Believe (15 page)

Lorenzo shrugged and walked forward to wait for Vincente and Gina. Lita stood with him. Soon, it was their turn. Lita hugged them both.

“You look beautiful,” she said to Gina.

“Thanks, you too. I’m glad you could share our day like you let me share yours. It’s going to be great, our babies can grow up together like I did with my cousins.”

Lita nodded smiling through the tears that pooled behind her eyes. “Enjoy your honeymoon.”

“We will,” Vincente said. “Lorenzo, thanks for looking out for the business.”

Lorenzo nodded and shook Vincente’s hand. “Give our best to Mena and Eduardo.”

“Will do.” Vincente and Gina moved forward, to finish saying goodbye to the other guests.

Vincente and Gina had talked about having children. They talked about everything. She sucked in a breath of the cool night air. Comparing wasn’t helpful, but it was difficult not to.

“Vincente and Gina want to have three kids,” she said, trying to sound casual.

“Good for them. I need to talk to Grandpop.” Lorenzo kissed the top of her head. “Okay?”

It wasn’t okay, but she nodded anyway. She walked to Sophia.

“Wasn’t that beautiful?” Sophia said, again glancing at Joey. Sophia was ready for grandbabies, and since Janetta had vowed never to have children, Joey was Sophia’s hope.

“Yes. Grandpop knows how to throw a party.”

“I wish you could’ve been here for one when Aunt Teresa was with us.”

Lita’d heard the parties were even more extravagant and full of warmth when Aunt Angela and Aunt Teresa had been alive. “Me too.”

“Everything okay, honey?” Sophia rubbed Lita’s arm. “You seem sad.”

Lita smiled, maybe too brightly. But she didn’t want Sophia and Carlo to start trouble about Lorenzo. They still had their doubts, and Lita didn’t want to stir those waters. “I’m fine. Just missing my dad.” She rubbed her stomach. She shouldn’t use her dad as an excuse like that. She did miss him, but that wasn’t what bothered her. She’d become accustomed to that sadness. Sophia hugged her. “Thanks.” Sophia was the kind of mom she’d used to wish for—warm, loving, protective.

“Come on, let’s go find my husband,” Sophia said. She and Carlo talked too.

They walked across the lawn. Lorenzo stood in a huddle with Grandpop. Lita waved, but he didn’t see her. She clasped her hands. He didn’t see her.

***

“Can we talk now?” Lita asked, like she had last night. Lorenzo had claimed to be tired. They’d gone to bed. Lita had tossed and turned while Lorenzo had been still and silent on his side of the bed. It was the first night they hadn’t made love. She twisted her ring. They’d had sex earlier yesterday, so really she was satisfied.

“I want to get to the gym.” He kissed her cheek and strode to their bedroom door.

“Please, don’t go yet.”

“I’ll be back later.” He waved from the doorway.

Lita plopped back onto their bed, biting her lip. She pulled her knees to her chest and tried to compose herself. Uncle Enzo and Celeste would be downstairs and she didn’t want to seem upset.

“Did you hurt your neck?” Uncle Enzo asked her an hour later as she baked bread in the warm kitchen while he sat reading the
Chronicle.

Even his companionship and the sweet yeasty smells didn’t comfort her. Lorenzo was still at the gym.

“Slept on it wrong, I guess.” Lita didn’t say she’d spent half the night awake. “I’ll be fine.”

She stayed in the kitchen, even when Lorenzo came home. He went straight upstairs. After a little while, he walked downstairs with a suitcase. Where was he going now?

“Are you going somewhere?” she said.

“Yes. I’m taking you away for a couple of days.”

Lita stood in the kitchen doorway. She didn’t want to ask in front of Uncle Enzo why he’d suddenly made this plan.

“Where are you taking her?” Uncle Enzo said. “When will you be back?”

“To the house in Carmel,” Lorenzo said to Uncle Enzo. “I packed your bag too.” A satisfied grin showed Lorenzo’s dimple.

Lita smiled. She loved Carmel, but she’d only gotten to go a couple of times, when she was younger.

“What about work?” she said, still wondering at this turn.

“Janetta said she’d handle everything. I bought you a new outfit while I was out. It’s on the bed.”

He brushed past her as he strode into the kitchen. Maybe they could finally talk.

***

The drive down Highway 101 was quiet except for the sounds of the tire tread peeling over the road, the other cars whooshing past, her humming, and the rustle of her new dress when she shifted in her seat. She admired the sheen of the cotton sateen fabric. She’d tried broaching a couple of topics, but Lorenzo managed to shut her down each time.

She had to smile as they approached the house, almost like a rancho of Old California, with its Mission-style architecture, tile roof, and enclosed courtyard. Once Lorenzo parked in the semi-circular drive, Lita hopped out and ran around to see the grounds. Cypress trees, oak trees, and other trees and shrubs greened the landscape while flowers in purple, yellow, red, and orange brightened the green and brown of the natural landscape and house.

The courtyard had a fountain and roses, little pathways and benches, and an outdoor living room with a pizza oven and built-in grill. Beyond that was an infinity pool overlooking the sloped view beyond. The place was gorgeous, a California dream house.

Lorenzo’s footsteps sounded behind her. “Do you like it, my angel,” he asked, stealing his arm around her waist.

“Yes, who wouldn’t? I hope this means we can talk.”

“I don’t like feeling forced, Lita. Let’s just enjoy—”

“No, I’ve waited long enough.” She shoved away and ran into the house, locking herself in the bedroom, a master suite, where the suitcases were.

