Summer Nights (10 page)

“Hola, mi
bebe
!” A robust woman walked towards us,
her arms spread wide to greet Cruz. Her apron was covered in flour;
her peppered hair was no longer tied back into a tight bun as tiny
tendrils flew freely. She grabbed Cruz, forcing him to let go of my
hand and hugged him tightly. Holding his face, she kissed his
cheeks enthusiastically. “
Como estas, mi
bebe
?”

“Bien,
bien
.” He redirected her attention to me.
“
Tia
, this is
Summer. Summer, this is my Aunt Annita.”

I smiled shyly. “Hi,” I greeted, waving
my hand.

She cocked her head, a
knowing smiling curling her lips. “
Hola
, Summer. Egh… My nephew is good
to you, no?”

“Tia
-“

“Yes, he is good to me,” I
replied.

“Que
bueno
.” She patted Cruz’s cheek. The woman
practically glowed around him. It was obvious she adored him more
like a son than a nephew. “Egh…” She looked at me, offering an
apologetic expression before speaking in Spanish.

Cruz glanced in my direction, a sparkle
in his eyes, before responding to his aunt in the same language.
They went back and forth for a minute before the woman suddenly
broke off chuckling as she gaily slapped her thigh.

I leaned into Cruz. “What’s so funny?”
I whispered.

“Ay
, your
tio
will die of funny.” Her laughter kicked up a notch before she
waved us over to the counter. She turned to me, grabbing my hand.
“Anything you want,
es
free.
Mi casa es su
casa
.” Her free hand flew up in the air
joyously. She was nearly bouncing in place.

“Um, thank you.
Gracias
.” Her smile was
infectious, but I still felt like I was missing
something.

She squeezed my hand, her
face beaming with delight as her eyes passed between Cruz and me.
Abruptly she pulled me into a tight hug. My arms fumbled for a
moment before I finally caught up and reciprocated her embrace. She
pulled back, reaching out and pinching Cruz’s cheek.
“
Ay que bueno, papi. La nena es perfecto.
Bonita, intelligente…
” She trailed off,
laughing intermittently as she made her way towards the back of the
café again.

I turned to find Cruz scrubbing his
face, lines creasing his forehead. I panicked for a moment before
he started snickering, shaking his head in dismay. “Um, what did I
miss?”

CRUZ

The concern in my
tia
’s voice was touching.
“She’s giving me a hard time because I’ve never brought a girl to
meet the family before.” She was perceptive and picked up on the
fact that I was falling in love with Summer. She said she couldn’t
wait to tell my
tio
and that he would die of laughter. His ‘one day it’ll happen
to you’ comment was coming back to bite me in the ass. It was worth
it though; Summer was worth all the torment in the
world.

And that was the scariest thing of all.
No woman had come close to blind-siding me the way she had. I was
struggling to cope with the emotions of it all. It was happening so
fast. I felt like I was in a high-speed car chase with no
brakes.

“Oh.” Summer sucked her lower lip
between her teeth.

I sensed her unease and quickly
derailed her. “What do you want to eat? Pick anything you’d like.”
Her eyes glazed over at the menu selection.

Five minutes later we were sipping
coffee at a table near the front window.

“Were you born in Atlanta?” I watched
her carefully over the rim of my cup. She’d been quiet since we
ordered, her eyes scanning everywhere but me.

“Born and raised,” she stated. “Have
you always lived here?”

“I was born on the island but moved to
New York to live with my dad after my parents separated; I was
twelve. I finished high school, lasted one year in college and then
came back here.”

She pensively gazed down at her coffee.
After a moment, she looked up again, a new resolve lighting her
face. “Were your parents able to work things out?”

“We’re Catholic. Divorce is not an
option to us. So when we marry, we’re making the biggest commitment
possible with no escape clause.”

She frowned, her eyes fixating off in
the distance. “I’m sorry,” she said, lightly shaking her head. “I
just don’t understand why someone would choose to remain married to
someone they’re unhappy with.” Her voice was thick; the weight of
her tone indicating that this was a personal issue as
well.

“My father moved back about two years
ago. They’re trying to make things work.” I wanted to give her
hope. I wanted to make her smile and forget the worries of others’
relationships. “Tell me, what’s life like for you in Atlanta?” I
was eager to know everything about her.

Finally, she faced me, a world of
emotions trapped in her gaze. It seemed like she wanted to tell me
everything, but something stopped her. “It’s a different
environment, but I do the same things basically.”

Why was she backing away now? “What do
you do for work?”

“I’m a manager in a Customer Service
Call Center.” She stared down at the table, her coffee hovering
near her lips; her brows pulled together. Suddenly her head popped
up. “I never asked. What do you do?”

This was the question I’d been
dreading. Carmen dropping off our sandwiches saved me from having
to answer... for now.

“I hope you like it.”

Her smile was polite; it didn’t quite
reach her eyes. “I’m sure I will.”

This wasn’t good.

SUMMER

We sat in silence through our meal. I
felt like I should say something, but I couldn’t get past my inner
turmoil. Watching him interact with his family, witnessing the
close, playfulness he shared with his cousin and the loving
relationship he had with his aunt, forced my issues to the
forefront of my mind. I knew wanting what I didn’t have did me no
good, and I was genuinely happy for Cruz because he had such a
great connection with his family. I just wished mine was more like
that.

My mother was an only child who never
wanted children; my father a drunk who had borrowed more money from
his relatives than they were willing to lend. In the end, they
disowned my father and inadvertently me too. While my childhood
wasn’t horrible, I also didn’t have any bubbly family memories.
Over the years, as my father’s drinking got worse, the distance
between me and my mother grew. She went out more, not wanting to be
around my father when he was ‘that way,’ as she called it,
essentially leaving me to clean up his mess.

