“What are you looking at?” asked Kate, stepping in from the bedroom where she had just finished showering. She made her voice light and forced a small smile on her lips. “You seem so engrossed.”
“It’s nothing,” he said, abruptly standing up.
“We’re not having breakfast?”
“I’ve got to go. I’ll see you later,” he said, walking away and not giving her a customary peck on the mouth.
Kate stared after him sadly and as soon as he shut the door, she picked up the paper. So his hunches had been right, she said to herself. Why hadn’t she offered him more support?
In his car, he punched the numbers and waited for the voice on the other end.
“Hello?” Valeria answered.
“Hi, it’s Lorenzo,” he said quietly.
“What’s going on?”
“I know I’ll see you at school in a few moments but I couldn’t wait to talk to you. By any chance, did you take a look at The El Paso News this morning?”
“I sure did,” she stated. “I’m overwhelmed.”
“Our suspicions were right on target.”
“Thank you for getting that journalist involved.”
Her voice sounded so encouraging to him. “Please don’t thank me for doing the right thing, Valeria.”
“Still, thank you.”
“Thank you. You’re the one who got the ball rolling.”
“It was something that had to be done.”
He loved that he could actually hear the bright smile on her lips. “I’ve been wanting to ask you . . .” he said, his voice turning serious.
“Yes?”
“How have you been feeling? It can't be easy to break an engagement.”
“I’m fine.”
“If you need anything, a shoulder to cry on or anything else, you know where to go,” he offered, his voice like a warm hug on a winter’s day.
“I’m fine. . . I hate to cut you off but I have to be getting to school. I’m in my driveway,” she murmured.
“Yes, me too. I’ll see you at school.”
Chapter 29
A nervously smiling Kate told Lorenzo, with slivers of regret and hope in her voice that she wanted to take him out to dinner to celebrate his victory at school. To her great relief, he readily agreed. He needed a distraction. The day at school had been chaotic—especially in the teacher’s lounge. The word about the embezzlement had spread as easily as an all consuming fire in a warehouse. Neither Principal Bleaker nor Arlene had bothered to show up for work. By the end of the day, rumor had it that the old Principal, Mr. Serna, was coming out of retirement to help guide the school until the disorder was sorted out.
Lorenzo had tried to talk to Valeria, but she seemed to be avoiding him. With the sudden end of her engagement, he didn’t blame her for seeking out privacy. He just wished he could do more for her.
At The Revolutionary Taco, he tried to make light conversation with Kate.
“How was your day?” he asked her.
“I’m sure not as exciting as your day,” she answered, her green eyes shiny like crystal. “Enzo, I’m so proud of you.”
“Thanks.”
Kate’s warm smile spread to her whole face as she gazed at Lorenzo. With the school business finally over, maybe now everything could return to normal and fall back into place.
“I need to tell you something,” she said, setting her small hand over Lorenzo’s bigger one.
“What is it?”
“I’m sorry I wasn’t there for you.”
“It’s okay.”
“I want you to know that I’ll try to—"Kate interrupted her own sentence as she stared with surprise towards a place behind and beyond Lorenzo. Frowning deeply, her features contorted into a severe grimace.
“What’s wrong?” he asked, turning his face and he immediately understood Katie’s reaction because his own was even stronger. Valeria, along with two people who resembled her, were being guided by a waiter. She chatted with who had to be her parents and didn’t see him.
He eyed her, trying not to be too obvious about it but not succeeding. Her violet dress brought out the sienna in her coloring, and her hair fell in free loose curls. Her eyes, while still a little sad, had their deep, lively sparkle.
“She is such a beautiful woman,” mumbled Kate. “Everyone in the restaurant is staring.”
Lorenzo tore his eyes away and cleared his throat. “It’s full here tonight, right?”
Kate observed him with a lost look. “Yes,” she mumbled.
As the waiter served them their food, enchiladas for him and roasted chicken for her, he uncomfortably noted that Valeria was seated in his line of vision.
“Lorenzo?!”
“Yes?” he asked, his eyes back on Kate.
“I’ve been calling your name for a while. Where’s your mind?” Kate blurted angrily.
“Sorry,” he said, his brain scrambled and unable to come up with an explanation.
Kate nodded quietly as she tried to concentrate on chewing the succulent chicken that had tasted so delicious earlier but now had lost all flavor. He stuck his fork into the flavorful red enchiladas and tried to concentrate on guiding the fork to his mouth.
“Is the food good?” she asked, desperately wanting his eyes on her.
“Yes,” he automatically answered but he didn’t know if it was actually true. He might’ve been putting his favorite meal in his mouth, but he hadn’t tasted it.
“I’ve been thinking,” Kate said hesitantly. “It’s been a long time since we’ve taken a vacation together. During your fall break we should go on a cruise to the Bahamas. Remember the last time we went there? It was so much fun.”
Noticing his loud silence, words overflowed from Kate’s mouth trying to remind him of a special time they had had together. She described the resort with the savory coconut drinks, the fun ocean waves, and most of all, the romantic evenings when they shared kisses by moonlight.
