Chapter 5
CHAPTER FIVE
ALONDRA
I want to head straight to my room, but my stomach won’t let me. Vale wouldn’t either. The two small pans of lasagna are almost done. While waiting, I answer Esme’s numerous text messages.
Me: Yes, I’m okay.
I’m getting ready to eat dinner.
Esme: What about you and Vale?
Have you jumped him yet?
Me: No. Kindly stop.
She responds with an eye roll emoji followed by:
Esme: Have you at least made out like you used to back in the day?
The heat rises to my neck, and my gaze goes straight to him. We used to go to parks and make out like crazy, only coming up gasping for air.
He catches me staring and holds my gaze. Just then, my phone rings. I look down, and the single word on my screen makes me smile. Maeven. My favorite cousin, like my sister, and my favorite family member.
“Hey,”
“Don’t hey me,” she huffs. “Why haven’t you called me? You’re going through this shit, and I had no fucking idea.”
I sigh. “I didn’t want to bother you. You’re in Positano with your friend after going through hell with your client.”
She ughs. “You’re in a political crisis. You have your own personal crisis manager, the Dominican Olivia Pope, and you let a vacation get in the way of that?”
“I’m sorry, Maeven.”
“Stop. I’m sorry for this shit you’re going through, but we can fix this. Where are you now? I’m headed to New York tomorrow.”
“Don’t break your vacation for me.”
“If I don’t break it for the only sister I have, who will I break it for?”
Tears spring in my eyes. “I’m in North Carolina. I needed to get away and drove down here.”
“That’s why the media hasn’t been able to find you. Are you safe? Do you know anyone down there?”
“Vale’s here,” I say as he places a plate of food before me. “He owns the place where I’m staying.”
She’s silent for a few seconds. “Something else you’ve been keeping from me.”
“No. I found him by accident. It’s a long story.”
“Let me talk to him.”
“Hello, no,” I say, picturing them teasing me like they did back in the day.
“Okay, tell him I said hello. In the meantime, I’m going to prepare a statement on your behalf, and I’ll call a few people I know to find out what are the implications for you. I want to get ahead of anything Briddams may do. Are you coming home soon or staying down there?”
I shake my head. “No, I’m leaving once the roads open again. I should be home in a couple of days.”
“Okay, we can’t wait that long. I’ll draft it and send it to you. You can review it, and we can tweak it.”
I nod. “Thanks, cousin. Love you.”
“Me too. I’ll be in touch.”
I hang up and place my phone on the table. “Maeven says hi.”
The smile returns to his face, wide and warm. “What is your cousin up to these days?”
I smile back at him. “She’s a publicist with famous clients. She worked for Mateo de la Cruz.”
“Jesus. That dude’s has a fucking PR nightmare, I’m sure.”
I laugh because that’s what my cousin confided in me. Maeven’s been sick and tired of him for a while.
“I’m glad you two are still close,” Vale says.
“That’s my sister from another mother.”
He chuckles and points to my plate. “Eat.”
We both do. I keep thinking about the statement Maeven is drafting and having to face the people again. I need to get a new job. My savings can carry me until I figure out what to do.
“So, do you have a man?”
Vale’s question breaks through my thoughts so fast that I drop my fork on the plate.
“Why are you asking me that?” I’m not annoyed at the question, but it caught me unaware.
“Do you?”
I shake my head. “Not that it’s any of your business.”
He nods. “I’m not in a relationship either.”
“I did not ask, Valentin.”
He grins. “You only called me by my full name when you were pissed at me, but I’ve always loved it.”
I roll my eyes.
“I’ve never been married either.”
“Gee, I wonder why,” I respond. In truth, I’m shocked someone didn’t snag him at some point.
“I guess it never worked out,” he says.
“That wasn’t a real question,” I grit out.
He shrugs. “It is for me, though. Why are you not married?”
“I guess it didn’t work for me either.” My tone sounds harsh and defensive. I sigh. “I’ve always been worried about ending in a relationship like my parents. Their marriage was hell. I only saw them agree on one thing.”
“Are they still together?”
I shake my head. “Thankfully, they divorced when I was in college. It was best for everyone.”
“What was the one thing they agreed on?”
My stomach drops as it always does when I’m assaulted by the memories of that day. My dad screaming, me pleading, my mother crying, and finally, the two of them coming to the decision that changed my life.
I contemplate lying, but it was a long ago and won’t make a difference.
“They agreed to send me to Santo Domingo after the police asked them to bring me to the station for questioning.”
His eyes round. “What? You? Why? You had nothing to do with it.”
“I had everything to do with it. That’s what scared them to death. They thought you were a thug and were going to drag me into that life.” My tone is dry. My brother was hoodlum. Vale was a dumb kid that got pressured by his friends.
“Why didn’t you call me?”
“I wasn’t allowed to. Once the police were involved, it was only a matter of hours. They didn’t even let me talk to anyone else in the family. My mother and I left that night.”
“I would’ve stayed away.”
The emotion threatens to choke me up. “My parents were not afraid of you, Vale. They could’ve made you stay away. It was me. They were afraid of the things I was willing to do for you.”
He rears back. “What are you talking about?”
There’s a headache brewing in the back of my head. “It doesn’t matter anymore.”
“It does to me.”
“Maeven told me your so-called friends set you up. They put the gun in your bag so you would get caught with it. When I went to the principal’s office for the morning announcements, I took the gun out of your bag and put it in mine. On the way home, I dumped it in an open grave at Ashburton Cemetery. That’s why they never found it. However, the vice principal knew I was in the office to make the student announcement that morning. They called the police. I denied everything, and they couldn’t prove it.”
He stares at me as if he is seeing me for the first time.
I stand from the table. “You see? I’m not squeaky clean, after all. I’m going to sit outside for a bit.” I step out into the cool air. The sun is going down over the water. I shouldn’t have said anything. I don’t even know why I opened my mouth. I need to get out of here. It's only been a day, and I’m already baring myself to him. I can’t let that happen again.