I’d been so preoccupied in keeping my head down and working, to prove to myself I was surviving without Matt, I’d forgotten to take stock of what I’d been actually doing. The pang I felt when I remembered that Rocco would only be part of it for a few more weeks was something I needed to work on, but there was a lot there to be glad for. My parents both looked at me curiously, like they could see my head was a jumble of thoughts.
My dad, who always had the uncanny ability to read my mind, reached over and squeezed my arm. “Cuéntanos.”
“Job’s actually going well, other than Vicki, of course. She’s a pain in the ass, but Gail’s well aware of that and I think she’s actively trying to find a way to let her go, before she does something that gets us shut down.” I pursed my lips thinking about how flaky she’d been today. “It sucks having someone in a leadership position that’s such a mess, but I get a lot of support from Gail.”
“That’s good. You need to be supported, so you can support your team.” That was my dad, always the social worker.
“Tell me about the families, baby, and your friends. They all sound so nice.” My mom, the people person.
“The families are awesome. The kids are doing so much better since the beginning of the year. Their grades have gone up and almost all of them are involved in one of the school’s extracurricular activities and adapting really well.” I could feel my cheeks popping as I talked. I felt proud of myself for having so much to report to my folks. “The attendance rate for the after-school program is over ninety percent. They love coming to the program.”
That got me a sound of approval from my dad. He loved a heartwarming update backed up with some numbers.
“Out of the juniors we’re working with, almost all of them are pretty serious about college, some community college to start, but they’re all interested in something after high school.” I shook my head thinking of all the adversity those kids came up against just to sit in the classroom and be ready to learn.
“We’re working with the families too, because there is a lot of trauma there. Almost every single one of our kids has at least one family member—in many cases a parent—who’s undocumented. A lot of our kids are undocumented themselves, and the uncertainty is putting them through hell. It’s hard to stay optimistic sometimes, but they’re working hard and so are we.”
“You’re doing such wonderful things, mija. We’re so proud of you.” My mom always got corny when I talked about job stuff.
“Thanks, Mami. Friends are good too.” My face felt hot just thinking about Rocco and how bad I wanted to talk about him to my parents, but I shut that down.
“Tell us about your friend Rocco.”
I should’ve known. It was like my parents could sniff this stuff out. “He’s good, I guess. Everyone’s good.” My parents shared a look and I kept rambling. “He’s working as a consultant for Sturm’s, so I’m trying to keep things professional and not hang out with him a lot.”
And before I could stop myself, more verbal vomit came out of my mouth.
“His family is kind of chaotic, but he has a younger sister he helps out a lot. He’s a good guy.”
More than. Rocco was an extremely decent human being and I liked him. But not for me and not that way.
My father was seeing a whole lot more than I wanted him to. “Is he in town? You should invite him over for dinner if he is.”
I shook my head hard because that was the worst idea possible. No way was I putting Rocco and my family together. My dad would figure out my crush within seconds.
“Uh, I think he’s in town, but I’m sure he has plans.” Yes, I was lying through my teeth, but I was not going there. Nope. I got up from the bed and looked around to try to spot my yoga pants and sweatshirt.
“Mami, let me change my clothes and I’ll go with you to the store.”
My dad smiled at me and it clearly said, “We know what you’re up to, and we’re leaving you alone...for now.”
“No, baby, stay with your papi. Paula wants to drive there. You know how she gets about cars.” I laughed at that. My sister’s dream was to go to college in