Folding my arms over my chest, I nodded. “Right, but I haven’t been able to locate him. There’s no address for him and no phone number. Juana Zuniga said her husband doesn’t know where his brother is. She left a message for me saying she confirmed it with him. I also haven’t gotten ahold of the neighbor that Rosie fought with. I’m going there later. Hopefully he’ll be home from work.”
“And the Sac State lead?”
“Francisco is the emergency contact for the child care facility, but that’s it. The contact information was for Rosie’s apartment, which was under my name.”
“Follow up with the neighbor from the party and see where that takes you.”
“I keep coming back to how she could have stolen my identity.”
I tucked my thumbs into my back pockets, swinging my elbows back like wings. I thought of Jack’s column. “Did you know that our garbage isn’t safe? She could have gotten it that way.” I shrugged, discouraged. “Otherwise, someone gave it to her.”
Manny rocked back on his heels. “Remember the process. If you figure out why, it’ll probably lead you to how.”
“Right.”
“You will not take any chances, Dolores. ¿Entiendes?”
Either he was back to his old self, or he was warning me that this was my last chance. “Entiendo.”
Chapter 17
By four thirty I was fully ensconced in Lucy’s life.
I was Lucy.
Zac had been pacing the floor when I arrived. He wrenched the front door open, jumped out onto the porch, and yanked the door closed behind him.
“¿Qué pasó?” I asked after the obligatory kiss on the cheek.
“I don’t know if I can do this.” He looked pale.
My jaw dropped. “Do what? You’re going out with your wife.”
Zac’s baby face broke into a thousand worried lines. He leaned closer and whispered, “I’m nervous.”
“She’s your wife,” I said again.
He plucked at his shirt. “Is this okay?”
The short-sleeved, casual button-up shirt was plastered with flags from different countries. “You look great.” I put my hand on his shoulder. “Zac, it’ll be fine. Relax.”
“You’re sure there’s no one else? I’ll—” He broke off and paced down the path to the driveway, bending to yank a weed out from between the lava rocks. He turned back to me, his face etched with concern. “You sure she still wants me?”
When I’d filled Zac in on the plans for tonight—and assured him that his wife was ready for the taking—he’d been thrilled. But doubt had crept back in. “Positive,” I said. “She wants a little romance. She needs to know that you still want her.” I bit my tongue not to use the roller coaster reference that hovered on the tip. Damn Lucy and her metaphors.
“I don’t do romance.”
“Oyame, Zacarias. Make her feel like she’s more than your wife and the mother of your children.” I lowered my voice to a conspiratorial whisper. “Tonight she’s your girlfriend.”
My cousin’s expression changed like he was searching for his inner tiger. “Wait here,” he blurted.
“Where would I go? I’m watching your kids, remember?”
“Right. I’ll be back.” I stood there staring after him as he hopped in his old pickup truck and peeled out of the driveway.
I had no idea what he was up to. He was a man, though, so I didn’t even venture a guess. I let myself into the house. “I’m here,” I called to Lucy once I found a spot for my purse and bag of tricks.
“I’ll be out in a minute,” she called back through the bathroom door.
“Tía Lola!” My cousin’s three-year-old daughter, Mia, raced to me from across the living room, grabbing hold of my legs and circling around me. Technically I was her second cousin or first cousin once removed. Something like that. But they called me Tía. And I liked it.
“Abrazo,” I said, bending down to her eye level. She gave me a bear hug just as Zac and Lucy’s boys tackled me to the ground. Mia squealed. “Monster! Let’s play monster!”
Trying to regain my footing, I said, “How ’bout we call Tío Tonio?” I said with a wink. “He’s been looking for some rascally kids to play monster with.” I skittered my fingers across their tummies, tickling them until Mia screeched at the top of her lungs.
ZJ nodded, stepping out of reach. “Can he bring his guitar?”
“I’m sure he will if you ask him.” Zac Junior was nine going on sixteen. He played guitar and wanted to be Carlos Santana when he grew up. He nodded in an old, wise way. “Cool.”
I turned to Chris, Zac and Lucy’s six-year-old. “And how about you? Do you want Tío to come over later?”
