Chapter 3
3
B ernice pulled Greer from her morose thoughts. “Our family is all about embracing big life changes. My nephew—he’s actually a nephew-in-law…” She pulled back to look at Greer. “What do you call the man who marries your niece?”
Greer laughed, even if it sounded weak. “I’d probably just say my niece’s husband.”
Bernice flapped a grateful hand. “Yes, my niece’s husband. Jago is such a wonderful man. Sylvia, that’s my sister, Aurora’s mom, she adores him. And they have three of the cutest children. Two, four, and six.”
Grinning, Greer said, “It sounds like Aurora and Jago are accountants, too, having children exactly two years apart.”
Delighted, Bernice clapped her hands. “I love it. But neither of them is an accountant.” She waved her hands. Bernice was a hand-gesture kind of woman, half her conversation coming through in those hand flaps and flips. “He was a gang member,” she said, eyes so wide Greer could make them out even through her sunglasses. “But he met my little Aurora, although she’s not so little now,” she added with a smile. “And he fell head over heels in love. It changed his life. He quit the gang and moved away, and he’s never been a part of that world again. Now he’s a mechanic, with his own shop. We all take our cars to him. He’s an absolute genius with an engine. He says it’s only because of God and Aurora that he was able to change. He’s a devout Catholic now, not preachy or anything.” She leaned in, using her conspiratorial voice once again. “I have to tell you, there are several in my family who are what you’d call lapsed Catholics. We don’t talk about it. My mother would have a fit. She makes us all go to church on Christmas Eve and Easter Sunday.” She burst out with one of her beautiful, uproarious laughs again. “We fill up the whole church.”
“What about your dad?” Greer asked. “Does she make him go to church too?” Mom could never make Greer’s dad do anything.
Bernice waved an airy hand. “Of course she did. And he was always grumpy about it. He was captain of a cargo ship, and for a while he made sure he was sailing on all the holidays just so he didn’t have to go to church. But then she caught him at it and that stopped immediately.” She smiled then, fondly, Greer was sure. “He’s been gone thirty years now.”
“I’m sorry to hear that.”
“Thank you. It was lung cancer,” Bernice said. “I mean, they all used to smoke back then.” She raised her hands. “What else can you do on long sea voyages in your off hours except smoke and play cards? We all still miss him.” Then she abruptly changed the subject. “All I’ve done is talk your ear off. So tell me about you. And your significant other who’s not a husband.” After another hand flap, she added, “Or whoever you’re here with.”
Greer’s sense of well-being dropped like a heavy stone into a deep well. “I’m here on my own.”
Bernice’s jaw dropped. It would have hit the ground if she hadn’t physically put her fingers to her chin and closed her mouth again. Of course, it didn’t stay closed for long. “I don’t think I’ve ever known anyone who’s gone on vacation all by themselves.”
Greer put her hands out in a voilà gesture. “Well, now you have.”
“Didn’t you even come here with a girlfriend?”
“It was too last minute for any of my girlfriends to come.”
“So what?” Bernice said with wonder. “Don’t tell me you don’t have a manfriend to go on vacation with. Because I just can’t believe it.” She looked Greer up and down. “You’re just too lovely to be all alone.”
Not feeling capable of acknowledging the compliment, Greer shook her head. Slowly. “I’ve actually been planning the trip for months. I was supposed to come with my boyfriend.” Then, as if she were ripping off a bandage, she added quickly, “He canceled at the last minute.”
Once again, Bernice gaped. “Why on earth would he do that?”
Greer considered herself more of an introvert. She was great at her job, doing whatever had to be done. Open but not gregarious, she spoke her mind, but refrained from droning on. She never discussed her personal life with anyone at work, and certainly not with strangers, not even her hairdresser or manicurist. Only her closest girlfriends, especially Violet, knew everything.
But somehow, Bernice, with her non-stop litany about her family, seemed to draw the story out of Greer. “I went out with my girlfriends for a bon voyage drink, and I came home late.” She paused, thinking. Then she just said it. “I was tipsy by that point.” She couldn’t help smiling. “But I didn’t drive my car. My friend Violet brought me home.”
“Ooh-kay,” Bernice drew out the word. “But what about your boyfriend?”
“He wasn’t invited. It was a girls’ night. I hadn’t been out with them in a while, so it was really good to see all of them. I guess I got carried away.”
