The Hold (Catch and Hold #2)

9. Sunday, May 13, 2012

SUNDAY, MAY 13, 2012

M other’s Day began like any other Sunday. Julia woke at six, before the kids, to practice the latest Bollywood dance steps she had learned. Her father had long since left to get Dunphy’s up and running for Mother’s Day. So at seven, after a quick shower, Julia made a pot of oatmeal – just enough to tide them over until brunch.

Julia startled when her mother appeared in the kitchen, her puffy eyelids and yawn betraying that she had just woken up.

“Oh, you’re awake,” Julia commented, heading straight for the coffee maker to brew a cup for her mother. Even in retirement, her mother had retained her night-owl tendencies from working in the restaurant. She usually didn’t get up until nine.

Julia’s mother dropped heavily into the banquette seat at the kitchen table. “I decided to attend the early Mass, since brunch is at eleven.” Shuffling some papers on the kitchen table, she added, ever-so-casually, “Maybe Robert and Paige would like to go with me? Give you some time to yourself?”

Julia shot her a good-natured stink eye. Her mother had never quite given up hope of bringing Julia back into the fold; and if not Julia, then at least the kids .

“All right, all right. Hope springs eternal,” her mother conceded, chuckling. “Did you know Paige is already up and painting?”

“Really?” Julia considered a moment. “She must have woken up and gone downstairs while I was in the shower.”

“She’s really excited about her new painting.”

Julia poured the coffee, then delivered her mother’s mug to the table. “It’s a good one. Will was kind of blown away when he saw it.”

Julia didn’t want the oatmeal to get any colder, so she went downstairs to wake Robert and announce that breakfast was ready. From there, the nauseous quivering in her stomach over their post-brunch visit with the Quinns crowded out all other thoughts.

Julia took particular care with her appearance that day – curling her hair and swiping a fresh coat of paint on her toenails. Putting on a tad more makeup than her usual lip gloss, eyebrow pencil, and mascara. Choosing the most spring-like thing in her wardrobe – a white sundress with a full skirt and a pattern of large rosettes –and pairing it with silver metallic kitten heels. And of course, for extra warmth against the San Francisco fog, she topped it off with a light cashmere cardigan, a straw cloche hat, and a rose-colored silk scarf.

When Julia came downstairs to inspect Robert’s sartorial choices, she found him in full pirate costume, playing with his Beyblades. Before she could say anything, he looked up at her with wide blue eyes. “Wow, Mommy, you’re so pretty!”

Her heart melting, she lowered herself carefully to the rug beside him and squeezed him around the shoulders. “Thank you, Tadpole! You look pretty arrrrgh-mazing , yourself.” He giggled and arrrrgh-ed back at her, and she added, “You’re wearing that to brunch?”

“Yep.”

“Hmm...” Well, why not? “Good choice for a seafood restaurant.”

Paige emerged from the bathroom, and Julia sucked in a sharp breath. Paige had streaked her choppy dark hair with magenta dye and rimmed her eyes with heavy black eyeliner. She had pulled on a slashed-up pair of black skinny jeans and Doc Martens, and wore a black pleather jacket over a magenta tank top that clung to her curves. Not only that, what looked like a silver hoop glinted against her right nostril.

The expression in Paige’ eyes as they locked on Julia’s was an unspoken cha llenge. But Clio’s endless refrain looped through Julia’s consciousness – pick your battles .

So even as Robert’s whoa jerked Julia out of her stupor, she cleared her throat and calmly said, “Did you pierce it, or is that one of those clip-on things?”

“Clip-on,” Paige mumbled, sniffing as she strode casually through the den and back upstairs.

It would be an interesting brunch at Dunphy’s, with both Captain Jack Sparrow and Nancy Downs from The Craft . And it would make for an even more colorful reunion with the Quinns tonight.

To Julia’s shock, Dunphy’s was half-empty. On Mother’s Days long past, customers waited an hour or more for a table, if they could even get one. And yet, almost twenty minutes passed before the sullen waiter brought Julia and her mother’s mimosas. Even then, if there was any champagne mixed in with the orange juice, it was undetectable. After that, it still took another forty-five minutes to get their food.

In years gone by, Julia’s mother would have marched right into the kitchen to personally excoriate the staff; but these days, none of the employees even knew who she was. Eventually Robert and Paige got so bored – not to mention fed up with all the octogenarians glowering at their fashion choices – that Julia took them out of the restaurant for a walk down the Embarcadero.

After her mother finally texted that the food had arrived, they returned to a nearly inedible meal of lukewarm poached eggs, soggy French toast, incinerated bacon, and weak coffee. Robert pushed morsels around his plate, and Paige complained for the eighteenth time about being dragged here every single year.

And then a loud volley of profanity careened all the way from within the kitchen, out into the dining room. Among the offenders, Julia recognized her father’s voice. The next moment, the kitchen door swung open violently, and a rotund, red-faced man in a white coat and skull cap stalked through it, right into the dining room. Back through the still-sw inging door, he loudly entreated Julia’s father to suck his dick.

