Spring Broke

by Melody Carlson

  “That’s up to you,” said Kendall as she flopped onto the couch, causing a stack of dusty old magazines to tumble onto the floor.

  “Hang in there,” Lelani whispered to Megan. “Maybe we can all work together to move it out to the garage tomorrow.”

  “Let’s hope so,” said Megan quietly.

  “Have a nice evening,” called Lelani as she and Gil made a quick exit.

  Once outside, Gil started to laugh. “Kendall is a real nut case.”

  “She’s kind of impulsive.”

  “Megan looked like she wanted to scream or punch someone.”

  Lelani nodded. “Well, it’s kind of shocking, you know, to come home after work—to what you consider to be your home, because you’re paying rent and you do your share of work to keep it clean—”

  “Not to mention all the work you girls—along with your generous friends—put into that place to get it looking that good.”

  “Exactly. So to find it looking like a garbage dump, well, it’s a little disconcerting.” Lelani laughed as Gil helped her into the cab of his pickup. “And I’m sure Megan was totally flabbergasted. I mean, can you imagine working in interior design, helping to put together the swankiest houses, and then to come home to that mess? This will probably be harder on Megan than on any of us.”

  “I don’t know,” he said when he got behind the wheel. “Anna probably won’t be too thrilled to see that junk either. She has dust allergies.”

  “Oh, great.”

  Gil didn’t say anything as he drove through town. And Lelani was quieter than usual since she was still feeling freaked over her spring break vacation dilemma. But finally Gil cleared his throat as if he wanted her attention.

  “I’m sorry,” she said. “Did you say something? I guess I was off in la-la land, as my old fifth-grade teacher used to say.”

  “No. I didn’t actually say anything, but I was about to warn you about something.”

  “Warn me?”

  “Yes. My grandmother is … well, she’s eager to meet you.”

  “Is that bad?”

  “The warning part is that my grandmother is very old-fashioned and pretty outspoken too.”

  She nodded. “I see.” She controlled herself from mentioning that sounded a lot like his mom. But then, they were mother and daughter.

  “So please don’t let anything my grandmother might say offend you, okay?”

  She kind of laughed. “If it’s any consolation, I was already sort of bracing myself.”

  “Is that why you were being so quiet?”

  “No.”

  “Something wrong?”

  “Not exactly.”

  He was pulling up in front of his parents’ house, and it looked as if the circular driveway was already filled with cars, so he just parked along the street. “This will be better for making a quick getaway,” he said as he helped her out of the pickup.

  “A getaway?”

  “You never know about these family get-togethers.”

  “I’m sure it’ll be fine,” she assured him. “And if it’s any consolation, I’m not the least bit worried about any of your relatives.”

  “You haven’t met Abuela yet.”

  “Abuela?”

  “Spanish for Grandmother.” He grimaced slightly. “Keep in mind she is my mother’s mother … and that old saying about the apple not falling far from the tree.”

  Lelani chuckled but didn’t admit that she’d already made that assumption.

  Gil pointed to Edmond’s car. “Looks like Edmond and Anna are already here.”

  “But not parked in the getaway section?”

  “Anna must not have warned Edmond about what he’s getting into.” Gil smiled as he opened one of the big double doors.

  “Bienvenido!” said Gil’s father as they entered the foyer. He shook Gil’s hand and, to Lelani’s surprise, gave her a big bear hug.

  “Thanks.” She smiled. “Or should I say, gracias.”

  “De nada.” He lowered his voice. “And I hope you will not allow my mother-in-law to rub you the wrong way.” He stepped back and winked and, although his warmth was refreshing, Lelani now knew she was in for a long evening.

  Three

  Anna Mendez

  “You’ve put on weight, mi’ja.” Abuela Castillo released Anna from a tight hug, then grabbed both cheeks with her wiry fingers, tugging in the same painful way that she’d been doing since Anna was four.

  Anna extracted herself, stepped back, and smiled stiffly. “Thank you, Abuela, you’re looking well too.”

