Armando Returns (Barboza Brothers) (27 page)

Katie planned to work through her lunch hour today. There was no point taking an hour to sit there, stewing in her anger over Mitch and Jennifer. Or watching the minutes crawl by as she counted them down till six o
’clock, when a driver would take her to the private jet bound for Los Angeles. Katie just wanted this day to be over.

At twenty minutes till noon, her phone vibrated in her pocket. Her heart raced, hoping it was Armando.

But it was Lisa, her mother.

Katie took a deep breath and walked to a quiet corner. She answered with an unenthusiastic, “Hi Mom,” hoping to get this over with, quickly.

“
Hey sweetie. You free for lunch today?
”

A knot instantly formed in Katie
’s stomach. “No. I’m working through lunch.”

“
What?
” She uttered a disgruntled sound. “
Well, too bad. I’m already on my way.
”

“
No! I’m busy, Mom
.
”

“
Well, I’m determined to speak with you today and I won’t take no for an answer. I’ll just follow you around the restaurant while you work if I have to
.”

Katie smirked, having a sudden idea. This could be the perfect time to show her mother some pictures she
’d recently obtained. “You know what? Let’s have lunch. But not here. Across the street at Cafe Spera.”

“
Fine with me. See you at noon
.”

After her mom hung up, Katie slipped her phone into her pocket with a sense of relief. Soon, Mom would see the pictures, and realize there was no hope for Katie reconciling with Mitch.

When Katie entered Cafe Spera at approximately one minute after noon, Lisa was already there, her gold bangle bracelets jangling as she waved at Katie from a table for two.

Katie went to the table and gave her mom a big smile as she sat down across from her. “Hello Mom.”

Lisa cocked a brow.
“My, my, my. Aren’t we happy today?”

“
Yes, as a matter of fact.”

“
Hmm.” Lisa eyed her daughter suspiciously as she took a quick sip of her ice water. She set the glass down on the table and said, “So, I’ll assume that means you’ve taken Mitch back?”

Katie let out a labored sigh and closed her eyes, trying to keep her anger at bay.
“Did you come here to have lunch with me, or to insult me?”

Lisa
’s tone gentled. “How in the world is that an insult?”

“
You assume the only reason I’m happy is because I must have taken Mitch back? You have no idea what you’re talking about.”

Lisa shrugged.
“What? I can’t imagine why any woman would give up a guy like him. You need to snap out of this little rebellious phase before he moves on to someone else.”

Katie chuckled.
“Have you spoken to him?”

“
No, not yet. I wanted to speak with you first.”

Nodding, Katie said,
“So you
do
plan to meddle.”

Just then, the friendly male server came to take Katie
’s drink order. As soon as he left, Lisa responded with, “It’s not meddling. It’s helping. Now tell me what happened. Let’s get things back to the way they should be.”

Katie shook her head and reached into her pocket for her phone. The pictures were saved in their very own folder. She touched the screen a few times, then handed the phone to her mother.
“Here. This is what happened.”

Lisa gave Katie a wry grin as she took the phone. Her eyes then narrowed at the picture.
“Okay. What am I looking at?”

“
You can’t tell?” Katie took a deep breath, then let out a long sigh. She made sure the first picture her mother saw was one of the clearest, but apparently it wasn’t good enough. “Tap the right side of the picture to go to the next one.”

Lisa tapped the screen. Then she tapped again. Then again. She spent at least five seconds on each picture until she came to the last one. And then, she calmly handed the phone back to Katie. Her voice was quiet, but firm. Her eyes widened.
“Get rid of those.”

“
Excuse me?” Katie snapped.

Lisa looked her daughter straight in the eyes and repeated, in a loud whisper,
“I said, get rid of them!”

“
What?” Katie’s jaw dropped. “Why the—”

Lisa looked around the restaurant as if she were afraid someone was listening, then she leaned forward as far across the table as possible and said,
“Do it! In case Mitch ever runs for public office. Something like that could ruin him forever.”

“
Mom! He cheated on me!”

Lisa
’s nostrils flared as she glanced around the restaurant again. “Keep your voice down.”

Katie felt like she
’d been punched in the stomach. She stared silently at her mom as the server dropped off her water and said he’d be back in a minute to take their orders. When Katie spoke, her voice was weak. “I can’t believe this. You don’t even care that he cheated on me?”

Lisa gazed sympathetically into Katie
’s eyes for a moment, then smirked. Her voice was just loud enough for Katie to hear. “Sweetie, sometimes you need to look at the bigger picture. I’ve met that girl. She’s a dingbat. Probably his last fling before he marries you. She’s nothing to him.”

Katie shook her head in disbelief.
“I don’t understand—”

“
Think about it. Years from now, you’ll be married to a senator and she’ll probably still be waiting tables somewhere. There’s nothing to be jealous over.”

“
I’m not jealous! This isn’t a competition between me and Jennifer. My fiance cheated on me, Mom.” Katie’s eyes widened. “He lied to me. Repeatedly. He might be sleeping with more women for all I know.”

“
Have you talked to him about it?”

“
No. Why should I?”

“
You can still work it out. It may not be as bad as you think, Katie-bug.” Lisa grinned, softly. “Trust me. Sometimes people cheat. And sometimes the best thing you can do is forgive ‘em.”

