Page 66 of A Lot Like Adiós
Ava:My mom just called to ask if you have a man living with you at your parents’ house.
Since Valentina was still bochinchando about Florida chisme, Michelle typed back a reply.
Michelle:Cat’s out of the bag. I’m on the phone with my mom now.
Ava:Are you okay? Do you want me to come over?
From the living room, Michelle heard Gabe saying, “Nikki, listen to me. I was going to tell you but—”
“—to the quinceañera,” Valentina was saying, so Michelle brought the phone back to her ear.
“What’s that? Sorry, Jezebel did something.”
When in doubt, blame the cat.
“I was asking if you’re bringing Gabriel to Ronnie’s stepdaughter’s quinceañera this weekend.”
“No, I didn’t RSVP with a plus-one and you know how Ronnie—”
Valentina sucked her teeth. “No es nada. There’s always room for one more person.”
Michelle had a feeling her mom also wanted to show off to the entire family that Michelle was finally dating someone.
Fuck. Maybe the fake dating pretense wasn’t such a great idea after all. Her family had a tendency to blow anything relationship-adjacent out of proportion.
Michelle eyed Gabe, who was pacing the living room. There were worse things than having Latino Superman on her arm at a quinceañera. Plus, it would get on Ronnie’s nerves, which was a good enough reason to bring him.
Michelle and Ronnie had been frenemies since they were ten, when, while practicing triple axels in Abuela’s living room, Ronnie had broken a window and blamed it on Michelle. It wasn’t the indoor figure skating that caused the accident, but the baseball Ronnie had thrown at her older brother Sammy after he gave her a low score on her short routine.
“Youhaveto bring him, Michie,” her mom was saying. “Everyone will want to see him.”
Especially since everyone already seemed to know Gabe was here. If Michelle didn’t bring him, the Rodriguez family would spend the entire quinceañera lamenting his absence.
Another text popped up.
Abuela Esperanza:¿Tienes un novio?
Oh no. Even hergrandmotherknew about Gabe. Instead of answering whether or not she had a boyfriend, Michelle sent a winking emoji in reply and brought the phone back to her ear.
“I’ll ask him,” she hedged. “We’ll see.”
God, Gabe was going to hate this. She had to get off the phone before her mother pressured her into something else. Like a proposal.
“I gotta go, Mom. Jezebel is puking.”
Jezebel was currently curled up on one of the dining chair cushions taking a nap, oblivious to all the turmoil surrounding her.
“Not on my rugs!” Valentina cried.
“No, Jez, not there!” Michelle said, so convincingly that the cat raised her head and sent her an affronted look. “Bye, Mom.”
Michelle ended the call as Gabe wandered back to the kitchen doorway with a dazed expression on his face.
“My sister wants me to visit her,” he mumbled.
“And my mom has insisted I bring you to a quinceañera this weekend.”
Gabe frowned. “I thought your family didn’t do quinces. You didn’t have one.”