  “You know, mi’ja, short Latinas need to watch their figures.” Now Abuela pinched Anna’s arm as if testing for doneness. “Before too long they get as wide as they are tall. I remember when you were little, Anna, we called you Gorda. It was cute and funny then. But it wouldn’t be so cute and funny now.”

  “No, it wouldn’t,” said Anna. “I’ll keep it in mind.”

  “And who is this?” Abuela’s overly plucked eyebrows arched sharply as she peered curiously at Edmond.

  “I was trying to introduce him to you, Abuela, but you—”

  “This is the boyfriend?” Abuela stepped closer to him, staring as if he were a scientific specimen. Hopefully she wasn’t going to grab his cheeks too.

  “I’d like you to meet Edmond Dubois—”

  “Dubois?” Abuela frowned. “Are you French, Mr. Dubois?”

  He grinned. “My grandfather on my father’s side was French.”

  “Do you speak French?”

  “Actually, I do speak a bit—”

  “How about Spanish?” she demanded.

  “Sì, Señora Castillo, yo hablo Español—poco-poco. Como estás?” And then he continued trying to impress her with his one year of high-school Spanish, but Anna could see Abuela was not the least bit amused.

  “That’s okay, Edmond,” Anna said quickly. “As you can see my grandmother is fluent in English.”

  “Fortunately.” She scowled and looked at Anna now. “What happened to your other boyfriend—what was his name?”

  “You mean Jake the Snake?” asked Anna.

  Abuela actually smiled now, but in a slightly wicked way. “Oh, he may have been a snake, Anna, but he was a handsome snake.”

  Anna looked helplessly to Edmond, wishing she hadn’t brought him tonight. But he seemed totally at ease and still smiling.

  “May I congratulate you, Señora Castillo,” he said pleasantly, “on your fifty years of marriage. But I couldn’t believe that it was possible when I first saw you tonight. I’m sure you must’ve been a young child when you married because I could’ve mistaken you for Señora Mendez’s sister.”

  Abuela’s eyes lit up and she tilted her head coyly. “Yes, I have been told that I am aging gracefully.”

  “Your husband is a lucky man.”

  Abuela laughed and turned to Anna. “Well, he may be a gringo, but he does have some charms, doesn’t he?”

  Anna linked her arm in Edmond’s. “Yes, he does. And now, if you don’t mind, I’d like him to meet Abuelo.”

  “Yes, yes, go on your way. I see my handsome grandson coming in the door now anyway. Oh, that Gilbert, he is such a—”

  Abuela grabbed Anna’s arm just as she was trying to get away. “Who is that with him, Anna?”

  “That’s Lelani,” said Anna. “Just like Mama told you. She’s Gil’s girlfriend.”

  “She’s not Latina,” snapped Abuela.

  “No one said that she was.” Anna’s patience was wearing thin now. “She’s Hawaiian. Her parents still live in Maui.”

  “And she is very beautiful, is she not?”

  “Yes.” Anna sighed. “And she’s very nice too. She’s one of my room
mates.”

  “But Gil isn’t serious about her, is he?”

  “Why don’t you ask Gil, Abuela?”

  “Because I’m asking you, Anna. Please, do not be disrespectful to your elders.”

  “I don’t really know if Gil is serious or not.”

  “This is very sad for your parents, very sad and very disappointing for your whole family, mi’ja.”

  “What is very sad and disappointing?” Anna sighed and shifted her weight to the other foot.

  “That you and Gil have chosen outside of your own culture.”

  “Chosen outside of our culture to do what?” Anna heard the sharpness in her voice, but couldn’t help it.

  “For courtship.” She sighed dramatically. “For marriage, for children. So very sad that you break with traditions.”

  “Abuela,” said Anna with impatience. “Not that anyone is talking about marriage here, but this is the twenty-first century and your notions about marriage are outdated and old-fashioned.” She tossed Edmond an apologetic glance and he just chuckled.

