Page 157 of Along Came Amor
It’s not too late.
Esperanza threw her hands up. “How is my granddaughter’s life not my business?” She rounded on Ava again. “That man just asked you to marry him. What are you so upset about?”
“What am I upset about?” Ava repeated the question with an edge bordering on hysterical. “I’ll tell you. I’ll tell you what I’m upset about.”
She ticked it off on her fingers. “I’m upset about being asked if I’m pregnant and then being calledfat.”
Nereida clutched her rosary to her chest.
“I’m upset about wagers being made regarding my relationship status.”
Ronnie looked away guiltily.
“I’m upset about the way everyonestill talks about Hector.”
Sammy had the grace to look abashed, while Marta studied her nails.
Esperanza, who had evidently had enough of Ava’s feelings, waved a hand dismissively. “Families always talk about each other. Es normal.”
“No.” Ava’s heart pounded from the stress of outright disagreeing with her grandmother. “It went beyond typical bochinche. And while I donotregret my divorce, Iamupset by the way everyone reacted. It was the most painful time of mylife, and instead of being supported, I was judged and blamed me and treated like a failure. It was extremely hurtful, and still is.” Ava addressed the rest of the group. “After all that, can you understand why I’d be scared to introduce someone new?”
There were some nods, a few shrugs. Titi Val had joined the group, and she sent Ava a sympathetic smile.
Someone else moved into Ava’s line of vision—Jasmine, approaching from the back. Ava sucked in a breath as she turned to her cousin. “Jas, I’m so sorry you found out this way.”
Jasmine’s expression turned sheepish. “I kinda already knew. Ashton told me after the bridal shower.”
“Of course.” Ava’s shoulders slumped, the weight she’d been carrying replaced by the shame of her actions. “I should’ve told you sooner.”
Jasmine’s glance darted around the group surrounding them, and when their gazes met again, Ava saw deep understanding in her cousin’s dark eyes.
Esperanza, who’d been conducting a rapid-fire conversation in Spanish with Nereida, rounded on Ava again. “Mira, nena. What do you want me to say? I’m sorry?”
Despite speaking the words out loud, it was clearly not an apology. Still, Ava murmured, “Thank you.”
Shaking that off, Abuela pressed her cool hands to Ava’s cheeks. “I just don’t want you to be alone.”
“I don’t want to be alone either.” A note of pleading entered Ava’s voice. “But I needed time to heal, to figure out who I am now and what I want from the rest of my life. I needed my family, I neededyou, and instead, it felt like... like you didn’t love me anymore.”
Ava’s voice cracked at the end, the words forced out through a throat jammed with tears. The vulnerability of her admission left her feeling raw and exposed.
Esperanza’s eyes went wide and she sputtered, as if such a thing had never occurred to her. As if such a thing were impossible.
“Muchacha, of course I love you!” She stepped forward and pulled Ava into a hug. “Ay, mi bebé. You could havemurderedHector and I would still love you. Not only that, I would tell everyone you were innocent.”
Ava leaned into the embrace, tears and laughter clogging her throat. “Why didn’t you say that at the time?”
Abuela shrugged as she pulled away. “Porque I thought it was obvious.”
“It still helps to hear it,” Ava said, because it definitely hadn’t been obvious.
Esperanza’s brow creased in thought, and she turned to her sister. “¿Sabes qué? I remember having a similar conversation with our mother, a long time ago.”
Nereida’s eyes narrowed on a point in the distance. “I remember that. Ay Diós, she was so angry that anyone dared to question her.”
Esperanza blinked. “Aha. I see now that this is the problem.” But then her expression turned coy. “Y este hombre,” she began.
Ava suppressed an eye-roll at the immediate shift away from self-examination. Before her grandmother could continue interrogating her about Roman, Ava blurted out, “I’m quitting my job.”
