Island Affair (Keys to Love #1) - Priscilla Oliveras Page 0,102
studying her and Luis.
Her cheeks flushed and she reached for her water glass.
Luis rubbed a slow circle on her back, his touch lingering before he turned to start eating.
Carlos nudged Gina with his elbow, but then one of their boys asked for help serving himself and their attention turned to their son.
The rest of the meal passed in a blur of family updates from the week past and the ones ahead, a plea from the two boys for their Tío Luis or abuelo to take them fishing on one of their boats soon, and a battery of questions about Sara’s family, career, and personal life.
Sara found herself caught up in the easy banter, and Se?ora Navarro’s scrumptious authentic Cuban food had Sara cleaning her plate. The boisterous familia atmosphere reminded her of dinners at Mamá Alicia’s house when Sara was a kid. Another loud, entertaining, loving family coming together to nourish their bellies and their hearts.
As a child, then a teen, and later a college coed, Sara had wished and prayed for a similar dynamic with her own family. Now it seemed that her parents, Jonathan, and Carolyn were trying to include her in their lives. Only, she was the one who had to stop keeping them at arm’s length in the guise of protecting herself from rejection.
Doing so she only wound up hurting herself.
Oddly, while she and her family might be finding their way to healing their rifts, based on what she’d seen tonight, Luis’s family was either used to the rift between him and Enrique or they believed there was little they could do to resolve it. The brothers participated in conversation at the table, but each barely spoke directly to the other. Everyone else talked around them, jumping in to fill awkward moments.
Knowing the caring, kindhearted man Luis was, Sara felt certain the fracture in his relationship had to eat away at him. Much like hers with Robin.
Luis had pushed her to reach out to Robin, attempt to find some semblance of understanding between them. For his own sake, she wished he could do the same with his younger brother.
With school the next day, as soon as dinner finished, Carlos and Gina readied the boys to leave. A flurry of good-bye hugs and kisses and knucklehead rubbing with the kids ensued.
Carlos wrapped Sara in a tight hug, whispering something about fate and shaking up Luis. Before Sara could ask what he meant, little Ramón tackled her legs and begged for his adios kiss on the cheek.
Moments later, her hands full of dirty plates, Sara followed Anamaría to the kitchen, where Luis’s mother had already started tackling the dishes by the sink.
“If you’re free on Thursday morning after you finish your yoga session with my mom, how about we plan on connecting to review your business plan?” Sara told Anamaría.
Luis entered with the last of the serving dishes in time to catch his sister’s squeal of glee.
“What did I miss?” he asked.
“Your girlfriend helping your baby sister,” Se?ora Navarro answered, her rubber-gloved hands deep in the soapy dishwater. “They’re already bonding like two sisters-in-law; isn’t it wonderful?”
Luis heaved an exasperated huff, mouthing, I’m sorry, at Sara behind his mom’s back.
“No me faltes el respeto, Luis,” his mother chided.
“How could you possibly know I’m disrespecting you, Mami? Your back is to me,” Luis complained, setting the dirty dishes on the counter by the sink.
“A mami’s intuition. Here, dame un beso.” She tilted her head for Luis to kiss her cheek as she had requested. “You too, Sara.”
Delightfully surprised to be included, Sara hurried over to give Luis’s mom a farewell kiss.
“Anamaría, go get your younger brother to come say good-bye so you can all head back to Key West. It’s late and you know I worry about my babies driving the highway at night.”
“Thank you so much for your hospitality,” Sara told Se?ora Navarro in Spanish.
“It is good to have you here, mija. I look forward to many more familia dinners with you at our table.”
Sara’s stomach hitched with uncertainty. Neither she nor Luis responded.
Stick with the truth. So far, they’d done well executing their plan. That didn’t make her guilt weigh any less heavily on her heart.
As they drove home in the dark, Sara couldn’t stop thinking, yearning, for their truth to include more Navarro familia dinners like tonight.
She only had three days to find out if Luis might want the same.
Chapter 19
Life couldn’t get much better than this if you asked Luis.