After the cook stormed out, Robert leaned into Julia, wide-eyed. “Mommy, I think that man said a bad word.”

The entire ordeal had already swallowed up two and a half hours of their day, and by that point, Julia’s mother was on the verge of tears. From all the shouting and swearing, a virtual mutiny was underfoot in the kitchen. One by one, patrons left in a huff without paying. Julia’s mother stayed behind to help pick up the pieces, entreating Julia and the kids to go home without her.

Now, at five o’clock, Julia was working on her Halloween costume for that year. What she had in mind would take her the entire five-and-a-half months between now and then. Paige worked nearby on her splendid dottyback painting, and Robert provided the soundtrack with the same three guitar chords, over and over again.

Julia’s mother finally appeared in the in-law unit, stooped beneath the weight of the day. Catching Julia’s eye, she jerked her head in the direction of the staircase – a silent summons.

“So, you quelled the beast?” Julia prompted after they sat at the kitchen table. She referred, of course, to her father.

“Not really.”

Her mother sagged, the corners of her mouth drooping; so Julia got up again to make them both a cup of tea. “Who quit in a huff, this time?”

“Everyone.”

Julia whirled around, nearly dropping the teacup she held. " What? ”

“I mean, the one you saw was the new sous chef. At least this one lasted a whole three days. But after you and the kids left, the entire restaurant quit en masse.”

To hide her shock, Julia faced the counter and filled the infuser with loose leaf tea.

“Julia, you’ve got to help me,” her mother blurted. “You and Alison. He won’t listen to me.”

Julia poured the hot water from the electric kettle into the teapot. “What are we helping you with?” she asked warily .

“It’s time for your dad to retire. Sell the restaurant, or close it, or hand over the reins to someone new. But he gets so belligerent if I even mention it.”

“I think, in his heart of hearts, Dad knows you’re right. He knows both he and the restaurant are past their prime, and it terrifies him. I don’t think he knows what he’d do with himself in retirement. It would help if he had something already lined up.”

“Like what?”

Stumped, Julia fell silent.

“Exactly,” her mother doubled down. “That restaurant is his whole life. I need you and Alison to help me, if we want to convince your dad it’s time to call it a day. I like your idea of brainstorming other pastimes we could tempt him with.”

“What about traveling?” Julia suggested. “You two have never taken time off to travel.”

Her mother’s mouth drooped again. “I’m seventy-five, Julia. I can’t go traipsing around the world. With my heart, I need to stay close to my doctors.”

Julia's own heart sank at the reminder of her mother’s heart failure. But there was no time to belabor the subject.

“I’ll talk it over with Alison and give it some thought. But right now, we have to get ready to go to the Quinns’.”

And with that, Julia’s anxiety ricocheted back to the forefront.

She was about to face William’s family for the first time since she had saved their home and business. And the Quinns were about to meet William’s son – Ann’s grandson. Kelly’s nephew. William had reassured Julia over and over that they would welcome her and Robert with open arms. But after the fiasco of six years ago, she keenly felt the need to make as good of an impression as possible.

Her mother retrieved the bottle of Cinsaut her friend Diane had given her. Julia packed it with their other offerings of food and flowers.Downstairs, she found Robert still in his pirate costume, and Paige still wore her emo-slash-scene-girl garb. But it didn’t matter – this was them. Julia, herself, had always been quirky. It was one of the things William had always loved about her. The rest of the Quinns could either take them or leave them. For her part, Julia would not borrow trouble.

With a clear head and heart, she set out from their house with her mother and kids in tow, a bouquet of flowers in one hand, and a bag stuffed with food and wine in the other. She confidently strode the three blocks from the Dunphy house to the Quinns’.

William’s parents’ house – where she and William had lost their virginity to each other. As it came into view, she silently asked herself – how many nights had she spent in their in-law unit, curled against William’s body in his extra-long twin bed? It was impossible to know.

Fondness clutched at her heart. The last time she was here – three months ago, when she came with a proposal to sue their unscrupulous health insurance company – Ann Quinn had met her at the door with a scowl. But this time, it was William who sat on the front step, following their approach with his eyes, Diego fast asleep at his feet.

An irrepressible smile curved Julia’s mouth. William’s stylishly faded black jeans were a bit more tailored and dressier than usual. His button-down shirt was still blue plaid, and still untucked, but not flannel. It was more of a pressed Oxford-style, and again, more fitted than usual. He had left the top two buttons undone, treating her to a glimpse of his Saint Peter pendant nestled into a hint of chest hair; and he had rolled the sleeves up to his elbows. The flash of black from the tattoos on his forearms drew her attention – but not as much as the two bouquets he held.

