Not exactly the words he’d hoped to hear, but he held her tight anyway. Saying it felt right and that's all that mattered.
*
Brunch at his house went well with other members of his family meeting Sarah for the first time, including his oldest brother Sal. She was such a natural and everyone seemed to like her immediately. He’d hardly been able to keep his eyes off her the whole time. He took her home as soon as they were done eating so she could get her dinner at home over as soon as possible.
When he got back from dropping her off Eric was in the kitchen sitting at the bar with a plateful of food and Sofia was warming something up in the microwave.
“Thought you were spending the day with your dad?” Angel asked as he walked to the fridge.
Eric spoke with a mouthful of food. “Already ate with him.”
Angel looked down at Eric’s abundant plate. “You’re kidding right?
Eric didn’t flinch. “Nope. He’s watching some boring ass golf highlight’s DVD, so I thought I’d come over and see what you guys were up to.
As if he couldn’t imagine. But Angel didn’t mind. He felt bad for Eric. Since Eric’s parents were divorced and he lived with his dad he rarely got a home cooked meal. That’s why he was over so much in the Moreno kitchen. As far as Angel was concerned both Eric and Romero were like family.
Sofia pulled a plate with sliced apple pie on it from the microwave. She added a big spoonful of vanilla ice cream to the top.
“Looks good, Sofi,” Angel eyed the pie as he pulled an energy drink out of the fridge.
“Not for you.” She took the plate and set it in front of Eric.
Eric grinned at Angel “Thank you, Sof.”
“You’re a fat ass. You really gonna eat all that?” Angel leaned against the sink.
“Shit, I’m gonna go get me some more of your mom’s kick ass mashed potatoes.” Eric said putting another spoonful in his mouth.
“I made those.” Sofia beamed.
“Sarah liked them too.” Angel smiled at Sofia. “You’re getting better every year, Sofi.”
Sal walked in the kitchen. “Getting better at what?”
“Everything.” Eric said.
The comment threw Angel, and he thought he saw Eric and Sofia exchange a glance. Both Sal and Angel stared at him. Eric finished chewing and cleared his throat.
“I mean I heard Sarah say she’s getting pretty fast in track.” He looked at Sal, “But Angel was talking about her cooking.”
Sal turned to Sofia with a big smile. “That’s my baby sis.”
Sofia started putting dishes in the dishwasher. “Not a baby, Sal.”
Sal turned his attention to Angel. “So, I guess everyone is growing up around here. You brought a girl home to mom and pop, Angel? Really?”
“He’s got it bad.” Eric grinned.
Unamused, Angel shot him a look. “What’s the big deal?”
He took a swig of his drink and hoped someone would change the subject. But he had a bad feeling. He saw it in Sal’s face. He walked in the kitchen with a purpose. Sal pulled a chair from the breakfast table and straddled it.
“So, how long?” Sal asked.
Sofia answered for him, “Three months and a few weeks.”
That surprised Angel. He wasn’t even sure how long it’d been. He knew it’d been a few months, but that was it. “How do you know?”
Her expression teased him. “Sarah and I talk about a lot of things.” She glanced at Eric, and then back at Angel. “She just mentioned it the other day.”
“Wow.” Sal said. “So, tell me about it. What made you decide you wanted to be a one woman man?
Knowing Sal wouldn’t let up until he knew everything, Angel decided to just give him a brief rundown of the whole thing.
Very brief.
Sal looked settled in for a full detailed account, but that wasn’t going to happen. Angel did his best to sound bored.
“I met her in school. She was the new girl this year, didn’t really know anyone.” Angel shrugged for good measure, “I thought she was cool so we hung out, introduced her to the guys, and Sofi, and I’ve been hanging with her since. No big deal.”
He wondered if anyone was buying it. Everyone had seen him tonight. Hell, he’d never made an effort to hide his affection for Sarah before. But tonight was different. Telling her he loved her had done something to him. He couldn’t figure it out. All he knew was that every time he kissed her, touched her, or even looked into her eyes, it ignited something in him.
Sal looked satisfied. “She seemed nice enough.”
“She is really nice.” Sofia agreed. “I like her a lot.”
Eric groaned. “Oh, I ate too much. Sofi, why’d you feed me so much?”
Glad they were off the subject, Angel took advantage. “Good, that’s what you get. So, we working out tomorrow?”
Eric sat back in his chair with his hands on his stomach. The pained look on his face made Angel laugh.
Without missing a beat, Sofia put a cup of fizzing water in front of Eric. “Here drink this.”
Angel and Sal looked at Sofia. “What? That’s what dad drinks when he eats too much.”
Eric did as he was told and downed half the concoction, stopping with a face of pure repulsion. “What was that?”
“Seltzer water,” Sofia said. “Drink it all.”
Angel was amused by how Sofia was really turning into a mother hen lately. He enjoyed her irritation when he called her his baby sister, but he was damned if he’d ever stop calling her that.
