Must Wait

by Ginger Sharp

  She tilts her head and starts speaking in Spanish, “No Pedro, you cannot love her. That man walking behind you is her father. He will destroy you if he finds out. If he knew you were touching her and I did not stop you. He is going to kill us both. No more talking about her. Move on, Pedro.”

  A chair slides up next to Olivia and I move away from her and sit back in my chair. I see Olivia’s husband for the first time and I am downright scared. He glances over at me quickly then returns to stare at his wife.

  “Hi, honey, I am back.” He plants a kiss on the side of her face.

  She looks over at him angrily snapping. “I saw you pull up.” Then she tilts her head to one side and cracks her neck, then does the other side.

  His head jerks back. “Whoa, are you alright?”

  “No. And, Ryan, meet Pedro. Pedro meet Katie’s father and I hope he tears you from limb to limb.” Olivia gets up from the table, slamming her chair into the table then walks with angry heavy steps into the kitchen.

  He glares over at me and he can tell that I am scared. I offer him my hand to shake it. “Hola, Señor Nora.”

  He looks at me in the eye as I am shaking his hand. “Pedro, is there a problem here?”

  I look around nervously, not wanting to meet his stare. I feel my heart dropping and decide to tell him the truth. “I need help getting a passport and Señora is not happy with me. She says that my reasoning is invalid and unjustified.”

  He looks confused so he asks me, “A passport? Where do you need to go and what is your business there?”

  I look him dead in the eye. “Love. I want to go see if she feels the same. I know she does. Señora tells me that I am stupid and need to stay here to take care of my son and my farm.”

  He leans forward. “Where is this woman?”

  I shrug my shoulders. “I do not know. Señora will not tell me where Katie is.”

  His jaw drops when I say Katie’s name. He does not show anger towards me, but pity. “Pedro, follow me.”

  He gets up from the table and I am scared as hell. He picks his laptop computer off the bar, moving it to the farthest stool away from us. He motions to me to get over to him. I slowly get up, walking over to his side, ready for what he is going to do to me.

  He pushes buttons on his computer then I hear, “Yes, Daddy?”

  He smiles, looking at the screen. “I think I have something that might belong to you, maybe not.”

  He turns the screen towards me. I see Katie and she starts screaming. I am confused by what I am seeing.

  He guides me down to sit on the barstool. “Sit here and talk to her. She can hear and see you.”

  I nod then I turn to the screen. I see him out of the corner of my eye, talking to Olivia. Katie is speaking to me in Spanish.

  Her eyes look worried. “Daddy does not understand Spanish, Pedro. No English when he is around. How did this happen? How did you get him to let you talk to me? What does he know, Pedro?”

  I open my eyes really wide. “I am not sure. He overheard Olivia and me arguing about you. I told her that I was going to get a passport to go and see you. She freaked out and said a few things. She stormed off leaving me with your father. I just told him the truth about wanting to see you and here we are.”

  She nods. “You have to watch yourself around him. Do not let him find out that I stayed with you a few nights?”

  I nod. “About that Katie, I am sorry for the way I treated you.”

  “Hush, Pedro, I know. I will not be able to come down and visit now. Too much going on here. Mommy is famous.”

  I blush. “I know. I saw what pushed your father over the edge.”

  She laughs. “You are such a prude, Pedro. That video is cool as hell. Mommy is totally hot.”

  I raise my eyebrows. “Yes, Paolo sure seemed to thinks so.”

  She shakes her head. “Tell Paolo I said hands off. Mommy and Daddy are back together for good this time. There is nothing that is going to tear them apart.”

  “Katie, when am I going to see you again?”

  She looks to the side. “Grandpa is coming back down to see Rosalie soon. I have talked him into bringing you an iPhone. I told him that I would leave school if he didn’t. Don’t worry, I have him wrapped around my finger. Pedro, I have to go. My cousin, Nick, and I are going clubbing tonight and he is banging at the door because he wants to leave.”

  “I thought you were at school?”

