How To Salsa in a Sari (6 page)

Issa groaned at the revelation. She had to do the un-doable. All alone.

“Come on, babe.” Alisha was still holding Issa. “I need you to give them a chance, okay?”

Issa could feel herself weakening. Alisha was her best friend and she had sacrificed so much for her and Amir. She could try to deal with Cat. For her mother's sake at least.

But not without one last-ditch effort to bail.

“Mama—-come on—” Issa whined. “You're really going to ruin your precious baby girl's life? Your last born? The light of your life?”

“Buy you that leather-bound version of
Pride and Prejudice
you have your eye on if you pack without any more whining.” Alisha had an amused glint in her eye.

“Are you bribing me?” Issa asked. “You expect me to fall for this—this—”

“Why, yes, I do.”

“Mom!” Issa grinned despite herself. How did Alisha do it? Alisha had a way about her, she could enchant anyone within the hour.

And Diego was no exception. Issa sighed. It was up to her to undo what Alisha had done. If her mother wasn't willing to listen, maybe Diego would.

As Issa sadly lined her jasmine and gardenia candles into a box and folded her sari curtains on top, she formulated a plan. If she knew one thing about Diego, it was that he was all about appearances. Issa knew she could play on that.

As she finished removing every glowy star from the ceiling, she glanced around the barren room. She would miss this place. If everything went well, she and Alisha would be moving back in no time.

 

After the bulging moving trucks pulled away from the driveway at precisely 5:45 p.m., Issa pounced on Alisha. “Let's get going. I want to make sure I get a bigger bathroom than you.” Issa turned her eyes so her mother couldn't see into them. She'd never been able to lie to Alisha and she wouldn't put it past her mother to call her out on her little plan now.

Alisha tousled Issa's bangs absently. “Thanks, babe. I knew you'd come around.”

Score. Alisha seemed too distracted to notice her daughter's newfound eagerness to get to Casa Morena.

Issa felt only slightly guilty as she practiced her speech to Diego in her head on the car ride over. As the car puffed up to the driveway, Issa tried to sound casual.

“Hey, Mom, could you give me just a few minutes with Diego? I want to apologize for being such a pain.”

Alisha looked pleasantly surprised. “Sure, hon. I'll wait here.”

“Thanks.”

Confronting Diego had seemed like a good idea when she was safe in their little town house, but standing here in front of Casa Morena, Issa felt completely out of place and terrified. Or as Gigi would say, like wrong-side-of-the-tracks Ryan Atwood during his first day in the O.C.

God, she wished Gigi or Ishaan were by her side right now. She hated knowing she was all alone in her battle.

“Hello, and welcome, Issa.” Diego opened the door with a flourish after Issa forced her thumb to ring the bell. “Catalina is out with friends, but she will be back for dinner.”

Goody.

Issa stepped inside, lugging the huge garbage bag filled with her stuffed animals behind her. The entry looked even more gigantic than she remembered. How was she going to live here? The marble staircase leading upstairs seemed to go on and on. This place needed an elevator.

“Mom's tipping the movers and I wanted to talk to you alone for a sec.” Issa shifted the bag to her other hand and stared at the pristine white floor.

Diego closed the front door with a puzzled look on his face. “Of course.”

“Listen, Mr. Diego, Mr. Morena, Mr. Diego, sir…”

“You may call me Diego, if I may call you Issa,” Diego said with a hint of a smile.

Issa almost smiled too. Diego had just made a joke. And it was almost funny for an old guy. Weird. “Okay, Diego. Um, I think it looks kind of wrong for me and Mom to live here, you know. I mean, we're Indian. I mean, you know that, what I mean is…”

Issa could feel redness rising in her cheeks. This was not going as predicted. The speech had sounded so good in the car, but now she just sounded confused.

“What I mean is that you guys are going to be living together. And she teaches at the school and she's a role model person, right? I don't want my mom getting a reputation as living with guys before she's married.” The words tumbled out of her mouth before she could figure out a way to make them sound pretty.

Diego was silent for a minute. “I completely understand. It's not very common for us either. To cohabit before marriage, I mean.”

Issa shifted from foot to foot.

“Cubans are quite traditional, you know. So, this ‘living together' as they call it, would be frowned on in my family.”

Issa didn't know what to say. “Um, yeah. Cohabiting. Bad.” Was she really going to get through to him? Could this horrible move actually be called off?

“What I actually had in mind was that, you and your mother would move into our guest house,” Diego said, reaching out and taking the heavy bag from Issa's hand.

They had a guest house? Like in
The O.C.
? Gigi was going to flip.

“Uh, what?”

Diego pointed to the side of the house. “Next to the pool is a very cozy cottage. Bedrooms, full kitchen. I think you both will be very comfortable there. The four of us can share all our meals together here and you two can retreat there for the nights. How is that? Until the wedding, of course.”

Issa stuttered. “That sounds, um—”
not
what she had in mind, but at least she wouldn't be under the same roof as Cat Morena “—very nice. Thanks, Diego.”

“You're most welcome. And, Issa,” he called as she started for the front door. “I'd like a moment alone with your mother.”

Yuck!

“Why don't you go through the kitchen door and explore your new place? I think you'll like the indoor pool.”

Pool? Wow. Issa grinned openly this time. “Thanks again.”

Maybe he wasn't such a bad guy after all. Too bad his daughter was a psychopath.

 

“I can't believe you live here now!” Gigi bounced up and down on Issa's bed. “This is only the guest house? This is bigger than the houses on
The Real World!
”

Issa had to agree. The Morena guest house was pretty much a miniature version of the mansion with its own sun-room, four bedrooms, a hot tub and an indoor pool. As soon as she'd seen it, she'd called Ishaan and Gigi from her cell phone and demanded they come over so she could show off her new place.

