22. Marco
CHAPTER 22
Marco
“ S he said I was her boyfriend?” I asked Isabella, who was giving me all the details of how she’d been at Leon’s Full Service when Leah had ripped her ex a new one.
“She did,” Isabella nodded.
“So, that means you’re still together,” Sofia suggested.
“I have no idea,” I admitted, running a hand through my hair. “One minute she was fine, and the other…and then I said some stupid shit that I can’t take back.”
“What did you say?” Sofia asked.
I cleared my throat. “I may have said something about her being a coward and to call me after she grew a spine.”
“ Papi .” Both my daughters gasped.
“That was idiotic,” Isabella commented from across the dining table where we were having dinner.
Her words weren’t exactly a surprise—I’d been feeling like an idiot for three days now.
“I know,” I muttered. “You don’t have to rub it in.”
“Oh, I absolutely do,” she shot back, crossing her arms. “How could you say that to her, Papi?”
“She pushed my buttons…she tried to break up and?—”
“So, you told her to grow a spine?” Sofia was now amused.
“You fucked up,” Isabella announced.
“I did.”
“You know she was just scared…and can you blame her after being married to that narcissist?” Isabella accused.
“I lost my temper.” I sighed. “It sounds silly now, but then I felt like I was opening myself to her…you know, getting past all the freaking guilt and all that, and she was too afraid to take a chance.”
“I can see how you thought telling her she was scared when she was , in fact, scared was helpful,” Sofia said, her tone dripping with sarcasm.
I groaned again, slumping forward to rest my head on the table. “I’m such an idiot.”
I raised my head and saw my girls grinning.
“You know, most of my friends have parents who behave like they can do no wrong,” Sofia chimed.
I frowned, my eyebrows stitching together. “We never said that.”
“No, you always admitted that you were entirely too fallible,” Isabella stated dryly. “So, you made a mistake. How are you going to fix it?”
“She’s the best thing that has happened to you since Mama and now you may have lost her,” Sofia said dramatically.
I looked up at her, raising an eyebrow. “That’s not exactly comforting.”
“Good,” Sofia grinned. “You don’t deserve comfort right now.”
“With daughters like you, I don’t need enemies.”
“So, do you have a plan?” Isabella muttered.
“Maybe.”
“Tell us,” Sofia demanded.
I wiggled my eyebrows. “Let me execute it, and then you can bow to the master of fixing things.”
“Which means you first screw things up so you can then fix them,” Isabella pointed out.
“Never said I was perfect, Mija .”
But she’d said I was still her boyfriend…a misnomer, I still thought for someone my age—but that meant she was ready to forgive and forget and hopefully move on to the next stage of our relationship.