Page 124 of Along Came Amor
“That’s my cue to leave,” Jillian muttered, ducking away.
Esperanza reached into her purse and pulled out a fistful ofsquare white packets. “My friend at the makeup store gave me some extra skincare samples.”
Michelle took one and read the label. “Nighttime eye cream? What are you trying to say, Abuela?”
“No necesito decir nada. The shopping bags under your eyes say it all.” Esperanza dumped the samples into Jasmine’s hands. Half of them fell on the floor.
Jasmine opened her mouth, closed it, then just said, “Thanks, Abuela.”
After Esperanza sailed away to greet Olympia and Willow, Jasmine sighed. “It hasn’t been announced, but I have a sponsorship deal with a skincare line. I have to call and make sure this doesn’t violate that agreement.”
“No rest for the rich and famous,” Michelle teased, and Jasmine groaned.
“You wouldn’t believe the number of brands who’ve reached out aboutswag bagsfor the wedding guests.”
“Ooh, you’re having swag bags?” Michelle asked.
“No! This isn’t the Oscars. Although we’ve had a surprising number of offers from publications who want to cover the wedding as an exclusive,” Jasmine admitted.
“Are you going to do it?” Ava asked.
Jasmine shook her head. “It’s tempting. They’re offering a lot of money—and I meana lot—but this is private. Letting the press into our personal lives is a slippery slope.”
“Good choice,” Ava said. Considering the spotlight had nearly torn Jasmine and Ashton’s relationship apart before it had the chance to begin, the decision made sense.
Jasmine pulled out her phone. “I’d better call and check on this brand thing.”
“Don’t bother.” Without a second’s hesitation, Ava scoopedup the eye cream samples and dumped them into the trash. “We’ll say they got misplaced.”
Michelle raised her eyebrows. “Who are you and what have you done with my cousin?”
Ava fought a smile. Was this New Ava rearing her head, without any prompting? “I’m going to make another pitcher of mimosas before the tías stage a riot.”
She rounded the counter into the suite’s kitchen and pulled champagne and orange juice from the fridge. She mixed two pitchers and was carrying them to the beverage table when she caught sight of Esperanza and Willow. Abuela was plucking at the sleeve of Willow’s shirt and wearing a critical expression Ava was all too familiar with.
“You know I don’t understand Spanish, Grandma,” Willow said, pulling away. “Isn’t one colonizer language enough? Why do I need to speak two?”
“Colonizer?” Esperanza repeated, then she rounded on Ava, her dark eyes flashing. “¿De qué está hablando?”
“Teenage slang,” Ava muttered, not wanting to get into an explanation of the colonial history of the United Statesorthe Caribbean. “What’s going on?”
Esperanza gestured broadly toward Willow’s clothes. “I said she looks like she’s going to a clown’s funeral.”
Ava glanced at her sister. Willow wore an oversize black-and-white-checked sweater vest and wide-legged black trousers rolled up to reveal chunky Doc Martens on her feet. The outfit was very much in line with Willow’s aesthetic, which she called “weekend Wednesday Addams.”
Willow’s chin trembled as she met Ava’s gaze, and she looked to be seconds away from ruining the smoky eye Ava had taught her to do.
Ava quickly set down the mimosas and did something she almost never did around her grandmother.
She drew herself up to her full height.
“Abuela,” Ava said, in a voice that was quiet but firm. “Willow is seventeen. She is allowed to make her own choices about what she wants to wear. Just because her personal style is different from yours doesn’t give you the right to make her feel bad about it.”
“Pero she’s such a pretty girl, if she’d only—”
“This is her body,” Ava interrupted. “No one gets to dictate what she does with it. Not even you.”
Esperanza, perhaps realizing that she had a new opponent, switched to Spanish and let loose a barrage of tried and true Latina grandma jabs.