As they drew closer, his own mouth twisted into a lopsided smile – the kind he wore when he was trying not to let it overtake his face too much. The color rose to his cheeks as he rose to his feet. Diego scrambled awake with a curious look at William, followed by a comical double-take when he caught sight of the rest of them. And the whole time, William’s eyes stayed riveted to Julia. They drank her in – all of her – from hat to heels.

Flushing, she glanced down at her sundress and back up again. His full smile finally broke through, and his nearly-aquamarine eyes usurped every shred of her attention. For just a moment, all of existence narrowed down to just this: the two of them, really seeing each other for the first time, all over again.

This man, right here.

If there had ever been any doubt in her mind, it ended here.

William was her person. Her soul mate. Her perfect ten. Her forever, and ever after.

Families, kids, exes, jobs, money… it would all work out. She was certain of it, right down to the marrow of her bones.

And then, her surroundings snapped back into focus when Robert barreled between them, flinging his arms around William’s legs with enough enthusiasm to nearly knock him over.

“Hey, you!” William’s laughter jerked out with the force of Robert’s impact. Shifting both bouquets into his right hand and wrapping his left one around Robert’s head, he bent toward Robert in greeting. And then, almost immediately, Robert relinquished William and squatted to accept face licks from Diego.

His sparkling eyes returning to Julia’s, William finally stepped forward. “Happy Mother’s Day,” he said, relieving her of the bag she carried and holding one of the bouquets out to Julia. Greeting her with a hug and a kiss on the cheek. Leaning into her ear, and whispering, “You take my breath away.”

He kissed her once more before pulling away. She beamed up at him, happier than in years, and the corners of his eyes crinkled as he offered another bashful smile. She plunged her nose into the flowers – peonies, her favorite – and her gaze tracked him as he offered Julia’s mother a bouquet of pink roses. Julia watched her mother’s face light up and heard her exclamation of delight, but the steady drum of her heartbeat drowned out everything else.

Paige returned William’s greeting with an awkward wave. And then William placed his hand on Julia’s lower back, igniting tingles up and down her spine as he led the way inside.

The post-war Doelger-style house William had grown up in was a mirror image of Julia’s childhood home, with its gated-off tunnel entrance leading into a ground-level, indoor hall. Like the Dunphys, the Quinns had long ago converted their garage into an in-law unit, accessible from the entry hall. Meanwhile, a staircase from the entry hall led up to the main level of the house.

Mouth-watering odors greeted them when William opened the front door. So did the young voices coming through the open door of the in-law unit .

“That sounds like my nephews,” said William as he led them into the in-law unit’s den. Much to Julia’s astonishment, the photos William had taken – the ones Julia had framed for him over eighteen years ago – still hung on the walls. The last time she had been here in February, to talk with Ann, Julia had been too nervous to notice.

But before she could take that in, she found herself blinking at the two boys sitting on the floor in front of the television, thoroughly engrossed in a video game.

“Hey guys,” William called out. “If we were snakes, we would have bitten you.”

The older boy paused the game, while the younger one turned with a grin. “Sorry, Uncle Will.”

“We have guests,” William continued, and the boys rose to their feet.

William had once told Julia that Xavier was twelve-going-on-thirteen, but he looked at least fifteen. He was a cute kid, with slightly-outgrown corkscrew curls, light brown skin, and a smattering of freckles over his nose and cheekbones. Heavy blinking accompanied what little eye contact he made; and he performed all the requisite greetings, but in a flat tone.

The younger boy, Zach, was maybe seven or eight, with medium-brown skin, short twists in his hair, and an adorable, dimpled smile. He took one look at Robert and demanded, “Why are you wearing a pirate costume?”

“Because I’m the Dread Pirate Robert.”

Zach gave this explanation a single moment’s consideration, then shrugged and invited Robert outside to play.

“You can’t leave, Zach,” Xavier balked. “We haven’t finished our game yet.”

Zach started to argue, and William opened his mouth to intercede – but Paige beat him to it.

“I’ll play with you, once I’m done meeting everybody.”

Paige gaped at Xavier as she said it, her cheeks slightly pink. When he turned to blink at the tops of her shoes, she explained, “I love the Sims.”

Xavier’s eyes lifted and snagged on Paige’s for just a moment. He blinked rapi dly several times in a row before his eyes darted away again. “Okay.”

Crisis averted, William turned anxiously to Julia, mouthing the word, “Ready?”

A flock of butterflies took wing in Julia’s belly, but she nodded. Turning to follow him upstairs, she immediately stopped short, and her stomach bottomed out.

Ann and Kelly already hovered in the doorway.

Ann was much thinner than she had been only three months ago, and her dark hair had taken on more gray. She stood frozen, her eyes glued to Robert. They grew watery as she smiled at him with trembling lips.

Kelly stood just over Ann’s shoulder in her usual hands-on-hips stance, but she gazed in wonder at Robert.

