AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Is this what setting a boundary feels like? Like I want to throw up everywhere? I hate it. “I’m sorry, too.”
“I just thought—”
“I’m tired of doing all the work.”
His face softens, and he nods. “Okay.” Then he takes one more Uncrustable, says his goodbyes, and heads out the door.
I take one deep, shaky breath in and force myself back to work until it’s time for dinner.
I step into my parents' house again without knocking. There’s a certain irony in that, I realize, passing through the living room into the kitchen where I say hi to my mom.
“La ensalada,” she says by way of response, pointing to the fridge where I find lettuce washed and ready to go. I grab it and find a small corner of the kitchen where I can chop some tomatoes, slice an avocado, and dress everything with olive oil and a squeeze of lemon juice. Everything is second nature andhabit. The muscle memory of doing something enough times and it becomes a core action.
Like a strong arm wrapping around my waist, and a firm hand at my back, and the instant movement of feet. Steps to the front, ocho to the back.
Tía Cecilia puts on some soft music in the background, and I notice, almost secondhand, my feet moving in rhythm, another surprise in how my body has learned to respond. In how it responded last night.
“Arma la mesa, Julieta,” my mother tells me, breaking the spell and taking me out of the fog. My feet obey quickly, moving to the dining room with plates and silverware in tow.
I start on my usual chore of setting the table. It’s my favorite chore—the quiet, the repetition. T walks in and comes up next to me, a mild hurricane to my calm winds, grabbing some forks and helping.
“Hey, what’s up?” I say.
“You know, sometimes it’s a surprise how good of a lawyer you are cause you’re a shit liar.”
“What?” I ask, taken aback and looking at her.
“Javier came into the restaurant earlier today.”
Fuck.
“And he told me all about how he ran into you the night before at themilonga. WithLogan. Thetango instructor.”She sets a fork down forcefully.“I fucking knew something else was up.”
I sigh, and Delfina steps into the dining room just then, stopping short when she sees us. “’Kay, the vibe is weird in here.”
“Javier told me that you danced two tandas with him.” T says to me.
“Wait … what?” Delfina chimes in.
“I just assumed you were just enjoying some sexcapades with him, but this confirms it.”
“Sexcapades?” I ask, shocked, probably pale as a sheet.
“Two tandas?” Delfina adds.
I roll my eyes. “This is so ridiculous. We were just dancing.” Wewere. Granted, right now I am lying through my teeth. Am I a shit liar? Can T tell? We are, in the end, still just partners. Yes, we were dancing at the milonga, but who knows if anybody caught our late-night activities in the parking lot afterward.
“Uh-huh. He knows the rules.”
“How doyouknow the rules?” I ask.
“She was my grandmother too, asshole.”
“Fucking Javier,” I mutter.
T is smiling now, as is Delfina. Two wide grins pointed right at me.
“Youaredancing!” Delfina says in a hiss.
