Page 10 of Forget Me

“He’s perfect!” She clapped her hands like she was six and not sixty.

“You need to see him from the street.” I extended my elbow, she looped her arm through it, and we descended the steps and strolled to the end of the sidewalk.

While she admired the fresh addition to her Christmas menagerie, I glanced at the houses on either side. Military-straight lines of clear bulbs outlined the roof gables, windows, and porches. Both of their doors were decorated with lush evergreen wreaths that had to cost more than my monthly grocery bill. Not an inflatable or plastic lawn ornament in sight.

But they wouldn’t dare call the homeowners’ association on Cooper Fallon’s mother.

“Gracias, hijo.” She pulled on my sleeve, and I bent down for her kiss.

“It’s nothing,” I muttered.

“It’s not nothing.” She put her hands on my cheeks so I looked her in the eye. “You’re a good boy, Mateo.”

But I couldn’t meet her gaze. Not after what I’d done to Mimi’s presentation earlier today. My fingers went to twist the ring on my right hand, but it wasn’t there.

She clutched my hand. “I wish you could see yourself the way I do. The way Miguelito does.”

“Miguelito?” I snorted. “He thinks I’m a fu—ah, un tonto.”

“If he thought you were un tonto, he wouldn’t have brought you here and made you my head of security.”

“We both know you don’t need security.”

“Ah.” She winked. “We do. My son doesn’t. So he pays you, you hang out with your favorite tía. It’s what he would call a win-win.”

I tried to flash her a smile, but tía always saw through my bullshit.

She clicked her tongue. “Let’s go inside. I’ll make some coffee to go with the cookies, and you’ll tell me what’s bothering you.”

In her kitchen, my tía stirred sugar into a cup of strong, black coffee. “What happened with Miriam last night? She looked like she’d had a few too many at the party. Lito and Ben were worried about her.”

“They asked me to follow her.” I set down the cookie I’d been about to inhale. “Did you know she was going to a bachelorette party?” If I’d known, I’d have brought more than my bare knuckles to defend her from all the leering guys.

She shook her head, frowning.

“A despedida de soltera. Her friend Breina is getting married next weekend. Ben and Miguelito are going.” I’d only remembered when I saw Breina shove the glittering plastic tiara into Mimi’s dark curls and drape the sash across her gorgeous tits. I smiled, remembering the way Miriam had hugged her friend, her usual formality dropping away as she’d landed a sloppy kiss on her cheek. What I wouldn’t give to have that directed at me. And I had, for a short time last night.

“They got pretty drunk, but they were together, and they were okay. Until their men showed up.” A growl roughened my voice. “They took her friends home and left Mimi alone. And the assholes who’d been circling all night converged.”

“But you were there.” Beaming, tía clapped her hands. “You rescued her like un caballero.”

“I don’t know about that.” I ducked my head, remembering how I’d hidden behind a newspaper until Mimi’s friends left. “I had on my glasses, not armor.”

“Oh.” Her face fell. “But even wearing those lentes feos, no one can resist you.”

“No one except Mimi.” Though for a little while last night, her sparkling eyes and that unexpectedly bright smile had been all for me. She’d seemed to see past my smooth exterior to the essence of who I was. And she liked what she saw. We’d talked about everything: how she loved volunteering at the foundation, how she admired the director. Though from what Mimi said, Larissa seemed like a conniving, gaslighting bitch. She’d even talked about her uneasiness at being the last one of her friend group uncoupled.

I’d hoped to do something about that last one. But when I showed up this morning with my hopeful sack of buñuelos, it hadn’t taken me long to figure out that she had a Mateo-sized gap in her drunken memories. And after I’d ruined her presentation, she hated me even more than she had before.

“She didn’t remember. That’s me. Forgettable,” I mumbled.

“Forgettable? Never, cariño.” Tía laid a soft hand on my arm. “I’m just glad that when the alcohol loosened that stick up her ass, she finally saw how wonderful you are.”

“Tía!” I yelped.

“It’s true. That girl needs to loosen up. I know, I know.” She waved off my protests. “You like her. But you have to admit she’s a little…uptight.”

“Driven.”

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