Julia’s eyes flickered up to William. Smiling, he gently encouraged her forward with a reassuring hand on her lower back. To Julia's amazement, Ann stepped up and gathered her into a tight embrace. Ann may have looked older and thinner, but her hugs were just as hearty as ever.

After a moment, Ann clasped Julia’s arms and gazed up at her. She was definitely fighting back tears, and now, so was Julia. Ann's trembling lips curved into a warm smile that conveyed everything: forgiveness, gratitude, and hope. “Thank you,” she finally murmured, nodding.

A single, fat tear rolled down Julia’s cheek. In a shaky whisper, she replied, “Thank you . For my son’s father.”

Once more, Ann nodded, her trembling lips still pressed together in a smile, her eyes still shimmering as she accepted Julia’s offering of tulips.

Julia pulled a tissue from her purse to dab her eyes and nose, then dragged her gaze to Kelly. They exchanged nods in place of words. Julia beckoned Paige forward, and Kelly – who had supervised Paige during her amends-making shift at Cardone’s – accepted Paige’s flower bouquet graciously.

Finally, it was time for Ann and Kelly to meet Robert.

William gently guided Robert forward. “Mom, Kelly… this is Robert. Robert, this is my mother Ann, and my sister Kelly. ”

William’s voice was quiet, almost reverent. Julia saw that he, too, was blinking back tears, and with that, there was no hope left for Julia – her own waterworks breached the levee.

Stooping, Ann extended her hand to Robert. “Hello, Robert. I’m very happy to meet you.”

Glancing at Julia for reassurance, Robert shook Ann’s hand and said, “Nice to meet you, too, Mrs. Quinn.”

“Such nice manners, young man.” Ann beamed in approval.

Once again, Robert’s eyes skittered over to Julia before saying, “Um… you have nice manners, too, old lady.”

Against Julia’s will, a loud cackle erupted from somewhere deep in her belly. Thankfully Ann and everyone else burst into laughter, too. Robert grinned the way kids do when they don’t understand why everyone is laughing; only that they were the cause.

“Kids,” Ann remarked. “They keep you humble.”

Julia’s laughter caught in her throat as Ann stepped toward Paige. The only time Ann had ever seen Paige was four months ago, in January, when she overheard Paige swearing loudly in the middle of Safeway. It was the same day Ann first clapped eyes on Robert, and instantly realized he was her grandson.

But now, Ann greeted Paige warmly, and thankfully, Paige was as pleasant as she had ever been.

With the most nerve-wracking introductions out of the way, Ann and Julia’s mother wrapped each other in a tearful, lingering hug, exchanging private whispers. Julia watched from her peripheral vision, dabbing her eyes with her tissue and blowing her nose, until Kelly stepped closer.

Clearing her throat and shoving her hands into her pockets, Kelly asked, “Is your sister still coming?”

Julia offered Kelly a watery smile. “She should be here any minute. She’s just closing up her bakery.”

Kelly nodded, her eyes looking everywhere except at Julia, but Julia sensed she was trying her best. “Pilar and I wanted to talk to Alison about a wedding cake.”

“I’m sure she’d love that!”

“The wedding is only a month away. We only got engaged a month ago, so we h aven’t had much time to plan; and any place that makes decent cakes is already booked.”

“Well, of course I can’t speak for her, but knowing her, she’d find a way.”

Again, Kelly nodded, and then her eyes swept to Robert. She crouched down with as warm of a smile as Julia had ever seen from her. Offering Robert a fist bump, she said, “Hey there, little man.”

Robert returned the fist bump. “Hey there, big woman.”

Julia ran a hand down her burning face, then peeked through the gaps between her fingers. Grinning at Ann, Kelly said, “You're right, Mom; they do keep you humble.” In high school, Kelly had been very athletic, if big-boned; but now she sported the same stout figure her mother once did. Until very recently, the only thing distinguishing daughter from mother, besides fewer wrinkles, was Kelly’s asymmetrical, undercut hairstyle.

“Come outside, guys,” Kelly called, still chuckling. “Come meet my fiancée and her family.”

Kelly led them all through the sliding glass door onto the back patio. There, at the table, Julia recognized the Ochoa men. With a stab of panic, she realized she had forgotten their names. Two young women sat across the table from a third, extremely pregnant one – obviously Pilar. They all rose in greeting, and even Pilar tried to heave herself to her feet.

Kelly rounded the table and rested her hands on Pilar’s shoulders, gently settling her back into her chair. “Everyone, this is Pilar, my fiancée.”

With a bright smile, Pilar placed her hands on her belly. “Sorry for not standing. I’m a little weighed down these days.”

“And these,” Kelly added, gesturing to the two women standing across the table, “are her sisters, Flora and Emilia.”

Pilar graciously re-introduced the rest of her family at the table: Pilar’s grandfather Gustavo, her father Sergio, and her teenage brother Rafael.