“And this all relates to your boyfriend canceling how?”
“He was pissed off that I was tipsy and that I’d been late.” She huffed out a breath before adding, “And he accused me of being with another man.”
Bernice slapped a hand over her mouth, then said through her fingers, “You’re kidding.”
Greer shook her head. “No.” Then she went for broke. “He actually sniffed me as if he thought he’d detect some other man’s scent. And then he said I smelled like a man’s cologne. Of course I didn’t,” she rushed on to say. “I told him that if he smelled anything, it was women’s perfume from all my friends.”
“What a jerk,” Bernice drawled.
Greer, now that she’d started, couldn’t stop the flow of information. It had been brewing inside her for two days. “He wouldn’t believe anything I said. It all seemed to come out of the blue.” Which wasn’t the whole truth because though Greer had written off the other incidents after Conrad’s apologies, she hadn’t forgotten them. And now she admitted, “There were several times when he acted jealously. The company barbecue, the Christmas party, dinners out with other couples.” After a couple of incidents, Greer had refused other invitations.
“Oh… My… God,” Bernice said with at least a second between each word. “He’s not just a jerk. He’s an ass.”
Greer had to agree that sometimes Conrad was. “He told me he was canceling the trip and flying to see his parents. And he left that night, saying he’d booked a hotel room even though we weren’t flying out for a couple of days.”
Bernice flopped back on her lounger, arms outstretched. “That says it all. He’s a mama’s boy. He ran home to tell Mama about all the naughty things you did.”
Greer couldn’t help her burst of laughter, and this time, she was the one who turned heads. “I didn’t think of it that way. But you could be right. He faithfully calls his mother every Sunday. Not that I’m saying it’s a bad thing.” She held out her palm, as if asking forgiveness.
“Dean calls my mother faithfully every Sunday, right after she returns from church.” She grinned widely. “And I’d never call him a mama’s boy. But still, canceling a resort vacation to fly back to see his parents after accusing you of being with another man? That’s over-the-top.” Then she asked, “So, like, was he breaking up with you?”
Greer puffed out another sigh. “I don’t know. He said we’d talk about our relationship when he got back and see what we needed to do.”
“Okay. I’m a lady. So I won’t say the word that comes to mind. But wow,” Bernice said with gusto. “That’s ridiculous.”
“I thought he’d canceled the vacation completely. But when I looked online, all the reservations were still there. But his seat remained empty on the plane. I’m pretty sure he thinks I’m not coming on the vacation either.”
“So didn’t you tell him, ‘Screw you, I’m going anyway?’”
Greer stretched her mouth wide in a humorless smile. “He was gone before I thought about looking at the reservations. It was too late to get a refund, and I wasn’t about to waste all that money. Besides, the weather’s been horrible in the Bay Area, and I needed some sun.”
“Tell me about it,” Bernice said with a long slow sigh as she stretched her arms to soak in the Mexican sun. Then she sat up straight. “Oh my God. That means you’re all alone.”
Greer merely nodded.
Bernice grabbed her arm. “You must join our party. I can’t let you be in Mexico all alone.”
“Oh no, I can’t do that.” Greer held her hands up, warding Bernice off. “This is your mother’s birthday party. I can’t crash the bash.”
Even in her laughter, Bernice said, “There’s so many of us. One more won’t bust the party. In fact, no one will even notice there’s one extra.”
Still, Greer resisted. “No, I really, really couldn’t do that.”
Sitting up to stare at her, Bernice jammed a hand on her hip. “In one hour, we’ve become besties. And a bestie can’t let her bestie eat all alone. It’s buffet style anyway, not a sit-down dinner. You have to come. I won’t take no for an answer.”
Being an only child, Greer thought about the wonderful family Bernice obviously had. How wonderful it would have been to have brothers and sisters and children and cousins. She asked quickly, “Do you have any aunts and uncles?”
“There’s my mother’s older sister Katrina. And my dad’s brother Fernando. But neither of them could make it. They’re the only two of that generation left.”
“So, how many brothers and sisters did your parents have?”
Bernice put her arms out in a wide gesture that seemed to encompass the world. “There were five kids in my dad’s family and four in my mother’s. So I’ve got oodles of cousins. But we kept the bash to the nuclear family. Otherwise, it would have been too overwhelming. I wanted Nana to be the center of attention.”
