Chapter 21
LEAH
When I’m with my family, it’s like my personality has two settings: the petulant, angsty little sister or the life of the party.
Tonight, I feel like mush even though I won bingo twice. The prize was a gourmet candy basket which my cousins instantly devour.
I cannot stop thinking about Hudson. It doesn’t help that he’s here, sitting across the table next to Abuela, who’s sharing her neon pink bingo dauber with him.
She’s his new favorite, I just know it.
I still haven’t caught up on sleep after the all-nighter I pulled with him at the Ice Palace and it didn’t help that my roommate Lloyd broke his anti-snoring device. Through my malaise, I wonder if another one of my default settings is sibling—and family—rivalry.
Why wouldn’t I want Abuela to like Hudson? As far as I can tell, he doesn’t have a grandmother of his own. I should want to share my family. There are plenty of us to go around.
Then it hits me like a bingo ball to the head—that happened to Chuck once. Direct to the noggin.
Could I be greedy for Hudson? I want him all to myself.
But that can’t be right.
I had the hots for the other Roboveitchek brother.
Mami nudges me with her arm. “You missed N-twelve.”
Without verifying, I dab it with her green foam marker thing.
Feeling eyes on me, Hudson catches my gaze over the table laden with the usual Smith-Torres smorgasbord, complete with chips and salsa, oatmeal raisin cookies, zesty snack mix, chocolate maple bars, herbed popcorn, and caramel apple strudel.
I should announce to my neighborhood in Omaha that wherever my family is there will be plenty of food.
Then again, a church sets up a truck five days a week and gives out groceries so I don’t think anyone is hungry except after midnight when some of the loiterers get the munchies.
Mami hasn’t mentioned it, but I’ve taken up a corner of one of the rooms in the finished basement. I half expect her to put out a tin of tuna like coaxing a stray to stick around.
Under the din of the announcer calling out letter and number combinations, I say, “Mami, do I remind you of a cat?”
She blinks a few times as if translating. “Like meow?”
I nod, not sure whether to elaborate.
“Well, you are very independent. Can be finicky. Reserved. And you do have claws.”
“Mami!”
She winks at me and nudges me with her shoulder. “What can I say, like mother like daughter.”
“I thought you and Valentina were the twins.”
“Mijita, I like to think I gave the best of myself to all three of you girls. Different ingredients and different portions. Papi contributed too. Don’t tell me that you think your sister is my favorite?”
I shrug.
Her arms are instantly around me and I lean into her embrace.
Mom hugs are the best. “Don’t be silly, but I am sorry you thought that.
Listen, Dani, Valentina, you, and I are a lot alike.
We can blame Abuela if you want. She’s the queen feline.
We can all be a bit selfish at times and we don’t always show our emotions. ”
I laugh because that is absurd.
“I mean that we don’t always show our emotions in a healthy way.
But we’re also fiercely loyal, invested, and tranquila.
We also can overthink things, come off as being rude when we’re just like a cat with a ball of yarn, and we definitely play hard to get.
” Her gaze flits from my father to Hudson, huddled over the bingo cards with Abuela.
“Why does he have to be so nice?”
She chuckles.
The answer comes in a flash and I do not like how vulnerable it makes me feel.
Does Hudson like me? I don’t want to admit it.
But just as quickly as someone hollers, “Bingo” from the other side of the room, my heart sinks and it’s not because they won.
It’s that deep down, I already know that Hudson couldn’t be interested in me. Why would he be?
My mother says, “You’re like a cat and he’s like a puppy, full of energy, silly, and extroverted. Sometimes hyper and those big hands like paws. Rawr!” She claws the air.
I cringe a little inside because she shouldn’t be thinking about those. Neither should I and the way it felt when we held hands.
“Mijita, don’t make it into a standardized test, but you can let him work for it a bit. Remember, the chase might be fun for him.”
“Mother!”
“I’m just saying, you’re opposites yet complement each other. You probably keep him calm, but he also brings out the playful kitten in you. That said, you also have more in common than you think.”
“And just how do you know this?”
“Parents’ wisdom.”
“Dad is in on this, too?”
“We’re a team.”
As the game continues and I self-soothe with a caramel macaroon bar drizzled in chocolate—tastes just like one of those Girl Scout cookies—the question about Hudson being so nice echoes in my mind like Aunt Sheryl over there who repeatedly calls, “Bingo.” Either she’s really lucky, she’s glitching, or I am.