He threw his head back and gave an enormous nod. “Are you spending the night? My mom says you’re spending the night.” His voice cracked, and his lower lip pulled down. A tear dam was going to break any second.
I took his hand and squeezed gently. “That’s right. It’s you and me, mi’jo.” I held my hand up next to my mouth and whispered, “And ZJ and Mia, of course.”
He nodded, his tears at bay for the time being.
I leaned down and whispered in his ear. “I brought a movie and popcorn. Sound good?”
He nodded, gave a little smile, and the next second he took off running, yelling at the top of his lungs, “Mom, Tía brought a movie and popcorn!”
I stared after him, thinking of Rosie Gonzales’s little boy. Pobrecito. He didn’t have his mom to make him popcorn and watch a movie with. The most I could hope for was that he was with someone who loved him.
A minute later, Lucy came down the hallway. Chris was by her side, gazing up at her. “You look pretty, Mamá.” Then he was gone, zipping down the hallway, yelling to ZJ and Mia about the popcorn and movie and how pretty Mom looked.
A nervous smile crept onto Lucy’s made-up face. I did a double take. In her cream-colored flowing dress, she looked ready to renew her wedding vows. Her blond hair was curled and sprayed, bouncing along with her stride.
“¡Ooolala, mamacita!” I exclaimed.
“Is it that bad?”
“Mamacita in a good way!”
She laughed, sounding just as nervous as Zac had. “Is it really okay?”
“Okay? You look amazing, Luce. Zac’s going to be putty in your hands.”
She held out the sides of her dress. “I’ve been in a clothing rut, I think.”
“You’re not in one now.”
“One dress doesn’t mean I’m out of it for good.” Lucy looked down at my jeans and the white ruffled blouse I’d changed into. “You have the body to go with anything. I’m the one that had three kids and nursed them. I should have your boobs.”
I peered down at my cleavage bulging from the heart-shaped neckline of my blouse. “Yeah, but if you had these boobs, you’d have these hips, too,” I said, my hands moving down to slap mine.
Lucy laughed. “They’re damn good hips.” She looked around. “Where’s Zac?”
“Uh—” I was saved by the ringing doorbell.
Lucy threw open the door, took a surprised step backwards, and nearly lost her balance. Zac stood on the front porch thrusting a bouquet of sad-looking flowers at her. “Hi. Um—” He looked at her like he was seeing her for the first time, and his sunburned face blushed redder. “Bellísima,” he said, and the word said it all.
Lucy blushed, too. I took the flowers. “I’ll put them in water. Have fun,” I added, and she and Zac left, giddy like two teenagers going out on prom night. Hopefully Zac would get more action than the average prom-goer.
The door closed behind them, and I turned to face my charges. They stood there, staring at me.
I stared back. It was a face-off. The long night stretched before us. The closest I’d ever been to watching kids was at family parties. And that didn’t count. The kids were always busy with their primos and amigos and kept themselves busy. I never actually had to actively entertain. And I had never babysat as a teenager, since I’
d always worked at Abuelita’s.
I took Salsa for walks and scratched her belly. Somehow I thought Mia, Chris, and ZJ wouldn’t want their bellies scratched.
I clapped my hands together. “Let’s make dinner!”
ZJ looked at the clock. “Uh, it’s only four thirty, Tía.”
“Yeah, but I’m starved.” I pulled ready-made tostada shells that I’d picked up from Laughlin’s Grocers out of my brown paper bag. Within minutes, the kids were on board. We spent a half hour refrying beans, shredding jack cheese and lettuce, chopping tomatoes I’d brought from Abuelo’s garden, and roasting chilies for salsa borracha. “Mexican pizza,” I announced, flourishing the tray of loaded tostadas when they were done.
We gorged ourselves, cleaned the dishes, and set the leftovers on the counter for Antonio.
Dinner had killed an hour and a half. I tapped my fingers on the counter. What to do next?
“Should we call Tío Tonio now?” asked ZJ.
Sounded good to me. I dialed the number of the restaurant and handed ZJ the phone. He walked back and forth as he spoke. A few minutes later, he plopped the phone back in its cradle.
