by A. J. Downey
“Sorry, Tío Rodrigo!”
“Get out here when you get dressed.”
You better believe I dressed him down over it. By the time I was done, he tearfully apologized to Lys, who hugged him and told him it was okay, that she understood and she wasn’t mad. That then led into a discussion about better ways to deal with anger and frustration. I hadn’t even thought about that last part. Not only did she school Manolo, she schooled me without even knowing it.
I needed to marry her, like yesterday.
Slow down there, turbo. She ain’t even divorced yet.
Shit.
I’d fucking forgotten all about it. Her divorce hearing was next week and here I was taking up all of her time with my family’s drama. I wiped a hand over my face and looked over to where Manolo was shouldering his backpack.
“C’mere, Hombrecito.”
He came over, as mopey and as sullen as an eight year old can get, and it didn’t matter that he was a kid who was way older than his years – he was still a kid. I hugged him tight and told him, “I love you, kid.”
“I love you, too.”
“We’ll get this thing with your mom figured out as best we can.”
“Promise?”
If I’d learned one thing as a beat cop, it was ‘Don’t make promises you can’t keep’. I gave his shoulder a squeeze and told him the truth. “I can’t promise everything will be okay, bud. That’s not how things like this work. I can promise not to lie to you about it, and I can promise we’ll all do everything we can, but your mom, she made a big mistake this time.”
“Bigger than my dad does?”
I nodded. “Way bigger.”
He nodded and let out a huge sigh weighted with way more disappointment an eight-year-old should ever have to carry. He nodded and I let his shoulder go.
“You know which school?” I asked to be sure, and Lys smiled serenely and said, “I’ve got it.”
“Okay, text me,” I said.
“Get some sleep,” she ordered gently.
Manolo rolled his eyes. “Come on, I’m gonna be late.”
“You didn’t even want to go a minute ago,” I said, accusingly.
“Yeah, now I can’t wait to get out of here, and away from you two!”
I put my face in my hands while Lys shut the door on her laughter.
That kid was going to kill me, once he really ramped up and got used to being here.
28
Alyssa…
“All rise; the court of the Honorable Judge Daniel Arken is adjourned.”
We all stood and the judge left the courtroom. I turned to Deanna, my lawyer and she smiled at me broadly. I hugged her. I know it wasn’t professional, but she deserved it. She had argued my case better than perfectly and had convinced one of the hardest judges there was so well that he’d given us everything we’d asked for and more.
“Thank you,” I murmured and she gave my shoulders a squeeze and beamed at me from arm’s length.
“You did remarkably well,” she said, then asked, “Are you okay?”
“I am, thank you,” I said with a laugh, and turned towards the gallery. Golden smiled from one of the back rows. Ray glared at me and followed my gaze, turning nearly incandescent when he saw who I was looking at.
I thought to myself, quite out of character, And here you were thinking ‒you‒ were the one to trade up. It's spelled K-A-R-M-A and its pronounced ‘Ha ha, fuck you, Ray.’
I waited for him to leave the courtroom, exchanged a few more words with my lawyer, and went to meet Golden where he waited for me at the end of the aisle between the galleries’ seats. He took my hand when I reached him and tucked it into the crook of his arm. It was so old-fashioned, so gentlemanly, and I loved that about him.
He’d told me that his father used to do it for his mother all of the time when he was growing up, before his father had died, and that the gesture had stuck with him. It had been a tough week or so with Manolo in the apartment, somewhat testing boundaries and acting-out. The situation with his mother didn’t look good and Golden had committed for the long haul when it came to his nephew.
“Well, that went better than expected,” he said, with a dark chuckle that bordered on vindictive.
I smiled and nodded slowly.
“Yes it did.”
“So, you’re a free agent, now.”
I laughed and shook my head slightly as he opened the courtroom door for me. I let my bottom lip go from between my teeth and said, “No. No, I am not. At least as far as any other man is concerned.” He paused and gave an impressed look like, All right!
