by Amy O'Neill
Trent shrugged. “I really don’t know. I’ve never had to work to get to know someone so this is kind of new to me. I’m pretty sure I’m failing miserably.”
Noelle couldn’t help but smile and admit, “You ain’t that bad. It’s just nice to see a man grovel a little. I kinda figured you were used to women falling at your feet. But you won’t get that with me.”
Trent laughed. “You don’t seem like the swooning type.”
She shook her head in response and had to stop herself from snorting at the idea.
“So what type are you?”
His words were spoken softly, provocatively, in a tone that was one part oozing charm and another pure sin. Noelle tried to control her breathing and hoped he couldn’t see her heart as it pounded out of her chest.
She reminded herself again that getting to know him wasn’t what she needed, even though there were other parts of her that really wanted it. Her brain won out.
“I’m the ‘not interested’ type.”
Trent leaned back in the chair and crossed his arms over his chest. He studied her for a moment before nodding and pointing his finger at her. “I don’t think it’s that. I think you’re the extremely guarded type. Whatever you want to call it, it’s the type I think I like best.”
He winked at her and in that instant her cheeks turned red as her hair. Man o’ man, this guy had a line for everything. Noelle nearly did swoon.
When she found her voice a minute later she replied, “Try as you might, I’m not interested in getting to know you. I mean not just you … I mean any guy.”
She could tell her first statement wounded him. He only nodded and sat still.
He studied her more then asked, “You aren’t going to make this easy on me are you?”
“You aren’t gonna take ‘no’ for an answer, are you?”
Trent shrugged. “I don’t know. There’s something about you that makes me want to get to know you. If you aren’t interested yet that’s alright. In the meantime I’m pretty sure there’s gonna be another stray animal or suspicious something to investigate tomorrow and the next day and the day after that.”
Noelle couldn’t help but laugh. Even when she shot him down he was still interested. “You ain’t gonna stop until I agree to dinner are ya?”
He stood up, put his hands on his lean hips, and shook his head. “Not a bit. So how about you make this easy on both of us and let me take you out tomorrow night?”
Noelle’s head and heart warred for a moment longer, but the determined look he gave her settled the dispute. “Alright, fine. As long as you promise after one dinner you’ll leave me be.”
Trent grinned so big that Noelle could see he had dimples on each side of his mouth. He brought his hands together in front of his chest and bowed. “I promise I’ll do whatever you want after dinner.”
Her mind instantly filled with all kinds of half-naked images.
“I’ll pick you up at seven.” Before she could recover he was out the door.
Delphine returned a moment later and sat back down. “What’s that look about?”
Noelle sputtered for a moment. “I got suckered into a date tomorrow night with Trent.”
“Oh lord. I hope you know what you’re getting yourself into with that one.”
Noelle shrugged and took a bite from a cold French fry. “I have a feeling I’ll find out soon enough.”
CHAPTER FIVE
Trent found a parking spot in the grass of his grandmother’s front yard and walked around to the back of the house. He could hear his Tía Lita’s laugh before he even turned the corner and wasn’t surprised to see thirty people gathered around the food tables on the patio. This was a typical Saturday night.
He said hello and gave kisses to all of his aunts and cousins and shook hands and hugged all his uncles. When a swarm of small children surrounded him he made it a point to greet every one and give them each a piece of bubble gum, but only after they promised to chew it after dinner and not before.
Once the children ran off giggling and resuming their game of tag, Trent looked up to see his grandmother was in her usual spot, on the porch swing with her yarn and needles on her lap.
“Hola mijo. You made it!”
Trent bent down to kiss her weathered cheek and she patted his face. “Guapo as ever.”
He smiled and waved her off. “You probably say that to all the guys.”
She tsked and shook her head. “No mijo, only the ones it’s true about. What took you so long?”
Trent shrugged. “Nothing, I just had to stop and see a friend.”
She winked at him. “Una mujer?”
“Yes, a woman. But she is only a friend. I just met her.”
His grandmother patted the seat next to her. “Sit and talk conmigo.”
Trent shook his head. “No way, I’m not going to get twenty questions from you today. Is my mom here?”
His abuelita’s face changed into a look of sadness. “Si, over talking to your Tío Ricardo. She lost her job, again.”
Trent sighed and excused himself. As he walked across the yard, he couldn’t miss the physical change in his mother. She had lost weight and looked exhausted. Seeing her like this made him want to track down his father and throttle him.
Rosa Torres-Granger’s expression brightened when he wrapped his arm around her shoulder and kissed the crown of her head. “Hey Mom.”
She turned and took his face in her hands. “There’s my boy. How are you? Why haven’t you come over?”
In his family, if he didn’t see his mother or grandmother at least every two weeks they thought something was wrong. “Work. I’m training a rookie and I’ve taken on some more hours.”
“Your father was asking about you this morning.”
Trent cleared his throat. “That’s nice. Abuela said you lost your job. Do you need any help?”
His mother shook her head. “No. I’m fine. I’ve been adding to my hidden stash so no worries.”
