Chapter Nine
Jaime looked over at Alma, comforting the cute little boy with the shiny black hair. The boy smiled and hugged her, then pet Tequila. What an incredible woman Alma was—she had put aside her hatred for Jaime for the good of her community.
She had to talk to him—at least hear him out.
Before he could even think of asking her to teach him about tequila, he had to do what was right.
Apologize for surprising her. Explain why he hadn’t been in contact since they broke up, though honestly, that should be obvious. It was still painful for both of them.
He took a step closer to her. Though she had been dressed all sexy at the bar, Jaime preferred her as she was now—wearing a white T-shirt and jeans.
It reminded him of how she was in college, where he’d fallen in love with her.
Naturally beautiful. He breathed her in—her vanilla scent filled the air.
Damn, he missed her. Not just her body, or the way her hair cascaded onto her breasts, but her smile, her passion, her warmth, the way she made him feel.
Jaime ran his hands through his hair. “Alma, can we talk?”
She held hers up like a stop sign. “No. I have nothing to say to you. I’m not really involved in the organization of this festival, so if Carlos feels he needs you and your family to raise money for our hometown, that’s fine. It’s for the greater good and has nothing to do with me.”
He couldn’t even get a word in to explain himself. “Okay. But please, just talk to me for a few minutes. I want to—”
She glared at him, and in that hard look, Jaime felt the guilt of ending their relationship crash down on him. The pain, the anger, the longing, that sharp stare conveyed it all.
His gut wrenched.
“No. No. I don’t want to hear it. I don’t want any part of it, of you, or of your family. The festival is big—we won’t have to interact. I’m not agreeing to spend time with you—I’m doing it for him.” She pointed to the little boy.
And with that, she turned to Carlos and grabbed his arm.
She stomped away from Jaime as Tequila waddled after her, and Alma and her brother tossed words back and forth in Spanish.
Unluckily, or luckily in this situation, Jaime didn’t have a clue what they were saying.
They spoke too fast, and he didn’t understand more than a spattering of words. Being a no sabo kid really sucked.
Santi put his hand on Jaime’s shoulder. “Man, that was painful to watch.”
“Yup.” Totally embarrassing.
A man with salt-and-pepper hair and leathery skin pushed a paleta cart on the sidewalk. Jaime handed the guy a one-hundred-dollar bill and took a coconut one and gave the frozen treat to the little boy.
The boy’s eyes widened. “Gracias, Senor.”
“De nada.” Jaime’s Spanish sucked but he could flub his way through basic communication. A wave of shame flashed over him for not being able to communicate in his culture’s native tongue.
Santi’s face twisted. “So, I thought you didn’t want to involve your family in this tequila idea. Are you going to tell them about it since they will be up here?”
“Yeah, I’ll probably have to. They are just coming up for the Cinco festival, not to help me. What I really came here for, to try to get Alma to teach me about tequila, is not even plausible at this point. She fucking hates me.”
“I love that song, man.”
Jaime shook his head. “Not funny, bro.”
“Look, she’s in shock. You bombarded her. And now her own brother is forcing you to do an event together, for a good cause no doubt but still awkward.”
“Yeah, and it will be even tougher for her once my whole family shows up.” It definitely wasn’t fair to overwhelm her like this.
But Jaime was grateful that his family agreed to help the Canal.
Ramón had some serious clout and star power, especially now with all the media attention for his wedding to Julieta, which was at the end of the summer.
And Enrique’s girlfriend, Carolina, was an icon in the community, ever since the graduation photos of her picking strawberries on the farm where her migrant parents worked went viral.
She later bought the farm with money raised from the media attention.
“It could be a lot for her. You guys never spent too much time with your family, did you?”
“I mean, they definitely know her, but we were so young then. Back when we were together, she always said she thought they didn’t like her, which wasn’t true. I think they both didn’t want to get too close to her knowing that I was only in college, and it probably wouldn’t last.”
Santi grabbed his soccer ball from the car. “Well, clearly they were right.”
“Yeah.” They were. They were right about everything. And next thing he knew, his brothers would be up here in Marin for the festival. Jaime still hadn’t told them he planned to open a tequila line. Why bother? They would just tell him he couldn’t do it.
No one ever believed he’d amount to anything other than a pretty face.
Well, someone did once—Alma.
Besides, he didn’t need to tell his brothers anything about his plans. He had his own money. They were so busy they would just do the festival, maybe spend a few days up in beautiful Marin, and then leave. After they were gone, Jaime could figure out how to start a tequila company on his own.
The heated Spanish discussion had ended. Jaime expected Alma to take off in her car, but she marched into the park with Tequila in tow and sat down on a bench on the other side of the field. She lifted up her dog and placed her next to her.
Carlos walked over to Jaime.
“Thanks again for agreeing to help us. It means the world.” He glanced over at his sister. “Sorry about her.”
“Hey man, don’t apologize. She has every right to be pissed off. I shouldn’t have shown up unexpectedly. The breakup was rough on me too. I never meant to disrespect her or your family.”
“No worries, bro. I understand. You were young.”