I laughed and he put his hand on the small of my back. We stepped through, out into the courthouse hallway. Ray looked in our direction and looked positively murderous. My heart leapt in my chest and stuck in my throat until Golden took my hand and tucked it firmly into the crook of his arm again, laying his opposite hand over the top of it. Ray straightened and looked down his nose at us and we walked away.
“I don’t expect he’ll do half of what he’s supposed to,” I murmured.
“Like keep you on his health insurance?”
“Or pay his alimony on time, if at all.”
“It’ll come back to bite him,” he said.
“That’s his problem. He’s definitely not my problem anymore, I’ll be fine.”
Golden laughed softly and smiled proudly at me. “Now, that, is my girl.”
I smiled broadly myself, and we took the elevator down to the first floor. As we stepped off, we ran into someone we knew.
“Yale,” Golden greeted.
“Hey, what are you two doing here?”
“Final divorce hearing,” I answered.
“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that. How did it go?”
“Oh, don’t be! I’m not,” I said, laughing. “I got everything I asked for, and then some.”
“Really? Well, congratulations. Must have had Judge Kellerman.”
“Arken, actually.”
Yale gave a low whistle and said, “Your husband fucked up, then.”
“Spectacularly,” I agreed.
“So, what are you guys off to do now?” he asked.
“Well, my nephew is with my brother,” Golden said, and in a lowered voice, his gaze darting around to make sure he wasn’t overheard, he added, “So I figured I’d get it while the gettin’ is good; take her home and fuck her brains out.”
I blinked surprised and Yale burst out laughing. I was surprisingly on board with this plan.
We took a cab home, and our mouths were like magnets, locked together as soon as the elevator doors closed. We rushed down the hall to our door and he fumbled with keys. As soon as the door was shut behind us, the clothes started coming off.
The last time we’d had sex, we’d been interrupted; then we’d had to put everything in the deep freeze. Over a week’s worth of pent-up desire and frustration rushed to the surface and we were both ready to explode. Angel had Manolo for now, so we were definitely taking advantage of the situation.
“Your place or mine?” he asked harshly, breathless with need.
I stopped cold. I couldn’t help it. Maybe it was my new-found freedom, the fact that I really felt free. Maybe it was the fact that so much had been turned upside-down and inside-out over such a short amount of time, but I stopped and looked up at Golden with a stunned realization.
“No more ‘your place’, no more ‘my place’… What about ‘our place’? Like, for real?”
He stopped and cocked his head, looking at me. Really looking at me.
“Like, move?”
“We can’t pretend forever, Golden. He’s going to figure it out, if he hasn’t already, and we can’t keep paying for ride services to take him to school every morning and home every afternoon forever. It adds up, it’s too much.”
“What are you suggesting?” he asked, his expression carefully neutral.
“I’m saying we’re going to have to move… Manolo needs his own space; we
need ours.”
“Ours?”
“Yes, ours.”
“So, like a two-bedroom with Manolo in his room…”
I laughed and finished, “And us in ours. Yes. That is what I’m talking about.”
“You’re sure?”
“I’m sure.”
“God, you’re amazing!”
I laughed and he renewed attacking the side of my neck with vigor, licking and sucking all of the right places, until I was putty in his hands.
29
Golden…
“Thanks, man.” I took the beer Skids handed me over the bar and he nodded. I swiveled on my barstool, taking a drink, and faced my twin, who raised his eyebrows expectantly.
“So what’s up?” he asked.
“I think I’m ready, dude.”
“Ready for what?” he asked, scowling slightly.
“Ready to buy a place.”
“Wait, what? No shit?”
“Yeah, man. No time like the present. I got Manolo full-time and I don’t think shit’s gonna end well for Maria. Minimum, I think she’s looking at ten years, dude. She ain’t got nothing to fight with, either, so this is going to be short and brutal.”
