The Romance Novel Cure

by Ceves, Nina

  “Unsweetened is great, but what’s simple syrup?”

  “Sugar and water, so it will dissolve into the cold tea,” she said, placing the tray on the table.

  “I never knew that. Is there complicated syrup?”

  They smiled at each other, trying not to laugh.

  “Yes, but I forget how to make it. It’s too complicated.”

  “Endless ingredients?”

  “And science. A lot of science.”

  “Science?” Daniel laughed out loud.

  “Chemistry, you know.” She laughed, too. She handed him a glass.

  “Thanks.”

  “De nada.”

  They sipped in silence for a few moments. Daniel took a piece of jicama and had just bit into it when Alma spoke. “How is your son?”

  He chewed rapidly.

  “I’m sorry!” Alma laughed. “Bad timing.”

  He swallowed, pulling out his phone from his pocket. “Here’s a picture.”

  Alma took the phone and looked down. She gasped. “He’s adorable!” She glanced back at Daniel. “He looks exactly like you.” She covered her face with her hand and laughed at herself. “Oh, smooth!”

  “No, I get it. That’s cool. I look like a baby. Great. Sure.”

  Alma laughed harder and handed the phone back to him.

  “He’s great. Tonight… tonight’s the first night I left him with a babysitter.” He took a quick sip of his tea, not looking at her.

  “Oh, really?” Alma clasped her hands. “He’s… not with… his mother?”

  Here we go, thought Daniel. “No. No mother in the picture.”

  “Oh.” Alma nodded, her eyes wide.

  “It’s just the two of us,” he said, shrugging.

  Alma nodded again, seeming to think of what to say next. “So, he was okay with the babysitter?”

  Daniel relaxed and smiled. “Yeah, she is an assistant teacher from his preschool. He recognized her. He made such a funny face, like, hey, I know you but what are you doing here?”

  Alma looked thoughtful. “That must have made you feel better to leave him this evening, knowing he was with someone he knows and likes.”

  He blinked. Right in the pit of his stomach, he felt a kind of warmth. What was it, he wondered. Slowly he realized that nobody in his life, except for the people at the preschool, ever had anything to say about Elijah. His child was the center of his world, but it was such an isolating experience.

  “What’s his name?” asked Alma.

  “Elijah.”

  “That’s a beautiful name,” she exclaimed softly. “Elijah.”

  He ducked his head. “Before he was born, I was at an open mic night at The Art Bar and this group did a cover of a Seatrain song. I’d never heard it before. But when they got to the part where they sang, waiting for Elijah… I don’t know. I just felt something inside me click. That was my baby’s name. I’d just found out he was a boy.”

  “Just like that!” Alma’s eyes were full of wonder.

  “Yeah.” Talk about your baby on your first date, he mocked himself. Oh, well. “Your name is pretty. What does it mean? I’m assuming it’s Spanish?”

  She nodded. “It means soul. My mother told me when I was born, the nurse handed her to me. My mother had picked out a name for me if I was a girl, Catalina. But then she changed her mind suddenly and said that Alma seemed to suit me better.”

  “I can see that.” Daniel nodded.

  “Yes?”

  He froze. What had he gotten himself into? He cleared his throat. “Your eyes are so big and dark.” He didn’t know what else to say.

  Alma blushed and took a hasty sip of iced tea. “Ah!” She set the glass down and grabbed a cloth napkin. “Ice! Face!”

  “I hate when that happens.” Daniel laughed and grimaced sympathetically. “Plants, ice. Gotta watch out. Danger everywhere.” He smiled, hearing Alma laugh as she grabbed a napkin.

  * * *

  Maybe the ice would cool her face a little, thought Alma, patting her face dry. She felt as though she could barely catch her breath. Your eyes are so, what was it he had said? So big and dark? The way his blue eyes had flashed to hers before looking down. So full of, what? It looked like admiration. It looked like attraction. Alma imagined taking a handful of ice and burying her face in it. Oh, her makeup would be ruined.

