Chapter 15
Damaris appeared in the doorway of Ava’s classroom. “Ready?”
Ava opened her desk drawer and grabbed her purse, her jacket, and a small yellow and white polka dot umbrella. “Let’s go.
I’m starving.”
The two women left the small brick building that housed Alliance Arts and Science Charter School and hustled to the shawarma
place two blocks away, determined to make the most of their lunch break. After collecting the dishes Damaris had ordered in
advance, they sat at one of the cafe tables in the small restaurant and dug in.
Damaris finished chewing her first bite and washed it down with iced tea. “Almost spring break. Got any Easter plans?” She
waggled her eyebrows. “Maybe with a certain hotel-owning millionaire?”
Ava shot her a look. “Of course not. I’m going to church in the morning with my mom and spending the rest of the day with
my dad’s family.”
Damaris raised an eyebrow. “Cooking a week’s worth of food for them?”
“I—” Ava snapped her mouth shut, thinking of the menu her stepmother had requested—lasagna, sancocho, and enough stuffed grape leaves to feed an army. “Maybe. How’s the meditation class going?”
Damaris pointed a finger at her. “It’s going great, but don’t change the subject.”
“The subject of my family’s Easter dinner?”
“The subject of Roman .” Damaris gestured with her pita. “You’ve seen this guy—what, three times now?”
Ava nodded, already sure that she wasn’t going to like wherever this conversation was headed.
Damaris spread her hands, and a piece of lamb fell onto the paper plate in front of her. “And?”
Ava swallowed a mouthful of chicken shawarma. “And what?”
Sighing, Damaris used a plastic fork to dab hummus on her falafel.
“ And you clearly enjoy him enough to go out with him more than once.”
Ava took her own scoop. The hummus alone made this place worth coming to on their lunch break.
“We’re not going out ,” Ava grumbled. “We’re... I don’t know. Staying in.”
Damaris rolled her eyes as she chewed. “Semantics.”
“It’s not a relationship, Dee.”
“But it’s something .”
Ava shrugged and focused on her side salad. “It’s just sex.”
She hadn’t told Damaris that she’d filled Roman in on some of the details of her divorce. Her friend would read too much into
it, and it didn’t mean anything. He’d asked, Ava had answered, and that was all there was to it.
“Have you even Googled him yet?” Damaris tapped on her phone. “Let’s see. Roman Alejandro Vázquez was born in Brooklyn. He owns almost a dozen hotels around the country, along with a rum distillery, plus—did you know this?—he also starred in—”
“Dee.” Ava raised a hand, cutting her off. “It’s not that serious. Unless there’s something about women mysteriously going
missing after being in his presence, I don’t want to know anything more about him.”
Damaris sighed and put her phone down. “All right then.”
Ava’s own phone buzzed and she glanced at it. “It’s Jasmine,” she murmured. “About the engagement party.”
“When is that?”
“In June. Right before the end of the school year. You’re still coming to the wedding as my plus-one, right?”
“I wouldn’t miss it for the world. How are you doing with the maid of honor duties?”
Ava sipped her mint lemonade. “Not much to do yet. Jasmine’s been in LA.”
“I meant, how are you doing? Not how is Jasmine doing.”
Damaris was too damn perceptive.
“I’m fine,” Ava said lightly.
“Really?” Damaris’s eyebrows were so high, they were practically in outer space.
“Of course. Why wouldn’t I be?”
Stupid question, especially since Damaris latched on to the opportunity to reply. “Maybe because it would be normal and natural
to feel some type of way about watching one of your closest cousins plan her dream wedding to a literal movie star?”
“I’m happy for her,” Ava insisted.
“I don’t doubt that. But it would be okay if you also felt a little...”
“What—jealous?” Ava scoffed. “No. I’m perfectly fine.”
“Okay.” Damaris’s eyebrows flicked upward like she didn’t believe it, but she let it drop. “Well, let me tell you what happened in this meditation seminar. You are not going to believe the messy shit these mindfulness people get up to.”
For the rest of their lunch break, Ava listened and responded accordingly, while inside, she packed away all the untidy feelings
Damaris’s words had stirred.