No worries, that was easy for her to say. Since he was a young boy he worried about his mother. She worked two, sometimes three, jobs to make sure he and his sister had been provided for, all the while his father had done nothing but drink and whore around. And yet she still loved him and still let him live with her even though they’d divorced two decades ago.
“If you need anything let me know. I hate seeing you struggle while that sorry excuse of a father …”
For being a twig of a woman, his mother’s strength was still there as she grabbed his arm and yanked it. “No, mijo. That is your papa. You don’t speak of him like that.”
“But …”
She held up her finger and put it on his lips. “No ‘buts’. We’ve had this talk too many times and I don’t want to fight today. Let’s eat and enjoy spending time with family.”
The resolute look in her eyes told him she would have no more on the topic. He relented, “Anything for you.”
She patted his cheek again. “That’s a good man. Now let’s eat. The tamales and menudo are getting cold.”
Trent spent the next hour eating and talking with his uncles, his tíos, about how the Chargers were looking this season.
Once the food was wrapped and taken into the house, his Tío Guillermo and a few of his friends grabbed their guitars and began playing mariachi music. Soon the yard was full of dancing children and women.
Trent stood on the fringes and clapped along to the rhythm. A few moments later his Tía Ramona pulled him out to dance with her. From there on he did not stop dancing until all of his aunts, cousins, mother, and grandmother got a turn around the impromptu dance floor.
Just as he was getting ready to take a breather, a tall brunette was thrust into his arms by his abuela. In that moment he knew his suspicion had been right. His sweet, loving abuelita has set him up.
“Hola.”
Trent smiled in greeting to her. There was no denying she was beautiful, with long dark hair and chocolate eyes, but she didn’t stir anything in hi
m.
“Mi Ilamo Anita.”
He nodded. “I’m Trent. So how do you know my grandmother?”
She tilted her head slightly and gave him a questioning look. He was afraid to ask a question he already knew the answer too, but couldn’t help himself. “Habla Ingles?”
She shook her head. “No.”
Trent nodded and grinned. This was typical for his grandmother. He looked over to her and she waved and smiled. He glared at her, but she gave him an innocent look.
The rest of his dance with Anita was fairly quiet, but he’d managed to find out that her family just moved next door and they were originally from a town not far from where his grandmother was born, near Toluca.
When the song ended, he excused himself and made a beeline for his grandmother.
“She looks good para tu. So?”
Trent put his hands on his hips. “So nothing. Abuelita, I don’t need your help finding a woman.”
“Yo no se. You’ve never brought one home.”
Trent kept his voice low so he wouldn’t cause a scene. “Abuelita, you know why I haven’t brought anyone home yet. I want it to be the right woman.”
She reached out for his hand and patted it. “I know, mijo. Lo siento.”
Trent raised her hand and kissed it. “Apology accepted. But you need to understand that I am going to be with whom I want, not who you think I should be with.”
“Your mother did that and look at her life. If only she had found a good, hardworking Mexican … But no. She had to run off with some sailor.”
It had been thirty-five years since Trent’s mother had first met his father when his ship had docked in San Diego. But to his Abuelita, it was like yesterday, and she still regretted letting her seventeen year old daughter ever walk out the door.
Trent kneeled in front of his grandmother and reassuringly rubbed her arms. “Abuelita, stop beating yourself up. I’m not my mother or my father. I wish you would trust me.”
He saw the tears begin to well up in her eyes and hugged her. “Te quiero.”
“Te quiero, mijo.”
Once she composed herself, Trent kissed her goodbye and made his exit.
He thought about all the skeletons in his family closet. They were the reason he was the way he was. From being a cop to being a ladies man, his past never seemed to be far behind him.
As he pulled away from abulita’s, he didn’t realize at first that he wasn’t taking the quickest route home – he was driving downtown, toward his favorite clubs, as if on autopilot. But he kept driving right past and went home instead. It had been a week since he’d stepped foot in one of them, and surprisingly he didn’t miss it at all.
No, he was finding out life was much more exciting simply hanging around an old motel. More specifically, life looked different with Noelle in the picture.
Noelle sunk further into her bubble bath and closed her eyes. Delphine had been nice enough to give her the day off and she was enjoying every minute.
Not only had she slept in, but she’d also done nothing but sit around in her pajamas and watch movies for most of the day. Now she had an hour before Trent arrived and she was doing her best to relax.
Noelle couldn’t remember the last real date she’d had. Lenny had never really taken her out, but then again his definition of a night out was hitting a drive-thru for burgers and then going over to his dad’s to play poker while she sat on the couch, with his mother, in silence.
She laughed to herself. It felt like another lifetime ago. Though it seemed like a lot had happened in the last week, really it was just adjusting to a newer, better, kind of normal. Noelle would gladly live this life any day.
After she finally stepped out of the tub, she took her time getting ready and hummed to herself while she decided on what to do with her out-of-control hair.
A knock sounded at the door and she jumped. Noelle looked at the clock and saw there were still thirty minutes left before Trent was supposed to pick her up. She tiptoed over to the door and peeked through the peephole.
A second later she unlocked the door to find Delphine with a hot pink makeup case in hand. “Please tell me you’re gonna do more with yourself than that!”