“
Oh really? Has Daddy ever cheated on you? Would you forgive him if he did?”

Lisa shrugged.
“That depends. But this isn’t about me and your dad. It’s about you and Mitch. And you both have a bright future ahead of you. Now please, talk to him. We can talk to him together if you want. It’s time we start planning your wedding.”

“
No. I have no desire to be a senator’s wife, or a governor’s wife. Or the First Lady.” Katie stood up and walked around the table, staring down her nose at her. “Mitch and I are over. For good. You and Daddy will not dictate my love life, ever again. I’ve had it with this bullshit. Goodbye, Mom.”

And with that, Katie turned on her heel and walked out of the restaurant. Her phone vibrated with her Mom
’s call as soon as Katie crossed the street, but she ignored it. She then ducked inside a coffee shop to hide as she called Armando.

He answered quickly.
“Hello? Katie?”

“
Yes.” The sound of his voice unlocked a torrent of emotions that suddenly made her choke up. “I uh...,” She sniffled, “I’m leaving work early. Now.”

“
Okay. I’ll send the car. What’s wrong? Did something happen?”

Katie inhaled as deeply as possible and did her best to calm down.
“Lunch with Mom. I’m done. I don’t give a damn about losing contact with my family anymore. Take me away from here.”

“
All right. Anything you want. I love you.”

She smiled, tears of joy rolling down her face.
“I love you, too.”

Katie hung up and called her manager to tell him she had to leave work immediately to start her long weekend. He heard her crying and simply said,
“That’s fine.” She then sneaked over to the restaurant to meet the driver at the usual spot. Her anger mounted as she stood in front of the restaurant, wondering if her mother would exit Cafe Spera and try to speak with her again, but she didn’t.

Katie and Armando left for Los Angeles two hours after she left work. He immediately took her out for a long, luxurious dinner at one of his favorite restaurants, then brought her to his house in Malibu for the night.

She was relaxing in Armando
’s arms on a loveseat on the patio of his beautiful home, marveling at the view of the sunset over the ocean, when his phone rang.

When he saw it was Victor, he answered.
“What’s up?”

Victor took a hesitant breath and said,
“
Hey. Sorry to bother you, but we have a little situation. Katie’s sister is here. Said she’s been trying to get in touch with her all day
.”

“
Shit.” Armando groaned. “Is it just her sister, or the whole family?”

Katie
’s eyes grew wide with worry.

“
It’s only her sister. And I didn’t confirm Katie was with you
.”

“
Okay. Hold on.” Armando put his hand over the phone and said to Katie, “Chelsea’s at the ranch. I guess she showed up there after she couldn’t reach you?”

Katie winced, her body tensing.
“That’s not good. Let me go get my phone. It’s probably dead by now.”

“
That’s okay. Stay here.” Armando said to Victor, “Hey, can you let her use your phone so they can talk?”

“
Sure. She’s in the living room. Hold on
.” Victor was then silent. About thirty seconds later, Chelsea’s voice came through the phone. “
Hello?
”

Without saying anything to Chelsea, Armando handed his phone to Katie.

Katie said, “Hello?”

Chelsea grunted.
“
I knew it! What the hell’s wrong with you?
”

“
Nothing. I’m happy! Am I
not
allowed to be happy for once in my life?”

“
So, you did it. You broke off your engagement. For Armando. Who you haven’t seen in ten years
.”

“
It
’
s more than that. I—”

“
Yeah, I know. I heard about Mitch cheating. Mom told me
.” Chelsea paused for a breath. “
Oh, and I haven’t told anyone about our talk the other day. She has no idea you’re with Armando
.”

Katie chuckled.
“You’re more than welcome to tell her. I don’t care what they think anymore. I’m over it.”

“
Oh no. I’m not saying a word. You’re on your own with that
.”

“
Well? What do you want, then? Did you call to beat up on me and tell me what a horrible person I am because I won’t take ‘Mitch the cheater’ back?”

“
No
.” Chelsea’s voice got sad. “
Mom told me what she said to you at lunch. It’s unreal, even for her. We argued about it for an hour before I came over here to look for you
.” She paused. “
I was worried. That’s all. I heard you left work early. We’ve all been trying to reach you
.”

“
So, no one knows you’re at the ranch?”

“
Nope
.”

“
Okay. Well…” Katie thought for a moment. “I’ll send Mom and Dad text messages to let ‘em know I’m all right and I’ll be back on Monday morning. I’ll talk to ‘em sometime next week about Armando.”

Armando grinned and rubbed her back.

“
Oh, good Lord
.” Chelsea sighed. “
Fine. You do what you gotta do. And if you want me around for that talk with Mom and Dad, I’ll be there. For the record, I’ll be dreading it every second until then.
”

“
I know, and I’m sorry. But this is something I have to do.” Katie looked at Armando as she told her sister, “I never stopped loving him.”

Chelsea let out a sad little chuckle.
“
That’s crazy
.”

“
I know. And I don’t care.”

With a resigned sigh, Chelsea said,
“
Okay. Have an amazing weekend. Love you
.”

“
Love you, too.” Katie hung up and handed the phone back to Armando.

Swiftly, he put the phone in his pocket then pulled her in for a kiss.

Katie reached up and wove her fingers in his thick, wavy hair as his tongue made slow circles around hers, knowing she had made the right decision.