He looked over at Alma, who was writing something in a notebook. “She’s staying around? I thought once she saw me, she’d bail.”
“Yeah, I told her that one of the organizers was coming over to discuss the event. He’s late, so she will be here for at least a little bit, but then she will hightail it out of here. She’s so pissed at me for keeping her in the dark, but she does understand it’s for the community. It’s all good.”
“I’m glad.” Jaime stared at the field. His heart constricted. All of the years he spent playing soccer had consumed him and he hardly ever did anymore. He really missed it. “So, you still up for that soccer game?”
Carlos smirked. “If you can handle getting beaten.”
“By you? Never.”
“All that posing on Instagram wouldn’t have improved your footwork.”
Jaime smirked. “We’ll see.”
Carlos grinned. “I’ll round up the others.” Carlos ran to the end of the field where there were some other men playing. Most of them were pretty good, probably other coaches.
Or maybe just men in the community who had immense talent but never had the opportunity to play anywhere other than Pickleweed Park.
Even if Alma never spoke to him again and the Cinco festival was the last time he ever saw her, he would never regret helping fundraise for the Canal.
Jaime looked over at Alma. Her nose was in a book, and she wasn’t paying any attention to him.
Hmm. He grinned. He had a plan to pique her interest.
Jaime peeled off his shirt and tossed it in the car.
Santi burst out laughing. “Are you serious? You think your abs will get Alma to talk to you?”
“Yup. I’m desperate. I’ll use what I have.”
“You’re too much.”
Jaime and Santi ran toward Carlos to join the team. Jaime stared right at Alma as he passed her bench. Her jaw dropped when she saw him, and Jaime winked for good measure. Alma rolled her eyes, playfully flipped him off, and went back to reading her book.
Alrighty then.
Time to play ball. Jaime always performed better when he had an audience.
Jaime ran toward the goal, dribbling the ball. Carlos was an incredible soccer player. He kicked it to Santi, who advanced the ball farther. Santi passed it back to Jaime, who spiked it in.
Score!
He glanced over to see if Alma was watching. Her eyes would scan the field every few minutes, but her attention remained focused on her book. Jaime closed his eyes and remembered how she showed up for all his soccer games and used to be his biggest cheerleader.
She was silent now.
Even so, it almost felt like old times. Jaime playing ball with her brother was so natural. But today he definitely wouldn’t be invited over to her parents’ house for carne asada.
For the next hour, his team battled with Carlos’s, who came out the winner with a final score of four versus three. During the game, a man, who Jaime figured was probably one of the organizers, spoke to Alma on the bench for a while then left.
But Alma was still there, fanning her dog. That was a positive sign.
Sweat dripped off Jaime’s brow.
Carlos fist-bumped him. “Good game, bro.”
“Thanks man. It feels good to play. I haven’t scrimmaged much lately.”
“Well, we play here every day.” Carlos paused. “Join us while you’re in town.” He pursed his lips and looked at a muddy patch in the field. “It would be really nice if we could fix up this field. The drainage is pretty bad.”
Jaime stared at the rough grass. “Well, maybe that is something I can assist with. Turf would be nice here.”
“Really? It would be awesome, but you’re already helping so much. Of course, I wouldn’t say no. So see you next week at the meeting for the festival?”
“Yup. My brothers will get in next weekend.”
“What are you going to do while you’re in town?”
“I’m just going to hang low. I’m going to a charity ball with Santi for his sister. And maybe I’ll head up to Sonoma for a few days.” He paused. “I’ll steer clear of your sister. I’ve caused her enough stress.”
Carlos stood closer to him. “For what it’s worth—she never got over you.”
He paused. “I never got over her either.”
Carlos looked at his sister, then back at Jaime. “She’s going to kill me for this, but do you want to come over to my parents’ house? They are grilling tonight. Don’t worry about Alma—she has to work, so she won’t be there.”
Hope flowed through his body, followed by dread. Her parents would grill him instead of the meat, but he was willing to take the heat. After all, he’d enjoyed their company once—maybe they could have a pleasant time.
“Sure she won’t be there? I don’t want to disrespect her.”
“Positive. She has to open her bar.”
“Okay. Absolutely, I’ll come. Thanks for inviting me.”
Carlos jumped into his car. “I have a few errands to run, but I’ll meet you there. You remember the address?”
“Yup. See you soon.”
Carlos took off, his Honda clunking down the street.
Damn, Alma would be even more pissed off when she found out he was eating with her family, but he wasn’t going to say no to her brother.
And he said she wouldn’t be there. What was Jaime to do?
He needed to back off with her. She clearly wanted nothing to do with him. He needed to respect her boundaries.
Santi opened his Porsche’s door. “You ready to go to Carlos’s parents’ house? Or you going to throw a Hail Mary pass to Alma?”
Jaime shook his head. “Why not?” He waved to Alma and yelled a final plea. “Nice to see you, Alma.”
She turned her head. Alright, game over.
“Let’s go.” Jaime opened the passenger door.
“Wait!” Alma’s voice rang out.
Jaime closed the door. Alma was striding toward him carrying Tequila.
“Jaime, before you go, just tell me why you came back?”