She leaned against the door. She shouldn’t have done that. She wanted to be different, wanted to know how to draw Lorenzo out without pouting or getting angry. Didn’t he know she didn’t want to force anything? But that’s how she’d made him feel.

She held her ring hand out. They were married. They had to talk. Her stomach rumbled. She hadn’t eaten since breakfast. She changed her clothes, hanging up the new dress, exchanging it for soft pajamas. When she walked out into the living room, complete with beamed ceilings and picture windows, Lorenzo jabbed a log in a new, crackling fire with a long poker. The sharp, cleansing smell of the new fire burned away part of her worry about how to approach him.

“Nice fire,” she said.

He shrugged. “I’m good at making them. Not so good at sustaining them, or putting them out, either.”

“It always burns out on its own if you leave it alone long enough.”

“Do you want to be alone?”

“No.”

“Okay. Hungry?”

Lita nodded. He walked out. She sat on the loveseat close to the fireplace and hugged a pillow. It wasn’t particularly cold, but she shivered a little. A few minutes later, he came back in with a tray, which he set on the coffee table near her.

“I reheated minestrone soup Celeste gave me and there’s some bread you made this morning.”

He folded himself onto the floor and leaned his back against the couch before he took a bowl. Lita slid to the floor too, sitting cross-legged in front of the table where they both ate. The hot soup and hotter fire soon took away her chill, leaving her body relaxed and heavy. She pulled herself back up to the sofa, where she curled up and looked out the windows, which now reflected the fire, and only glimpses of cypress trees and low shrubs and stars glistened through, sometimes shadowed as Lorenzo passed by. She shut her eyes. Last night’s lack of sleep hit her. Exhaustion forced her head onto the cushions and kept her from saying anything when Lorenzo eased himself next to her.

She woke with a start and surveyed the room. The sky, a rectangle in the window, was still grey, the trees stood sentinel over the quiet. She was in the bedroom, in the bed. Lorenzo must have carried her in last night. He appeared at the door, a faint burnt odor followed him. Blinking, she looked at him, already dressed, a rare sight in dark jeans and a tee shirt. She pushed her hair behind her ears.

“Morning. I made some toast. I tried for French toast, but it got overcooked.”

“Thanks. I think you need cooking lessons.”

“You could teach me.”

“I don’t have that much patience.”

“You’re merciful.”

“Where did you sleep?”

“Right there,” he said, motioning to the spot next to her as he set the tray with toast and tea down on the nightstand. He wasn’t mad, then. But since he’d said what he had, she was worried about trying to question him about what she wanted to.

Lita picked at the blanket. She didn’t want to argue, and she didn’t know how to ask him about what Lee had said, and why Lorenzo was late from work, without hurling it out in angry accusations.

“I better go clean up the mess I made,” he said.

She nodded, but he was already gone.

***

Lita crunched her toast and sipped her tea. None of this was how it was supposed to be. All this stress was making her period late again. Maybe she should go to the doctor again. She rose and looked through the suitcase Lorenzo had packed. Where were her pills? She turned the whole suitcase inside out—no pills. She tensed. She didn’t want one more thing to talk about, and he might want to go home if she said anything. It was only two days, no big deal. She’d just double up on her pill when they got home. She’d done it before.

A swim would be relaxing. She tidied everything and grabbed her swimsuit, taking it into the bathroom with her, so she could get cleaned up and dressed.

Half an hour later, Lita walked into the pool. The warm water enveloped her. She dove under, twirling. The movement and warmth loosened her muscles and brought a smile to her lips. She came up for air and gazed out at the trees and ocean in the distance. The sun sparkled off the water, dazzling as the diamond on her finger. She looked at her rings. She swallowed.

“Mind if I join you?”

She turned. Lorenzo stood by the pool, sexy in just swim trunks, his lean, built, tan body making her insides quiver.

She shook her head. He walked down, into the water where she stood.

“I remember the first time I came down here, to Monterey. Do you?” she said.

“Of course.” He edged closer to her.

“I still don’t know how Lee convinced Jane to be a chaperone or why the teachers let her.”

“Not too many volunteers to take a bunch of teenage boys on a school trip. You know Lee could convince Jane into almost anything if he tried. He knew she’d be a terrible chaperone. He forgot to think about how you’d act.”

“He hoped I’d stay with Aunt Cass. Was I really that bad?”

Lorenzo raised an eyebrow as he stood next to her, an arm stretched out on the water. He chuckled. “Young men away from home hoping to meet some cuties and you’re there prancing around trying to make Lee and me walk around with you or take you swimming?”

“And then your girlfriend showed up with her friend.” Lita made a sour face and Lorenzo laughed.

“I was only sixteen,” he said.

“You haven’t changed much.”

“You haven’t learned much.”

“I know more than I want to,” Lita said, moving toward the stairs.

Lorenzo took her hand. “Please stay.”

Lita looked at him. He’d never said that before. She faced him. He smiled, his dimples smoothing away her worries. He pulled her into him. She smiled, ducking her head to the side, shy to admit how much she wanted and needed him. He chuckled.

“Lita.” His serious tone made her gaze at him again. “It’s always been you. No other girl or woman has ever meant as much to me as you do.”

Lita shifted in his arms. It had always been Lorenzo. She’d thought they could never be together, so she fought to get over her feelings, tried to replace him with similar men, but nothing ever worked. Yet, being together didn’t erase problems, didn’t make either of them forget the past. “Why did you come over to our house so much? You had Uncle Enzo and his family.”