As everyone got acquainted, Julia’s eyes drifted again to Pilar, who still sat with Kelly’s hands on her shoulders. She was a pretty young woman with deep brown skin and hair in cornrows, the long ends trailing down her back. Pilar must have sensed someone watching, because her eyes flitted to Julia’s. Her smile bloomed warmly, revealing perfect teeth and two endearing dimples.

Julia liked her immediately.

But Kelly and Ann were already herding everyone back inside and upstairs to meet the rest of Pilar’s family. Delfina and her mother-in-law, Socorro, emerged from the kitchen to greet them. Lucía, a girl around Paige’s age, trailed behind.

Amid all the greetings, Julia glanced around the Quinns’ living room and noticed two things. First, the space had changed drastically since the last time she had seen it. At some point, the Quinns had removed the dark, seventies-era wall paneling, lava-orange shag carpeting, and dingy mustard-yellow drapes. In their place, they had painted the walls a fresh, clean white, replaced the drapes with plantation shutters, and refinished the original parquet floors. Not only that, the sagging avocado-green furniture was gone, with more modern styles taking their places.

The second thing Julia noticed, though, were the two taped-up moving boxes stacked against the wall, with Ann Quinn scrawled on each one.

At that exact moment, her mother blurted, “Ann! Are you moving?”

Ann froze, wide-eyed. Then she turned to Kelly with a frown. “I asked you to put those boxes in the bedroom.”

Julia’s mother looked back and forth between Ann and Kelly, who suddenly wore a hangdog look. Bracing herself, Julia’s mother rested a hand on the back of the Quinns’ sofa. “You are leaving.”

Ann’s shoulders sagged as she heaved a sigh of resignation. “I didn’t want you to find out this way. It all happened so suddenly…”

Julia came to place a reassuring hand on her mother’s arm and glanced over at William for clues, but she found none in his sober expression.

“Oh, no,” whispered Julia’s mother.

Kelly took a few paces forward. “Mrs. Dunphy – Karen – Mom’s right. It was only late Friday that the property management company called to say they had an opening, but she has to move in by Tuesday. You know how competitive these places are in the city – we had to jump on it while we had the chance.”

Julia wrapped an arm around her mother’s shoulder, guiding her to the sofa, and Ann came to sit on the other side. Kelly offered Julia’s mother a box of tissues. The Ochoa women retreated silently back to the kitchen.

“Karen…” Ann’s tone was almost mournful. “I’m so sorry you’re finding out this way. I just didn’t know what to do. It’s not the kind of news you deliver over the phone, and I haven’t had a single chance to come tell you since we found out on Friday.”

“But why? ” Julia’s mother demanded; and despite Julia’s compassion for her mother’s grief, she winced a bit at her shrill tone. “ Why are you leaving?”

“Oh, my sweet friend.” Ann grasped one of Karen’s hands in her own. “Kelly and Pilar are about to add two more members to our family, and they already have two boys. Our house is a carbon copy of yours, so I don’t have to tell you that three bedrooms and 1500 square feet just isn’t enough.”

Julia’s mother glanced around herself, then straightened and blew her nose. “Oh, I’m sorry, everyone. It’s a sin to submit to despair.”

“Despair?” Ann said gently, putting an arm around her friend’s shoulders. “Why despair?”

“It’s just… everybody’s leaving, or dying. I don’t know anyone around here anymore.”

“Well, I’m not dying,” Ann pointed out with a soft chuckle.

“And as far as leaving,” William interjected, “don't forget it's only two miles away.”

Julia’s mother gave William a watery smile and stretched out her arm, offering her hand. He came forward and took it.Turning to Ann, Julia's mother said, “This young man has always been like the son Paul and I never had.”

William gave Julia’s mother a kind smile. “I’m not such a young man anymore, but if you want to call me young, I won’t argue.”

Chuckles circled the room, and then Ann said, “Karen, you’ll be the first friend I invite over, I promise.”

Julia’s mother dabbed her eyes and blew her nose again. “You’re sweet, dear. Thank you. But enough of this blubbering from me. What are you making for dinner? Can I help?”

As the women filed into the kitchen, Paige went to play the Sims with Xavier, and Robert followed Zach outside to play. That left Julia and William alone in the living room. He jerked his head, beckoning her into the corner furthest from the kitchen.

He stood very close to her, leaning against the wall, and whispered, “I’m so sorry; I only found out moments before you did.”

“How?”

“The same way: I saw the boxes all piled up. They couldn’t deflect my questions anymore.”

She ran a hand down the sleeve of his shirt, snapping off a loose thread from it. “How are you feeling about all this?”

He looked around himself. “I won’t lie; I’m kind of sad – watching my mom getting older and frailer, and moving out of the house she and Dad raised us in. But I’m glad she has a great new place that’s so close. And I’m happy for my sister and Pilar.”

“I get it. I never really appreciated how much of an emotional upheaval it is, watching your parents age.”

