by Beth Fred
Chapter 5
Luke pulled into the parking lot of a huge building on the beach. “We're upstairs and to the right,” he said.
“Wow, this is really nice,” I said when we walked through the door. Marble floors and granite countertops, lots of wide open spaces.
“Thank you,” he said.
The kitchen opened into the living room, so it was easy to find my way there. It was too late for dinner. I wanted breakfast. I opened his refrigerator wondering what I would find. Guys usually didn't buy the best food, but the fridge was well stocked. I took a carton of eggs, a tomato, onion, some jalapenos, cheese, and searched the shelf, hoping to find one last thing.
“Straight to the point,” Luke said.
“Hey, I told you I get to cook.”
My eyes landed on the chorizo. “Yes!” I grabbed the sausage and put it on the counter with the other ingredients.
“Where is a pan?” I asked.
“Under the stove.”
I bent down, popped the drawer open, and grabbed the pan. I set to work cracking eggs and chopping vegetables.
“Do you have tortillas?” That was one thing I couldn't make from scratch.
“I have the best tortillas in Mexico,” he said, grabbing a container from the pantry.
“Good. Just curious, where do the best tortillas in Mexico come from?”
“Mi abuela made them.” He paused for a moment. “You're enjoying this. Your eyes light up when you cook.”
“I wanted to be a chef.”
“So, why aren't you?”
“I'm way too responsible for that.”
“Chica, you need to learn how to have fun. There is more to life than money.”
“That's probably true, but I like not having to worry about paying my bills. And I would say I like not working nights and weekends, except I usually end up working them anyhow.” Although, I really was having fun tonight, with a guy I'd probably never see again. I enjoyed the moment and dreaded the end. And still, I didn't regret leaving my sister hanging in jail while I made breakfast for a chivalrous hottie. “You want to hear something really evil?”
“Sure. Evil is usually fun.”
“I'm thinking of calling my dad or Emmett and telling them that Kammy is not my responsibility. They need to wire me bail.”
He laughed. “If your dad doesn't want to bail her out, I don't see why you should have to. Who is Emmett?”
Well, there were a couple of ways to answer that question. I chose the simple one. “Her fiancé.”
Luke shrugged. “He's marrying the girl. I'd say she's more his responsibility than yours.”
“She'd be pissed. Because if I did that, I'd have to tell him why she was arrested.”
“I kind of think the guy has a right to know the girl he's about to marry got arrested at a strip party.”
“Well, it's not like he's got clean hands.”
“Oh?”
“I don't know of anything. I just don't think so.” Once a cheater, always a cheater.
Luke looked at me with bewilderment in his eyes. He knew there was a missing piece of information here, but I didn't feel like talking about it. It didn't matter. Besides, cooking breakfast for a hot guy at 1 a.m. was way more fun than hashing out the past.
“Plates?” I asked.
He grabbed a couple from a cabinet and popped the tortilla container in the microwave. I piled migas and homemade salsa on both our plates.
“Let's take it to the balcony,” he said.
It was so dark I hadn't noticed the huge glass door at the other end of the living room. We walked onto the balcony and set our plates on a wrought iron table. From here, the ocean sparkled and shined. This disastrous night turned out to be amazing.
“Are you going to call your dad or Emmett for the money?”
“I don't know. Kammy would be really mad at me either way.”
For the first time all night, there was no trace of a smile or humor on his face. “I think you should be really mad at her.”
I shrugged. “I am.” The difference was when Kammy got mad she turned the whole family against me. When I got mad, I avoided her phone calls for a while. If I had to talk to her, I was polite. I spent as little time with her as possible.
“If you're mad, she can be mad, too. It's even.”
“She'll turn everyone against me.”
“Do you have an older brother or sister?”
I shook my head.
“I—I know what it's like to be the oldest, but I don't think your family can blame you for her and her friends hiring entertainment you were unaware of and then her getting drunk and going wild.”
“They'll say I'm mad because she's marrying Emmett, and I'm making trouble for her.”
He sat his fork down. “Tiffany, tell me about Emmett.”
I shrugged. “Not much to tell.”
“You don't call him her fiancé. You call him Emmett, and they'd assume you're mad she's marrying him, not that she's getting married. Come on, what's the story.”
“We kind of dated.”
“For how long?”
“A year.”
“That's not casual.”
“I guess. It wasn't really serious either.”
“So, why'd you waste a year with him?”
