Within moments, Mom, Dad, and Trish were on the porch. My sister knelt on the porch next to me with her head on my leg and with Mom and Dad on either side, a hand on each of my shoulders.
“So, I guess you heard all that,” I said.
They all three nodded but didn’t say anything, just kept their hands on me.
“It’s not that I’m crying ‘cause I miss him or want him back but because, if he had found me after his mom’s surgery, I probably would’ve forgiven him. Truth is, I’ve wanted him back all this time. For two years, I waited for him to come back.”
I let another wave of tears overwhelm me. “I didn’t realize until now that I’d never really been able to get over the fact he dumped me before he had all the facts. That wouldn’t change, and I would always be waiting for him to hurt me again. I didn’t get that until just now.”
The tears continued to flow when Dad reached down and kissed me on the head. “You are one of the bravest men I’ve ever met. Right now, you are my hero son.” Of course, this just made the waterworks flow harder.
After a few minutes, I said, “OK, I think we’ve made enough of a show for the neighbors on a Monday morning. Mom, do you have champagne? I’m suddenly having a strong desire for mimosas, and we can celebrate me closing an important chapter of my life.
The family went in, and Mom whirled through the kitchen like the old days, whipping up a large breakfast. Trish poured orange juice, and I poured champagne. She was still too young to drink, but that didn’t stop her from giving me the stink eye when I obviously omitted pouring champagne into her glass.
Dad snuck out to the garage and brought in some Jack, placing it on the table and said, “In case you need something a little stronger, son.” Mom shot Dad a nasty look but didn’t say anything about the whiskey.
The rest of the day was perfect. Trish had to work, so she left shortly after breakfast. I joined my parents in several hands of poker, which switched to spades when my sister got home. That was better anyway since my parents ended up nose to nose repeatedly over rules regarding the different card games.
“You both know you could find the rules on Google, right?” I asked.
“Now, what would be the fun in that?” my mother said and winked at me.
Despite the drama related to my arrival and Peter’s visit, the rest of my stay in Austin was uneventful. I hung out with old friends, visited my favorite watering hole, where the hippies liked to swim naked, then fished out on the river, went into town to watch the bats fly out from under the bridge, and had one of the most relaxing vacations I’d had in some time.
By the time the second week was ending, though, I was hungry for my life back in Lauderdale. I’d decided not to text Kristine about Peter. She was already worried about me, but I also wanted to fill her in on the drama, knowing how much she liked that kind of thing.
When Sunday finally arrived, my parents drove me to the airport, and my mom cried about me leaving, which was her usual M.O. Dad also looked forlorn, and both my parents told me how much they loved me and would miss me. Once again, I remembered how lucky I was to have them.
Kristine met me at the airport when I arrived back in Fort Lauderdale. She was bursting at the seams to tell me all about the happenings since I’d been gone. The biggest thing was that the restaurant had closed and there was a for-sale sign on the window.
“That didn’t take long,” I sighed.
“Well, the death nail was the video. The entire city went up in arms when that came out, and it appears you are now our little celebrity,” she said enthusiastically.
“No more anonymous reviews, I guess,” I replied regrettably.
“That’s seriously doubtful,” she said.
“No matter, your reviews will be coveted, so when there is something new, everyone will look to you for direction.”
“I feel like I’ve become the quintessential, old gay restaurant guy,” I said with as much distaste as I could.
Kristine peered over at me quizzically. “I thought you’d be happy about this. What’s crawled up in you?”
“I am happy, Kristine. I’m just bummed about how things came down with Elian,” I said with a sigh.
“Aaah, you miss him,” she said.
I nodded. “It doesn’t matter if I miss him or not; it’s over. If his cousin hadn’t ended it, I certainly did when I ignored his texts.”
“He texted you?” Kristine asked, shocked. “You never told me he tried to reach you again.”
“He did, and I ignored him. I even deleted his name and info out of my phone. I thought I was done with him.” I sighed again.
“Well, if you miss him and want to see him again, then you need to give him a call sooner than later,” she said. “You know that man is beyond hot after he heroically belted his cousin in the nose for you. I’m sure every fairy in the city is after him.”
“No, it’s over,” I said. “Even if I chased him down, and he took me back, his family would disown him for coming after me. They are all really close, Kristine. Blood is thicker than water. Even if that water is boiling hot.”
Kristine laughed. “I think you’re wrong; families fight all the time, and when a man stands up to them to defend his love, families tend to respect that. Besides, you could both move to California or something and leave them all here.”
I turned toward Kristine, who was now merging into traffic and asked, “You would be OK with that?”
She jerked and almost stepped on the breaks before thinking better of it. “Forget that. I was in friend mode, not editor mode. You may never move to California. But I’d be willing to help you kidnap them and ship all of them there.” She glanced over at me and winked.
As we drove, I filled her in on seeing Peter in Austin, which almost caused her to do another full stop. Luckily, she had her wits about her today, and we made it safely to my apartment.
She dropped me off after I’d told her I was too tired to hang out. The truth was I didn’t want to talk about Elian or Peter anymore. I was tired of men and wanted to sit in my tub, drink a lot of chardonnay, and relax. Since a week ago, I’d decided I wanted to do a follow-up article or blog about the big deal with the restaurant closing, and I hadn’t been able to get my mind wrapped around it.
