Alana
Alejandro had hardly saidtwo words to me since we’d left the hospital. The doctors had told us all to go home and get some rest and go back the following morning to see Mateo. Despite Alejandro’s insistence that she stay with us, his mom had gone back to his Uncle Phillipe’s house. She and Phillipe’s wife, Rachel were as close as sisters, and it was where Maria wanted to be. I got the sense she didn’t want to worry Alejandro any further, or have him feel like he needed to look after her too.
The tension between us was palpable. His uncle Carlos had barely been able to hide his disdain every time he looked at me and I wondered if they knew that Alejandro and his father had fought about me. Or if they knew I had run away to New York. Worst of all, I worried that they blamed me somehow for Mateo being shot. Maybe they thought it wouldn’t have happened if Alejandro hadn’t been chasing me across the country?
Was Alejandro was regretting his last contact with his father too? The things he’d told me he had said can’t have been easy for him, and until Mateo was awake and Alejandro could speak to him, was he worried that the last words they had ever spoken had been in anger?
I looked at my husband, his face full of turmoil, and my heart almost broke for him. I wanted to make it better for him, but I didn’t know how. I felt so guilty for running away to New York like a child. I hadn’t considered the possible consequences at all, and now our whole world felt like it was tumbling in on us.
By the time we reached the house, I could feel Alejandro’s rage radiating from him like the heat from a furnace. Jacob opened the car door for me and I stepped out. Lucia, Kelsey and Hugo were waiting on the doorstep for us. I’d almost forgotten about Kelsey. My poor best friend had come for a break and she was now stuck right in the middle of all this.
Lucia wrapped her arms around Alejandro’s waist as he reached the doorway. ‘I’m glad Mateo is okay,’ she said.
‘Thanks, kid,’ he replied as he gave her a soft kiss on the top of her head.
Then she stepped back from him and looked up at me, and the anger in her face almost took my breath away. The next thing I knew, she had turned on her heel and was storming back into the house.
I looked between Kelsey and Hugo. ‘What the hell?’
It was Alejandro who answered me though. ‘What the fuck did you expect, Alana?’ he snapped. ‘She’s pissed at you, and she has every right to be. You are the closest thing to family that kid has. Every single person she has ever known has either let her down, used her or abandoned her, and the minute things got a bit tough for you, you fucked off out of here without a thought for anyone but yourself.’
Then he turned and walked into the house towards his office, leaving me standing there, blinking like an idiot as I realized he was right. Poor Lucia.
I felt the tears running down my cheeks and the next thing I knew, Kelsey had her arm around my shoulders. ‘Come on, honey. Let’s get you inside,’ she said softly. ‘Leave that asshole to calm down.’
I smiled at her as I wiped the tears away. There was no point in crying, I had to fix this mess with Lucia and try and get through to Alejandro somehow. ‘Thanks, Kels. But I need to go and talk to Lucia.’
‘Okay. I’ll be in the garden with Hugo then,’ she said as she linked her arm through his. He coughed awkwardly and I couldn’t help but smile as he looked at me like a deer trapped in the headlights. Kelsey would eat him alive if he wasn’t careful.
‘Actually, I’m sure the boss will need to speak with me,’ he said. ‘Sorry, Kelsey.’
She sighed dramatically. ‘Fine. I’ll be in the garden on my own then,’ she smiled and then walked off to the direction of the French doors.
‘Are you okay?’ Hugo asked as we walked down the hallway together.
‘Yes. Thanks. I’m worried about Alejandro though.’
Hugo nodded. ‘He’s had a rough couple of days. But then so have you. And Lucia has been desperate to have you home, you know. She’s been pacing the halls.’
‘I know. But, Alejandro was right. I shouldn’t have left her like that.’
‘Hey, we do what we need to do. Don’t be so hard on yourself,’ he said with a smile.
‘Thanks, Hugo.’
‘Any time. Now, I’d better go and find the boss.’
I nodded. ‘Sure. And I’ll go find Lucia.’
After checking her two favorite places, the den and the kitchen, I eventually found Lucia in her bedroom. Her door was open but I knocked lightly before popping my head inside. She was sitting up on her bed flicking through a magazine.
‘Hey, sweetheart. Can we talk?’
‘Whatever,’ she said with a roll of her eyes.
I waked into the room and sat on the bed beside her. ‘I’m really sorry I took off like that. It was wrong of me.’
‘Nothing to apologize to me for. Like I care, anyway. You don’t owe me anything,’ she snorted.