talking about. Bianca, do you know what he’s talking about?” Connie asked as she pushed her chair in and folded her hands on top of the sequined, lavender tablecloth. She was already done talking, I guess. That had been quick.
I shook my head as I scooted my chair forward too and grabbed the napkin that had been folded into the shape of a swan, ready to use that shit the second the food started getting served, any minute now, I figured. “Nope, I have no idea what he’s talking about.”
Actually, I was pretty sure I did—mostly because I did actually remember what had happened the last time Connie and I had been to a family party that had booze and a dance floor. I regretted nothing.
“Bullshit,” Boogie muttered before he cringed. “I’m sorry, kids.”
Connie and I both snorted. Like they hadn’t heard worse just about every other hour of their lives. Oh, Boogie.
“B.S.,” he corrected himself and kept going. “You’ve got to keep it PG tonight. There are kids around; this isn’t a wedding. No tootsie rolls—”
I don’t know what it said about me and my sister that we both gasped.
Zac slid right in, turning that soft blue gaze toward me with an amused expression on his face. “You’re too young to know how to do the tootsie roll,” he said with a chuckle.
I gave him an innocent smile. “Am I?”
Boogie ignored us and kept going. “I’m still scarred from Chato’s wedding. None of that tonight.”
Zac hadn’t stopped looking at me with his curious face, like he didn’t believe what my cousin was saying, so I shrugged at him.
“Why do I feel like you’re not listening to me?” Boog asked.
“I am.” I patted my swan towel. “Was it the hammer dance? Was that what scarred you? Because I told Connie that it was too much.”
Connie burst out laughing just as Boogie rolled his eyes and Zac asked, “I missed out on you doing the hammer dance?”
My niece sighed out of nowhere. “Uncle Zac, at Uncle Rico’s and Tía Maria’s party, they did this song about backing that—”
“What have I told you about telling everybody all of our business?” Connie asked her daughter, shaking her head like she couldn’t believe her own kid would rat out her secrets.
“And Mom tried to show Aunt B how to do the sprinkler,” Guillermo put in as he picked up a little mint that had been set by the plate in front of him.
Boogie groaned.
I was too busy laughing just remembering that evening and Boogie trying to drag us both off the floor, especially after we’d tried backing our asses up into each other, then into him even as he tried pushing us away.
“You joined in, so don’t even start.” I snorted, pointing at my cousin.
“It’s less embarrassing if I’m involved,” he tried to defend himself but started cracking up too because he was full of shit. He’d stayed on the dance floor just as long as we had after that. We’d made a little circle that had family members coming and going all night.
“Mom, what was it that Uncle Boogie did? You remember? He hurt his back?” my nephew asked. “The dolphin?”
Zac sat up straight, those baby blue eyes swinging toward me. “Was it…?”
“Yes.” I cackled, knowing exactly what he was referring to. “He tried doing the worm.”
“I did the worm!”
Zac threw both hands up to his head. “Didn’t you learn your lesson the first time, you ass?”
“I have a bad back!”
I mouthed “holy shit” to Zac.
His mouth was open, and those white teeth were out as he nodded in agreement.
“You know what? I hate all of you. Not you Yermo and Luisa, but you three….”
Connie sniffed as she plucked her own swan napkin. “Haters gonna hate.”
I was too busy snorting as servers started coming out of nowhere with trolleys full of food, and I was pretty sure my niece clapped in excitement.
“Aunt B, they should have asked you to make the food and the cake,” my nephew announced.
Dropping my palm over my chest, I told him I loved him. Then I asked him when he was going to come over to do another video with me.
It didn’t take long at all for the food to be served, with baskets of bread being left in the middle of each table, and we were all too busy eating to do more than make faces at each other. I met Zac’s eyes at one point, and we grinned at each other. Right around the time we