“And losing them.”

For several moments, Julia rubbed William’s arm as he stared, unfocused, in the direction of the stairwell. After a minute, a smirk gradually overtook his frown. “We’ve made some nice memories here, you and I. Haven’t we?”

A poignant ache seized Julia’s chest, but she reached up and touched the side of his face. “And we’ll make lots more, in new places.”

He took her hand and kissed it, a knowing sparkle in his eyes. In response, she grasped both of his hands and stilled a moment.Her head dropped in mock defeat, and she shook it.

“Penny for your thoughts?” prompted William, his tone laden with concern.

“Oh, I was just remembering...” She proceeded to recount for him the brunch debacle at Dunphy’s.

“My God,” he muttered. “I knew it had gotten bad over there, but I didn’t know it had gotten that bad.”

She peered up at him quizzically. “How did you know? ”

“Remember my cousin Stephen? The deckhand on your whale watching trip? He started working at Dunphy’s when he was a teenager, just like I did. In fact, I’m the one who convinced your dad to hire him. He went to cooking school, then came back to Dunphy's; but he quit almost immediately.”

“Because of Dad.” Julia didn’t even have to ask.

“And from there, he worked his way up to sous chef at another restaurant.”

“So why is he working as your deckhand?”

“I offered him the job when his last restaurant shuttered a few months ago. No fault of his, of course; just the toll of trying to operate a restaurant in this city. But Stephen's dad is a fisherman, so he knows his way around a boat; and since we used to work together at Dunphy’s, I already knew he’s a good worker.”

A light bulb went off in Julia’s head. “Do you think he’d be open to coming back to Dunphy’s?”

William huffed out a laugh. “Not as long as your dad is there.”

"No, I mean as head chef.”

William’s eyes widened. “Is your dad retiring?”

“Yes; he just doesn’t know it yet. Now that the entire restaurant quit in a huff, maybe he’ll finally see the light.”

William chuckled. “Yeah, good luck with that. But honestly, I don’t think Stephen is quite ready for prime time yet. Give him another few years, though, and he will be.”

Julia gave a thoughtful hum as they carried the food, wine, and flowers she had brought into the kitchen. Delfina stood at the stove, stirring something dark, fragrant, and smooth in a pot. Kelly and Lucía flanked her on either side; and the matriarch, Socorro, supervised them all with a proud smile. Ann and Karen arranged flowers and appetizers at the kitchen table.

“What are you making?” asked Julia as Kelly came to relieve her of the pastry boxes.

“It’s called mole de tichinda,” replied Delfina. “I’ve been teaching your sweetie to make it.”

“Yeah, and no matter how many times I make it, it never turns out as good as D elfina’s,” retorted William with a grin. “I’m convinced she’s holding out on me.”

Delfina gave him a coy smile, then turned to pinch Lucía’s cheek. She said something in Spanish, then giggled at William’s look of dismay.

“She just admitted it,” William explained to Julia with a good-natured snicker. “For her daughters’ eyes only.”

“Rightfully so,” Julia said, with a wink at Delfina. “It looks and smells amazing, but what is it?”

“It’s a mole with mussels,” William explained.

“Traditionally it’s made with a special type of mussels called tichindas,” added Delfina, “but you can only get those from the mangroves of coastal Oaxaca. So we just make do with whatever we find here.”

The doorbell rang, and Julia turned to William with a smirk. “Brace yourself – that’s probably Alison.”

She didn't miss the flicker of dread in his eyes, and no wonder. Alison’s loud, boundless energy had always flustered him. Admittedly, she was a lot.

But he gamely volunteered to answer the door, and Julia followed him. The moment he swung the door open, his eyes bugged out of his head before he quickly diverted them to the floor. There stood Alison in all her glory, balancing her usual load of pink-and-white-striped pastry boxes. She had bleached her pixie-cut hair platinum-blond and traded the hoop in her nose for a tiny, sparkly stud. She also wore a pair of cat-eye sunglasses with white frames and sky-high heels; but the showstopper was the low-cut, sleeveless yellow dress that was one strip of fashion tape away from a wardrobe malfunction. The way it wrapped her curves screamed cougar on the prowl.

Julia knew she had donned it all in the vain hope that Mike would show up.

While a frazzled William relieved Alison of some of her pastry boxes and retreated upstairs, Alison peered over their rims of her sunglasses at Julia.

Julia shook her head. Deflating, Alison mouthed, Fuck!

“How are you standing upright in those stripper heels,” demanded Julia, “much less walking?”

“I prefer the term ‘fuck-me pumps,’ thank you very much. ”

The corners of Alison’s mouth drooped, and Julia almost felt sorry for her. “You got his number the other day. Did you reach out?”

“Of course. I called and texted. Repeatedly . Radio silence.”

“Huh.” Julia knew Mike could never resist a booty call from Alison. If he wasn’t answering Alison’s texts, it could only mean one of two things – either the number had been disconnected, or something was very wrong.