The moment I graduated high school, I
applied for a job at the Call Center. I took my first paycheck and
moved out. A month later I met Stella, and we’d been best friends
ever since.

“Summer.” I jumped at the
feel of his hand on mine. I shook my head, returning to the
present. Cruz’s head was turned slightly, a frown pulling his face
down. “
Que paso, mi amor
? Are you okay?”

I closed my eyes for a second. “Yeah.
I’m sorry.” I looked down at my half-eaten ham, egg and cheese
sandwich. I could tell the pressed Cuban bread was freshly baked
from scratch. My coffee mirrored my food, sitting at the halfway
mark. Guilt was nagging me. His aunt had been so nice, and then I
turned around and wasted what she gave me. I picked up the sandwich
and took another bite. Even if I’d been eating chocolate cake, it
wouldn’t have tasted good. My emotions were making everything taste
sour. I was too wrapped up in something that I couldn’t change,
allowing it to mess up the one good thing I did have at the moment.
I needed to stop the self-defeating behavior.

Cruz gently squeezed my hand lying in
his, pulling my attention back to him. His plate was empty, as was
his coffee cup. He’d left me with my thoughts. From the moment I
met him, he was able to read me, to know what I needed.

“I’m sorry.” My eyes watered
unexpectedly.

“You know you can tell me anything.”
His voice was mellow and soothing as he spoke.

Looking into his eyes, I could tell he
was speaking the truth; that I really could tell him anything. I
took a deep breath. “It’s hard watching people have such a great
relationship with their family. I’m happy for them, but it hurts
me. My whole life I’ve wanted the family that was always on the
greeting cards or the stock photos in picture frames.” I shrugged,
feeling foolish in my confession. “I know it’s petty, and I’ve
accepted that I’ll never have that. It doesn’t mean I don’t want
it, or that it doesn’t hurt me still to see others enjoying
it.”

He scoot his chair around the table to
be stationed beside me. He pulled me into him, caressing my back.
“It’s not petty; it’s genuine. Family is supposed be the ones you
can count on for anything. I couldn’t imagine not having mine.” He
gently kissed my head, just above my stitches. “I’ll always be here
for you though.”

I gazed into his eyes. The truth behind
his words was written all over his face. It didn’t matter that we’d
known each other for only a few days. He was declaring that he was
planning to be in my life in some capacity for the long haul. My
soul was radiating, my heart melting at his declaration. He
couldn’t change my family, but he was willing to offer me what they
wouldn’t: the loving support needed to manage through
life.

He traced my cheek with his finger.
“You ready to go?”

I looked down at my plate. “I feel bad
throwing it out.”

“Ay, mi
amor
. You have nothing to worry about.” He
grabbed the sandwich, polishing it off in two bites. I knew my eyes
were wide as I watched him. He downed the rest of my coffee,
grimacing at the end. “Why can’t you Americans leave the coffee
alone? It doesn’t need the fluff.”

I chuckled. “Because we like flavor,
not just bitterness.”

“That’s debatable.” He
stood, pulling out my chair and helping me up. “
Adios, prima
.” He waved to Carmen. She
flicked her wrist in our direction, pretending to be busy. It was
obvious she looked up to Cruz, but given her age, I suppose she
didn’t want to seem vulnerable.

Chapter 10

The drive to Cruz’s condo was quiet,
peaceful. Opening up to him had helped me release a bit of my
pent-up frustration.

He held his front door open for me,
allowing me to walk in first. It was strange entering a place I’d
been before, yet hadn’t actually seen.

Avocado colored tile floors flowed into
white walls throughout the space. Two black leather sofas took up
the majority of the square footage in the living room. A large
portrait, circa 1950’s, of Old San Juan, hung behind the larger of
the couches, acting as an anchor for the area. A sleek wooden
coffee table with a stack of coasters rested in front of the same
larger sofa. The only other items in the room were an overhead fan,
same style that was in the bedroom but with a light, and an
oversized, flat-screen TV that occupied the wall across from the
framed photo.

Beyond the living room was an eat-in
kitchen. Rather than try to squeeze a small dinette into the tiny
alcove, Cruz nestled four bar stools, two on each side, against the
counter overhang. As I walked further into the space, I got a full
view of the narrow, galley-style kitchen. It wasn’t the most
up-to-date design, but it had a step up bar on the end caps and all
the amenities anyone could need.

Having seen the bedroom already, I knew
that Cruz was a minimalist. He had the bare necessities and nothing
more. It revealed a lot about his character. Just because he had
money didn’t mean he needed to flaunt it.

I squealed as he came up behind me
unnoticed. He wrapped his arms around me from behind, his nose
nuzzling my neck. “What are you thinking about?”

“How minimal your apartment
is.”

“What does your place look
like?”

“Clean lines, but with a bit of a
country twist. I love restoring furniture. I have two large
bookshelves that I painted white and then buffed and sanded to look
aged again in my living room on either side of my sofa. I have
books on them, but I also have strategically placed statues and
photos. I like furniture, and homes, that have character. I like my
apartment to be organized but still look comfortable and lived
in.”

He spun me around in his arms. “It
sounds nice.”

“I like it.” I shrugged.

“That’s all that matters.” Cruz kissed
my forehead before stepping back to remove his shirt.

His muscles flexed, their outlines
glowing in the morning sunlight streaming through the kitchen
window. I licked my lips, fighting to stay in place and not pounce
on him. He looked the part of a sexy-as-sin bad boy, my heart raced
as I recalled our rough tangle last night. My pussy warmed as he
puckered his soft, full lips; lips that had kissed my nipples and
caressed my sex. My breathing became shallow as my body heated
quickly at the sight of him. He watched me, a knowing smirk lifting
his lips.