Mrs. Soto’s smile only brightened. “No, of course not, Mexicans are never late, you know that,” she assured her, with a laugh.
Celina giggled and shook her head in agreement, with a smile. “Where shall I put the gift?” she asked, holding a big box with a white bow.
“Sweetie, you shouldn’t have.” Mrs. Soto adjusted her blouse and gave her a well-mannered look.
“I know, it said ‘no presents’, but I thought maybe you could use this.” She gave a wink.
The invitation had strictly said, 'no presents, your presence is your gift,' but people still brought gifts.
Mrs. Soto gave another big hug to Celina, who was like a second daughter to her. “Well, take it inside and put it in the living room.”
She walked over the thick gravel, on large stepping stones. The air was cool and brisk and tanged with the scent of animal and earth. Celina reached the corner of the ranch house and opened the wooden front door. She slammed it shut and walked in, making some noise on the terracotta floor with her cowboy boot heels.
“Mami, is that you?” screamed Valeria, from the kitchen. “Mami!”
Celina put the gift down on the coffee table, next to the big family Bible, and walked towards the kitchen. She started to laugh when she saw Valeria. There stood Valeria next to a small kitchen table, panic in her eyes, breathing heavily, holding the middle layer of a large, three-tiered buttercream cake. The cake was fancy, with ivory fondant, hand piped with elaborate scrollwork.
“Don’t laugh! Get your ass over here, and help me, bitch.” Sweat was beaded up on her forehead, and she was breathing hard.
“Who are you calling a bitch? I’m not helping you, now,” she continued to laugh, as she got closer to the kitchen table.
“Celina, stop clowning around, and get that fuckin’ column that fell somewhere under the table. Hurry! I can’t hold this shit any longer. Its heavy,” begged Valeria, her short, sassy hair spiked up for the party.
“Since you called me a bitch, I’m only helping you because this is your parent’s cake.” Celina bent over, looked around the floor and picked up two columns. “What happened? Here, let me take the top cake.”
“Gee, thanks girlfriend. Kimberly was running like wild in and out of the house with a bunch of other little farts, so I got after them and told them to get the hell out of here. One little boy pushed on the table and wobbled the cake, so I tried to move the cake towards the center of the table, when one of the columns fell off, then the other. I’ve been standing here like an idiot for the past ten minutes, screaming for help. Then some other little brat came in, and I asked her if she could get her mommy or daddy, and you know what that little bitch did?”
“Valeria, she’s just a little girl, calm down,” said Celina, laughing, shaking her head in disbelief that Valeria had called a little girl a bitch.
“No, let me tell you.” She walked over to the kitchen sink to rinse her hands. “She stuck her tongue out at me, made a face, and ran away. She probably thought I was going to tell on her. Wait ‘til I see her. I’m going to tell her that Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny are not real.” She swung her arms in midair.
“Oh man, you are cold. And who is Kimberly?” she asked, helping Valeria put the cake columns back on the cake.
“That’s my brother’s little girl,” she replied, holding the middle cake, getting ready to place it in position.
“Oh that’s right. Xavier had a baby we almost never get to see.” Celina placed the last column for the final tier.
“By the way, now that you mentioned his name. I asked my brother what you wanted me to, and he said… okay.” She opened her eyes wide, looking for a response from Celina, and then carefully put the top tier on.
“Why did you hesitate?” she avoided eye contact, pretending to look at the cake, looking for something to fix on it.
She laughed, “Nah, I’m just messing with you. I just wanted to see your look. But…,” she drawled.”
Celina knew that look. There was more which needed to be said. “What? Please, tell me what you have to say.” Emotion tightened in her chest and she moved her face in front of Valeria's.
Valeria stepped back and let out a deep breath. “I have some news to tell you.”
“Good or bad?” Her eyes tightened and she pressed her lips together in a thin line. By the look of things, Celina knew it wasn't good.
Valeria knotted her fingers and stared at the cake. She then shifted leg to leg and exhaled.