Hudson is genuinely nice, though he’s a hockey player so he can hang tough with the banter. But it has more to do with yet another contrast between the Roboveitchek brothers.
Hudson seems so nice because Hunter was so mean. I just never let myself believe it.
Think it.
Admit it.
And I was expecting the same from Hudson because of the one thing that happened in high school.
I could attribute the current, more well-behaved version of Hudson to maturing, but looking back, that’s not entirely the case.
Hunter was a bigger gossip than Mrs. Gormely.
He snuck into the girls’ locker room several times and had the photographic evidence to prove it.
As the prince of the moody, mysterious boys at Clarkson High School, several girls asked him to hang out, and he’d stand them up.
I told myself it was because he was hanging out with me, but usually, he had detention after school and then would lag until he called me for a ride.
The whole way back to the duplex, he’d rant about the principal, teachers, our classmates, and especially the girls who had crushes on him—who inevitably had detention with him.
Hudson would defend the girls Hunter would tease. I thought it was because he liked them or was a player, but the comments could’ve easily been applied to me.
Too tall.
Awkward.
Skinny.
Bean pole.
Some girls were too brainy: me when it came to math.
Girls that were too athletic: again, me.
Had Hudson been defending me all along?
I have a hard time buying it because of what happened that changed everything. It certainly didn’t sound like he was being protective of me then, more like he was doing his level best to humiliate me and ruin my chances with Hunter.
As often happens when a large portion of my family takes over the long tables at Bingo Night, at some point, the seating arrangement shuffles as snacks are delivered, conversations shift, and wins are made.
I land next to Hudson, Abuela, and Coach Badaszek.
What’s he doing here? Not to be rude, but the king of the Knights’ empire is out of the palace …
out of place. Then Cara bustles in with a bunch of the WAGs and other hockey players, and soon—between the team and my family—we’ve taken over the joint.
Hudson seems shy at first, then is in his element, laughing and smiling like he’s always been part of the crew.
Fear slices through me when I worry about him mentioning my role in the gnome theft to Badaszek.
This is why I was never as good a troublemaker as Hunter.
My conscience got the better of me anytime I even entertained skipping class, copying a paper, or breaking any number of the rules he did routinely, all while coaxing me to join him.
After merely one detention, Mami’s wrath was enough to set me straight. But still, I aided and abetted Hunter.
“I hear skating lessons are going well,” Badaszek says to me, marking G-nine with a blue dauber.
I’m not easily intimidated, but this is Coach Badaszek!
I reply, “I hope what we’re working on has been helpful.”
“Roboveitchek has been more focused than usual at practice. The guy has an unending well of energy, it’s just a matter of focusing it in one direction.”
I think of the mental muscle exercise and nod.
“Would you be available to accompany him to the Cobbiton Hockey Homecoming?” Badaszek asks without irony or irritation.
“The CoHoHoCo?” I joke. Before I can say more, my mother is lowering into the nearest seat.
“Of course she is available. As you know, Leah is a big fan. She and Hudson will soon be getting married, too.”
“I thought it was your son Chuck, Jack’s assistant, who was tying the knot,” Badaszek says.
“That’s next summer. These young lovebirds are planning for late fall.”
Her words funnel to me above the surrounding activity. “I’m planning Carlos and Marisol’s wedding next summer. Hudson and I aren’t—”
Suddenly, Valentina sits down across from us.
“We changed the dates.” She rubs her belly.
“We had to bump your wedding sooner because we can’t have it conflict with my due date, official holidays, several half birthdays, Uncle Arnold and Aunt Trina’s vow renewal, Kimmy’s twenty-first, Halloween, the trip to Colombia to visit Abuelo’s grave, and then it’s full steam ahead into Thanksgiving and Christmas. ”
Uncle Isaac nabs Badaszek’s ear and he drops out of the conversation.
To my family, I say, “Sounds like the calendar is booked. Oh well. Maybe we can get married some other time.”
“Tell that to your fiancé.”
I glance his way. Sweetly oblivious to the fact that my family is planning his life and thereby his downfall, as he and Abuela practice Spanish, he winks at me.
It distracts me as my mother, sister, and the rest of the Smith-Torres women in earshot say variations of, “We’re so excited about your wedding.” They jabber on about the plans. Someone floats a date that’s less than a month away.