His phone rang and when he saw it was Sarah, it immediately worried him. She hadn’t been at her aunt’s very long. He flipped it open. “Hey, what’s up?”
“I’m ready.” She sounded fine.
“How’d it go?”
“Everything went good. I was pretty full from your place, so I just had desert. Come get me. I’ll tell you all about it.”
Just thinking of seeing her again made him smile. “Okay, I’ll be there in a few.”
“Angel.” She whispered.
“Yeah?”
“I said, I’m
ready
.”
It took a moment for it to register. But when it did, he felt his heart speed up and a stir in his pants. Damn, she drove him crazy. “I’m on my way.”
Angel didn’t realize until he hung up, but Sal had been watching him the whole time.
“You bringing her back here?”
Angel flashed him a fat smile. “Nope.”
“Yeah, well, just remember. Don’t be stupid.”
With a wink, Angel grabbed his keys and was off.
*
Aunt Norma had made it sound like there would be a lot of her mom’s relatives there. If Sarah had known how things were going to work out, she would have had Angel over.
She hadn’t been able to stop thinking about him saying he loved her the whole day. She’d wanted so badly to tell him she loved him, too, but how could she? How could she sit there and tell him she loved him when she would be leaving him soon and he knew perfectly well it was by choice? She just couldn’t do it. As much as hearing him say he loved her had been music to her ears, she almost wished he hadn’t. It only made the guilt that much harder to bear.
“So, what happened?” They drove out of her aunt’s driveway. Angel put his hand on her lap and she wrapped both her hands around it.
She took a deep breath “First of all, all that worrying was for nothing. Most of the relatives who showed up were from my uncle’s side and the few that did show up from my mom’s were very distant relatives. Apparently all their closer family members still live in Arizona. No one really seemed interested.
“My aunt had to literally remind them that she had a sister. The adults ate in the dining room while…” she lifted her fingers to quote. “…us kids ate in the kitchen. It was actually kind of boring.”
She left out the part about her step-uncle’s nephews flirting outrageously with her. It had amazed her that both were the same age as Angel, and yet compared to him they were such immature goofballs.
Angel smiled. “Well, that’s good. I was kind of worried when you called so early. I thought maybe something happened.”
She leaned against him. “No, I just couldn’t wait to be with you again.”
He squeezed her hand.
At first when they drove up the alley to the back entrance of the restaurant Sarah wasn’t even sure where they were. She glanced around a little confused.
When they got inside she smiled. What could he have in mind? Surely he didn’t plan on making use of one of the booths, did he? They walked down a short hallway and through the small cluttered office. They went through another door that led to what looked like a break room.
She knew about it but had never actually been in there. There was a counter with a microwave, a toaster, and a refrigerator against the wall, with cabinets above it. A table in the middle of the room and a small sofa next to the table facing a T.V. that was in the corner.
Then she saw
it
at the end of the room. A bed, it was a small twin bed, with a dark bedspread nothing fancy, but it would do. She felt her heart speed up a little.
Angel strolled over to the fridge, opened it up and pulled out a jug of wine.
Sarah grinned. “Hey, my precious!”
“I thought maybe you’d want to unwind a little first.”
Were her nerves that transparent? He poured her a cup then went back to the fridge and grabbed a beer for himself. She chewed her lip when he tugged her by the hand toward the bed. She sat down feeling the swarm in her stomach go wild. She took a big sip of her wine as she watched him go back toward the counter. He opened cabinet above it, and took a small white plastic bag out. Then he came back and sat next to her.
He smiled and took a deep breath. “I want you to know, that even though you’re going to be leaving, I still want us to be together.”
Her eyes glistened. She’d thought about that so many times but dared not ask. It was way too much to ask of him. After all, it was her choice to go back. How could she possibly have the nerve to suggest it?
Angel pulled a small box out of the bag, and handed it to her. Before she could open it, he put his hand over hers.
“Sarah this isn’t gonna be easy, but I’m willing to do whatever it takes. I don’t care if I have to drive out there every weekend. Just ‘cause we’re so far doesn’t mean I plan on being a part time boyfriend. Do you understand what I’m saying? I want everything exactly like it is now. I won’t share you.”
Sarah closed her eyes for a moment, feeling a myriad of emotions. Guilt being the strongest of all. She forced a smile, and nodded. “Of course.”
He kissed her and took his hand off hers so she’d open the box. She did and pulled out a silver charm bracelet. “It’s beautiful.” She examined the different charms. “Did you pick these out?”
He nodded “Every one of them.”
She went through each one. First was a small starfish, then several different sea shells, a sailboat. The running shoe and then the bottle of wine made her smile.
“The lady looked at me kind of funny when I asked if she had a charm that was a jug of wine.” he said.
Sarah laughed. “You must not have been at a very classy place then.”