  “No, my grandpa Nora died. I am in New Jersey staying at my aunt’s house tonight.” She looks away from the screen and yells some words that I can’t make out. She returns to look at me, smiling. “He is suck a dick, but he wants to leave now. He is prowling for chicks, you know. So, I am going to go, Pedro. I really miss you and I am very happy that I got to see you tonight.”

  I smile. “I miss you too, Katie. Please come see me soon.”

  “I will try, but get your passport. You can come to the beach house with us.”

  I laugh. “I have the beach here.”

  She smiles. “Bye, Pedro. Soon, I promise.”

  I nod. “Bye, Katie.”

  I get up and Katie’s father smiles up at me. I nod my thanks as I go sit back at the table.

  Parker stares over at me. “That went extremely well with Ryan. I thought for sure that he was going to kill you as he stared you down with those nostrils flaring.”

  I glance over at Olivia and Ryan at the bar. “I thought so too. I was afraid that I might have to fight him. He seems like a caring man.”

  Parker laughs. “He must be something. Did you check out his new ride?”

  I look towards the road to see a brand new Range Rover. “That is expensive. Is he rich?”

  Parker laughs. “Duh, just do not get on the man’s bad side, Pedro.”

  I nod. “I think I am more on Olivia’s bad side.” I look around not seeing Olivia or Ryan. I glance to the road to see that they had left.

  A few days later as Ramón and I wait for church, I see Olivia walking towards me waving her hand. She looks upset and her face is red like she has been crying.

  “Pedro, good, I caught you before you went into church. I have an enormous favor to ask and I will even buy you dinner.”

  “Everything okay with Olivia? You look upset. Have you been crying?”

  She laughs. “No, well, yes. Parker and I got into a fight this morning. Back to my favor…”

  I cut her off. “Fight? With Parker? Where is your husband?”

  She laughs again. “Ryan flew back to New Jersey this morning for his father’s memorial service. Pedro, please, I have a favor. Could you drive me later today to San Jose?”

  “No, I do not think so with Ramón and all.”

  She puts up her hand. “We can take Ramón with us. I am staying in a hotel and flying out tomorrow morning to be with my family. I would drive myself, but I wanted to come back home on Wednesday with Ryan.”

  “Parker couldn’t take you?”

  “No, Pedro. He is drunk and I had a hard enough time with him this morning getting my truck keys back from him. My Land Cruiser is all fueled up, please.”

  I smile. “Yes, if we are taking your truck. It is fun to drive. I was out last night in it with Parker.”

  She puts her hands on her hips. “Were you drunk too last night?”

  “Just a little bit. I would like to leave right after church if that is fine with you. Ramón has never been to San Jose. He never has seen those large buildings.”

  She beams up at me. “Great, I will go home and get my luggage. I will meet you back here after church.” She walks away back to the Cantina.

  I meet back up with Olivia and I start driving her truck up the rocky terrain. She looks over at me. “Geez, Pedro, you are a really bad driver too, just like Ryan.”

  I scowl over at her. “What is wrong with my driving?”

  She laughs. “You are driving fast and hitting every rock.”

  I watch her as she leans over playing with her radio. She t
urns up the music before sitting back in her seat. The music is nauseating and I turn it off. She glares over at me then turns it back on.

  I turn the radio back off as she hits my hand. “Olivia, please. The music is scary and Ramón is sitting back there.”

  She looks back. “Aww, I can’t believe he is sleeping while you drive like a maniac. Wait, you said the music is scary?”

  “Yes, quite.”

  She laughs hysterically. “You and Ryan must be drinking the same water. You both hate my art.”

  I glance over at her. “That is you screaming those nasty words.”

  She grins. “Yup! I thought you saw the videos with Rosalie and Paolo?”

  I blush. “Yes, but Rosalie had the sound way down.”

  She stares at me. “Did you just blush? Pedro, what are we going to do with you? You have a rude awakening coming to you if you think you love Katie.”

  I glance over at her. “I do love Katie.”

