Page 54 of Sombra
I take Dani’s arm as we stroll. “How are you feeling about school starting?” she asks.
“Excited, with a dash of scared, and a tiny bit of confidence.”
She licks her gelato. She ended up getting chocolate. “That sounds about right. That’s kind of how I feel whenever I go to a new place.”
“Where have you been?” I ask. Trent and Tavo fallbehind us, lost in their own conversation that’s spoken in Spanish by Trent and English by Tavo. I admire their dedication.
“Everywhere, practically.” Dani starts listing countries she’s been to, and honestly it would be shorter to list the ones she hasn’t been to. As I’m hearing her talk, I’m so jealous. “Where have you been?” she asks.
“Iowa. And Spain.”
She stops and grabsmy wrist. “Seriously?”
“Yep. This is the first time I’ve been on a plane. First time out of the country.”
“It’s good that you got the chance,” she says. She looks like she wants to say more. To ask why, but she doesn’t want to pry or be impolite.
But Dani’s so friendly, so I start talking. “When I was really little, my dad was a psychiatrist, and he had an office downtown,and my mom didn’t work. Well, one day when she was home with me, when I was just a baby, someone broke into the house, put a gun to her head, locked her in a room with me, and proceeded to rob of us all the electronics. TV, VCR, you know.”
“That’s awful,” Dani whispers, and her eyes grow big. “I’m so sorry.”
“Thanks. I was too little to remember it, but obviously it affected her.She got super protective of me. I was only allowed to play with people she knew really well. She had to know their parents. She started taking me to all these activities like after school classes.” I take a lick of my gelato.
“Because she felt out of control with the robbery.”
“Yeah, right. I think so. It was something she could focus on and manage. Not this big, scary world.” Weget to the end of the plaza. “Should we walk back?”
“Sí,” says Trent. And I laugh, because he’s too adorable.
Tavo gives me a chin lift.
“Well, to continue my story, basically, after the robbery, she started emotional eating. And she gained a lot of weight. Then she figured out a plan to lose it, started helping others, and created a weight loss company. Now she’s this businesswoman,and she doesn’t have time to go anywhere.”
“I feel sorry for her,” says Dani.
“You know, I do, too. When I’m at home, she’s just annoying, but now that I’m over here and thinking about her, it just makes me sad. Like if she just let go of the reins, just loosened up a little, she’d have a whole lot more fun.”
“Agreed.”
“We haven’t really traveled anywhere. She’s beenscared to leave the home. We have extra security, lots of floodlights, and pretty much just stay put.”
Dani reaches out, squeezes my bicep, and nods. “Then this is the best opportunity for you.”
“Absolutely. When they asked me to stay home for college to save money and go to state school, I also think it was because my mom was worried about me leaving. So going here is a big stepfor all of us.”
“What do you want to do when you graduate?”
“I made my parents promise to send me to grad school. But I’ve been thinking about what I want to do. Since I’ve been here, I’m really interested in Spanish cuisine.” I shrug. “Maybe something with that.”
“I think you should do whatever you want to do. There’s always a way to do it.”
As I finish my cone andthrow the napkin in a trashcan, I’m so grateful to Dani for being sociable and keeping my mind off of Shane.
And off of Tavo.
A few days later,I swear I see Sonia leave the kitchen just as I step in. The door slams behind her. Guillermo leans against the counter,peeling an orange, obviously pissed. “Was that Sonia?”
He sneers. “Yeah, Tavo’snovia.”
“His girlfriend?” My stomach drops, and a flare of anger passes through me. I’d think if he had a girlfriend I would have known. Because otherwise, why did he kiss me? Why did he say those things? Why does he act the way he does? I can’t help but ask, “What do you mean, ‘his girlfriend’?”
Guillermo runs his hands through his hair then cracks his knuckles. “He is the eldest son. And she is the eldest daughter of the family next door. For a hundred years or more, we have sold our olives to them. They have the press. Our parents decided it would make a good union if Tavo were to marry her.”
My heart thumps, and I can’t swallow. “That’s absurd. He never mentioned it to me.What does he think of her? He doesn’t want to, does he?”
“From the sounds of the way he fucks her, I don’t think he minds.”
Guillermo’s voice is muffled, like he’s behind glass, and my eyes see only white fuzz. The world slows down. And I’m done. Just. Done.