It was obvious that Valeria didn’t want to tell her. “OMG, Val. You're scaring me.” Drawing in a pound of oxygen, she opened her eyes wider.
“Don't worry. It has nothing to do with my brother. This is something else.” She leaned back against the kitchen counter for support.
Celina released her breath. “Oh, thank goodness. I was already getting ready to leave. Whew!”
“Well, I think this is much worse.”
Chapter 7
The news
What could be worse? Her parents were dead, and she just saw Valeria's parents, and they looked pretty healthy and happy. Their business was doing well. Actually, it was doing damn good. It was booming, with the addition of the café and bar inside the hair salon. It was an instant hit. In the morning, customers were drinking healthy Organo Gold coffee with breakfast tacos. For lunch, until closing on the menu, were soups, salads, sandwiches, fruit cups, and of course, the bar. The ladies enjoyed Margaritas and other fruity drinks, and the men enjoyed having a beer while they waited. Some customers stayed until closing, and for others, it was becoming a typical hangout. More manicures and pedicures were done on Men in Uniform days. It was an excuse for the women to go, using that day to see and meet the hunks. Their salon was The Place to Be. Why wouldn't it? In the end, both men and women were coming out looking their best and ready to mingle. Valeria and she had even joked about building a hotel next door and making even more money. What else could be so horrible? What bad news could there be?
“Shit! Valeria, just come right out and say what you think I need to know.” There was pleading in her eyes.
Valeria squirmed around. “I just don’t know how I’m going to tell my best friend this horrible news. So here it goes. Listen up girl, ‘cuz I'm going to say this quick, since I don't know how else to tell you.” She took a deep breath, inhaling through her nose, and then released it hard. “Xavier got word that Homer is out on the loose. He escaped from prison a few days ago.” The words spat out of her mouth, as if she had held vomit. She felt relieved, finally telling Celina, since she had held that in for the past two hours.
Celina's eyes rounded and instantly went pale. The strain of worry was on her face already. She placed her hand over her stomach and leaned against the wall.
Homer Cortinas, a former Border Patrol agent, who routinely went to the hair salon, lost his marbles when he became infatuated with Celina. She had met Homer on a Thursday, the day for Men in Uniform for Border Patrol agents- that had been Celina's sexy hunk that day. They seemed to hit it off well, for two months, until he became very jealous with her other male customers. He had told her that she was going to have to stop cutting men's hair and that she could only tend to women customers. After a week of arguing with him, Celina decided to break it off, and that was when all hell broke loose.
Celina felt dizzy after hearing what Valeria had just told her.
“Let’s get a beer.” She walked to the refrigerator, and took two. “I myself need a beer as well. The incident with the cake almost coming down, and then having to tell you about Homer, has my nerves in knots.”
“Yes, I’d like one.” She pulled out a wooden chair from the breakfast nook and sat down. Moments later, Valeria set a beer in front of Celina. She took it and gulped.
After a moment of silence, Valeria said, “They think they ID’d him on a camera at a bridge going into Juarez, Mexico.”
“When was this?”
“The day we left the hair show,” she muttered unde
r her breath.
“You mean you knew since then?” Anger crept in her eyes.
She shook her head. “Of course, not! Xavier told me about two hours ago. Like when I got here, or actually when he got here.” She then took a big sip of her beer. “Xavier said not to worry--Juarez is too far from here, and when they, you know the cartel, find out he is an ex-Border Patrol agent… well, his ass is history.”
“You think so?” There was relief in her voice. It might have been selfish of her, but after what he did to her, she didn't care. “An eye for an eye, because I can't have him run my life… ruin my life,” she corrected. “He shouldn't have that kind of power over me. Damn him to hell.”
“Xavier said the U.S. Marshal’s office released Wanted posters, and he personally sent some to the clubs in Juarez that he knows are owned by the cartel. He said that he also included the dates of some big drug seizures, even if Homer wasn’t in on them,” she let out a laugh. “He won't last a week there. It's going to be brutal for him.”