But he had tuned out. His mind and attention were very far away from Kate. As he tried to re-focus back on her, Valeria looked past the waiter and her large lively eyes met with his dark ones. The surprise on her face made her even more intense than usual. After a few short moments of melding her sight to his, she nervously tore her eyes away.
“Lorenzo!”
His eyes shot back to Kate. “Yes?”
“You haven’t been listening to me,” Kate said, her voice cracking.
“You were talking about a vacation in the Bahamas.”
Kate stared at him with a pained expression. “I’ve got a bad headache. Do you think we could go now?”
“Yes,” he said, a little too quickly. The waiter handed them the take home containers and after paying, they rushed out of the restaurant. The ride home was very quiet as neither of them spoke.
When they got into bed, he said a quick goodnight. She stayed up long after.
“Are you okay, Valeria?” her mother had asked while at The Revolutionary Taco. She eyed her daughter carefully with knitted brows.
“I’m fine.”
“You don’t look fine,” stated Mrs. Loya.
“I look terrible?” asked Valeria, her lips forming a small, sly smile, “I guess I shouldn’t have worn this.”
“No, that’s not what I meant and you know it. What’s wrong? You look like you just saw a pig dancing La Bamba.”
“What?”
“You turned as white as a sheet,” Mr. Loya announced.
“My allergies are kicking in.”
Mrs. Loya rolled her eyes. “Allergies?”
“Yes, allergies.”
“Are you allergic to that man you were staring at? The one who already left?” asked Mrs. Loya nonchalantly.
“She was staring at a man?” asked Mr. Loya, surprised.
“No, I wasn’t,” stated Valeria, annoyed.
“Yes, you were,” asserted Mrs. Loya.
&nbs
p; “I just glanced at him because he’s a teacher at my school,” Valeria mumbled.
“He is?” questioned Mrs. Loya.
“Can we talk about something else?” asked Valeria.
It was clear that their daughter didn’t want to talk about what was bothering her so her parents dropped the subject. They spent the rest of the evening discussing family matters as Valeria tried to regain her balance. Concentrating hard on the rambunctious lives of her active parents made it easier to shut off any other thoughts.
They had been so thrilled that she had broken the engagement with Leonel. Valeria had admitted to her mother that she had been right about everything. Leonel wasn’t the right man for her. Her mother had quickly remarked, “A pig and a dog can walk together, but can they dance?”
Later in bed with nothing but silence staring at her, Valeria could still see Lorenzo with Dr. O’Leary as clear as daylight.
What is their relationship like?
Chapter 30
Waking up at 5:00 a.m. and unable to go back to sleep, Lorenzo went outside where he mowed the lawn and then tended to the plants. Working outside had always been more of a pleasure than a burden. Physical exertion put him at peace in an often chaotic world.
Lost in thought and purpose, he didn’t notice when Kate stepped outside and sat on the bench of the picnic table. He didn’t see her stare at him with an agonized expression or the dark circles under her eyes stressing her sleepless night.
“Good morning,” she finally said.
Startled, he turned to her. “Good morning,” he greeted, his hands grabbing the gray T-shirt from where he had left it on a tree branch, and he slipped it on his naked torso. “You’re up early.”
“Why are you already up?”
He shrugged his shoulders. “I woke up and couldn’t go back to sleep.”
“I had a hard time sleeping too,” she declared, staring at the top of his shoulders where the T-shirt he had just put on hid the birth marks that looked like whip scars.
“You did?”
“Didn’t you feel me toss and turn?” she questioned.
“Are you okay?”
“No, not really. I feel restless, betrayed, and devastated.”
“What?”
Kate eyed him carefully before continuing to speak. “Are you in love with her?”
“What are you talking about?” he asked as he sat across from Kate at the oak picnic table.
“Valeria.”
“Valeria?”
“Yes, are you in love with her?” Kate repeated impatiently.
“Why would you ask me that?” he asked nervously.
“You were staring at her at the restaurant last night, weren’t you?”
“Kate, I promised you I’d be faithful to you, and I have been.”
“At least physically you have been.”
“But—“
“I’m tired of the games,” Kate stated. “Please be honest with me and tell me how you feel about her.”
“I . . . I—”
“Do you love her?”
“Katie, I . . . I . . .”
“Answer me,” she pleaded, with both anger and frustration in her voice.
“I can’t.”
“Yes you can and you will,” Kate demanded.
“Do you really want to know?” he asked gently.
“Yes.”
“But—“
“Tell me!”
“I’m sorry, Katie but . . .”
“Do. You. Love. Her?”
“I love her,” he declared, feeling like the worst kind of a human being for saying it and yet relieved to be finally admitting it to himself. “I swear, Kate, that if I could tear this feeling out of me I would. I don’t even know how it happened. I really don’t.”
Kate stood up solemnly.
“Where are you going?” he asked. “Don’t you want to talk about it?”
“There’s nothing left to say. While you’re at school, I’ll move out.”
“But—“
“It’s for the best.”
