night last week with just my mom and Rod when Sofia took tamales over for dinner. We all stayed and ate together and had a great time.”
Why hadn’t anybody invited Ethan over for tamales? He felt a little left out, until he remembered he had been out of town.
“Rod is pretty taken with her and I always consider him an excellent judge of character,” José went on. “Plus, my mother said Abby has single-handedly saved the Silver Belles fundraiser at Holiday House. In fact, Sofia has been talking about her so much, I get the distinct impression she wants me to ask her out.”
Would Abby be able to kiss José without feeling sick? Ethan didn’t want to know the answer to that. In fact, thinking about the two of them together made Ethan feel vaguely ill.
“What about Lucy?”
José seemed to freeze, his features going stiff. “What about her?”
Why had he said that? His sister was the one taboo topic of conversation between him and José. He knew they were friends, too, that they hung out overseas. He knew they had met up in Thailand a few months earlier when José took a rare-for-him-these-days trip for Lancaster Hotels to a new property.
He suspected something had happened there, judging by José’s dark mood when he returned and Lucy’s careful avoidance of the topic. Just as well. He didn’t want to know.
He picked his words carefully, wishing he hadn’t opened his big mouth. If there was something between José and Lucy, neither of them wanted to talk about it.
“Nothing. Only that she’s coming home this weekend and I know you guys usually hang out when she’s home. I guess I just assumed you would again this year. Am I wrong?”
“Yes. You’re wrong,” José snapped. “Contrary to popular opinion, I am not stuck in limbo, waiting for your sister to come home from whichever exotic destination has caught her fancy currently. I have a life. It’s a damn good one.”
Ethan wasn’t quite sure how to respond. He had obviously touched a nerve. What was that about?
“Sorry, man. I shouldn’t have said anything.” He paused, then decided to broach the subject they never talked about.
“I guess over the past few years, I’ve sort of hoped you and Lucy might get together. You would be good for her.”
José’s fist clenched around the door frame, and for an instant Ethan saw stark, desolate pain in his eyes.
“Not happening, bro. Lucy has made up her mind that she doesn’t want anything serious. Not with me, not with anyone.”
Sometimes Ethan wanted to punch his parents in the throat for what their constant romantic drama had done to his sister.
“I’m sorry,” he said, the words completely inadequate.
José shrugged. “It’s my problem. A woman who doesn’t want anything serious would probably be fine for some guys. They would see it as a dream come true. I’m not one of those guys. I want forever.”
José was in love with Lucy. The truth stared at Ethan through bleak, dark eyes. His best friend was in love with his baby sister, who had sworn for years that she would never let herself be vulnerable enough to love anyone.
His chest ached all over again. José was one of the best people he knew. Caring, funny, hardworking. Brilliant at his job and passionate about his family. Look at the career sacrifices he had made so that he could come home and help his mother with his differently abled brother.
That Lucy was blinded by the scars of their past to what was right in front of her made Ethan infinitely sad for his sister and what she might be missing out on.
José looked embarrassed and seemed to collect himself. “I didn’t mean to dump all that on you, man. Lucy is her own person, right? She’s always done her own thing. I get that. I’m doing my best to accept what she wants and move on, you know?”
José deserved the best possible future. He deserved someone sweet and kind and open to love.
Someone like Abby Powell.
Though it again made him a little nauseous, he forced a smile. “I get it,” he said. “Listen, I could take Rodrigo and his friends for pizza, if you wanted to take Abby and Christopher tubing tonight. I would be fine with that.”
It was a blatant lie, but what else could he say? “She seems like a great person and I’m sure the two of you would really hit it off, if you spent a little more time together.”
José appeared to consider