  She puts her hand up to silence me. “I know. I hear about it all the time. I just mean you are not knowledgeable in life. Do not get me wrong, you are a very sweet boy. You just do not know what is out there. You think Katie maybe the girl for you, but, honey, I am not sure about that if you can’t handle a provocative video.”

  I glare over at her. “I know what is out there. I do not understand how people throw sex around. It is an intimate act based on love.”

  “No, you have no clue. I think you should talk to Rosalie. Maybe she can give you a book to read or something. I know my daughter very well and she knows what she wants and how she wants it. If you do not make that happen for her, she will leave you in the dust, Pedro. Then you will be heartbroken again.”

  I am in shock listening to this conversation. “Katie is the virgin, not me.”

  I can feel Olivia’s eyes staring at me before she speaks her next words, “Pedro, I really do like you. I really do think you are a very handsome sweet boy. I want to see you and Katie together, but you are from different worlds. I wish there was a way I could help you understand without having Ryan or my father give you the sex talk.”

  I feel horrified. “Sex talk? I know what I am doing. I do not need help.”

  “If you say so, Pedro. I will have my father talk to you when he gets back here. I do not want you to be blindsided by Katie. I want you to fully know what you are getting into with her. She probably thinks it is cute now how you ask for permission to touch her, but that will not last long. You need to be more pre-emptive, maybe a little more aggressive.”

  I bit my lip. “What, Olivia? How do you know what I do?”

  She laughs. “Katie tells me and her grandfather everything. There are no secrets, well, yes, the ones that we keep from Ryan. He is not ready to hear about his daughter’s experiments. He may never be ready.”

  I shake my head. “What is wrong with you people? I do not get it? Is it an American thing to be talking about sex so openly?”

  She shrugs. “Maybe. Seriously, if you want to keep Katie happy, you will need to keep an open mind. You might be just fine since you accepted her relationship with Noelia.”

  I scowl. “What relationship? They are over.”

  Olivia chuckles. “No, Pedro. The girls live together. Katie is hitting that every night you silly boy. Power to her, I could never get in to the girl thing even though Ryan might have enjoyed it.”

  I grip the steering wheel really tight. “Please stop it right now. I do not want to hear anything more. Olivia you are killing my respect for you.”

  She giggles. “Well, Pedro, you better get used to it if you want to be a part of our family. You need to talk to Rosalie, seriously.” She takes out her cell phone and looks at it. “Good, I have a signal now. I will call her right now.” She dials her phone. “Rosalie, you answered your Skype phone. Awesome. You have to do me a favor. If Pedro really wants to be with Katie, he is going to need a sex education. I tried, he blushes and gets all mad. This exceedingly wholesome boy needs to be taken up a notch. You will talk to him. Great. Give him something to watch or read, he is clueless. Okay, bye bye, and thank you.” She hangs up the phone and smiles over at me, “You are good. Rosalie is going to hook you up.”

  I shake my head. “I can’t believe that I am hearing this from you. You do want me with Katie?”

  She nods. “Well, I guess I can’t keep you apart. So, we might as well give you the tools to make it work. Keep an open mind and learn, Pedro. That is all I ask of you.” She glances back at Ramón and smiles. “I miss my son. He was a really cutie too.”

  “I saw a photo of him in your house. He looked just like your husband.”

  She glances over at me. “Yes, he looked just like Ryan and just as nasty too. I wish Ryan would have opened his eyes years ago to what his mother was doing to all of us. Things would have been different for us.”

  I am confused. “His mother? What did she do?”

  “She would pit us all against each other and create drama. Ryan tuned me out, she had him convinced that I was a bad mother.”

  “Sounds like you just described Katie. She likes to cause problems too.”

  She laughs. “Yeah, Katie is a yeller too, like her father. It must be the Italian thing. They are loud animated people.”

  “Was Ryan your first?”

  She chuckles. “First what?” She sighs, “Sorry I know what you meant. He was not my first sexual partner, but he was the first man that I loved. I only loved him.”

  “Were you Ryan’s first?”