I guessed I needed to talk to Elian at some point and get his take on the events since he was now a big part of it all. Anyone that read the article or saw the video would be curious how everything played out with him.
The thought of seeing Elian both excited and scared the crap out of me. The last thing I told him was I never wanted to see him again. That was two weeks ago. The only thing I’d heard from him since then was a text. A text I ignored. The message from me was clear to anyone who was listening: Martin is a cold, heartless bitch.
I couldn’t imagine Elian would ever be willing to see me again, even if we could make things work with his family which clearly wasn’t ever going to happen.
As I was unloading my bag, I was surprised to see Dad had stowed away his prized whiskey in my checked luggage. I laughed. My father wasn’t overly emotional, but when he saw me hurting, he had no qualms about making sure I was stocked with the “forget everything potent.”
My father was nothing if not a good ol’ southern boy, and in his mind, whiskey could get a man through any problem. At the moment, I wasn’t in disagreement. I poured myself three fingers and toasting my absent father, I downed it before going to get that bath.
Luckily, the bath and the whiskey seemed to have the desired effect, and I was asleep before I knew what hit me.
The next morning, I called another cab into work. I still wasn’t sure the coast was fully clear, and I’d rather avoid any lurking Alverez if I could.
I had them drop me off in front of the infamous coffee shop, and when I walked in, I got a round of applause from the baristas. I didn’t linger long after my order was filled; instead, I rushed to my office. We had a new person at the front desk. Normally, I’d have stopped and
introduced myself, but she was on the phone so I waved at her intending to meet her officially later.
Before I could get past her, however, she quickly put the person she was speaking to on hold and asked, if I was going to be in the office all day today.
“That’s the plan,” I replied and continued back toward my office. I wasn’t sure what had prompted the question especially since I assumed she didn’t know me, but the answer became clear about an hour later.
The same secretary who greeted me on the way into the building knocked on my door. When she came in, she said, “There is an older woman by the name of Catarina Alverez who would like a meeting with you. Are you available, or do you want me to make an appointment for later?”
I was shocked that Elian’s aunt, the muscle man’s mother, was here.
“Did she say why she’s here?” I asked.
“She said she needed to speak to you about a private matter. Should I ask her for more specifics?”
“No, just tell her it’ll be a moment.”
I slipped out of my office behind the secretary and down to Kristine’s. I walked in and closed the door behind me. “This is going to be a problem,” I told her.
“What?” Kristine asked, noticing for the first time I was in her office.
“Elian’s aunt, the mom of the guy who threatened me has just shown up. She is out front waiting to see me.”
“Oh, shit,” Kristine replied.
“Yeah,” I agreed.
“Do you want me to meet her with you?”
“No, I think I better do this alone, but I’ll keep the door open. Why don’t you hang around, though, in case things go bad.”
“Yeah, I think that’s a good idea.”
When I got back to my office, I phoned the secretary, and told her to send Mrs. Alverez back to my office.
“Mrs. Alverez,” I greeted her when she came to my door. “Welcome. Can I get you anything to drink?”
“No, mijo, I’m here for a quick visit. Thank you for seeing me.”
The woman took a deep breath and got right down to business. “We all know about this restaurant shit. We are all mad as can be at my son for being so stupid. He embarrassed himself and the family with how he treated you, and my first order of business here is to tell you we, Elian’s entire family, want you to know how sorry we are.”
“Thank you, Mrs. Alverez,” I replied, genuinely surprised.
“Ian, my son... His papa has been trying to get him to go into the condo business with him. And he should because, unlike the restaurant business, he is actually very good at real estate, but his dream was always to own restaurants like his cousin. The truth is, I think he is a little jealous of Elian, and that is what this was all about,” she said. She sighed then and finally sat down.
“I can imagine the family got pretty angry when the restaurant had to close and all the negative public stuff came out,” I said, feeling the sadness I’d felt the past two weeks settle on me again.
Mrs. Alverez laughed.“No mijo, we are all relieved someone had the balls to get this ridiculous idea out of his head once and for all.” She reached over the desk and put her hand over mine.
“You know, Martin, we love all our children, and we want them to have the very best.” She hesitated for a moment, then said, “Since I met you that night on the beach, I knew you were Elian’s very best.”
When I tried to explain we were no longer together, she just laughed. “You love my nephew,” she said, “and he loves you. We all know this. You know this.” She took a moment to text someone which I thought was weird. Then, she said, “But, I will tell you something you don’t know. When my son came home, calling you names and threatening to dismember you, he had everyone upset. We all saw the video where Elian hit him in the mouth, and that usually would’ve put an end to it. As far as I know, Elian has never hit anyone before, and I think Ian was hoping to save face, but when Ian said something threatening about you again, Elain leaped up to your defense.”
She chuckled. “Poor Ian was speechless. I’d never seen him like that. You see, Elian is the peacemaker in our family. He never raises his voice. Even so, when he came to your defense in front of the family, I don’t think Ian knew how to handle it.”
