Page 26 of The Fallacy of True Love
“Lonzo! Hey, Lonzo!”
My head automatically turned at the sound of my name. Nikki waved me toward her, and though the last thing I wanted to do was talk to someone, I couldn’t just ignore her.
When I stopped at her booth, she held out what looked like a slice of bibingka on banana leaf to me. “Try this—it’s fresh. It has cheese and salted egg.”
I stared at the rice cake, still so stuck on thoughts of Dani that I couldn’t quite process what she’d said. “Ah. I?—”
“On the house.” Nikki waved it at me. “I insist.”
“That’s nice of you. Thanks—” Something tugged on my shorts, and I looked down at a young girl dressed in an orange polka dot dress.
She stretched her arm up, saying, “Look at my tattoo!”
Smiling despite myself, I hunkered down on my haunches so we’d be the same height. Then I peered at the trio of five-petalled flowers inked on her wrist in orange dots. “Wow, that’s beautiful,” I told her.
“Right?” She beamed at me. “My mama and my tito and my tita have matchy tattoos, but only mine is orange. It’s special!”
Nikki laughed. “This is my daughter, Jo. Jo, this is Tito Alonzo. He’s from Manila.”
So this was Cuppa Jo’s namesake. “Hi, Jo. I’m a fan of you and your mom’s café. It’s good to meet you.” I held my hand out and then second-guessed myself.
But she put her smaller hand in mine and shook it excitedly. “You live in Manila? I’ve never been there.”
“You should visit. I’ll show you and your mom around.”
Dropping my hand, Jo glanced up at Nikki. “Can we, Ma?”
“We’ll plan on it.”
“Yay! Do you have a tattoo too?” Jo asked me.
The rapid switch had me chuckling. “Unfortunately not. I thought of getting one today but it didn’t work out.”
She bounced on her feet. “Tita Cammy can do it for you!”
My brows drew up. Tita Cammy, huh?
Turning to the back of her stall, Nikki raised her voice. “What do you say about that, Tita Cammy?”
I grinned, anticipating the response.
“Come on!” Jo grabbed my hand and pulled me to the back of the booth where Cam sat, glaring at Nikki. “There, see?” She poked the trio of flowers tattooed on Cam’s thigh. “We’re matching! I drawed?—”
“Drew,” Nikki said gently.
“—drew the flowers and Tita made them permanent,” Jo explained to me before looking at Cam. “Tita Cammy, can you do it on him too?” She faced me again. “You can also get orange!”
Cam’s face softened as she looked at Jo. “I don’t think orange is his color, Joey girl.”
“Then you can do blue!”
“I don’t have a blue marker.” At the girl’s fallen expression, Cam rushed to add, “Tell you what, I’ll buy one and give him a tattoo next time. How about that?”
Jo pouted. “But he lives in Manila.” Then she looked up at me. “Did you know Tita Cammy and Tito Eric used to live in Manila?”
My gaze moved to Cam, who avoided my eyes. I didn’t know what was more surprising—that there was a guy paired with her or that she’d come from the city too. “No, I didn’t know that.”
“Can I call you Tito Ally?” Jo asked.