  “Well, would you like some more tea, and maybe a straw to protect your face? Or, are you hungry?” She suddenly wished she had not chosen Edmundo’s. She could change her mind, but maybe that would seem strange after she had already suggested it. It was just that some of her family would be there, of course, and they would see her and Daniel. They would be curious.

  “Thanks, yeah, I’m good. You want to head out?”

  “Okay, I’ll just…” She reached for the tray.

  “Let me.” Daniel picked up the tray.

  “Thanks!” She walked into her apartment, closing the door when Daniel walked in.

  He set the tray down on the counter that divided a living room from a small kitchen. “I love how colorful your home is. It’s just like you.”

  “I do like color,” Alma said, smiling, as she took a small purse from a table by the front door. Daniel walked to stand by her side and she felt her heart skip a beat. A date. A real date. “I would love to get into interior design. I’ve had a couple of clients, really small scale. I just loved it.” They went outside and Alma locked her door.

  “Yeah? Choosing furniture and paint and things like that?” He looked at her as they walked to his car.

  “Yes, exactly. Every time I go into any kind of space, I always see how I think things should be.”

  He opened the passenger side door for her. “Really?”

  “But not in any kind of mean way,” she continued, alarmed, as he came around to sit next to her. She noticed the car seat in back. There was a small toy rabbit inside the car seat, and a little board book.

  “Mean way?” He tried not to laugh, facing her.

  “Right, no!” She tried to explain. “Not like judging what is already there, just imagining how the space, or the room wants to be.”

  “How a room wants to be?”

  She sat back and covered her face. “That sounds crazy!”

  “No, not at all. I would very much like… never mind.” He shook his head and laughed out loud, putting the key into the ignition.

  “What? Tell me!” She put her hand on his arm.

  He grinned at her. “I’ll tell you but I promise you, I didn’t mean it the way it is going to sound. I was about to say, oh, I’d like you to see my place and tell me what it wants. You’re the house whisperer. I need to be blue, my walls would say, not this institutional white. But it was going to come out like such a line. Come on over to my place and check out my...” He leaned toward her, lowering his voice.

  She cracked up. She was having fun, she realized. “So, institutional white, you said?”

  “Yeah, that’s probably an anathema to you, isn’t it.”

  “No, not necessarily,” she said diplomatically. “White can be lovely. Here and there. But entire walls? Wall after wall of just white? I admit, that makes me feel so frustrated.”

  Daniel bit his lip, nodding, trying not to smile, it seemed.

  “What?” She asked. She couldn’t stop looking at him.

  “Nothing, no, it’s just. I like how you express yourself.” He darted a glance at her, driving, then looked back at the road. It was still light out. Alma looked turned her head away, looking out the passenger window. I’m on a date, she said to herself. He likes how I express myself. She turned back to him. “I like how you express yourself, too.” It came out too serious, she thought.

  “Yeah?” He looked straight ahead, and she saw him swallow. His skin was so bronzed from the sun, next to his golden streaked, light brown hair. It looked as though he had just shaved, his cheeks and neck were so smooth. She liked his face. He looked handsome, and kind. His hair looked soft. It kept f
alling in his eyes. It would be so soft to touch. She realized she was staring and quickly looked straight ahead out the window.

  “Yes,” she said. “I like how there’s laughter in your voice, but I don’t feel as though you’re laughing at me. And I like how you say funny things, and that makes me laugh.”

  “You have a beautiful laugh,” he said. “I already feel like I’m wildly thinking of something to say to make you laugh again.”

  Just like that, Alma thought, staring straight ahead, not daring to even glance at him. Just like that, she went from feeling jittery first date feelings to feeling completely out of her depths. Funny thing was, she found she liked it. She liked the feeling very much. She didn’t know what to say. The longer she waited, the more it seemed that she wouldn’t be able to speak again. Great, she thought, the entire date would pass in utter silence.

  “And just like that,” he said wryly, smiling at her, “I get weird. I ruin a nice light moment by getting too intense. Hi, have we met? I’m Daniel, and that is how I do indeed roll.”

