“He said it,” Jess said, “but I find it hard to believe.”
Pilar bent, scrolling through her phone, quickly locating what she wanted … almost as if she’d put it there for easy access. Jess stared when Pilar turned the screen to face her. “Stop it.” She looked at River and then back at the photo. “That isn’t you.”
A scrawny kid with a bowl haircut and headgear looked out from Pilar’s phone. Searching for any resemblance to her boyfriend, she stared at it long enough for River to laughingly shove the phone away.
“Until he was twenty-one, he had no game to speak of,” Pilar said.
River laughed. “It’s true. But I managed.”
“Yeah, you did,” Natalia said. “I remember in high school there was this football player who was constantly bothering him. Anthony something. River tutored half the class to bring up the curve. Anthony failed and was kicked off the team.”
“That’s called problem solving,” River mumbled into his glass.
“He did the same thing when I ran against Nikki Ruthers for student council,” Pilar said. “He offered group tutoring sessions to everyone who voted for me. I won by a landslide.”
River thoughtfully selected a piece of prosciutto-wrapped grilled endive from a plate. “Longest summer of my life.”
“Okay, that’s actually really sweet,” Jess said, taking his hand under the table and giving it a little squeeze.
“I know it’s hard to imagine with his grumbly exterior, but he was the softest little boy.” Natalia put her hand on Pilar’s arm. “Do you remember the way he followed Abuela around?”
Pilar’s face crumpled into a dramatic tender sob. “And watched her stories with her!”
“Oh man, I did not anticipate this one coming up,” River said.
“I’m two years older than River,” Natalia told Jess, “and Pilar is a year older than me, so he was like our baby, too. Our parents both worked full-time, and back then there’s no way they could have afforded summer camp for all three kids, so our summers were spent with Abuela. River was her little helper, and every afternoon they would sit together and watch soap operas.”
River examined the appetizers like they were data sets.
“Closet soap opera fan?” Jess said. “We all have a secret identity, but this? It would be easier to believe you were an assassin.”
“They’re just being dramatic,” he said, and then laughed at her, murmuring, “Assassin? Really?”
“Don’t listen to him, Jess,” Natalia said. “He watched so many of them and got in deep. I thought he’d grow up to be a telenovela star or something, but the whole DNA-love thing makes sense when you think about it.”
Jess turned to look at him and found him watching her with such tender amusement it was almost like he’d just wrapped his arms around her right at the table.
“The DNA-love thing does make sense when you think about it,” she agreed quietly.
THEIR HANDS ENTWINED on the drive to his place, both resting on his thigh, and the Audi’s seat warmers made Jess feel like she was melting into a pile of happy goo.
“That was fun,” she mumbled, full of fantastic food and just past tipsy from all the wine.
“Natalia texted me already that they both adored you and if I mess this up, they’ll neuter me.”
Jess grimaced. “Please don’t mess it up. You have such a big, beautiful—”
River turned and smirked at her.
“Personality,” she finished, grinning back. “And being neutered would be kind of a downer.”
“I’m glad you have such a fondness for my personality,” he said, turning his attention forward again.
“A soft spot, one might even say,” she joked.
He looked at her again, playfully scandalized. “How much wine did you have, woman?”
“The perfect amount.”
They’d stayed at the restaurant too late, eating and drinking, and laughing harder than Jess had in years. She’d been comfortable with his sisters almost the way she was with Fizzy; the way they spoke over each other and didn’t take themselves too seriously had felt like sitting down to dinner with old friends, rather than people she was meeting for the first time. And right now, contentment flowed, warm and honeyed, through her. Nana Jo was going to be okay; Juno was thriving. Fizzy was falling for someone, and for the first time in her life Jess had money and a sense of security, and a person of her own. She turned and stared at the side of River’s face.
“I like you.”
“I like you, too.” He squeezed her hand. “Very, very much.”
Was this what joy felt like? Safety?
She nodded toward his house as they neared. “Are we gonna get freaky?”
“Without a doubt.” He laughed, pulling into his driveway and leaning over to kiss her after he put the car in park.
Inside, River turned on a lamp in the spacious living room, turned another light on in the kitchen, and excused himself to get them each a glass of water. Jess texted Naomi’s mom to check in on her kid, pleasantly surprised to hear that Juno was having the time of her life.