“I feel like we could play soccer in here.” Ishaan was equally in awe of Issa's new bedroom. Complete with vaulted sixteen-foot ceilings and a walk-in closet the size of Issa's old bedroom, the room was at least a thousand square feet and the king-sized bed took up only one tiny corner of it. “What are you going to do with all this space?”

“She needs to shop and fill it!” Gigi tossed her tumbling red curls over her shoulder, her green eyes dancing with excitement. “You need to grab Diego's credit card, Iz. Let's go next weekend!”

The thought had crossed her mind. What did they do about money now? Diego seemed to have so much of it, and as far as she could see, he was pretty generous about doling it out. But still, he wasn't her daddy and if luck had anything to do with it, he and Alisha would realize getting married was a stupid idea and this whole arrangement could be over soon.

“He's not my dad. I'd feel weird spending his money.”

Unless he insisted, of course.

Issa finally hung up the last of her clothes and joined Gigi on the bed. Her pathetic wardrobe barely made a dent in the vast closet and she couldn't imagine her threadbare sari curtains or plastic glowy stars in here.

“You could make this into a dance studio.” Gigi stood on the edge of the bed again, her arms out at her sides. Issa scooted to the very edge of the bed to keep from getting fallen on.

“Or a game room.” Ishaan started shoving Issa's stack of novels into a bookshelf. “You could do like a pool table and some video games—”

“Or that
Arabian Nights
–like lounge we're always talking about!” Gigi squealed and threw herself backward into the bed again. “Oh, heaven. I could get used to this.”

Issa giggled. At least one of them was having a good time. She heard the sound of the front door open and close, then the click of Alisha's heels.

“Ahh…the prodigal friends return.” Her mother leaned in the doorway of Issa's bedroom, a smile on her face. “Haven't seen you crazy kids in a while.”

Finally back from her talk with Diego, Alisha was glowing. Issa watched her try to hide a smile and wondered what it meant.

“Alisha!” Gigi shrieked. “Congratulations!” She was off the bed and throwing herself into Alisha's arms before Issa could blink.

“Thanks, honey.”

“God, Alisha. Look at that rock!”

“I know!” Alisha flashed her left hand in the air. An unfamiliar diamond sparkled on her ring finger.

So that was it. It was officially official. Alisha and Diego were formally engaged. Issa blinked away a sudden rush of tears in her eyes. Her mom had given up all hope of her father coming back.

Issa wished she could be as happy as Gigi was for her mother. She wished she could just enjoy this new luxury and not worry about the future. Unfortunately, with Cat Morena living a hundred yards away, Issa couldn't help but feel an overwhelming sense of doom.

Issa turned so Alisha wouldn't see the dejected look on her face. Instead, Ishaan saw her face and shot her a sympathetic look. He understood how much she missed her father and what this engagement meant.

Issa smiled at him. As much as she loved Gigi, her friend could be a bit of a flake. Issa knew she could always count on Ishaan to know how she really felt.

Gigi dragged Alisha over to the bed, peppering her with questions. “So, when are you guys getting married? Is Issa going to be in the wedding? Where's it going to be?”

“The wedding will be sometime in mid-December. And as for where, we have no idea. And if Issa wants to be in it, she is more than welcome.” Alisha smiled and touched Issa's hand. “It'll be wonderful to have both Cat and Issa in the wedding.”

Issa shuddered. Yeah, sure. And Cat would become a nun the week after too.

“
Hola?
Anyone home?”

Speak of the devil.

Cat poked her head into Issa's bedroom. “
Papi
has asked that you both come to the main house for dinner.”

“Hey, Cat.” Alisha smiled at the arrival. “You know Issa's friends, Gigi and Ishaan, right? Come on in.”

Issa grimaced as Cat strolled in and took a seat next to Alisha. Even though Cat's Sunshine and Jewel were on the same cheerleading team as Gigi, Gigi had no tolerance for mean people and refused to hang out with their clique. That made Gigi enemy material in Cat's book.

“Yeah, of course! Hey, Geeg!”

Geeg?

Gigi looked pretty confused herself. “Uh, hey, Cat.”

“So, Ishaan.” Cat arched her feet, showing off her long legs. “That was a really amazing goal you made last weekend. I think you're the hottest star on our soccer team.”

Was she actually flirting with Ishaan? She'd never glanced at him twice before. Was it a subconscious thing she did, flirt with any male creature in a ten-foot vicinity? Now,
that
was ghetto.

“Oh…thanks.” Ishaan finished placing the last of the books in the shelves and ran a hand nervously through his wavy hair. “But I'm not really.”

“They should make you the captain. I watch all your games, you know,” Cat practically purred, her eyelashes batting. “What do you think, Issa?”

God, what was her problem? Issa opened her mouth to voice exactly what she thought, but Ishaan cut in. “Um, thanks,” he muttered, and grabbed Gigi's arm. “We should go now. Gigi has to, uh, wash her hair.”

“Hey!” Gigi's protest was cut off by Ishaan dragging her to the door.

Issa stood and escorted her friends. “See what I mean?” she murmured.

“Totally. Hitting on Ishaan like that. What a fake!” Gigi said indignantly, pulling her faux-fur coat over her shoulders. Issa almost laughed. Her secret crush on Ishaan didn't seem so secret when she got so upset when another girl flirted with him.

Ishaan hung back for a second as Gigi stomped out of the guest house. He placed a hand on the small of Issa's back, whispering in her ear, “Watch out for Cat. She seems like she's up to something.”

Gigi watched them curiously from the doorway. “Coming, Ishaan?”