by Mysti Parker
He climbed down from the cab, kissed his mother on the top of the head, and handed her up to the seat. Soon the three were squeezed together inside.
“You won’t get lost, mi vida?” Sofia asked.
“I won’t get lost, Mama,” Harper replied.
She pulled out into the avenue.
“You’re sure you won’t get lost?” Sofia said.
“No, I’m sharp as a tack tonight.”
“Sharp as a what? Gabrielito, que dice?”
“It’s fine, Mama.”
****
At dinner, they shared pressed pulled-pork Cuban sandwiches, black bean soup, and virgin mango daquiris.
“Not as good as yours,” Harper told Sofia. It wasn’t flattery, either.
After the meal, Harper drove them to The Hole. "You sure you want to go, Mama? It's a rough place sometimes."
"I grew up in Cuba."
"Good point."
On the way, Harper got a text. Gabriel read it off to her. “It’s from your cousin Ace. It says he has a Skype interview with Sailor tomorrow. Is that good?”
“Yeah, I think so,” she said. “She seriously needs some help keeping order in the bar, and Ace is tough as a bag of axe handles."
"Tough as an axe what?" Sofia asked, then waved the question away with a chuckle. "Go on."
Harper grinned. "He’s an ex-cop, so he knows about security, too. Text him back that I said good luck, and I’ll get my couch ready if he’s coming up.”
Gabriel did that.
The Hole was crowded. A noisy group of bearded bikers in a back corner were throwing down dollar bill bets on an arm-wrestling match. A guitar player with a foreign accent was playing and singing on the small stage. They took a table, and the cocktail waitress with the piercings rushed to serve them. “You mind if I hang out here during my shift?” she asked Harper. “Maybe if I wait long enough they’ll get so drunk they forget to reach for my ass. I get tired of dodging.”
"We got your back," Harper said.
"Thanks. What do you want to drink?"
“Three mojitos,” Gabriel ordered. “Make hers light; she’s the designated driver.”
As they waited for their drinks, the door banged open, bringing with it the sound of bickering.
“I don’t see why I can’t have more than two drinks, papi,” Rachel argued.
“At your body weight, that much alcohol will make you sleepy, and I want you to stay awake and talk to me.”
“I’ll stay awake. Come on, man. Give a girl a break, huh?”
Gabriel waved. Dwight steered Rachel to their table, bent to kiss Sofia on the cheek. “Hola, Mama.”
“Hola, gordito. Hey, when did you two become an item?”
“We’re not an item,” Rachel said.
Dwight gave her a pointed look.
“Okay, okay. Just this week,” she admitted. “I had no idea he was into me for like, months, or something. So, when I found out, I decided to give him a chance to impress me.”
“And did he?” Sofia asked.
“Mmm-hmm.” Rachel touched Dwight’s arm. “Yeah, I think he did. But he’d better keep working at it.” She turned to Harper. “Hey, listen, querida, I really messed up before. I shouldn’t have been so jealous. Can we start over?”
“Sure,” Harper said, offering her handshake. “If you pay for this round.”
“Yeah, no problem. Ay mierda, I hope I have my credit card.”
They sat with their drinks for a while and laughed together. Gabriel played “Chan Chan” by Buena Vista Social Club on the jukebox. After some initial griping at the low-key music, the bikers settled glumly over their beers and nodded their heads slowly. As the song continued, Harper pulled out a handful of cigars from her pocketbook and handed them around.
“Hey, real Diplomaticos,” Gabriel said. “Where’d you get them?”
“That’s for me to know and you to find out,” she answered. “If you’re really good tonight.”
Sofia lit hers at once and took a long drag. Smoking wasn’t allowed inside most public places in New York City, but to attract customers, Sailor had obtained a smoking lounge permit.
“I remember,” she said, “when I met your father, I had one of these in my mouth. He came up to me and said, ‘How did you get that, chica?’ He was so forceful, you know, I thought he was a cop, and Cuban cigars weren’t legal back then. So, I said, ‘I think it’s Dominican, isn’t it?’ And he said, ‘You’ll get in trouble for smoking that, unless you stay by me tonight.’ And I stayed by him, and he didn’t tell me he wasn’t a cop until the end of the evening, and by then, I already knew I would fall in love with him. That started everything.”
Soon all of them were puffing away at their real Cuban cigars.
“Your father and I,” Sofia said slightly, “we made lots of memories. Now you four, you are all like my children, and it’s your turn. Make some memories.”
Gabriel had rarely seen his mother so wistful, but it was just as Harper had told him; she really was okay. This newer, more carefree version of Sofia had been inside her all along, waiting to come out. “We will,” Gabriel said. He set his cigar into the ashtray, reached for Harper’s hand and brought it to his lips. “We’ll make the best memories ever.”
THE END
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Ready for more? Read Ace in the Hole (Pre-orders begin March 16), the final book of the City Meets Country series!
Will saving her bar cost him his heart…and his life?
After being run over, shot and stabbed one too many times, Ace Montgomery left law enforcement for private security. When he’s hired as a bouncer in NYC, he’s ready to kiss Kentucky goodbye and leave his painful past behind. How rough can a bar called The Hole in a yuppie Brooklyn neighborhood be anyway?
Sailor Kingston, the bar’s rich, gorgeous owner, is an exhausted wreck when he arrives. All Ace has to do is train her useless bouncers, drive out the troublemakers, and make the place safe for high-class patrons. But it isn’t that simple. Something darker is at work that could cost both of them their lives. Ace is drawn to Sailor, but she's his boss -- will his heart be the first casualty?
Sailor thought owning and managing her own business would free her from her late parents’ shadow. She thought wrong. The Hole will become her grave if she can’t survive the bitter legacy they have left her. The former cop from Kentucky is the last hope of her business -- but the hunk with the scary past soon means more to her than that.
Sailor has never trusted anyone but herself before. Can she put her trust in Ace?
From historical to fantasy, from super sweet to scandalously spicy, Mysti Parker has Romance for Every Reader's Taste.
Other Books by Mysti Parker
City Meets Country Series (with co-author MJ Post)
Drive Me Crazy
High on You
Sealed With a Kiss
Ace in the Hole
Contemporary Novella (with co-author MJ Post
Chances Are
The Beach Pointe Romantic Comedy Series
Mann Cakes
Jesse's List
All Jacked Up (May 2018)
The Tallenmere Fantasy Romance Series
A Ranger's Tale
Serenya's Song
Hearts in Exile
No Place Like Home
Historical
A Time for Everything
The Magic Massage Erotic Series
Sophie & the Cowboy
Sophie & the Socialite
Sophie & the Professor
The Roche Hotel Romantic Comedy Series
The Roche Hotel: Season One
The Roche Hotel: Season Two
The Roche Hotel: Season Three
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About the authors:
MJ Post is the pseudonym of a writer, teacher, and comic book fan who works in Brooklyn, NY. Watch for MJ’s first romance novel in 2018!
Mysti Parker is an award-winning author and shameless chocoholic. She writes romance for every reader's taste from super sweet to scandalously spicy. When she's not writing the next best-story-ever or tackling the endless mountain of laundry, she works as a freelance copywriter and editor. Mysti resides in Louisville, Kentucky with her husband, three children and too many pets.