  She laughed loudly, almost startling herself. She couldn’t get enough of his rough, sexy voice. “That’s how you roll?”

  He nodded, looking ahead, fighting a smile that lingered at the corner of his mouth that Alma could see. “But it got you to laugh again.”

  She glanced at him. I want to put my hand on his arm while he drives, she thought, startled at herself. The sleeves of his white shirt were rolled up, she could see how the muscles moved beneath his skin which was so colorful and full of art, as he handled the steering wheel and shifted gears.

  “So, someone like you, who loves colors? No tattoos for you?”

  She shook her head. “I hate to admit it, but I never even considered it. I know my mother would freak out. It’s like she’s stuck with this idea that only… pirates or … or… prisoners would get them!” She laughed again.

  “Oh.” Daniel bit his lip.

  She didn’t know what to say. It was just a first date. He would not be thinking of possibly ever meeting her mother, would he? She couldn’t say anything about that.

  At a red light, he began rolling his sleeves down, comically fast, darting looks at the stoplight. She found herself laughing out loud, harder than ever.

  “What?” He looked innocently at her. “You said this restaurant belongs to your cousin, right? So next thing you know, you’ll be getting a call from your mom asking what criminal you were out with on Friday night. Or pirate! Well? It could happen, right?”

  She grimaced and then nodded, laughing again. “But it’s okay, because I like your tattoos, Daniel.”

  “You do?” His voice seemed to soften, and he glanced over at her, driving as the light turned green.

  She nodded, looking straight ahead.

  “I like… I like how you say my name. It’s like… it’s like you say every letter.” This time it was he who looked directly ahead, and she who glanced at him.

  “Every letter, huh?” She smiled, embarrassed but pleased. “Well, I wouldn’t want to leave any letter out, Daniel.”

  He laughed, a quick burst of sound. “That’s kind of you. Usually there are these letters sulking around every time someone says my name.”

  “Right? Worse if someone just calls you, Dan, I’m sure.”

  His smile faded. “Right.” He nodded.

  “Do you hate nicknames or shortened forms of your name?” She was curious.

  “Nah, I don’t hate them,” he said, slowing down for some traffic. “Just, Dan. That’s my dad. So, I was named after him but I was called Daniel. My dad didn’t want me called Danny, he thought it sounded like a girl’s name. What? Right? Whatever. But, anyway.”

  “Oh, right. I understand.” Alma kept looking at him until he looked her way. His eyes looked gray in the light. Their eyes met and he smiled. She nodded. Something passed between them, some kind of exchange that went above or underneath their words. Alma sat back, looking out the passenger window. Daniel found parking right in front of Edmundo’s and he came around to open Alma’s door, but she was already stepping out. He went to open the restaurant door just as two people came out and held the door for both Alma and Daniel. They stepped inside, the fresh aroma of herbs and simmering spices surrounding them. The space was open and bright, with vivid paintings by local artists and of animals and people on the walls. It was a welcoming place, her cousin’s dream come true. Luz, the hostess, came over to hug and kiss Alma and meet Daniel, and three of the waitstaff paused to say hello as well. Trying to hide how flustered she felt, Alma stood still, calmly smiling and speaking to everyone, introducing Daniel. As they made their way to their table, Edmundo came out from the kitchen. He was a large, muscular young man with a bald head, wearing a bandana. Embracing Alma with one arm, he reached to shake Daniel’s hand. “I know just what you’ll order primita. I’m heading back the kitchen. I’ll tell them you are here… with a friend.”

  Alma hugged him back and looked at him directly, slightly widening her eyes. “Gracias, primo.”

  She introduced him to Daniel, who shook his hand, saying it was good to meet him.

  “Igualmente,” said Edmundo, who then said he had to get back to the kitchen.

  Alma and Daniel sat down in silence while she inwardly berated herself for bringing a first date here where everyone would be bound to be curious.

