Chapter 46
forty-six
Mateo
On Christmas afternoon, after we’ve slept off the late-night Noche Buena with Mom’s church friends, time seems to have slowed. I’ve been anxiously pacing, eager for four p.m. to arrive.
“ Brosef ,” Lee teases me as I wear a hole in the carpet, “I brought my supplies and sketches. Want to kill a little time?”
“Have you inked skin yet?” I ask. Either way, I want to do this. I just want to make sure he’s truly prepared.
“I have marked every grapefruit in the greater Manhattan area, and also this.” He slides his sleeve up, revealing a new design on his forearm. The delicate letters are immediately familiar.
“Did she write it first or did you free-hand?”
Stef appears, wearing a smile, and traces the words on his skin— love you most —with a glowing smile.
“Total surprise, but he took it from a letter I wrote on our wedding day.”
After a heated look between them, she breaks into a wicked grin. “Also, you aren’t Lee’s first. I get that title.”
I shake away the double-entendre while she slides her watch up her wrist to show me the two tiny hearts with the letters L and S inside.
I grin up at my brother-in-law. “Sweet, show me what you got.”
Lee pulls out his tablet and scrolls through a few designs he’s drawn up and images he’s created that integrate the choices into my current sleeve.
“Hold up. Go back.”
He does, and I take the device from him so I can study the image.
“Yo, it’s this one. Think we can pull it off today?”
It’s a simple design that I assume a seasoned artist could complete in the time we have, but I don’t want to show her the unfinished product if he needs longer.
He slides Stef’s watch back into place and eyes the time. “It’s your lucky day, my man.”
“Nanay, you got everything you needed from us?” I heave out a sigh.
Lee and I have been moving couches and tables for the last forty-five minutes.
“Looks good, tisoy. Thank you, boys. Stop stressing. We’ve had the Rabins over before. We’ve been to their house. This is nothing,” she chides me.
“Not like this, though, Mrs. M,” Lee teases.
Eyes narrowed, I growl. “I recall when a certain someone was sweating bullets as he asked the three of us for permission to propose.”
“Permission? Nah. I just wanted your blessing,” Lee replies, chin lifted smugly.
Yeah, I like having a little brother.
The doorbell chimes and Dad shuffles across the floor to welcome our guests. The bouncing sounds of greetings echo through the house.
Our buffet is made up of mostly our family recipes, though Lee has added to it. The first time he presented the list of ingredients for his grandma’s casserole—including canned cream-based soup and mayonnaise, but very little seasoning—I thought my mom was going to throw him out.
Mom and Stef have made an outrageous amount of food, as well as pulling out the leftover lechon and pancit.
They’ve already pulled out a full spiral ham, ginger-garlic roast chicken, and a series of sweet bibingka.
Now Dassi directs her children to add potato latkes and a braised brisket to the smorgasbord.
They also add a tray of jelly donuts and chocolate coins to the smaller table where the flan and Mom’s creamy coconut fruit salad are set up.
The doorbell rings again, and a moment later, Lily and River enter with growlers of his latest micro-brew, followed by Delia, who carries bottles of wine.
Liam and Christian arrive with big smiles.
Screams erupt from the women when they catch sight of the new silver bands both men are sporting.
Looks like we have a wedding to look forward to next year.
Before we can congratulate them, they apologize for forgetting to bring a dish.
“It slipped my mind,” Liam says, turning red.
Gran appears next, arm linked with Pru’s and holding an apple cake like the one she taught us to make a few months ago.
“Did you boys really think you could get away that easily?” Prudence teases.
The moms invite them in, thrilled about the additions to the group, and plates are piled high. Once the crowd is settled around the tables and on couches set up facing the television, the moms giggle like schoolgirls together.
Both their husbands smirk, clinking whiskey glasses.
They’re all still as smitten as ever all these years later.
That’s when it all clicks. The room is loud and warm with the joy of what the girls call their “framily.” It may be chaotic, but the room is filled with nothing but love.
This is exactly what my life has been missing.
Nanay clears her throat loudly, garnering everyone’s attention. “We figured that the perfect way to combine our family’s tradition of karaoke?—”
“Was to pick a movie we knew you would all be willing to sing along to,” Dassi finishes.
A second later, the opening notes of a childhood favorite begins.
A half hour later, we’re all focused on the animals dancing in formation around the future king of the jungle.
I whisper to Nessa to follow me, and we sneak upstairs. In my childhood bedroom, I immediately unbutton and remove my dress shirt, anxious to reveal my surprise for Nessa.
“What are you doing?” she hisses. “Everyone is here! They will absolutely figure out what is going on.” Though she chides me, her eyes rove over my pecs and abs hungrily.
It takes a minute for her to notice the plastic bandage across my arm. When she does, she approaches slowly, her fingers raised.
“What did you do?” she asks on a laugh.
I remove the protective sheet to give her a clear view. In the open space below my existing quarter sleeve, Lee added a perfect, simple Loch Ness monster surrounded by tiny ripples of water.
“You are stuck with me now, little monster.” I wink.
She places her hand gently against my bicep and plants a sweet kiss on my lips.
“I kind of love it, kind of hate it.” She shakes her head, but she’s grinning, her blond hair flowing around her, picking up bits of the lighting overhead.
She looks like an angel for a split second before something darker flashes in her eyes.
“You really wanted to mark yourself permanently with an image that represents me?” she teases, lightly scratching across my arms, chest, and down my stomach.
As her hand grazes the waistband of my pants, someone calls our names from downstairs.
“Shit.” I pick up my discarded shirt and give her a quick kiss. “I’ll go first. Wait a minute before you follow,” I plead. I do not want to get into the “not under my roof” business today.
She nods in agreement, and with a kiss, I step out and close the door quietly.
Shit. I just left Nessa to snoop through all my embarrassing relics from high school.
With a shake of my head, I jog downstairs.
I find my dad in the kitchen. “Your buttons are uneven, son,” he chuckles as he fills a glass for me.
“It’s pretty impressive, Mateo. You may not have gone into the medical field, but you managed to bring home a doctor. Now you just have to do your best to keep her.”
A bark of a laugh behind me has me spinning. When I do, I find said doctor wearing my old varsity jacket with a long forgotten fitted hat. She saunters by and grabs the microphone at the perfect moment to cosplay as me and sing about having no worries.
Gabe approaches, glass raised to clink with mine, and we watch her performance together. He leans over and says, “I don’t give unsolicited advice often?—”
“Liar!” Shae squeals.
“Okay,” he chuckles. “I give unsolicited advice all the time. But if you’re with Nessa, then you’re one of my kids now. As the man who has kept the original version of that woman happy for the last almost forty years, let me make this clear: do not retaliate.”
Unfortunately, I’ve never been considered a smart man.
When the movie ends, I cue up a hilarious Meghan Trainor song, one she sings to her future husband, and dance around like it’s the Short n’ Sweet Tour. Thankfully, Liam and Christian jump in, and our impromptu boyband shifts the focus to their marriage.
Though it’s impossible to miss Nessa’s salty smile. She’s going to scratch me up good for this one.