“Well?” I asked.
“He’ll be here in an hour. He said we can jam before the movie!”
We killed the hour by going to the park and arrived back at the house just as Antonio’s vintage Mustang drove up the street.
“There he is,” I said, pointing at the dark green car as it rolled toward us. And not a minute too soon. One too many games of Monkey in the Middle—with me starting out as, and never leaving the position of, Monkey—had my heart in what I was afraid was a permanent anaerobic state.
Mia jumped up and down, clapping her hands. “Yeah! Tío’s here!”
ZJ pumped his arm back and hissed, “Yes.”
Chris took my hand and hung close. I thought he might want to crawl right inside me if he could. Pobrecito.
Antonio’s face came into view through his windshield, his white teeth smiling from the center of his goatee. My gaze drifted to my brother’s right.
He had a passenger.
Jack. My heart did a somersault.
“Ow!” Chris yelped, trying to pull his hand free from mine.
“Sorry, mi’jo!” I loosened my grip on his hand and knelt down. “I didn’t mean to squeeze.”
He just hugged me closer. “It’s okay,” he said.
“Tío!” Mia ran to Antonio, catching him as he stepped out of his car. He swung her around effortlessly, her legs flying out behind her.
ZJ strolled casually. Mr. Übercool. I stifled my laugh.
Jack pulled the front seat forward and plucked two guitar cases out of the backseat. He walked around to the sidewalk, handing off one of the cases to Antonio. ZJ’s eyes rounded into circles. “Two guitars! Yes,” he said, pumping his arm again. He’d hit the jackpot—two guitarists for the price of one.
Chris and I walked up to them. Antonio gave me a hug. “You didn’t mention you were bringing Jack,” I whispered.
“He was standing right there when ZJ called,” he whispered back. “It just kind of… happened.”
I grunted. If I wasn’t secretly thrilled he was here, I might have thought this was payback for the Reilly date night I’d manipulated Tonio into a while back.
My stomach knotted. I’d wanted to eat popcorn and watch a movie with the kids, and with Antonio. Sloth and gluttony would have been my best friends tonight. Now I had the rest of the deadly sins to contend with. Lust over Jack was front and center. Was a man supposed to look that good? No wonder Sarah wouldn’t let him go.
I was nothing to sneeze at, but, Dios mío, he was in a league of his own.
Greed and envy were tied for third place. It was no secret. I wanted Jack to myself. His extracurricular women made that impossible—the Mollys of the world I could deal with, but I was envious over the hold Sarah had over him. Which led to the wrath I felt toward him, them, and myself.
Pride was the only thing I didn’t really view as a sin—I mean, it was the one thing that would keep me from ending up doing the horizontal rumba with Jack.
I refused to be just another fling—for anyone. Especially with Jack, considering I’d wanted him—body and soul—since those photos I’d taken of him way back when, and there was no way I’d settle for less.
Our eyes locked for an instant before Mia grabbed my hand and pulled me—and Chris—back toward the house. “Let’s make cookies!” she screeched. “From your bag of tricks,” she reminded me, in case I’d forgotten I’d brought a bag of chocolate chips.
Antonio and Jack spent the next hour and a half jamming with ZJ. They played the opening chords of “Smoke on the Water” over and over, adding a few Santana riffs and ending with a few mariachi classics. ZJ threw in a power chord every now and then.
Mia, Chris, and I made the cookies.
“Do you want dinner?” I asked Antonio when the jam session was over.
“Gracias, pero no. I’m going to have a late dinner with Sylvia”—he checked his watch—“in an hour. But I’ll have one of those.” He snatched a still-warm cookie from the cooling rack.
I felt my spine crackle. I stared him down as he broke off a piece of cookie, threads of melted chocolate hanging from the edge. “What did you say?”
Antonio licked his lips, catching a glob of chocolate from the hair of his goatee. “Dinner with Sylvia.”
“You are not.”
“Her ex has the kids tonight. He’s being really cooperative… at least for today. Me and Sylvia have a real date. Cool, eh?”
“No, not cool. Why can’t you just leave her alone?”