“You call her Nana? Not Mom?”
A breeze blew loose tendrils of Bernice’s hair across her forehead as she shook her head. “As soon as the grandkids started coming, she was Nana to all of us.” Bernice leaned over to put her hand on Greer’s arm. “Really, you have to come. Please.”
Greer was dying to meet Nana, this woman who inspired the loyalty of her entire family to where they’d all show up for a birthday bash in Puerto Vallarta.
She wanted to meet all of them, hotel manager Phillip, former gang member Jago and his wife Aurora.
And Dean, the gorgeous hunk on the plane.
Greer made her decision. “Thank you, I’d love to.”
Later, in her room getting ready for the dinner, she couldn’t help looking at her reflection in the mirror. And what she saw was a woman who didn’t have anyone anymore. Her husband had divorced her. Her boyfriend had canceled his half of their vacation. She had no siblings. Her parents were gone, and she didn’t know her Canadian aunts or uncles or cousins.
That had been her dad’s edict. She’d never known why he didn’t want to see them. But her father had ruled the house. What he said was what she and her mother did. Greer had never even questioned that. She’d thought that’s how all families were. They ate the food her dad liked, watched the TV shows he enjoyed, visited the places he wanted to see. When her parents sold the house and moved to the retirement home, it was the facility her dad chose. And only a few weeks after he’d died, her mother followed, as if he’d chosen that time too.
She’d occasionally wondered if that’s why she’d let Hal make the decisions about where they’d live and when they’d start having children. Because that was how her parents had lived their lives. And Greer had just gone along as if that was how things were supposed to be done.
But she’d listened to Bernice and realized how different her family was. Maybe not all families were like Greer’s.
And God, how she wanted to soak up all their wonderful chaos, all their love for each other.
His nephew Phillip had reserved the entire outdoor café—next to one of the five resort pools—just for their family. Dean settled his mother at the head of the table while his sister Bernice set a golden blow-up crown on her head. His mother gasped, hands to her mouth, her eyes twinkling. She’d had cataract surgery a couple of years ago, and now she probably saw better than he did.
Tonight was the official opening of the birthday bash, but Nana’s actual birthday was still a few days away. And they had a very special party planned for her.
Everyone cheered and took their places. The younger kids seated at a separate table were already being served kid food like chicken fingers and mac-n-cheese to tide them over.
His daughters had picked their seats somewhere in the middle of the adults’ table, and he went directly to them, pulling out a chair. The moment he did, Lisa, his youngest, stood. “You don’t mind if we go sit next to Nana, right, Dad?”
Her sister Cynthia looked between the two of them, a slight grimace of indecision on her face. But she finally stood too.
He had no choice but to say, “Of course, sweetheart. You don’t get to see Nana enough.”
And they left him.
He recognized the act for the snub it was. When Bernice convinced the girls to come on this trip, he’d known things wouldn’t be easy. He had a lot of fences to mend, but since the divorce five years ago, it had grown even harder. They sided with their mother.
He admitted he’d been an inattentive, workaholic father. They were both over twenty-one now, and even though he’d apologized and thought he’d changed his ways, it could take years to undo the damage.
Bernice had already dropped into a seat on the opposite end, her husband Ralph next to her, and she waved Dean over. There was an empty seat right next to her, but she waved him to the one at the end of the table. “Sit right here so you can see Nana more easily.” When his nephew Oliver, Bernice’s middle son, tried to take the empty seat, she shooed him away with a smile, saying, “I’m saving that seat.” Then she fluttered her fingers. “Go sit with your family. There’s still plenty of room down by them and your grandmother.”
“Who are you saving the seat for?” Dean asked.
But she was waving her hand vigorously, careening out of her seat to run to the woman just entering the restaurant. Dean had noticed her on the flight, and not just because he’d given a glass of champagne. He’d never had a roving eye, but she was a beautiful woman, her auburn hair curling past her shoulders, red-gold highlights shining in the setting sun.
She smiled and gave Nana a hug as Bernice introduced her. Then his sister tugged her down the long table. “You can sit here, next to me,” Bernice said as she reached her chair.
Dean didn’t miss how efficiently she’d seated the woman next to him.