“Katie, I didn’t mean to hurt you. I hope you know that.”
She looked at him with a flood of tears rolling freely down her face. “I know, Enzo. You’re the most honorable man I’ve ever met.”
“No, I’m not,” he declared with self loathing.
“You are but you’ve got a lot to sort out. That’s why I have to leave—to give you space,” she murmured, standing up.
“Katie—“
“By the way,” she blurted, before leaving. “I could lose my licensing for this but the reason she went to see me was because she has a problem with commitment. Remember that.”
"Commitment?"
"Yes."
He decided to drop the matter. “I’ll move out if you want, Katie. You can keep the house.”
“It’s your house, Enzo. You had it long before I came in the picture. Besides, I don’t want to be constantly reminded of you,” she said bitterly.
Had it been her vivid imagination or had Lorenzo looked a bit lost that day?—as if in a cornfield with no direction? Valeria almost went to him but decided at the last minute to stay away. Between his closed off posturing and what she had found out about Leonel, she didn’t know how much she could do for either of them. One of Leonel's sisters, of all people, had called her in a panic, telling Valeria that he was hitting the bottle hard after the break-up.
“Can you do something?” pled his sister, crying.
While driving to her apartment from school, Valeria decided to visit Leonel. If what his uppity sister was saying was true, he was sinking fast into oblivion. Valeria went past his work, bothered that his car wasn’t there, and headed to the watering hole his sister told her he was frequenting. She found him soon after stepping into the run-down bar, in a dark corner table with his hand wrapped around a glass of beer.
“Hi,” she said, sitting next to him and relieved that he didn’t seem too inebriated yet.
He looked at her with complete surprise. “Hi,” he managed to return, mumbling.
“What are you doing here instead of at work?”
“You have to ask?” he snickered.
“Leonel—“
“Why are you here?—to finish breaking my heart?”
“Leonel, there are a lot of people worried about you.”
“Is that how you found me? Someone told you where I hang out?”
“Why are you doing this to yourself?”
He pounded the table angrily. “You don’t get to comment on my life, okay?”
She nodded and then tried a different approach. “I didn’t know you liked places like this or beer.”
“There’s a lot you don’t know about me.”
“Like what?”
“My father is that thief—Superintendent Morales,” he announced matter-of-factly.
“What?” She couldn’t have heard what she thought she did.
“My father isn’t the guy who committed suicide. No! My biological father is the guy who stole money from the kids. How do you like them apples?”
“I’m not following you.”
He let out an exasperated breath. “My mother, the high class socialite, cheated with her fiancé's best friend and got pregnant with me. Then she told her intended that I belonged to him.” He took a huge gulp of beer.
Speechless, Valeria shifted in her seat, trying to figure out what to say but too stunned to dislodge any words. She was aware that his family knew Morales, but this news was shattering.
“I find this out, and then you dump me,” he announced. “My life is crap.”
“Leonel—“
“I didn’t want to tell you because I wanted so bad for you to get along with my family . . . You tossed me out anyway.”
“I didn’t toss you out.”
“Val, you dumped me,” he blurted, hurt.
“I did not,” she insisted. “I stopped a no-futur
e relationship from going forward.”
“No-future?”
“Let’s face it, Leonel, we were never a great couple.”
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t like your lifestyle, and you don’t like mine. I hate rowdy parties, sour champagne, and endless talk about the so called best things in life.”
He chuckled. “I hate book discussions, quiet walks, and cheap stuff that has no class to it.”
“See what I mean?”
“But I love you so much I overlooked what bothered me, and you should’ve done the same.”
“You would’ve moved into my apartment?” she asked, one eyebrow up.
“Absolutely.”
“You called it a dump,” she said dryly.
“Sorry, that was a poor choice of words.”
“Yes, it was.”
“I’m sorry.”
“My home is not a dump. It may not be all ritzy with expensive junk, but it’s my place.”
“I don’t know why I said what I said.”
“Because it was how you really felt. If we would’ve gotten married, we might’ve been able to pull if off for a while—maybe a few years if we were lucky but then the bandages would’ve fallen from our eyes. You’d be you and I’d be me, and we’d be on our way to a divorce.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“How can you not?”
“But—“
“Love is only blind at the beginning, Leonel. That’s what my mom says, and I’ve got to admit she’s right.”
“Blind?”
“She says that the best love is the one without blinders on—the one that is out in the full light, showing all of its flaws.”
After the conversation with Leonel, Valeria reached her apartment drained and exhausted. She plopped herself on her comfortable, fluffy, powder-blue sofa for a few minutes before realizing she was very hungry. Closing a chapter in her life had been more of an energy drainer than she thought. The best thing about it all was that she seemed to have gotten through to Leonel. Just because she had realized she didn’t love him didn’t mean she didn’t care about him.
Her growling stomach overpowered her tired strength, and she stood up to make herself a fast and simple meal. As she was about to place the spicy chicken wings in the oven, she heard a knock. Wondering who it could be, she went to the door and peeked through the peephole. She couldn’t believe who was standing on the other side of the door.