  “In my day, young people did not date.” She looked directly at Edmond, saying the word with disgust.

  “How did you get to know Señor Castillo?”

  “He courted me.” She nodded her head firmly.

  “Why is that different than dating?” persisted Edmond.

  “Because he first had to ask my father for permission. And the understanding was that courtship would likely lead to a proposal of marriage.”

  “That still doesn’t seem different from dating.”

  “And I suppose that you have a chaperone along when you are alone with my granddaughter?” She glared at him now.

  “Well, no. But that’s not really—”

  “You see, young man, that is my point. You young people are—”

  “Excuse me, Abuela,” said Anna as Gil and Lelani came their way. “I think Gil would like to introduce you to—”

  “My favorite grandson,” gushed Abuela as she grabbed Gil into a tight hug, speaking in Spanish and then finally releasing him. “Oh, you are even more handsome than the last time I saw you, mi’jo.” She reached up and slapped him on the cheek now. “You are a devil.”

  He looked innocently at her. “A devil? Why is that?”

  She turned and looked at Lelani now. “Because of this one.”

  Now Gil quickly and politely introduced the two women and, although Anna wanted to escape her grandmother, she couldn’t pull herself away. It was kind of like watching a train wreck about to happen. Plus, she thought it might make Edmond feel a bit better to see that poor Lelani would probably get an even worse torture than he had.

  Anna tossed Lelani a sympathetic look as her grandmother began to grill her about her heritage and her family. “Is Porter a Hawaiian name?”

  “No. My father isn’t a native Hawaiian. He moved there in the seventies and liked it so much that he decided to stay.”

  “Is your mother Hawaiian?”

  Lelani nodded. “Yes.”

  “So if you married my grandson and had babies, they would be … what?”

  “Our children,” offered Gil.

  Abuela gave him a scornful look. “Yes, but what would their heritage be? What culture would they embrace? Who would they belong to?”

  “They would belong to us,” said Gil easily. “Not that Lelani and I are considering marriage right now, thank you very much.” He put an arm around Lelani’s shoulders.

  “I suppose I do understand.” Abuela nodded in a knowing way.

  “You do?” Anna was surprised that Abuela’s beloved Gil was getting off so easily.

  “Yes. Of course, Lelani is a beautiful young woman. And a young man likes to—how do you say?” She held up her hands as if at a loss for words, which seemed unlikely. “Play the field? Sow his wild oats? I don’t know how to put it politely. But I do know that young men often spend time with a beautiful woman before settling down with someone who is … acceptable.”

  Gil’s eyes darkened. “I don’t like to contradict you, Abuela, but Lelani is much more than that to me.” He turned and looked directly at Lelani now. “And if she would ever consider having me, I wouldn’t hesitate to ask.”

  Lelani’s eyes opened wide, but she said nothing.

  “Oh, you are not serious, mi’jo,” cajoled Abuela. “It’s only that I have offended you. And you are such a gentleman to leap to your lady’s honor. But you know your poor old Abuela … she speaks her mind.”

  “That’s the truth,” Gil spoke calmly, but Anna could tell he was irked.

  “Now, Lelani,” said Abuela smoothly, as if trying to iron out the wrinkles she’d just created, “tell me more about yourself. Do you have brothers or sisters?”

  Lelani glanced at Gil uncomfortably, then answered slowly. “I am an only child.”

  “An only child?” Abuela nodded as if adding this up. “So may I assume your family is not Catholic?”

  “They don’t belong to any organized religion.”

  Abuela looked shocked. “Oh.”

  “But they are good people,” inserted Gil.

  “You’ve met them?”

  “No, but I know they’re good people because Lelani is a good person.” Gil turned and smiled at her.

  “And what does Lelani do?” inquired Abuela.

  “I work in a department store,” said Lelani quickly, “selling cosmetics.”

  Abuela laughed. “And I suppose that women buy them in hopes that they will look like you after they use them.”