Bernice leaned forward for the introductions. “Greer, this is my brother. And this is Greer. She’s from the Bay Area, too, and at the resort all by herself, so I invited her to join us.”
He knew immediately that she was matchmaking. Bernice couldn’t abide unmarried people. She didn’t accept that Dean was married to his job. He’d failed the first time around, failing his daughters too. And honestly, he didn’t have the willpower to try again. No matter how beautiful this woman was, no matter how her enticing amber eyes seemed to glitter when she looked at him, he only had time for his daughters and his work.
But he had to be polite, and he held out his hand, smiled, saying, “Nice to meet you, Greer.” Then he pointed at Ralph. “That’s my sister’s husband, Ralph.” Bernice, consumed with her matchmaking, hadn’t bothered to make the introduction.
He wondered where his sister had picked up Greer, maybe out by the pool.
Then Greer was holding out her hand. “Greer Gibson,” she said, shaking, and a burst of warmth spread up his arm at her touch. He suddenly found it hard to let go, and she was the first to withdraw, leaning over to shake Ralph’s hand.
He felt a little stunned by his reaction to the contact.
Ralph took over. “Ralph Murray.” He pointed at Dean. “That’s Dean Adamo, since my wife—” He raised a brow at Bernice. “—obviously can’t be bothered giving actual names.”
They all laughed and Greer said, “Your mother is delightful. And thank you all so much for allowing me to crash your party.”
“The more the merrier,” Ralph continued before Dean could open his mouth. “And there’s Phillip,” he said, pointing across the table. “He’s our son and manager of the resort here.” He tapped his chest proudly. “And his adorable wife Rosa is next to him.” They waved a hello, Rosa beaming.
Dean then introduced his niece seated next to him. “This is my sister Sylvia’s daughter Honoria and her wife Zendaya. And over there next to Ralph is Sylvia’s other daughter, Aurora, and her husband Jago.” They all waved too. Turning to Greer, he said, “It’s getting too noisy to go all the way down the table.” He added out of politeness, “We’ll introduce you around later.”
She smiled at him warmly. “Thank you. Later will be fine.” He was sure she wouldn’t remember all the names he and Ralph had just thrown at her.
How the hell did he feel about what Bernice had done? He eyed his sister, who smiled at him with one raised eyebrow. She was so damn sneaky. And now he’d have to make small talk with the woman, which was exactly what Bernice intended. And he would make small talk rather than appear churlish by ignoring her.
With everyone seated, Phillip rose to his feet, raising his champagne flute. The waiters had laid the table with full glasses before they’d even arrived. And while all Dean’s siblings had pitched in for this birthday bash, it was Phillip who’d arranged for a fantastic deal at the resort.
“I want to thank all of you for coming to Nana’s birthday bash.” Phillip saluted his grandmother with the raised glass. And Nana giggled her delight at being the center of attention, the golden crown bobbing on her head as she gave a queenly wave, followed by a goofy cross-eyed face that made everyone laugh. His mother loved her funny faces and the laughter they always drew out of her family.
Phillip turned to the rest of the table. “We have five pools at the resort—” He thumbed over his shoulder. “—with a lazy river around the perimeter. Every fifteen minutes during the day it becomes a whitewater river.” He pointed to the steps next to a towel stand that led down to the waterway. “And over there—” He waved a hand at the surrounding jungle foliage. “—we’ve got the Aztec pyramid waterslide which shoots out to our wave pool with its own manmade beach.” Pointing to another pathway, he added, “And of course, there’s the ocean. You can walk for miles out there.” He sipped his champagne before going on. “We’ll have dinner together right here every night at six. But for breakfast and lunch, you’re on your own.” He held up a finger. “You all should have received tickets for the gondola that will take you out to the volcano show tomorrow night. It starts at seven thirty once it’s completely dark. There’s also parasailing on the beach, and you can take taxis into town or out to the nearby zip line. The main thing is to enjoy yourselves. And Wednesday we’ll have Nana’s birthday bash.” Then one more day and they’d fly home on Friday.
Phillip held up his glass once more, everyone raising theirs in unison, and cried out, “To Nana.” And they all drank to her.
Dean drank too. To his mother and to his big, happy family, all of them dark-haired like his parents had been, their Italian heritage showing. No one looking around the table would think they were anything but family.
And Dean turned his full attention to the beautiful woman beside him.