Noelle looked down at her plain pair of jeans, white canvas shoes, and white v-neck t-shirt. “What’s wrong with this?”
Delphine pushed past her and set her stuff on the table. “Nothing’s wrong with it if you want to look like a boy.”
Noelle scoffed. “I don’t look like no boy! The boobs are a dead give away and you know Trent’s gonna be looking at them all night so why does it matter?”
Delphine pulled out a chair and pointed to it. “Sit down. Don’t you have a skirt or a dress? What about some heels?”
Noelle shook her head. “No ma’am. Lenny didn’t want me wearing that stuff. Jeans and t-shirts is what I got.”
Delphine rolled her eyes. “Typical possessive man trying to make you look ugly because he was so insecure you’d leave him. Well how’s that working for his sorry ass?”
Noelle laughed out loud. “You’re terrible, Delphine.”
Delphine opened the make-up case and rummaged through. “I’m not terrible, I’m truthful. And from that smirk on your face you know I’m right.”
Noelle shrugged. “Maybe a little.”
Delphine laughed at her. “Maybe my ass. Now let’s see what we can do in the next thirty minutes before lover boy gets here.”
Noelle tilted her head and gave her a stern look. “He isn’t my lover boy.”
“Yet!”
Noelle crossed her arms. “I’m not interested in him like that, Delphine.”
Delphine snorted. “The hell you aren’t. Any woman with a pulse would be interested if that man looked at them the way he looks at you.”
Noelle bit her bottom lip. “You really think he’s that interested? Or am I just another bed warmer?”
Delphine shook her head and tilted Noelle’s face into the light of the overhead lamp. “I’ve known him a long time and I’ve never seen him like this. I think he may finally be ready to grow up and settle down.”
“Grow up how?”
After a moment of silence Noelle pulled back to look at Delphine. “How, Delphine?”
Delphine dropped the liquid foundation bottle back into the case and grabbed the facial powder. She dabbed a big fluffy make-up brush into it and then began applying it to Noelle’s face.
“I grew up with Trent’s mom, we were best friends back in the day. She met the wrong man and got pregnant and married him, but he whored around on her something terrible. Even as a little boy Trent said he’d never be like that. When he started renting rooms here I assumed he was following in his father’s footsteps after all. But Trent and I have had long heart-to-hearts through the years and he isn’t like his dad. If he seems like a ladies’ man, well, he has been. But I think he does it to get it out of his system. Once he meets the right woman he’ll always be faithful.”
Noelle closed her eyes so Delphine could put on a light brown eye shadow. “How do you know?”
“Because in that way Trent is like his mom. Faithful, loving, and loyal to a fault. If you are the one to snag him, I’d say you must have something very special going on for you.”
Noelle waited for Delphine to finish putting on the shimmery lip gloss. “I don’t know what’s so special about me.”
Delphine took her hand and led her over to the large mirror. "Look in that mirror Noelle. You are beautiful and in the short time I’ve known you I can tell it’s not just on the outside, either.”
Noelle took a long look at herself, trying to see what Delphine saw. When she finally did, her eyes teared up and she had to blink rapidly to fight them from falling.
“Now don’t go crying on me. You’ll ruin your make-up!”
Noelle laughed and dabbed at the corner of her eye. “Yes, ma’am.”
Delphine closed the lid on the caboodle and motioned for Noelle to follow her. “Come on, I t
hink my daughter left a few dresses that aren’t trashy and I’ve got some heels for you too.”
When Trent showed up at the front desk ten minutes later, Noelle was in a white maxi dress with a colorful silk scarf around her shoulders. A pair of wedge heels and a turquoise necklace from Delphine’s jewelry box finished off the bohemian look.
One look at Trent’s face and Noelle knew what Delphine said earlier was true. Something in the way he looked at her really did make her feel special. It was a feeling she hadn’t experienced from anyone other than her momma.
Suddenly she felt shy around him. “Hey Trent.”
“Wow.”
Noelle waited for him to say something else, but a moment later all he could do was repeat himself. She lowered her head to hide her blush.
Delphine nudged her toward Trent. “Go have some fun Noelle. You deserve it.”
She waved goodbye and thanked Trent as he held the door open for her. They were barely two minutes into their date and already it was the best ever.
CHAPTER SIX
Trent kept sneaking peeks at Noelle out of the corner of his eye as they walked across the parking lot to his car. She looked almost angelic in the white dress with the glow of the street light shining on her hair.
“You really do look stunning tonight, Noelle.”
She gave him a look as if she didn’t totally believe him and he held up his hands in protest. “I swear that isn’t a line either. I truly mean it with you. Thank you for agreeing to dinner tonight.”
Noelle laughed. “Did I really have a choice?”
He stopped near the passenger door and waited for her to look at him. “I hope you know I’d never force you to do anything you don’t want to do. If you really don’t want to do this I’ll understand. It’ll suck, but I understand.”
He held his breath for a moment while she thought it over. Finally she shook her head. “No. I want to go out with you.”
He couldn’t help but pull back and study her face. “Really?”
Her laugh caused his chest to tighten.
She nodded. “Yeah, really. Now stop talking about it because I’m nervous enough.”