  She throws her head back laughing evilly. “Wow, Pedro, with the questions. You are going to be freaked out by the answer. Ryan slept around a lot. Over or close to three hundred woman and none of them were relationships. I was his first girlfriend and his first only love. Just like me, even though that crazy Parker believes otherwise.

  I glance over to see the angered look on her face. “Why are you angry with Parker?”

  “Oh, Pedro, he just doesn’t take no for answer. Today he came on to me really strong and I had to hurt him badly. He will be fine though.”

  I glare over at her angrily. “What did you do, Olivia? You and your husband have inflicted enough pain. Did you see his face when Ryan busted it up?”

  She bites her lip. “Nice to know that you do know my husband’s name. But really, Pedro, did you want me to just take it from Parker?”

  I jerk my head and glare at her, “You have screwed with his head. He is in love with you.”

  Her eyebrows raise in surprise. “Is that what Parker is telling you? I have no interest in Parker. I never have had interest, only as a friend. What did you want me to do, Pedro? Lay there and take it, no never.” She breathes in. “Since I have been here, I only had interest in Paolo. Paolo and I understand each other. We are both happily married and our flirting is cute. We knew it would never grow into anything else.”

  “My brother is right. You women are poison.”

  She laughs. “And you Araya men are toxic. Katie told me about Lasaro being a cheater and a voyeur. I am pleased that both you and Paolo have your morals.”

  I shake my head. “I am embarrassed by my brother’s behavior but he claims that his wife condones it.”

  “No, I would never tolerate that type of behavior from any man. Pedro, Ryan must never find out what Parker tried to do to me. Ryan will kill him this time.”

  I turn out on to the main highway. “Parker would never hurt you.”

  She glares at me again, “You are wrong. He was so drunk this morning. He had me pinned against the wall. When I tried to fight him off, he would be even harder on me. I had to twist his scrotum to get away from him. You ask him about it when you get home.”

  I gasp sharply. “Oh, Parker. He has been drinking heavily since he came back from San Jose after your hospital stay for your head. He was crushed when Ryan came back for you. He was sure he left you for good.”

  She nods. “Me too. Not sure if you know this part of the story. Ryan accidently left me divorce pa
pers when he hurried out. That is actually how I fell and hit my head. I fainted.”

  “Why would he have divorce papers? I am confused.”

  She shakes her head. “Katie again. She had him convinced that I moved on with Parker. He came down to Costa Rica to free me. He wanted me to be happy.”

  “Oh my gosh, now it all makes sense. I was with Katie when she spoke with Ryan. She did tell him that you moved on. She thought it would be weeks before Ryan came here. She assumed the paperwork was to protect his assets.”

  She nods. “I wish you would have stopped her. She really did put Ryan through emotional hell.

  I raise my eyebrows. “I did try. She wanted to protect you from him. I remember the one call where she said he was crying.”

  “My poor Ryan. Even though he is so stalwart, he is fragile. That is why I am going to New Jersey. I need to support him while he is grieving.”

  “I understand.”

  She smiles and settles back into the seat. “It is going to weird going back home. At least I have a fun-filled night planned thanks to my father.”

  “Really? What are you doing?”

  She laughs. “I am going to the spa to get all sexy. Then I am going to go to the hotel bar to pick up a man. Bring him back to my room to have a wild one-night stand.” I choke. “Olivia, what is wrong with you?”

  She laughs. “I am just joking, Pedro. I wanted to see you freak out. I am going to the spa though.”

  I shake my head. “You are just like Katie with all your joking.”

  She corrects me, “No, Pedro, Katie is just like me.”

  “What does Ryan say when you talk that way?”

  “No, no, I never talk that way when Ryan is around. He is a very jealous man. Well, I sometimes do say things to get what I want from him.”

  We remain silent for a few minutes. As I think about Parker and what he said about Olivia beating her husband up. I glance over at the woman sitting next to me, knowing how she had to fight off Parker. How could she possibly be beating her husband? He is so much stronger than her. I bite my lip wanting to ask her why she is abusive.

  “Olivia, can I ask you a personal question?”

  She stares over at me. “Sure, Pedro.”