Julia wondered if it would be wise to mention this to William. It seemed clear that he was enforcing boundaries with Mike – that he was done cleaning up Mike’s messes.

Her eyes skittered over her sister again. “I hope you brought a sweater; otherwise, you'll freeze to death when the sun sets.”

“I’m already freezing to death. I just didn’t want anything covering the canvas that is this .” Alison gestured up and down the length of her own body like a game show hostess presenting a prize.

Julia opted not to respond, instead taking the remaining pastry boxes from her sister. As they climbed the stairs, Julia glanced down once through the cellophane window of the top box – her sister’s strawberry tartlets with lemon curd and vanilla pastry cream. Julia’s favorite.

They carried the boxes to the kitchen. William was busy rearranging things in the fridge to make room, but everyone else’s eyes goggled when Alison made her grand entrance, wholly unfazed, even when their mother breathed a mortified reproach.

To divert attention from Alison, William offered to help Delfina.

“Oh, no; there’s already too many people in here as it is. ?Vete, vete!” laughed Delfina; shooing him away with a sweep of her hands.

Closing the refrigerator door behind him, William grinned at Julia. “I’m being evicted.”

“Only so you can attend to your beautiful novia ,” Delfina replied cheerfully. To everyone else she added, “And that goes for all of you – ?Sáquense a la chingada de la cocina! Kelly, go take care of my daughter; and Ann; go get to know your little–” Her eyes widening, Delfina caught herself just before blurting the secret. “…your guests .”

After Julia and Alison stored their pastry boxes in the refrigerator and poured themselves glasses of Cinsaut, William ushered them from the kitchen. As they crossed the living room, he blew out a breath. Placing a ha nd on the small of Julia’s back and leaning into her ear, he whispered, “That was close.”

“A little too close for comfort,” Julia agreed. Luckily, neither Paige nor Robert was in the kitchen at the time. Julia didn’t think Lucía knew about Robert’s secret, but if she did, she had not picked up on the near miss.

As he descended the stairs behind Julia, William’s quiet voice derailed her train of thought. “She’s not wrong, you know.”

“Who?”

“Delfina, of course. I do need to attend to you.” They reached the bottom of the stairs now, and he gently turned her to face him. He took her hand with a crooked smile that sent those butterflies alight in her stomach again. Bending to kiss her cheek, he whispered, “And you are beautiful.”

“Get a room,” teased Alison, derailing Julia’s more agreeable thoughts on how, exactly, William might attend to her.

“Get a hobby, besides harassing me,” Julia sneered.

Alison shot back a playful grin, shameless as ever; and then a movement in Julia’s peripheral vision sent her stomach swooping. Sure enough, Ann, Kelly, and her mother had overheard the entire exchange. Thankfully, they bit back their amusement and said nothing; but still – Julia would make sure to trip Alison later in those Louboutin knockoffs.

They all filed through the den, past Rafael sprawled on the couch, scrolling through his phone with a bored look. Past Xavier and Paige, still engrossed with the Playstation. They spilled out into the crisp evening air and seated themselves around the enormous rectangular patio table. The Quinns’ back yard was no larger than the Dunphys’, but the table could have seated twenty people. Clearly, with all of William’s aunts, uncles, and cousins, the Quinns entertained a lot. And now they were about to add the Ochoas and the Dunphys to the mix.

Pilar and William flanked Julia at the table, and Kelly sat across from them. Sergio and Gustavo smoked at the other end of the table, while Flora and Emilia set the table for dinner. Ann crossed the patio and dragged a chair closer to Robert and Zach, who drew pictures on the concrete with sidewalk chalk.

Ann’s two grandsons.

Two cousins who didn’t even know they were cousins yet.

Everyone eavesdropped, almost holding their breaths, as Ann spoke to the boys in low tones. She focused especially on Robert as he prattled at length about his future prospects in the pirating industry.

Beneath the cover of the table, William’s hand slid over Julia's. She seized onto it for dear life and laced her fingers through his. The tears pooling in her eyes spilled over, so she swiped at her cheeks and turned a trembling smile on him. His own suspiciously-watery eyes met hers, and he returned her smile.

Everyone around them tried not to notice Julia and William having a moment, instead focusing their attention on Ann and Robert. Julia knew those two shouldn’t have to get acquainted in a fishbowl, so she turned to Pilar and cleared her throat.

“How long have you and Kelly known each other?” she began.

Pilar aimed her megawatt smile at Julia. “Two years. We met when Kelly visited Will at his apartment.”

“She invited me to join her roller derby league,” Kelly chimed in, “and the rest is history.”

“Courtship on wheels,” quipped Pilar. Placing her hands on her belly, she added, “I haven’t been on skates in a while, though.”

“When are you due?” asked Julia.

“September 16th.”

