. .” She cleared her throat, glancing away for a second. “A pretendiente at my age.”
Despite the magnitude of this conversation, given how the evening started, this made Alej smile. Technically, his being her escort meant exactly that, but Isa had just confirmed how he’d felt about their relationship for years. He was more than just her best friend—he was her pretendiente and even her mother knew it.
“My mom later pulled me aside when Abuela was in her room changing to tell me that while she wanted nothing more than her little girl to remain a virgin until her wedding day, she wasn’t naïve. So, she just made me promise if I ever decided to go there before I was married to be extremely careful.”
Alej listened again, speechless about this whole thing. She went on about her mother’s warnings of unwanted pregnancies and how babies are an enormous responsibility that can throw a huge wrench in any young couple’s plans for the future.
“But you wanna know what the real clincher was tonight?” she asked, wide-eyed, and almost appeared excited.
“What?” Alej asked curiously, bracing himself because everything else she’d already told him had been enough of a clincher.
“Since this was girl talk and I’d admitted enough already, they asked if you’ve ever verbally staked claim on me.” Alej felt his eyes widen, praying she’d said no. “So, I told them not in so many words but that you have made it—as I have with you—pretty obvious you don’t appreciate any one else trying to come between us.” She smirked coyly. “Like tonight when Luis greeted me by your elote stand. The exchange you two had wasn’t missed, and I shared with them about it. So, when he showed up unexpectedly, I was understandably uncomfortable because I’d already mentioned to them you were coming over to hang out after dinner. I kept looking at the clock, and then suddenly Abuela excuses us, saying we were going to go work on my birthday dress.”
Alej stared at her, not sure why that was such a clincher. Isa exhaled sharply, shaking her head. “She excused us after we were all done with dinner and my mom was getting ready to pour Señor Negrete a cup of café con leche. Luis was immediately on his feet and excusing himself to leave. It didn’t even dawn on me then, but it was fast thinking on my abuela’s part. My dress has been done for days now. The papel picado is what we’ve been working on every night and still have a lot to go. But she said that he might’ve offered to help us and hang out longer. She got rid of him before you got there. Well . . .” She winced, chewing the corner of her lip. “Almost.”
It took a moment for what she meant to sink in, but once it did, Alej smiled for the first time in what felt like hours. Even her grandmother was on his side, in spite of what a catch she likely thought Luis to be.
“Does that make you happy, Alej?”
Alej smirked, remembering how ready he’d been to blow a fucking fuse when he’d posed the very same question after informing her of Luis’s interest in her.
“Sorry I snapped. You just have to understand—”
“I absolutely understand.” She squeezed his hand and smiled then rolled her eyes. “How do you think I would’ve reacted if I’d shown up and one of those ridiculous girls who are always batting their stupid lashes at you walked out of your house and thanked you for dinner?”
Feigning bewilderment, he tilted his head. “You’d be mad?” Isa pulled her hand out of his and swatted him. But he laughed, taking her hand back in his. “Well, at least we got that clear. And so does your abuela.”
Smiling sweetly, she squeezed his hand again. “Just so you know. My very first thought when the Negretes moved into town and I heard all the girls whispering about how good-looking they were was good, maybe now they’ll stop throwing themselves at Alej.”
It took everything in him not to bear-hug Isa as he wanted to so often now. This was the closest they’d come to establishing real rules for their relationship, and her mother and grandmother had recognized that there was more to their relationship than just friendship. He’d take that any day of the week, though their girl talk still had him a little unnerved, especially the part about her mother being nervous that Isabella might get pregnant.
His