“I don't know. He made me laugh. We had fun together. I felt comfortable with him. In the beginning, there were sparks. He's really hot, but it got stale after a while. I was getting ready to break it off. I've got a really good job for a twenty-four-year-old. It's not perfect, but I make enough money to pay for my car, live alone, have savings, and buy what I want as long as I don't want anything expensive. He barely graduated and never got a real job. I felt superficial breaking up with him over that, but he seemed really irresponsible. I was waiting to see if it would get better.”
“But it didn't.”
“But I came home after a particularly bad day at work and found him on the couch with my sister on my couch.”
“The sister whose bachelorette party you paid for?”
I nodded. Talking about this made me want to cry, but I wouldn't let myself, because I knew it was stupid.
“Why do you talk to this girl?”
“She's my sister.”
“If one of my brothers did that, I'd write him off.”
“I was mad for a few days. I didn't return her calls for a while, but when I thought about it, they have way more in common. And I was ready to break up with him. It sucks that it ended the way it did, but I think I'm glad it's over.”
“I'm glad it's over,” he said.
I didn't respond, but my face gave me away. How could he say that?
“You deserve much better than a guy like that. Besides, if Emmett wasn't a jerk, I wouldn't be eating migas with an anjel tonight.”
“Thanks,” I said.
“Where did you learn to make migas anyhow?”
“I am from Texas.”
“Oh?”
“Yeah.”
“Then, how is your Spanish so bad?”
I laughed. “I don't know. I try. It works in Texas. I mean, I'm not fluent, but I can order in a restaurant or get help in the grocery store.”
We finished eating, and Luke took our plates in before coming back outside with a couple of drinks.
“What time is it?” I asked.
“Three en la mañana.”
I sighed. “I need to start working on springing my sister.”
“I think you should leave her there until tomorrow.”
“It is tomorrow.”
“Until after you've slept and woken up tomorrow.”
“I can't do that. What if they let her out before I get there, and she doesn't have any clothes, or a toothbrush, or money, and she's wondering around Cancun lost? She speaks less Spanish than me.”
“What are you going to do with her once you have her?”
I painted a mocking grin on my face. “Crash with you.”
“No way.
You're welcome to stay, but Kammy is not.”
“Why not?”
“Because I cannot afford any wild parties, lewd acts, or noise complaints.”
“Oh, right. Because you're grandparents will beat you up.”
“That's right,” he said faking concern.
“I guess we'll wait at the airport.”
“If you don't let her sober up first, she's going to be right back there, and you don't want to be with her when it happens. The only thing that saved your skin tonight was that you weren't actually there for any of it. Leaving for the bar was smart.”
“I went to the bar, because I was uncomfortable and annoyed. I never dreamed it would get that out of control.”
“Well, whatever your reason, it worked out.”
“I guess you're right. I should let her sober up, but I've got to find out how much bail is. I don't want to, but I may have to call my dad.”
“Why not call Emmett?”
“Because if I don't have bail, he sure doesn't.”
“I'll call the local jail and see what I can find out.” He pulled a cell out of his pocket and hit a number. I waited as he spoke to someone in Spanish. I prayed Kammy was okay, even though I wanted to pull her hair out myself.
After what seemed like forever, he put the phone down. “We won't really know anything until arraignment, but I don't think they're going to release her on bail.”
“Why won't they release her on bail?”
“She's from the U.S. They'll think she won't come back for court.”
“She won't.”
“Yeah, so they'll want their money up front.”
“How much?”
“In dollars? We won't really know until it's official, but I'd guess around fifty-five hundred.”
“Whoa.”
“Yeah.”
“I can probably swing it. I think I have that on my American Express card. I never use it. I brought it with me in case of an emergency.” Though, I never thought that would be Kammy partying and streaking.
“Then, get some sleep, and we'll go get her tomorrow.”
“Crap!”
“What?”
“That card was in my suitcase that got left in the hotel.”
“They sent the suitcases to the airport on the shuttle that left after the girls. If it was in your suitcase, it’s at the airport.”
“Could we go to the airport and get it?”
With sympathy in his eyes he said, “You should probably cancel that card.”
“Why?”
“Tiffany, it went with a driver to the airport. Someone will pick it up at the airport and throw it behind a counter maybe, or maybe not. Because it hasn't been checked in yet. Then, it's going to sit somewhere until you get there. And you may never see it again, because the manager told me he'd send the bags via the next shuttle, but he was pretty pissed off.”
I couldn't really blame the guy. I sighed again. This trip flipped back and forth from being a blast and the most annoying, disastrous weekend of my life.
“Can I use your phone?”
“Of course.”
He leaned across the table to hand me the phone, and our hands brushed. I felt sparks like when he took my hand earlier. But as I took the phone, I realized, without the card, I had no idea where to call to cancel it. I sat the phone down on the table.
