Chapter 28
ALEX
“Give me your kings, Mr. Ryder Vega,” my dad says, leaning across the table menacingly toward my son. With his deep, serious voice, you would think he was interrogating a drug lord—or at least playing a higher stakes card game.
“I don’t have any! Go fish!” Ryder is delighted. He loves my dad and isn’t the least bit intimidated by him like I was at his age.
Antonio Vega grunts and swipes at the deck of cards in the middle of the dining table, frowning at Ryder, but there’s a twinkle in his eye.
“This is not how we played cards in Spain when I was a child.
When I was a child, we played Hombre. A game for men.
Not this little boy go fishing. ‘Yo soy el hombre!’ we say. ‘I am the man!” He pats his chest.
“Yo soy el hombre!” Ryder yells out. “Were you better at that than you are at Go Fish?”
My dad sneers at him. “Take your turn, Mr. Smartypants.”
My mother comes in from the kitchen, in her Eat it or leave it.
I’m not cooking anything else apron. Which is hilarious because Sylvia Vega literally will not rest until everyone in her house is well-fed and happy.
She pushes a lock of blonde hair from her pretty, round face.
“Anyone want more hot cocoa, my loves? I found the good marshmallows.”
“Yes please!” Ryder jumps up and then looks at me, trying to imitate my dad. “Give me all of your nines, Alex Vega.”
“Go fish.”
“What?!”
“Let me help you in the kitchen, Mom. Play my hand.”
“Oh no, you boys play. I’ve got my system, and you’ll just mess it up.” She winks at me. “Hot cocoa yes or no?”
“No thank you.”
“Yes, hot cocoa,” my dad says, turning his head to watch her go. “Get back in here and sit on my lap, woman.”
She giggles and waves him off.
I love how my parents are with each other. Thirty-five years of marriage, and they’re still crazy about each other in the best ways. I wanted what they had so much, but I got the wrong kind of crazy the first time around.
And speaking of… My phone vibrates, and I know before I flip it over that it’s not Emilia, it’s Nova.
She’s FaceTiming us after not being around for our calls for the past two days.
She had presents delivered to Ryder, but he was a little upset that she didn’t respond to the emails I sent to her with pictures of the gifts that are waiting for her—whenever she actually gets back.
“Is it Mom?”
“Yeah.” I accept the video call. “Hey. We’re at my parents’ house.”
“Hi!” she says. She looks wide awake and slightly manic. “Hi everyone! I’m soooo sorry I couldn’t call sooner—it’s been crazy the past few days.”
I glance over at my dad, who is staring down at his cards, frowning. He was never a fan of my ex, but he doesn’t voice his opinion about her around Ryder.
“Mom! Merry Christmas!” Ryder grabs the phone from me. “Did you see the emails Dad sent you?”
“Hey, baby boy! I love you, I love you, I love you! Hold the phone still so I can see your face—I miss you so much.”
Ryder takes my phone into another room, leaving me with my dad and Bing Crosby on the stereo. We both put our cards facedown on the table and lean back in our chairs. I know what’s coming.
“He’s a good boy,” my dad says eventually.
“Yes. He’s happy.”
“él seria mucho mas feliz con una mejor mujer en su vida.”
It’s killing me that I can’t tell him about the better woman in Ryder’s life. In our lives.
“Por supuesto, estoy trabajando en eso.” I’m working on it.
“?Oh sí? ?Cuán duro estás trabajando en eso?”
I laugh at his innuendo. How hard am I working on it?
“I’m open for business. No quiero que Ryder sepa nada aún.” I don’t want Ryder to know yet, I tell him.
He nods, understanding. “You seem happier too.”
“You do seem happy, honey.” My mom comes in with two mugs of hot cocoa and places them on the table before sitting on my dad’s lap. She frowns at me. “I can hear them talking on the phone,” she says in a hushed voice. “She sounds…excited. And vague.”
“Uh-oh. That’s never a good combination.”
“You know what is a good combination?” my dad asks, arms around my mother’s waist and squeezing. “A nice lady who’s a good girl in every room of the house except the bedroom.”
My mother blushes and slaps my dad on the arm. “I have no idea who he’s talking about,” she says to me.
I know a good girl just like that…
Ryder walks back in with the phone. His shoulders are slumping a little, but he doesn’t look upset. “Mom says ‘Merry Christmas’ to everyone. She had to go to a photo shoot.”
“You have a good talk with her, buddy?”
“Yeah. She’s busy. I think there was someone in her room, so she couldn’t talk a lot. Hey—you didn’t peek at my cards, did you?!”
“The Man doesn’t have to cheat to win,” my dad says.
“Well, maybe you should try cheating, because you never win at this game,” Ryder quips. He takes his seat and passes the phone back to me, whispering, “There’s a text message for you. From Miss Stiles.”
Shit. I need to change her name in my contacts.
“I didn’t read it,” he says in a way that tells me he’ll be a badass poker player once he grows out of Go Fish.
“Oh yeah? Probably following up about the holiday show.”
“Uh-huh.”
I hold my phone under the table and casually change “Emilia Stiles” to “ES” in my contacts. Although Ryder will still figure it out. Not that I don’t trust him to keep a secret.
“It’s your turn, Dad.”
“Do you have any aces?” I ask my father.
He frowns at me and hands over the ace of spades.
“Gracias. How about a two?”
“Go fish yourself.”
While my dad and son take their rounds, I glance down at my phone and read Emilia’s text.
ES: Let me know when everyone else is asleep and you’re alone in a room with some privacy. We’re going to have a text conversation. And then we are both going to delete the entire conversation from our phones once we’re done.
ME: I’m on board with this. Give me about an hour.
ME: Just tell me now if there will be pictures involved. I can have Ryder draw something real quick before he goes to bed.
ES: Not funny, Vega.
ES: And no dicks.
ES: No pics.
ES: Stupid phone.
ME: How many cups of mulled wine have you had tonight?
ES: One hour, Mr. Vega. It’s a date.
“That’s your last hot cocoa for the night, pal,” I tell Ryder. “Bed in half an hour.”
“What?! But it’s Christmas.”
“Exactly. You stayed up late last night.”
“No fair.”
You think that’s not fair? Try playing cards with your family when you could be sexting with a beautiful woman.