“So, what happened?” I asked, enthralled by the story.
“Ian sat down and shut up.” Mrs. Alverez laughed so hard that I couldn’t help but catch some of her humor. When she stopped laughing, she said, “Mijo, you have to know Elian would never stand up to his cousin if he didn’t care deeply for you.” She patted my hand then and smiled.
“Go to Elian. He feels bad about confronting his cousin. At least having the man he loves by his side would make the effort worth it, Martin.”
Just as I thought she was going to stand to leave, she announced, “Now, Ian has something he wants to say to you. Then, in a shrill Mom voice, she yelled, “IAN!” To my surprise, a few moments later, the big muscle man walked in.
“Now, Ian, what do you want to say to Mr. Williams?”
It took every ounce of my self-control not to laugh at the expression on Ian’s face. The thirty-some-odd-aged man who appeared at that moment like he was thirteen again said, “I’m sorry, Martin.”
“For what?” his mother asked.
Ian waited a moment, looked at his mother and said, “Mama, I need to do this in my own way. Please, give me a moment.”
Ian turned toward me then with a different, mature expression on his face.
“Mr. Williams, I have been a shit. I’ve taken my anger out on you instead of on my staff, who are the ones to blame for your horrible night. Did Elian or Mama tell you why I was so upset?” he asked.
“All she has told me,” I admitted, “was that you wanted to compete with your cousin. I haven’t seen Elian since that day.”
Ian glanced guiltily at his mother, who was sending hateful darts at him.
“You see,” Ian continued, “I have been trying to run a restaurant since high school. Elian and Lucia have always been good restaurateurs but I… not so much. No matter how hard I tried, I would get distracted, lose interest, or hire the wrong people, and the restaurant would fail.
“After Elian sold the brewery, I thought I could do it also, so I talked my father into loaning me the money to open the restaurant you critiqued. The only requirement was if I failed this time, I had to give it up for good and go into the real estate business with him. So, when you gave me the negative review, and the other customers joined you, confirming the assessment, I was angry because, at first, I thought Elian had put you up to it, then I thought my father had, then I was just angry at the circumstances.
“When I confronted you at the coffee shop, I thought I was going to uncover some conspiracy, and finding Elian there confirmed my belief. It wasn’t until the family was together, and I confronted Elian that I realized I’d been wrong.
“Please, I know I don’t deserve to be forgiven, but you have to understand how difficult it is to give up on a dream, even if the dream is only to outsmart your cousin.”
“So…” his mother said. Ian sighed in frustration.
“So,” he continued, “I’m very sorry for my actions, and Mama is right. Elian must really love you, or he’d never have stood up for you like that.”
“Good boy,” his mama said. “Now, go get the car started. I’ll be right down.”
Senora Alverez came over, put her arms around me, then kissed my cheek. “I hope to see you at one of our Sunday dinners,” she said before she left.
After she was gone, Kristine came into the office and sat down. “So, what are you going to do?” she asked.
“I don’t know,” I said, shaking my head. “Elian put himself on the line with the people he loves the most to defend my honor, even after I refused to give him a chance. That is the opposite of Peter and his mother. Elian stood by me and continued to do so, even after I turned into the ice queen.”
Kristine giggled, “You can certainly be an ice quee
n. That is for damned sure.”
I gave her a nasty look, yet she came over and hugged me. “I love Mrs. Alverez,” she said. “I dream of being a mama like her one day.”
“I know. Terrifying, isn’t she?” I asked.
Kristine nodded. “Maybe I need to hire her to do an advice column for parents with adult children.”
I could tell she was joking, but I could also see the wheels were really turning in her head.
“You really never stop, do you?”
“What?” she asked. “We are at work, I’m just doing my job. Back to Elian; it sounds like you need to have a talk with him.”
I agreed. “I think I’m going to do that now,” I muttered and started to walk out the door.
“I still hate you for catching the Cuban prince,” she called after me.
I caught the Alverezes as they were leaving the garage. I waved them down and went to Mrs. Alverez’s side, and when she rolled her window down, I asked.
“Where is Elian today?”
Mrs. Alverez squealed with delight. “He’s back home at his parent's house. Get in. We’ll take you with us.”
The ride to their condo was uneventful, as if nothing had happened. Mrs. Alverez talked about everything from her niece’s restaurant to the condo buildings and how Ian and his father were going to tackle some new buildings on some land north of the city.
Instead of being angry, Ian seemed to glow under his mother’s pride. This was clearly the best outcome for him as well.
When we got to the condo, Mrs. Alverez called up to Elian’s condo, and when someone answered, she said into the phone, “Elian has a visitor.” I couldn’t tell what was said, but it was clear that whoever was on the other line was aware Mrs. Alverez had come to see me.
I heard brief parts of the conversation, but eventually, Mrs. Alverez said, “Yes, he came back with us.”
Then, I heard a squeal, and Mrs. Alverez took the phone from her ear, smiling blankly at me, pretending like nothing was going on. I knew then without asking that the person on the other line was Elian’s mother. Mrs. Alverez hung up the phone a moment later and said, “Elian will be down in a moment to get you.”
Love By Chance (Chance Series Book 1) Page 16
