Page 55 of Seasoned
She smiled. “What are you doing?”
“Thinking about you and our kiss earlier. How far would you have let me go if your knucklehead son hadn’t shown up?”
She let out a laugh and stretched her legs. “He’s your son, too, you know.”
“I know, but that tendency for knuckleheadedness comes from your side of the family.”
Adelaide scoffed. “Nice try. I remember the stories Papi Flores told me about your behavior growing up, and you were a headache. That’s why he sent you to live with your aunt, to keep you out of trouble.”
“Keep me out of trouble, yes, but I never interrupted him and my mother getting busy, I can tell you that. After all these years, Danny’s still cock-blocking. He’s the reason I had to pay my cousin and his wife to keep the kids the weekend of our sixth anniversary. Just to get away from his constant interruptions.”
“You paid your cousin to keep the kids that weekend?”
“Of course. You know Manny never does anything out of the goodness of his heart. He’s always got to find a way to hustle money out of someone.”
Adelaide laughed because that was the perfect description of Manny. “It was an expensive weekend, then. You paid Manny, and you paid for our getaway to Vegas.”
“Worth every dime,” Hector said in a soft voice.
Adelaide smiled at the fond memories of their escape to Vegas. “That was a really nice weekend. No kids, just the two of us. It was a good idea and a nice break.”
Hector had splurged on a suite with a private pool. They gambled, ordered room service, swam naked in the pool, and made love whenever and however they wanted with no interruptions.
“So, back to my original question…how far would you have let me go if Danny hadn’t interrupted us? Would I have been able to take off your bra?”
“Yes, definitely.”
Hector groaned. “Damn, Danny.”
Adelaide cracked up at the pain in his voice.
“Maybe we can try again,” he suggested.
“I don’t hate that idea.”
“No?” He sounded surprised that she’d actually agreed.
Adelaide smoothed her hand over the geometric pattern of the quilt on the bed. “I’m open to revisiting that moment if you are,” she said quietly.
“I’m definitely open to that. I want to see you again, but not because we have to work on getting Danny and Jamie ready to be parents.”
Adelaide could hardly breathe. Her feelings didn’t die simply because their marriage did, and clearly Hector felt the same way.
He continued talking. “Could I swing by Friday night?”
“You’re not free any other night this week? I’m going out Friday night.” She hadn’t seen Joseph in a long time, and he’d promised her a good time, so she was looking forward to the night out. She was getting her hair done and meeting Jackie to go shopping for a dress.
“No, I have a pretty full schedule all week because…well, I might as well tell you my great news. Martin and I are opening a third location in Carlsbad, so I’ll be traveling back and forth for the rest of the week, checking on the progress, meeting with the contractors and handling paperwork, that kind of thing. Which means I’ll be getting back later than usual, and I might stay out there a couple of nights.”
“Hector, that’s wonderful! You’ve wanted to open another location for a while.”
“And we’re finally in a position to do it. Cash flow is good, business is on the rise, and since we revamped the website a couple of years ago, mail orders have picked up. Solar Beams is growing!”
Hearing the pride in his voice and listening to him talk about their plans for expansion made her want to share, too.
“I have some news, as well. I’m going to cooking school! I start in September, and I’ll receive my diploma next summer and then I plan to start catering.”
After becoming pregnant, Adelaide dropped out of college. Years later she started taking cooking classes and loved them, but the hectic schedule with three children and a husband forced her to table the idea of getting her diploma.