  “This place is Eddie’s dream come true,” she said nervously, smoothing her napkin on her lap. “He wanted to create a vegan restaurant using local produce, heirloom beans, organic herbs and spices. I designed everything with him. The sign out front, the menu. Even the interior.”

  “Wow, that’s so cool.” He looked around admiringly. “It’s really great how you have family around,” he finally added.

  Alma looked up from the menu where she had been staring unseeing. She raised her eyebrows. He was looking around, a thoughtful expression on his face.

  “It’s just how I grew up, I guess I am used to it,” she said honestly, thinking out loud as she spoke. “To me, that’s just life in Albuquerque. Family around. What about you? Do you have family in the area?”

  He shook his head. “Just my son. He’s my only family, really.”

  “What?” Alma couldn’t imagine it.

  “My cousin was living in town, in Rio Rancho. He got laid off though. House was going to go into foreclosure. He has a wife who had just had a baby. He got offered a job with his wife’s family, in Ohio. So they moved there several months ago.” Daniel looked out the window, seeming lost in thought.

  “That’s too bad, Elijah will miss growing up with his cousin. They must be around the same age.”

  Daniel nodded. “I was actually living with them. When I found out I was going to be a dad, and my cousin was going to have a kid, well, we thought we’d pool our resources. I could take a paternity leave, then work part time, eventually full time again. We thought it work out, that we’d all share expenses and stuff. Had it all planned out.” He shrugged.

  “Oh, that’s too bad,” said Alma sympathetically. “What about… your parents?”

  “My dad and stepmother live in California,” he said, speaking carefully. “We’re not in touch too often.”

  Alma nodded, not wanting to be intrusive.

  “And you’ve got family every where you turn, right?” He smiled, seeming to try to lighten the mood.

  “I’m very blessed to have so many family members, yes,” she said. Then out of nowhere she heard herself add: “But my father and mother divorced when I was very young. He moved back to Mexico and I haven’t spoken with him for years and years.” She looked down at the menu quickly.

  “Oh, that’s too bad. I’m really sorry,” he said quietly.

  She nodded and shrugged, not looking up.

  “My… my mom died when I was in high school. My dad remarried really quickly. In a few months. I didn’t take that well. I was already having problems in school. Then when my mom got sick and died, well.” This time it was he
who suddenly was very intent upon looking at the menu, and Alma who looked at him.

  “That’s… that must have been devastating. I’m sorry you had to go through all of that. That loss and pain and confusion.”

  One quick glance, a nod, and back to the menu. Alma felt such a strange sensation. What was it? she asked herself. She wanted to know everything about him. She felt so badly for him, having lost his mother and then it sounded as though really, he lost his father as well. Struggling in school, too, what was that about? She was longing to ask him what had happened with baby Elijah’s mother. Just then the waitstaff came by. Alma ordered her favorite dish and asked Daniel if he needed more time.

  “Everything looks great, why don’t you recommend something, Alma?” Daniel met her eyes with a smile in his own. She felt herself blush, she didn’t know why.

  “Well, I’m totally predictable. I always get the green chile stew. But the pozole is the best, here. I mean, I know I must be biased but it is, really, the absolute best pozole ever.”

  “Pozole it is,” he said seriously to the waiter who was smiling at Alma and Daniel.

  * * *

  Daniel walked her to her door, a sudden silence falling between them. He looked at her as they walked, wishing the evening was starting all over again.

  “I wish I was showing up, just now.” He just said it.

  “What?” Alma stopped, looking up at him, startled.

  “I wish I could do it all over again, going out with you. I had… I’m glad you said yes.” He faced her and took one of her hands. It felt so smooth and small in his.

  She seemed at a loss for words and he groaned inwardly. He was completely out of practice but more than that, out of his depth. This felt different. This felt new.

  “I want to ask you out again.” He thought: I want to back you against your door and pull you against me and kiss you. I want to taste you, breathe you in.

  “I will say yes again.” She looked up at him for a moment and then turned to continue walking to her apartment. She did not let go of his hand. At her door, she stopped and faced him. “Thank you, Daniel.”