into making out with him at his
party the very next day, after showing him up no less. And then,” she squeezed
her eyes shut at the very thought, “then I make myself sound like a total slut
just to cover up the fact that I care that that night didn’t mean
everything
to him like it did to me!”

“I don’t think you made yourself sound like a slut—”

“Oh, yes, I did. You weren’t there. You didn’t see the look on
his face. Oh, but the absolute worst part is that now he not only thinks I’m a
slut but he thinks I’m the dumbest slut on the planet, because now even creepy
guy Ross is someone I’d consider doing . . . whatever it is he thinks I’m
considering doing with him.” She peered at Drew. “Did you not see the look in
his eye when he asked me if I was considering
doing
something with Ross?”

“Yes, yes,” Drew said. “I saw and heard everything. He was
jealous, Charlee. I’m telling you the guy’s got it bad. And it wouldn’t be head
games we are playing. It’s not like you’re seeing him or anything and then trying
to make him jealous. You’re free to do what you want with whomever you want.
Though I forbid you spend any more time being friendly with Ross. He
is
creepy.”

Charlee sipped her coffee but nodded in agreement. The only
reason she’d been pleasant to Ross at all and agreed to talk to him later was
because standing so close to Hector had brought back all the pain, the pain she
was trying so desperately to rid herself of. At that moment, she didn’t want
anything from Hector, not even his help, and she wanted to show him she had
things under control. That she didn’t need him. “Well, I don’t flirt. You know
that. Even if I did, I’m not flirting with anyone in the chess club. It would
be too awkward. And since it’s the only place I get to be around Hector, then
this little plan of yours is not going to work.”

Drew pulled her lips to one side. Good. Charlee had her. They
could just forget about this once and for all and accept that anything between
her and Hector was impossible.

She didn’t know why she’d ever allowed herself to even think it a
possibility. For starters, Charlee was so pathetically inexperienced when it
came to romantic relationships even getting involved with a less assuming guy
would be a challenge. But to think she could work something out with a guy like
Hector was almost laughable, not to mention daunting as heck. Though she had to
admit, after being alone with him for a while in that room that night, talking
to him had surprisingly become easier and easier.

“So how long do you think we’ll be at that old peeps home with
Walter?”

“Just a few hours,” Charlee said. “You don’t have to go if you
don’t want to, Drew. It just sounded like something neat to do. He said they
were really excited when Hector played them. So when he told them about the
girl
from U.S. team that also lived in
town, they asked him to try to get me in there.”

“No.” Drew smiled as they stood up, putting her arm around
Charlee’s
shoulder. “I don’t mind going with you at all.
You’re too sweet.”

Charlee smiled. “You know better than anyone this isn’t so
selfless. I have a hunch this is going to feel as good as it does when we do
the Special Olympics. And you know how addictive that is.”

Drew’s face lit up. “I can play checkers or
Yahtzi
.”

That made Charlee laugh, and she leaned into Drew. “I’m sure
you’ll find an opponent there.”

Glad that they’d at last canned this idea, Charlee could only
hope it was the very end of this. She really needed to move on. The main reason
she agreed to move out here in the first place was to get away and leave the
nightmare behind. The last thing she should be trying to do now is create a new
one.

***

“I got it!” Drew burst into
Charlee’s
bedroom.

Charlee looked up from her laptop with her pencil still in her
mouth. Her friend dropped her purse on the floor with a huge smile on her face.
Uh oh
.

Removing the pencil slowly from her mouth, Charlee watched as
Drew made
herself
comfortable on the other end of the
bed. “I didn’t know you were home.”

“I just got here,” Drew said quickly. “Okay, remember that guy
Miguel I told you about? The one I went out with a few times a couple of weeks
ago?”

Charlee frowned. “The one you said was nice but you didn’t like
the way he laughed so you stopped going out with him just because of that?”