“Shit.” I saw the heartbreak I felt mirrored on my twin’s face, only unlike Angel, I didn’t tear up. I was the harder of the two us, but I wouldn’t wish that hardness on my brother. He was cool, just the way he was.
“Mom’s gotta be rolling in her grave right about now,” he said.
“Abuela and Papa, too,” I agreed. We both drank.
“Manolo could be graduated from high school before she’s out.”
“I know that, bro, believe me.”
“That was cartel shit, too, wasn’t it?” he asked. I nodded. “Shit,” he said, low and with feeling. I nodded again.
“She going away under RICO?” he asked.
I shook my head. “That’s about the only thing she’s actually got going for her,” I told him. “In the grand scheme of things, she’s just a peon, so no RICO for her. Still, they got her dead to rights for trafficking, not a simple possession with the intent to distribute, and the bust they snatched her up at? That was a damn near forty-kilo bust. She’s fucked. Even as a first offense, no judge in their right mind is gonna give her anything less than ten.”
Angel sat back and I let the harsh reality of what our sister had done to herself and her family sink in. We drank and sat in silence for a while, marinating in it. Maria had fucked herself sideways, and there wasn’t a fuckin’ thing either of us could do about it without ruining ourselves, too.
“So, what, you want to buy a house?” he asked finally, changing the subject.
“Ah, I got my eye on a couple of places, actually.”
“Yeah? Where at?”
“Well, there’s a house out near Youngblood’s place up for sale, but I don’t want to move that far out of the city, for either my or Lys’ jobs.”
“So, where else you look?”
“I was actually looking at one of the brownstones on Backdraft’s street.”
“Can you afford one?”
“I have quite a bit put away for a rainy day, man. Enough I think I could pull it off. Still, if I went for it, I’m going to need help from you and the rest of the guys on renovations and shit. I don’t have Lil’s deep pockets to contract it out.”
Angel smiled and shook his head. “None of us have Lil’s kind of money.”
“Anyway, I’m just looking right now. Whatever I get, I want a yard, or a garden. That’s why I was thinking the brownstone. They have back yards. Not super-big, but enough for some flowerbeds and shit.”
“Lys?” he asked.
“Yeah, she likes to grow things, but hasn’t been able to in years.”
“You going to marry this woman?” he asked, raising his eyebrows again.
“Not anytime soon, we’re cool with sweating her ex for alimony for a few years first.”
“Holy shit. You’ve talked about that shit. You’re really serious about her, aren’t you?”
“Well, yeah, man.”
Angel sat back on his stool and said, “Color me jealous, bro.”
“What?”
“Not going to lie, I always thought I’d find it before you.”
“What?” I demanded, scowling.
“Love, you jackass!”
I jerked back like he’d said something shitty about our mother and thought about it. I mean, I don’t think I’d ever been in love with a chick before and then it hit me, Lys wasn’t a chick. She was a woman. She was the woman you wanted to marry, the one you wanted to raise your children; she was so much more than a random hookup or a chick for now.
I nodded slowly and said, “Well, if love is wanting to move her into your house, wake up with her in your bed every morning, and have her be the only woman you fuck for the rest of your life, then yeah, I guess that’s where it’s at,” I said. Angel’s shoulders were shaking with silent laughter that he just couldn’t keep quiet anymore. He laughed until he had to wipe tears out of the corners of his eyes.
“You’re a fucking barbarian,” he said finally, catching his breath.
“Never really put much thought into the hearts-and-flowers portion of the program. That’s what I got you for.”
He shook his head and said, “Yeah, and I can tell you’re gonna need me, man. Holy shit.”
“Fuck off,” I muttered, and finished off my beer.
“I’m with Angel, brother. A poet you are not. Don’t quit your day job, now,” Skids called, from not too far down the bar. I rolled my eyes at him.
“Seriously,” I said. “The brownstone, what do you think?”