  “I don’t make any promises.” Lelani shrugged.

  “So you are a store clerk.” Abuela did her best to look unimpressed.

  Anna could take no more. “It might interest you to know, Abuela, that Lelani was in med school in Hawaii. She only has a year or two more to complete it.” She looked at Lelani. “Right?”

  Lelani just nodded.

  “Medical school?” Abuela looked skeptical. “To become a doctor.”

  “A pediatrician,” said Gil proudly. “And she will probably—”

  “Why did you quit?” Abuela’s eyes were focused tightly on Lelani now, watching her closely. Almost as if she wanted to trip her up.

  Lelani took in a slow breath. “Do you really want to know?”

  “Of course. I would not ask if I didn’t.”

  Lelani glanced at Gil now and he just nodded, but the corners of his mouth curled up ever so slightly, as if he was going to enjoy this.

  “The reason I quit med school was because I got pregnant.”

  It seemed the whole room fell quiet. Anna looked nervously to where her mother had been talking to her aunt. But now their eyes were focused on Lelani and Abuela, waiting.

  “You have a baby.” This was more a statement than a question and Abuela looked satisfied now, as if she had just won this little sparring match and was about to receive some kind of trophy.

  “I had a baby. That baby lives with my parents in Maui now.”

  “So … you abandoned your baby?” Those thin brows arched more sharply than ever.

  Lelani’s face seemed to pale and she looked slightly confused.

  “That’s not how it is,” said Gil quickly.

  “Oh, it’s not?” Abuela looked at him with mock sympathy. “How is it then?”

  “Lelani’s baby is being cared for by—”

  “By her mother,” finished Abuela. “Meanwhile Lelani is here selling makeup and acting as if she didn’t have a care in the—”

  “It’s not like that. Lelani is—”

  “Lelani is a beautiful woman who had a child, a child that was obviously born out of wedlock, and she is a selfish young woman who abandoned that child to her mother to raise.” Abuela shook her h
ead. “Very disappointing.” And before Gil or Lelani could say another word, Abuela turned and walked away. And everyone began murmuring and Gil guided Lelani to a quiet corner, where Anna and Edmond joined them.

  Anna looked at Lelani. “Don’t take our grandmother too seriously—”

  “It’s all right,” said Lelani quickly. But tears glistened in her dark eyes and her chin was trembling. “What Señora Castillo said was true.”

  “But Lelani,” said Gil. “She doesn’t even know you.”

  Lelani turned to Gil now. “I think she does know me, Gil. Maybe she knows me even better than I know myself.”

  “But she’s—”

  “She’s right,” said Lelani firmly. “Everything she said was absolutely true.”

  “But—”

  “I’m sorry,” Lelani said to Gil. “Would you mind if I called a taxi and—”

  “I’ll take you home,” said Gil.

  “No. It’s a family celebration,” said Lelani firmly. “You have to stay.”

  “After what my grandmother said to you? No way!”

  “Yes, Gil. If you go now, it will only look like I’ve taken you from—”

  “I want you to take me,” pleaded Gil. “Please, please, take me away from all this madness and—”

  “No.” She put her hand on his arm and tears streamed down her cheeks. “Please, stay. Do it for me. Do it for your family and your parents. Be strong.”

  “Edmond will take you home,” said Anna.

  “I will?” Edmond peered curiously at Anna.

  “Won’t you?”

  “No.” Lelani shook her head. “I’ll call a taxi, Anna.”

  “No.” Anna firmly pushed Edmond now. “Please, take her home.”

  “But, Anna,” tried Lelani, “The last time your boyfriend took me home you and I nearly came to—”

  “This is Edmond,” said Anna with confidence. “He is a gentleman. He’s not Jake the Snake.”

  “Gee, thanks,” teased Edmond.

  “You know what I mean,” said Anna. She smiled. “I can trust you.”

  “True.”

  Anna turned back to Lelani. “Besides, we’re past that now. We buried that hatchet long ago.”