Celina let go of a deep breath, as she stared at a painting of “The Last Supper” that Valeria's mom had hanging on the kitchen wall. I hope you'll have your last supper too, you creep. She then gulped her beer.
Valeria got up and said, “Come on girl. Let's not think of that idiot anymore. Let's go outside and make fun of people. I need a good laugh.” She pulled on Celina's shoulder.
Celina smiled, shaking her head. Only Valeria could say something like that.
Valeria opened the refrigerator, pulled out two more Coronas, and opened the back door. She nodded her head with a smile. “Come on!”
The girls walked outside and sat on patio chairs, away from the other party guests.
“We have the perfect view from here, Cel,” she giggled. “Look at that one over there,” she pointed. “She was mean to me when I was a little girl. She called me names, like Miss Piggy, and look at her now, she's bigger than me. As a matter of fact, she caught her husband in bed with the maid last month.”
“No!” Celina's mind was taken away from her problems in listening to Valeria gossip about her family members.
“I’m so embarrassed to see your brother,” she said, changing the subject, looking at her beer, wishing she could crawl inside the bottle and swim in the bitter amber liquid.
“Don’t be, we’re not living way back when, we’re in modern times. It will help you to release some of this stress too,” she said, looking out into the crowd.
“Oh, look who's coming,” said Celina, taking a big sip of her Corona Beer.
Valeria focused in, blinking several times. “My vision is deteriorating.” Then she sucked in a gulp of air. “Oh, it’s Ana Laura.” She groaned. “That’s Xavier’s wife, right? I thought so, but wasn't sure, since we never see her. How long has it been since I've seen her? I wonder who does her hair.”
“Yeah, I know. You would think that she'd come to our salon. After all, I am part owner.” She then turned, to look at her sister-in-law with a fake smile. “Hey, girl!” Valeria said, trying hard to be polite. There were no traditional hugs or kisses exchanged, just words.
“Hi, I was looking for Kimberly. Have you seen her?” She looked at both of them with a look of, I'm better than you.
“Yes, she’s running around with a bunch of little monsters. I told her, they needed to go outside because they almost knocked over my parent’s cake and two other little brats were jumping on mom’s sofas.” She remembered the ordeal in her head and released the anger.
She smiled with numbness and rolled her eyes. “Sorry,” she replied, and left.
“Do you guys get along?” asked Celina with a giggle, watching Ana Laura rock her flat butt away in a pair of white jeans.
“Not really, and that's why I don’t care if you fuck my brother,” she said, and then took a long drink of the Corona beer. “So do him good, Celina.” She retorted, looking right at her with eyebrows arched high.
“Valeria, what's wrong with you girl! Has this Texas heat gotten to you?” Her face blushed with the comment.
“I don't know, maybe I myself need to find a man, and get a good fuck too!” She paused for a moment, to take another long slip of the ice-cold beer. “I really don’t care for her, because she doesn’t even watch that kid. Do you know, the other day when I came to visit mom, she and Kimberly were in the kitchen, and my mom was teaching her how to make a sandwich. They made different ones. I asked mom, why all the different sandwiches, and she said, ‘So Kimberly can eat different ones and not get tired of the same one.’ Can you believe it?”
“Why would your mom do that? I don't get it.”
“Because, Ana Laura doesn’t cook, and mom worries that Kimberly isn’t eating. My brother eats out all the time while on the job, and the little girl eats nothing but fast food from McDonald’s. The only good food she eats is when she comes here and at her other grandma’s house. And, I don’t think that Ana Laura even likes my brother, she treats him like crap. I mean… she can’t even iron a shirt for the poor guy, so he takes his own clothes to the cleaners himself. Celina, you know he has to look presentable. Shit, he’s a U.S. Marshal, around lots of judges and all.”
“What a bummer.” Celina kept her eye on Ana Laura until she couldn't see her anymore.
“Valeria, sweetie, come give me a hug,” called an old lady from a distance.
