Page 27 of Sweet
Spider slowly released her, quickly adjusting his jeans so she wouldn’t see his erection. “You should go; I forgot about the dinner thing.”
She smiled hopefully. “You could come with me.”
“That would make the dinner about meeting your homeboy boyfriend and not about your aunt and her family.” He kissed the tip of her nose. “It’s cool.”
She pressed her lips together in a pretend-scowl. “One of these days you’re going to meet them, Spider.”
“Maybe after the holidays, okay?” He grabbed her jacket from the corner of the bed and put it around her shoulders. “There’s a lot of pressure this time of year. People get crazy.”
She turned. “I didn’t clean up any of the trash from decorating! It’s a total mess.”
“Baby, youdidall the decorating.” He laughed. “I’ll clean up. Don’t worry about it; you need to get going. You got a pie to get from the café, right?”
“Yes. Pumpkin, it’s my aunt’s favorite.”
“Best fucking thing about Christmas if you ask me.” He walked her to the door and down the stairs, opening her car door and giving her one long, lingering kiss that promised more.
“Tease.” She pointed at him as she got in the car. “That check better not bounce later, Mr. Villalobos.”
He couldn’t stop the laughter. “Get out of here and be a good niece.” He walked to the back fence and opened the alley gate. “I’ll see you at the café tomorrow.”
She backed into the alley, then waved before she pulled away.
Spider secured the gate but didn’t lock it since Bill and Ruby were still out for some holiday dinner at the Elks’ Club. He walked up the stairs and grabbed a garbage bag to start cleaning up the plastic packaging and the cardboard.
Someone knocked on his door, and Spider shook his head. “Daisy, how many times do I have to tell you—?” He pulled open the door and realized it wasn’t Daisy returning.
It was Chino.
His old boss raised an eyebrow as he pushed his way into the apartment, looking around the sparsely furnished space. “Merry Christmas, brother.”
Daisy wasn’tfoolish enough to bring a single pie to a Rivera-Orosco family dinner; she grabbed four. Holiday season was their busiest time of the year at Café Maya, and she and her mother always made certain to bake twice as many holiday pies as they thought they’d need.
Because pie disappeared within minutes.
“Marky, no dessert in the living room!” her mother yelled at one of her little cousins. “You eat it at the kitchen table,” she snapped at him, and Mark abruptly changed course, rolling his eyes behind Tia Alicia’s back as he dragged his feet away from the television playing a Christmas movie and the lively card game that had already started in the den.
“My baby.” Her mom put an arm around Daisy’s shoulders and drew her close. “This might be your last Thanksgiving at home for a while.”
“What?” Daisy blinked. “Why would you say that?”
“Oh, I don’t know,” her mother said. “You’re going away to school next fall. You may want to spend Thanksgiving with friends or be too busy to come home.” A smile crept at the corner of her mouth. “Who knows? You might meet a nice boy at the university. Another student, you know? If he wants you to spend the holidays with him—”
“I will say no.” Daisy felt embarrassed even contemplating it. “Because I spend the holidays with my family.” And she was in love with Spider; she just didn’t know how to tell him, much less her parents, who didn’t even know the man existed.
Spider would never ask her to skip the holidays with her family, and he only knew them by reputation. It felt physically painful to imagine him alone on Christmas. Thanksgiving had been bad enough even though he appreciated the plate of turkey, cornbread, and apple salad she’d brought him.
“I’m just saying that when you’re independent, things will change,” her mother said. “And that’s fine, mija! That’s normal. Your dad and I don’t expect you to always be here, you know? You need to get out. Meet new people. Experience the world more.” Alicia gripped her shoulder. “We are soproudof you, Daisy.”
“I didn’t turn in any of my applications for the fall.” Daisy blurted it so loudly that every eye in the room swung toward her. “I filled them out.” Her heart was pounding. “But I didn’t send them in.”
Roberto stood from the card table with a scowl. “Why not?”
Daisy looked around the room in panic, wishing she’d convinced Spider to come with her. This was not what she’d planned, but the thought of leaving Metlin, of not being here for Thanksgivings and Christmases, of missing Tia Imelda and the rest of her family…
She’d panicked! She didn’t want to spend holidays with strangers.
“I don’t want to go away to college.” She blinked rapidly. “I’ve tried to tell you so many times. I don’t even want to go to a big college.” She caught her aunt’s gaze; the old woman was smiling at her and nodding softly. “Maybe I’ll take some business classes or management or something in Fresno, but I want to stay here. I want to take over the café and make it mine.” She looked at her father. “I don’t want to leave Metlin. I never did.” She looked at her mother. “And I’m dating someone here in town. We’ve been together for a couple of months now, and I love him.”