“Why can’t you just butt out?” he shot back. “She’s a big girl. She can decide who she wants to date.” He clamped down on the rest of the cookie, chewing once and swallowing.
“You better not hurt her,” I muttered, aggravated by the fact that he was right. Damn it.
Mia’s squeals cut through the house, followed by children’s laughter and a growl by Jack. Monster.
“It’s just a date. Unlike you, I don’t need a long-term commitment and a ten-karat cubic zirconia to go out on a date.”
“You’re not going to sleep with her, are you?”
“It’s none of your business, Lola. Do I ask you who you’re sleeping with?” He slapped the counter. “Oh, that’s right. You’re not sleeping with anyone. You’re too uptight.”
My chin jutted forward. That was so not true. “I need more than the promise of an orgasm to sleep with him.”
Antonio shot me a cockeyed grin, his gaze piercing mine. “Him who?”
Him Jack. Damn, had I really just revealed my hand so easily? “What?” I asked innocently, feeling my face heat up.
“Who are you talking about?” he asked, but his smirk said it all. He knew exactly who him was.
“Just never mind,” I said. “I don’t want to have this conversation.”
“Lola,” Antonio said, clasping me on the shoulder, “this case has you all wound up.”
“Are you surprised? I still don’t even know if I was the intended victim.”
I saw his mind working. I hadn’t meant to, but I’d given him the perfect opening to criticize my detecting abilities, the risks of my job, and how being a detective interfered with my personal life. But my sweet brother held his tongue. “You’ll figure it out,” he said.
I gave him a hug. “Thanks, Tonio.”
He grabbed another cookie. “No hay problema,” he said, heading out of the kitchen, “but let me go on the record here.” He turned back and looked at me with complete seriousness. “You could use an orgasm—or fifty—to loosen up. Who knows, it might even help you solve the case. No harm trying.”
Forty-five minutes later, we stood at the front door, Antonio and Jack holding their guitars. “Do you have to go, Tío?” ZJ asked.
Mia grabbed Jack’s hand. “More monster!” she yelped, pulling him back into the house.
Jack laughed, ruffling
her full head of curly brown hair. It was twice the color of his and half the color of mine, I thought. Our child might look like Mia. I shivered and shook the thought out of my head. “His ride is leaving,” I said. “He has to go.”
Chris frowned. “Tío can pick him up later. Or he can sleep on the couch.”
“You’re right, Chris. I can come back for him.” Antonio slapped Jack on the shoulder. “You good with that, man?”
I waved my hands back and forth in front of me. “No, no. You’re going out with Sylvia. You’ll come back too late,” just as Jack shook his head and said, “Probably not a good idea.”
“Stay! Stay! Stay!” the three kids chanted.
Jack hesitated. “I guess I can stay for a while,” he finally said. He put his guitar in the corner of the entryway and looked at me. “You okay with that?”
Okay? Inside I was jumping for joy! I wanted him to stay. On the other hand, if he stayed, it would be torture, plain and simple. Jack had said he’d rather be tortured and with me than tortured and without me. I felt the exact same way. “If it’s what the kids want,” I said, nodding.
“I’ll call my sister to pick me up,” he said to Antonio.
A raucous child-sized cheer went up.
Antonio climbed into his car, throwing me an exaggerated smile and a wave. He cranked his window down. “You kids have fun, now, you hear?” he called as he drove away, and I knew he was talking to Jack and me, not to the actual children.
The five of us stood on the front porch, watching our chaperone disappear into the night.
Chapter 18
Jack spread out a blanket on the living room floor. He lay on his side, Mia leaning against him. ZJ rested against the couch, and Chris lay on his stomach in front of Jack. They looked like one big happy family. I passed out bowls of popcorn and chocolate chip cookies before I collapsed on the oversized chair in the corner of the room. I crossed my legs and arms, set my mouth in a firm line, and fought against the tender thoughts I was having. This was a side of Jack that I hadn’t seen before. I knew he wanted kids, but it seemed like he actually liked them, too. It was sexy, and it made me feel warm inside.
Melissa Bourbon Ramirez - Lola Cruz 02 - Hasta la Vista, Lola! Page 21
