Page 1 of Falling for My Best Friend's Dad
Chapter 1
Kayla
“Hey Kayla,” my brother Leo says to me from the backseat of my car. “Victor requested to be friends with you on FB but you haven’t accepted it.”
We’re on our way to my grandmother’s house in San Francisco for her birthday party. My mom and my little sister Maria sit in the back of my second-hand Subaru. I focus on the road for a second and ask, “Who’s Victor?”
“Are you serious?” Leo lets out an exacerbated sigh. “My soccer coach, Sis! He’s been having the hots for you for a while!”
I recall the stocky guy about my age that I saw just a moment ago at the soccer field where Leo practiced with his teammates. No wonder he was winking at me. I’m a bit embarrassed at Leo’s comment, considering Maria is only fourteen years’ old, but she giggles, along with my mom.
“I haven’t checked my FB account,” I say to him. “I don’t have the time for social media at all, Leo.”
I’m speaking the truth. I work two jobs from morning to night and on weekends.
“Come on, Kayla!” Leo shakes his head. “How much time does it take? It’s not like you don’t have breaks at work.”
He’s got a point. The truth is, I just don’t care for social media so much. I don’t care for the posts delivered to my account whether I like them or not. And why would I want to be friends with people I don’t even know? Besides, I’m not interested in Victor and being friends with him will only give him false hope. I’m considering how to explain my anti-social-media sentiment to my brother when my mom comes to my rescue. “Leave her alone, Leo.”
Leo grumbles but doesn’t speak.
A second later, my mom turns to me, “I think you should quit the restaurant job, though, Kayla. We could manage without it. You need to start dating. When I was your age…”
“Mom!” I stop her. “I’m not ready for a relationship yet. I want a career first.”
My mom sighs and doesn’t respond.
We remain silent for the rest of drive. I love my mom, but I don’t want to be her. She dropped out of high school to raise a family with my dad. At the end, he abandoned us and she worked her butt off to take care of three kids. I want to be independent. I don’t need a man to mess up my life. Besides, I’ve given my heart to a man I can’t have.
My grandma Angelica lives in the middle of Mission District, the most vibrant neighborhood in SF. I slow into a block packed with colorful Victorian houses and lined with jacaranda trees that are not yet in bloom. The sight brings about joy and hope — feelings I get from reading fairytales, and transports me back to the teenager coming home from school. I lived here with my grandma to be close to Golden Gate High School, a private school I attended with a scholarship.
I can’t believe my luck when I see a vacant spot in front of Angelica’s house painted in pink—finding a parking here is virtually impossible—until I see my cousin Alex standing between two cars looking at his phone. He looks up when we approach and steps onto the sidewalk.
“Thanks, Alex!” I say to him after squeezing my car into the parking, while my mom and my siblings are getting the gifts and food from the trunk of the car.
“I did it because Angelica made me,” he says without looking up from his phone. “A bunch of people were pissed at me.”
“You poor thing.” I chuckle and walk into the house with him.
“Kayla, sweet Niña,” Angelica greets me a bear hug. She’s in her early seventies, but her long wavy hair has very few greys.
“Happy birthday,abuela!”
“Come, Leslie and her baby are here already.”
It’s only ten in the morning, but the house is crowded. My mom has three siblings and I have eight cousins.
I soon spot Leslie holding her one-year-old son in her arms, standing by Jose, her husband.
“Hey, Kayla, what’s up?” Leslie waves at me. She is only a year older than I. We started college at the same time, but she took a year off in her junior year to nurse the baby and postponed her school work.
The moment I hold the baby in my arms, my heart melts. He’s adorable with his cute smile.
“Abuela said you started a new job as a business administrator. How is it?” Leslie asks.
“Not new anymore. I started it four months ago. It’s okay. I’m getting used to it…” I stop mid-sentence and gasps as I notice her protruding belly. “No way! You’re pregnant again!”
She nods with a grin. “Yep! It’s a girl this time.”