Valeria turned around to see an older lady coming their way very slowly. “Shit, let me go and meet her, before she falls and breaks a hip or something. I’ll be back.”
Giggling, Celina said, “Don’t worry about me. I'm fine right here.” She kept her seat in the patio area and watched Valeria from a distance hug and kiss an entire group of old ladies, one by one. They held her hostage for a while, touching her face and clothes, while they asked her all sorts of questions. Celina giggled to herself as she watched, but then stopped her giggling when she felt a strong hand on her shoulder and a strong scent of cologne. She sucked in air and rotated her eyes.
Chapter 8
Doomsday wish list- A big guy
Celina's eyes widened and her heart paused when she felt that heavy hand on her shoulder. Her heart beat hard and fast, as she quickly thought about Homer being out on the loose. Her mind raced a hundred miles an hour, thinking of the things he did and could do to her again. She held her breath for what seemed like forever, afraid to turn around.
“Hey there, beautiful!”
The voice was familiar, but it wasn't Homer's.
Xavier walked around from behind her. He stood in front of her and gazed at her long hair, grinning a big smile.
Celina released her breath and threw her head back in the chair.
He continued, as if he didn’t notice. “Yeah, I already did the ‘hello’ and kissed all the old ladies in that group.” He looked over where his sister was.
“Hey, you startled me,” she said, then took a long sip of her beer, as her heartbeat tried to regulate itself.
He took a step forward. “Do you want another one?” he asked, as his eyes scanned her body from head to toe with his rich brown eyes.
Weakness overcame her, when she saw his eyes staring at her hair. She ran her hand down the side of her blue jean skirt. “Yes, I’ll take another.” I feel as if he could see right through my clothes. Who knows, it may be possible, with all the government training?
She was going to need another, and many more, to get over the embarrassment she felt, and in that moment, she was regretting the favor she had asked.
“Okay, let me go and get one, but how can you and Valeria drink that nasty stuff?” He looked down at her beer and gave her a quick nod.
She picked up the Corona Beer bottle in the air. “It tastes all the same to me, so it doesn’t matter what you bring me.” She closed her eyes, and took a deep hard breath, before turning to look at him.
“Okay, I’ll get you a Budweiser.” He left and came back quickly with two beers. He opened Celina’s and gave it to her.
“X
avier…” she paused, “Valeria told me about Homer escaping from prison.”
“Yes, sweetie, it's true. I also don't think we should talk about it, because I don't want you to worry, or get yourself upset. Just be on the alert, that's all.”
“But...”
“No buts.” He cut her off. “He won't last long in Juarez, and I believe that what you talk about, and what you put out there,” he pointed with his beer to the sky, “is what you get back. So, if we give this guy importance in our lives, then he just might show up here. Now we wouldn’t want that. Would we?” He gave his head a quick jerk.
“Of course, I don't.” She flustered and her chest heaved.
Xavier stared out into the blue evening sky, and Celina wondered what he was thinking of. She couldn’t help but remember how hard he had worked searching for her when she had gone missing. He was the one who found her tied up in Homer's apartment the day she was rescued. She was completely nude, badly beaten, covered in blood, and dehydrated. Xavier had told Valeria how happy he was that her father wasn't alive, to see his only daughter in that condition, that day. She remembered when he kicked out the other law enforcement agents, so they wouldn't see her. It had been a sad sight to see, and he didn't want anyone talking about her like that. She remembered when Xavier beat Homer and broke five of his ribs and his jaw, right before putting the handcuffs on Homer. It took four agents to get Xavier off Homer that day, but no one said a word against him, and Xavier made sure they had enough evidence to put him away, for a long time.
“Let’s take a walk,” requested Xavier, pointing to the barn.
Celina stood up and looked around, feeling a bit uncomfortable that people might see them, especially a particular woman in a pair of white jeans.
“So, I see you and Valeria have a doomsday list going before December 2012 comes around.” His shadow from his tall, slender body and cowboy hat had cast over her, easing away the sunlight that was setting in the west.
Just a Kiss Page 3