Holy cow. Pilar still had four more months to go? The poor woman.It occurred to Julia that if she had ever been pregnant with twins, she might have been twice as sick with HG.

She could smell her own sour puke, along with the hospital antiseptic. Her stomach quivered. Her pulse fluttered ominously in her throat.

Thankfully, at that moment, Delfina came to the rescue with a tureen of mole, and Lucía trailed her with a bowl of rice. Julia offered to carry things to the patio, so Delfina had her set smaller bowls of mole in front of Robert and Paige.

“These are less spicy,” Delfina explained. “Just in case.”

William grinned at her. “Just say it, Del – it’s gringo mole.”

Amid the laughter, Delfina explained to Julia, “Mole de tichinda is much spicier than the moles most people are used to. ”

“Why is that?” Julia asked.

“Well, it’s…” Delfina faltered a moment. “It’s from the coast of Oaxaca. The milder moles come from the central areas and other parts of Oaxaca.”

Pilar’s sister, Flora, interjected something in Spanish, and Julia noticed that her family received it with varying degrees of dismay and amusement. Emilia, sitting next to Flora, rolled her eyes and said, “Híjole; here we go…”

Flora turned to Julia. “The food of Afromexicanos – Black Oaxacans... it's spicier than the rest of the state.”

“Mija...” Delfina sighed.

Flora ignored her. “The escaped slaves who settled the coast brought their spicy stuff with them.”

Delfina added, “Flora is majoring in Sociology at Berkeley.” As if that explained everything.

Frowning at both her mother and Emilia, Flora replied, “I, for one, am proud of my heritage.”

“So am I,” Delfina balked.

“Right, mamí; that’s why you always try to hide the fact that we’re Black and Mexican.”

Julia got the impression that Flora was the Paige of the Ochoa family – the force of nature kid, as well as the social justice warrior, in its best and original sense.

Pilar bolstered this impression by placing a hand over Flora’s with a chuckle. “Slow your roll, manita. It’s Mother’s Day, remember?”

“Speaking of hiding things, Delfina,” William intervened, “maybe you wouldn’t mind disclosing to Julia the magic mole ingredients you’ve been holding out on me? I’m sure your secrets are safe with her.”

“Nice try,” Delfina deadpanned, finally taking her own seat.

The earlier reminder of Paige now had Julia swinging her eyes in her daughter's direction, only to stall there when she found Paige and Xavier deep in conversation. From the snippets that reached Julia’s ears, they were conferring over digital animation and video games. With growing dread, Julia watched Xavier retrieve his phone from his back pocket and pull up God-knows-what for Paige to see .

“Will tells me you got the school district to reimburse you for the cost of Paige’s school.”

Kelly’s low voice yanked Julia out of her anxiety death spiral. Tearing her eyes from Paige and Xavier, Julia returned them to Kelly and forced a smile. “It was by no means an easy process, nor a cheap one. It helped a little that I was a paralegal back then, but my experience wasn’t in special education law, so I still hired an attorney.”

Kelly nodded. “I hear from all the other parents I’ve talked to and all the support groups online that I’m pretty much going to need one.”

“Are you thinking of going for it? For Xavier?”

“I am. After what Will told me about Janus Academy, I went and toured the campus. I still can’t believe there are places like that for 2-E kids.”

“The district isn’t going to tell you about them, that’s for sure,” grumbled Julia.

After Julia texted her special education attorney’s contact card to Kelly, the rest of the meal went off without a hitch. When she wasn’t savoring Ann’s joy as she interacted with Robert, Julia got to know the young woman sitting beside her. Pilar was twenty-five, had once been in the Coast Guard, and was currently on leave from her job as a real estate appraiser. As Pilar chatted, Kelly listened attentively with a tiny but worshipful smile.

Meanwhile, William ate in comfortable silence beside Julia, listening to everyone’s conversations and availing himself of every chance to hold her hand beneath the patio table. Julia was constantly, acutely aware of his physical presence – his warm palm; his fingers brushing hers affectionately. The little squeezes he gave her hand when she turned to smile at him, and he smiled back. If she ever needed her left hand, he placed his palm on her thigh instead, over the fabric of her dress. Currents of electricity radiated from his hand through the rest of her body; and the further his palm crept up her thigh over the course of the meal, the more the tingly sensations converged between her legs.

When blue twilight descended on the patio and the cafe lights blinked on overhead, Julia caught William already looking at her. With a hint of a smile playing at his lips, he mouthed the words, I love you .

I love you, too, she replied, also silently, and didn’t even try to hide her beaming smile.

The way he looked at her was everything. Love. Lust. Cherishing. Aching. She knew if he held a mirror up to her right now, she’d find that same look on her own face.

And then, in her peripheral vision, she noticed Ann, smiling across the table at both of them. Clearly, she had been watching for some time.

Busted .

But as Julia held her gaze, Ann’s smile widened into something like gratitude. Like a silent blessing.