Chapter 27 #2
We stepped out of the elevator into a colorful hallway.
The walls were painted a light blue and each door was a different color.
Each room had a plaque with a name. Camilo came to a stop in front of a yellow door that had a small sign with hand painted sunflowers.
After a moment, a woman opened the door. She smiled as soon as she saw Camilo.
“Buenos dias.”
“Hey,” he told her warmly. “We came to see your place if that’s okay.”
“Claro.” She stepped to the side to let us in.
” It was one of the studios and everything looked brand-new.
There were some photos on a corkboard on the wall that looked like they’d been pinned on by the resident.
I saw there was a baby in a pack-and-play in the middle of the room.
As soon as he saw Camilo, he started bouncing up and down.
His face lit up and he went over to the baby. “Hey, bud,” he said bending down to pick him up. Once the baby was comfortably on his hip, he walked over to the woman, who was still looking a little shy.
“Nancy, this is Mr. Hughes and Mrs. Gomez. They are the visitors Mercedes told you about. They helped us with the improvements to the house.”
Her face lit up at that and she came to shake both our hands. “Gracias. This place is such a blessing. It saved me and my baby.” Her voice trembled as Camilo proudly looked on.
As I shook her hand, I heard Camilo talk to her, his voice fierce. “You saved yourself, Nancy, we were just here to catch you.” She had a rueful smile on her lips, but she gave him a sharp nod.
In that moment, I felt the proudest I’d ever been of what I had been able to accomplish in this country. To have even a small part of helping survivors get to safety was a dream I’d harbored for years. And to be able to share that with my mother and Camilo was everything.
“You’re welcome, Nancy,” I told her sincerely. I looked at Camilo then, and I could see he understood exactly what I was feeling. “I am so grateful I could help.”
After that, we took a tour through the rest of the building.
In addition to the wellness center, with the renovation they’d built a new computer room, a childcare area, and a few consultation rooms which were used to provide therapy to the adults and children by licensed clinicians.
Just being able to have my mom here seeing what we were able to do was monumental.
That combined with seeing Camilo in his element, the way the staff clearly respected and loved him, was a beautiful thing.
My mom was chatting with the child therapist when I took a chance to pull Camilo aside, and asked as casually as I could manage, “Can we talk in private?”
He tensed for a moment, but then nodded, gesturing to the door across the hall. “Mercedes, I’m going to take Mr. Hughes into my office for a minute; we’ll be right back.”
The therapist nodded, seemingly caught up in whatever she was telling my mother. My mom, of course, shooed us away with a knowing look. I wasn’t even sure what I was after, other than I needed a moment alone with him.
He invited me into a small neat office, which I stepped into, and waited until he had closed the door. He leaned against it, and stood there looking at me with tired eyes. His hands at his side.
“You look so tired, mi amor.” He just shrugged in his typical “what else is new” gesture.
I walked up to him, not sure how he would receive this breach to his request, but when I gathered him in my arms, his body sunk into me.
“I’m tired and I missed you,” he said, his cheek pressed to my chest.
“Thanks for doing this for us; my mom loved it, and you.”
He looked up. “It was good to meet her, too.” He smiled as he ran his hands over my shoulders possessively, as if making sure his property was all in working order. “You look like her. Same nose and eyes.”
I groaned in answer as I pressed against him and bent down for a kiss, just a small touching of lips.
“I love seeing you here in your element. I can’t tell you how much it meant to me, to be able to do this and you be the one to carry out this wish. Baby—”
I wanted to beg him once again to let me take care of everything, to give him whatever he needed, but instead I said what I knew wouldn’t turn into another argument. “Can you come to lunch with my mom and me?” I asked as he laid his head on my chest.
He looked up and he didn’t have to answer. I could read the “no” in his eyes. “I can’t. I have so much to do today.” He looked miserable, and I felt terrible for pressing him after I’d already made him rearrange his day for this visit.
“I really want to. I’d love to hang out with your mom a bit more, but this week is crazy and we’re so close to the opening. I just can’t. I’m sorry.”
He looked like he was about to fall apart. So, I let it go. I kissed him again and then lifted his chin so he would look at me. “Promise me you’ll get some rest soon. I’m worried about you. I never see you and when I do, you look like you can barely stand.”
I braced for a bristled remark, but he just nodded and responded with a barely audible “okay,” and the fact that he didn’t even have the energy to fight me on this, felt like the last straw.
He opened the door and looked up at me. “We should go back to get your mom.” Those gray eyes that usually lit me up, were dimmed today; they’d been that way for too long.