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Elena was nodding before Mamma J was even finished.
“Yes, and yes. They’re amazing.” She was ready to list a million reasons why, but they weren’t needed. Mamma J was smiling at her with a look of both love and support.
“Then I am happy for you,” the older woman said as she came around the counter for a big hug. “As long as you remember to wear a helmet if you ride with them.”
Elena chuckled and gave her a good squeeze back before pulling away with a teary smile. She’d been nervous. She’d assumed that out of the Medinas, the matriarch was going to be the hardest sell simply because of her devotion to the church but she should have known better. Mamma J loved and accepted everyone; she always had.
“And I already knew you were seeing those bikers,” the older woman said, moving back to her big pot once again. “Everyone knows.”
“What?!” Elena squawked in surprise. She’d really thought they’d been keeping things low key. “Since when?”
“Since the beginning,” Mamma J answered with a shrug. “You know people talk.”
“People?” she echoed, looking around. “What people?”
“You know…” Mamma J waved her spoon. “People.”
“Is ‘people’ code for Marisol?” she asked suspiciously, wondering how the news had spread so fast. The only time they’d been together in public was that first date. Since then, they’d seen each other during the day at work and during lunches but that was it.
“It wasn’t ‘Sol,” Mamma J promised with a shake of her head. “Lawrence isn’t that big, ‘Lena. People are going to notice when you go out with three men—especially three men that look like that. We knew about your date before it was over.”
“Well, damn.”
“Why damn?” Mamma J gave her a look. “You wouldn’t have been able to keep it secret forever.”
“I didn’t want forever,” Elena shared with a heavy sigh. “I just wanted to have a little bit of time to figure things out, just the four of us, before people start picking it apart.”
Mamma J’s eyebrows rose high. “Does it really matter what strangers think?”
“No,” she said with a shake of her head. She’d promised herself long ago to say ‘fuck ‘em’ when it came to judgmental pricks and bullies. Her weight had always made her an easy target and because of that, she’d grown a thick skin early. “I guess I needed a reminder.”
“You need another one,” Mamma J told her, “you come to us. We’re family.”
“I know,” Elena sniffed with a smile.
“But just so you know,” the other woman continued with a smirk. “I had a feeling something like this was going to happen.”
“You did not,” she laughed, dabbing her eyes on the sleeve of her t-shirt.
“I did too!” her stand-in-mother argued. “I’m not blind. I know what kind of books you read.”
“Mamma J!” Elena gasped, biting her lip to keep from reminding Mamma J that Marisol read the same smut she did.
“All I’m saying,” Mamma J defended with her hands up, “is that I’m not shocked.”
Elena couldn’t keep from laughing at that.
“’Lena!” Ricky yelled as he walked into the kitchen.
“Fuck, Ricky.” Elena winced at the ringing in her ear. “Why’re you yelling when I’m right here?”
“’Sol needs your help at the counter; the paper jammed.”
“Sounds about right,” she said to herself. Their old-as-fuck credit card machine was held together with paperclips and pieces of tape.
She hurried through the kitchen door…and walked into a madhouse. There was a big crowd of hungry people around the counter, and it appeared they were losing their patience.
“Thank god!” Her bestie snagged her elbow and pulled her over to the printer. “You’re the only one that can get this fucking thing to work.”
