* * *
“You missed dinner.”
I stop halfway down the hall, then backtrack toward the living room. “Ma, I didn’t even see you. What are you doing sitting in the dark?”
“Qué tonto eres.Waiting for you. What else? Now, sit and spend a little time with your mother. I won’t be here forever, you know.”
Rolling my eyes, I ease into the rickety armchair across from hers. “That’s a bit dramatic.”
“Dramatic would be me yelling about you getting blood on the living room furniture.” She pauses carefully. “What happened to your knees?”
I sigh. My mother’s brown eyes may be soft in appearance but they are sharp in focus. They miss no small detail. “I tripped in the parking lot after practice.”
“That doesn’t sound like you.” She crosses her arms over her chest — the classic maternal interrogation pose. “You’ve never been clumsy.”
“First time for everything, I guess. I wasn’t paying attention. My bag strap tangled around my legs. Before I knew it, I was on my ass in front of the entire team. Everyone laughed.” I rub the back of my neck sheepishly. “I’m just happy the scouts weren’t there to see it.”
My mother watches me for a long moment, weighing my words in silence. Finally, she tilts her head to the side and says, quite softly, “Mijo, don’t lie to me.”
I push to my feet. “It’s no big deal, Ma, honestly. I didn’t even realize I was bleeding until you pointed it out. Let me go clean up.” I drop a quick kiss on her cheek, pretending not to see the skeptical purse of her lips. I swear, the woman is a human lie detector.
“When you’re done cleaning up from yourfall…” She lets the word dangle for a beat. “There’s dinner on the stove. I madeasopao.”
My stomach rumbles, suddenly ravenous. I haven’t eaten all day. “You know that’s my favorite. Thanks, Ma.”
“If you must know, I made it for Josephine. She was in quite a state this morning. No thanks to you.”
I stop in my tracks.
What, exactly, did Jo say to my mother?
Glancing back, I find Ma watching me with an unreadable expression. For a moment, I wonder if Jo told her about last night — Ryan, Sienna, the whole enchilada. If so, I’m about to get a proper ass-whooping.
“What do you mean?” I ask carefully.
“What do I mean?” Ma scoffs. “She was so hungover she could barely drag herself out of bed!”
A wave of relief sweeps through me. I’d happily take a grounding for underage drinking to avoid discussing the many complexities of my relationship with Jo. “And that’s somehow my fault?”
“Of course it is! Josephine is a good girl. She wouldn’t be out all night at a party if you hadn’t dragged her there.”
“You always take her side. You realize that, don’t you?”
“Alwaysis an overstatement. I only take her side when I know she found herself in trouble because of you. Which, I must say, has been happening for as long as you two have been friends.”
“So I’m a bad kid. A badinfluence. Is that what you’re saying?”
“I’m saying that girl would do just about anything to make you happy. You know that. You’ve known it since you were small.” She pauses. “You could ask her for the moon, she’d do her best to pull it down from the heavens for you. Don’t take that kind of devotion for granted. That’s all.”
“I don’t take it — her — for granted. But I never asked for her devotion. I never asked for anything from her.”
She shakes her head. “Mijo. For such a smart boy you can be incredibly short-sighted.”
I hold up my hands in surrender. “I’m going to shower.”
Gritting my teeth, I force myself to walk out of the living room before I say something I can’t take back. Or worse — before the real reason for my bloody knees and battered heart spills out in a torrent.
Chapter Nine