“I think, yeah, if you can afford it, go for it. You know we’ll back you up.”
I nodded and said, “I’ll look into it more in-depth tomorrow.”
“I wouldn’t buy without taking her with you, if you’re serious about it,” Skids called out.
I nodded and said, “Thanks guys.”
“For what?” Angel asked.
“Not giving me too hard of a time and not shooting me down is a good start.”
“I’m a medic, it’s my job to patch your ass back together after you get shot down.”
“True that,” I said, and Skids set down a fresh beer in front of me just in time for me to drink to it.
“So, what are your plans the rest of the night?” Angel asked.
“Going to finish having a beer with my brother, and go home to my unexpected family.”
“Now that is worth drinking to,” he said, and we drank again.
30
Alyssa…
“Where’s Manolo?” he asked, leaning against the counter, just in time for a mighty splash and the sound of his nephew playing to come from behind the closed door of my bathroom. He grinned at me and came around into the kitchen to put his hands to my hips and draw me in close.
“Have a good visit with your brother?” I asked.
“Yeah, you were right, I needed a bit of a break.”
I smiled and his lips descended onto mine. I kissed him quietly and ached a little inside. I missed having him hold me at night and I wished there was some way around the awkward conversation with Manolo about it.
He sighed and held me close and we stole what moment we could before Manolo shouted out, “Hey, Lys?”
“Yeah, Hombrecito, what is it?” Golden called out.
“Can I get out now?”
With a soft sigh Golden reluctantly let me go and stepped back, I checked my watch rolled my eyes and nodded.
“Yeah, Bud! You can get out now.”
“Boys,” I muttered and Golden laughed slightly. The struggle was real, keeping Manolo in a bath for longer than five minutes. It was a phase, but one I couldn’t wait for him to outgrow. He opened up the bathroom door a minute later in his pajama pants and strolled right across to Golden’s room. We fought not to laugh.
“That’s your cue,” I murmured.
�
��Pretty soon he’s going to be too old to want his uncle to tuck him in and tell him stories.”
“Mm,” I nodded in agreement. I went into my bathroom to clean up. There almost always seemed to be more water on the floor and the edges of the tub than there was draining out of the bottom of it. I picked up Manolo’s discarded towel and mopped things up, turning on the overhead fan to make sure the moisture was well ventilated. I dreaded coming up with a mold or mildew problem in here.
As I went to step across the hall to the laundry closet and deposit Manolo’s towel in the wash, I heard him talking to his uncle, my name giving me pause.
“…do you like Lys?”
There was silence for a moment, then Golden laughed a little, “Of course I do, Hombrecito.”
“No, I mean, do you like-her, like her?”
“Bud, what are you asking me?”
“I guess I’m asking, do you love her?”
A quiet pause then, “Yeah, Manolo. Yeah, I do.”
A little overwhelming, but not too bad. I bit my lips together, but my smile wouldn’t be contained. I jumped when Manolo shouted, “Hey, Lys!”
I went to the doorway to Golden’s room and leaned against the doorjamb. “Yes?”
“You like my uncle?”
I laughed a little and said, “Of course I do, why?”
“You love him?”
I blushed and nodded.
“Yeah,” I said quietly. “Yes, I do.”
The little guy perked up like it was the best news he heard all night and said, “Great! You can sleep in Lys’ room and I can have the bed all to myself!”
I turned around and walked away before I could laugh, but Golden lost it, and I couldn’t help it, I followed suit. Out of the mouths of children. I couldn’t say I faulted his eight-year-old logic completely, but at the same time, I don’t think he quite grasped that wasn’t technically how things worked.
What are you talking about? He’s not off the mark at all, and you know it.
I deposited his towel in the washing machine and closed the sliding doors, shaking my head. Golden came out of his room a moment later, closing the door behind him. We took one look at each other and both of us tried valiantly to squelch our giggles as we moved carefully away from the door and into the living room.