To my mother, I hiss, “You can’t arrange my marriage.”
“But you always had a crush on Hudson,” Mami says.
“Hunter,” I correct.
“Are you sure about that?” Chuck asks, materializing like a genie from a lamp.
“Could someone in this family please be on my side?”
Dani’s husband balances two children on his lap. “Sorry, Leah. My hands are full.”
I cross my arms in front of my chest and lean back. “My life goal is not with the goalie, thank you very much.”
“But he’s perfect. Everything you’ve been looking for,” Cara interjects.
Where did she come from?
“Guys, arranged marriages are old-fashioned.”
“But practical,” Mami says, helping herself to a maple pear turnover from a platter that Aunt Emily just set on the table.
I take a bite without asking.
Ella, whom I didn’t realize was here, says, “We flew to Hockeyville and selected Hudson from among the finest hockey players. The cream of the crop.”
“There’s no such place. Do you mean Hockey Town? You live here.”
Mami says, “We received a letter from his parents, requesting a betrothal to our daughter. Your father is working out the dowry.”
I nearly choke. Never mind. I’m already dead. “His parents? He doesn’t know who his father is. Never met him.”
Jess says, “How many Robo … whosits can there be in the world?”
As my family returns to the bingo game, I circle the wagons with the women who I thought were my friends. Unfortunately, they have me surrounded.
“I know I said I wanted my hockey honey, but there is one guy that’s off-limits,” I say with a pout.
“Says who?” Margo asks.
“Where are you all coming from?”
Margo smiles. “The food at the anniversary party was so good, when we heard y’all were here at the bingo hall, we couldn’t resist.”
Heidi says, “You’re looking for a hockey player.”
I all but stomp my foot. “Anyone but him.”
“From the looks of things, you’ve been pining over him for years,” Whit says.
We went to the same high school, but she was several grades ahead. Plus, it was Hunter who I wanted to be my real boyfriend. At least, I thought so. Maybe I’ve had it all wrong.
“Why are you so resistant? Sometimes we find love in the least likely places … like reality TV dating contests,” Delaney says with a shimmy.
“I’ve barely crossed the like line, let’s not discuss love.”
“You’ve known him since you were kids, right? Did he do something stupid like say you had cooties?” Margo asks.
Worse.
My sister rolls her eyes. “Leah wanted Hunter to be one of the Smith siblings.”
“I did not …” Think of Hunter as a brother.
Now I’m confused because maybe I did. If he became part of my family, that would fix him. He’d laugh and not at the expense of others. Knock the chip off his shoulder because having multiple siblings who share a small space humbles a person.
“Wait. Are we talking about Hudson?” Gracie asks.
“And Hunter.”
“The twin.”
“Where is the other Robo brother?”
I shrug. “He was in a band. Tried to make it big in New York City. Joined some kind of alternative hippie community in Amsterdam last I heard.”
“Perhaps he needed an extended vacation. A long one.”
It’s never occurred to me to leave Cobbiton, but the Roboveitcheks are not about small-town living.
Ella bounces on her toes. “If we win the Stanley, Jack is hosting everyone at the island resort—it was ranked top globally for vacays.”
They babble about how amazing that would be while Heidi looks at me with concern. “I was too preoccupied with my own social status in high school to remember much about Hunter, but is he okay?”
My lips twist with uncertainty at the answer to that. “It’s like he took a vow of silence to never speak to anyone again.”
Jess says, “Sounds like he may have joined a cult.”
Cara adds, “Jess barely made it out of one in Los Angeles.”
Jess looks around and lowers her voice. “There were lizards.”
A few of us laugh nervously.
“Anyway, the better brother is back.” Cara winks.
I’m about to argue that point when Hudson saunters over and we go silent.
He says, “Sounds like I’m missing out on an important conversation.”
“Don’t you mean left out?” I ask, thinking about my family’s insistence that we’re getting married.
But I feel his eyes on me, bringing with it the scent of evergreens and my mouth goes dry. The raucous chatter, interspersed with the caller’s voice, fades. Hudson somehow escaped Abuela’s clutches and his eyes at half-mast have no business in a church hall.
I cannot suppress the blush coloring my cheeks or the thoughts in my head about what this could mean. I tell myself that my body is confused because of my high school crush on his twin. But the noise in my head gets loud, arguing against that possibility, which can only mean one thing.