Page 45 of A Dish Best Served Hot

Lola shook her head. “I take it neither one of you is going to apologize for your behavior.”

“Yo no hice na,’” both grandfathers claimed simultaneously then glared at one another for reading their mind.

“In that case, I’m leaving,” Lola said.

“But you just got here,” Benny said.

“I know and it’s a shame I have to go,” she told him. “But I don’t hang out with meanies.”

Without thinking Saint said, “Rosie and I are nice and we don’t hang out with mean people either. Can we tag along with you, Lola?”

Lola looked at him with a small smile pulling at the corner of her mouth.

God she was beautiful. Saint kept waiting to get used to it, but every time he saw her the feeling of awe just grew.

“Are you asking me to hang out, Saint Vega?”

“I am.”

“You can’t go with him,” Benny said.

Lola simply gave her grandfather a look that said,you thought. Then she turned back to Saint. “I’d love to spend time with you and Rosie. Maybe some time without distractions will let these two reflect on their behavior.” With that she spun around and started making her way out of the common area.

Saint held out his hand for Rosie, who rushed up to grab it. “I’ll see you on Sunday for your weekly outing,” he told his abuelo, expecting some sort of protest for him leaving earlier than usual.

Instead, his abuelo just stared at Saint as if trying to puzzle something out. After a moment he seemed to shake it off. “Adios, mi amor,” he said to Rosie and blew her a kiss. To Saint he said, “I’ll see you soon,” before walking away.

Something about his tone put Saint on edge, but Saint brushed it off. He was about to go spend time with Lola and Rosie. He was going to need all of his focus in order to get through it, especially considering how slowly Rosie had begun walking and how tense her little body was. He paused just outside the door, while Lola continued down the hall, clearly giving them space.

“I know you probably don’t want to go somewhere with Miss León,” Saint said to his daughter, who nodded immediately. “But,” he continued, “Abuelo Papo and Señor Benny need to learn their lesson about treating everyone kindly. If we back out now and leave Miss León by herself, is that kind?”

Rosie shook her head.

“So what do you think we should do?”

Rosie sighed the most world-weary sigh. “We need to go with her, becauseyousaid we would.” Her tone was distinctly put out.

“I also said that she and I used to be friends. Do you remember?”

“Yes.”

He slowed them both to a stop in the hallway before they reached the front lobby. “Well, I asked her to join us because I’d like to be her friend again,” he said to Rosie. “What do you think about that?”

His daughter stayed quiet for a minute. “I guess it’s okay because you don’t have any friends,” she observed.

“I have friends,” he told her, a bit offended.

“I never see you play with them,” she said.

“Tití Kamilah is my friend and so are your other tías and tíos. Your wela and welo. The primas Alex, Gabi, and Avery. The primos Teo, Everett, and Ricky.”

“Those aren’t friends. They’re our family.”

“Your family and your friends can be the same people. Look at you with Liliana-Mei and Carlos-Li,” he said, referring to his brother Eddie’s kids. Rosie spent time with them every week and sometimes multiple times a week. She loved every second of it.

“But you need to have other friends too.”

She had a point. “So do you, but how are you going to get them if you don’t talk at school?”

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