“Do you have internet?”
“Yeah, but if you need to look up a phone number, you can do it on the phone.”
“No media charges?”
He laughed. “It'll be okay.”
I got the card canceled and realized this meant I would have to call my dad to wire money if I was going to get Kammy out of jail.
“How long would she have to sit it out?” I asked.
“A while.”
“I'm going to have to call my dad,” I moaned.
“Let your parents rip into Kammy. She deserves it.”
“Well, at least I can't call him for a while. Gives me time to decide what to say.”
“Your daughter is one hell of a party chick, and I need money to spring her.”
I laughed. “Yeah, he'll love that.”
Luke shrugged. “Hey, sometimes the truth hurts.”
A cool ocean breeze settled in, and I felt chill bumps on my skin. I hugged my arms around myself.
“Let's go in,” Luke said. Once we stepped back across the other side of the glass door, he threw me a remote. “Pick whatever you want. I'll be right back.”
Luke disappeared behind a door. I flipped through Spanish channel after Spanish channel, wondering what I should pick. I couldn't understand anything anyhow. I finally landed on “I Love Lucy” in español and decided this was it. Sometimes you could see the humor, so it wouldn't matter if I couldn't listen to everything, and either way, I had every episode memorized, so I would know what was going on.
Luke returned, leaving the door open behind him. It displayed a huge sleigh bed with crème colored bedding.
“That's your room tonight. I left a bag out for you on the bathroom sink. It has a toothbrush and toothpaste and a bar of facial soap. There is body wash in the shower and plenty of towels and things in the linen closet.”
“Wow. Thanks.”
He looked from me to the TV and back to me. “No problem. I Love Lucy?”
“Ehh—she's funny. Besides, I know the storyline.”
“I love this show, but if you're watching it because you know the storyline, I can put English subtitles on almost anything.”
“Lucy's good.”
“Okay.”
We sat through three episodes. If I didn't laugh at something, Luke would tell me what was just said, and most of the time, I had to chuckle. But the time came when exhaustion completely overtook my body, and I was going to have to go to bed.
“I have to crash,” I said.
“Sweet dreams, anjel.”
I forced myself up from the couch and started toward my room. “How late are you staying up?”
“I'll probably crash, too. I'm sleeping in here tonight.”
Wow. He'd given me his room.
“You don't even know me. Why would you give me your bed?”
He laughed. “What kind of guy lets a girl sleep on the couch?”
The kind I've dated.
“Don't answer that,” he said.
“Maybe, I can make it through one more episode,” I said as I dragged myself back to the couch. I knew I wouldn't, but I hoped that if I fell asleep here, he would take the bed rather than waking me up. The thought lingered in the back of my mind that if he didn't move, if I woke up beside him tomorrow, that might not be so bad either. I immediately scolded myself for that thought. I would need to leave as soon as I had Kammy.
“You look exhausted. Just go to sleep.”
“I'm good,” I said through a yawn. This time when I sat down our knees brushed, and that electro-pulse feeling I got when our hands brushed earlier returned. Luke looked up and smiled at me, but he made no effort to move away. In fact, his body moved the slightest bit toward me. In a weak moment, I allowed my head to loll on his shoulder.
You're going to regret this. Guys like this don't go for girls like you.
But to my surprise, Luke slid his arm around me.
When I woke up, the quilt that covered his legs encompassed me. Any part of Luke his wife beater and shorts didn't cover was exposed, and his bicep was cold against my cheek.
I tried to adjust my mind to my location, but I was so exhausted. I extended my arms above my head and yawned a random noise that sounded more like a growl.
Luke laughed. “Good morning, tiger.”
“Tiger?”
“Never mind.”
“I'm sorry I stole your blanket,” I said, throwing it over him.
I felt horrible about freezing Luke out, but more than that, my heart swelled at the thought of him staying here all night—staying beside me—when he could have just as easily taken advantage of that
huge bed in the next room.
“I guess I should call my dad,” I said.
“About that, I called the jail again this morning. I know the guy that's there now, so I was able to talk a little bit more. They haven't taken Kammy for arraignment yet. If we get there before two, I might be able to help.”
I had no idea what he thought he could do, but Luke seemed to know everyone. I'd take it.
“Okay.”
“We'll have to leave soon. I want to get food first.”
I laughed at that.
“Do you want the shower first?” he asked.
“Will you think I'm gross if I don't shower?”
He laughed. “No.”
“I don't like the idea of getting out of a shower clean and putting on dirty clothes. So gross.”
He laughed. “It could be like summer camp.”
“I didn't wear dirty clothes at summer camp.”
“Oh, must be a guy thing.”