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“My lady,” he said brightly and offered a hand to help me out to the driveway. I smiled at his boyish charm and let him assist me even though I was completely capable of exiting a car on my own. The one rolling bag I brought was already parked there, handle extended. I turned to Carmen to say goodbye, but he snatched the handle and started toward the front door.
“Hey! Whoa…where are you going?”
“Well, no sense putting this off, right? You can introduce me and maybe just let me do the talking from there. Your folks seem very reasonable. I’m sure they’ll be fine.”
Again, his cavalier attitude left me speechless.
Until I jolted back to the moment. “What planet are you from?” I squawked, and the sound came out much louder than I intended.
“Mars, from what I’ve read, but I don’t know if I can buy into all that.” His seemingly permanent smile grew after delivering that pitiful joke, and I groaned in response.
“I don’t think we need to get into this with them already. Not the moment I walk in the door. Why don’t you let this nice man drive you home, and I’ll check in with you tomorrow?”
“No. You’re moving in with me. We discussed this on the plane. I’ll help you get a few essential things together now, and we can come back over the weekend to grab the rest.” He said all that so carelessly, like this wasn’t a life-changing moment here. Not to mention, he’d be lucky to not exit on a stretcher if he just waltzed into my father’s home and uttered any of those plans.
“Storm, listen. We’re home now. It’s time to get serious about what’s going on here. You said you’d been looking for a place to live. Bingo! You found one. You wanted to be closer to work. Check that box too. You won’t drive a single mile on the 405 ever again if you don’t want to.” He couldn’t have looked more pleased with himself while rattling off the reasons this was the best plan.
A big knot of—shit, I had no idea what it was—was forming in the pit of my stomach because I felt like a mean mother who was about to tell her kid there was no Santa Claus.
“Carmen,” I said on a heavy sigh, and already his features wilted.
How could he truly believe this would work out?
With more emotion than I expected, he said, “Don’t give up on us before we even try. I’m asking you sincerely to just try with me.”
He wrapped his long arms around me, and I just let him. Why couldn’t I stop sending the poor guy mixed signals? My handbag was squashed between our bodies, and I smiled into his chest about the awkwardness of the embrace. It suited us perfectly.
There was certainly a lot to like about the guy. His height, for one thing. He was at least six one, maybe six two. I was just shy of a foot shorter than that, so while in his arms, I felt very secure. Purse and all.
“I need time to explain things to my parents. You don’t understand,” I said, putting my flat hand up to stop his protest. Kindly, he held his tongue while I went on. “My dad has a medical condition… I swear I’m not making this up,” I began to explain and heard what a lame excuse it sounded like.
“He’s had a few cardiac events?” he asked, as if pulling the information from a database in his head.
I gave him a sideways look. “How did you know about that?”
“I don’t know details, just something Elijah once told me while talking about Hannah.”
“What did he say?”
“It was a while ago, before I met you, so, to be honest, I listened with minimal interest.” He ducked his head apologetically. Or at least that’s how I interpreted the gesture. “But I think he said your dad has had three heart attacks?”
Nodding along while he spoke, I answered, “Yes, that’s right. But he’s very sensitive to stress. His blood pressure shoots sky high at the slightest provocation. I don’t want to put the man in his grave over a stupid choice I made while intoxicated. You know?” I tilted my head back to look up at him.
“That makes sense. I’m happy to hear how much you care about him, and the rest of your family as well. Family is super important to me, too. I can’t wait for mine to meet you. They’re going to love you instantly,” he chattered on with a palpable affection for his relatives. It was really sweet to witness.
With renewed hope, I brought the topic back to the issue at hand. “So you understand why I can’t just bust through the front door shouting ‘Guess who’s married?’”
While I grinned at the visual that created in my mind, Carmen acquiesced.
“How long do you need? I can come by tomorrow after work. That way we can pack both our cars with stuff.” He winced before asking, “Do you have a lot?”
“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. I’m not convinced my folks are going to green-light this whole arrangement. I mean…” I thought about it for a moment or two and then chuckled. “I’ve pulled some pretty stupid stunts in my life.”
He gave me a chaste kiss on the forehead before saying, “I can’t wait to learn all there is to know about you, Mrs. Sandoval.”
I groaned for good measure, but inside my stomach, and parts just lower, butterflies charged with static zipped and zapped every time he touched me sweetly or called me by that name.
Okay, so why am I sending myself mixed signals too?
