They spent a quiet weekend with Ramiro and Alvaro is recovering very well.
Ramiro went to Mercedes' office on Monday. He Had brought her a coffee and greeted her kindly. She looked tired.
"How are you Mercedes."
"Well, thank you for your inquiry, I hope yourself too?"
"Yes, thank you. I wanted to talk to you about something. I had the idea of going on a sailing tour with the children next week. I would like to invite Lupe and Gaspar too."
"With Mia and Juanma? Do you think that's a good idea"
"I think so. It's time we try to help the children get used to each other and you always told me not to rule out Lupe."
"But I mean ... oh Ramiro, it's okay. It's okay, if she wants, she can come with you." said Mercedes.
Somewhat surprised at the little resistance, Ramiro said, "Thank you. I have two more things about the school that I wanted to briefly talk about."
They went through two school files together. Then Mercedes said "I wish you a lot of fun"
"Are you going to do something for the holidays?" asked Ramiro.
"I'm going to go to my sister's. We haven't seen each other for a long time and you know the family."
Ramiro nodded.
He watched Lupe during the break and told her about his plans. Lupe agreed but Ramiro had wished for a little more enthusiasm and told him that she would clarify everything with Gaspar.
In the week before the holidays, two more exams were written, which meant that the basketball players in particular had some catching up to do. Mia, Juanma and Zoe wrote it on Wednesday and Thursday and Alvaro wrote math and English Thursday and Friday.
Lupe had informed Ramiro that Gaspar was there and thanked him in advance. Ramiro was looking forward to the time with the kids and hoped that everything would stay calm.
It should start on Friday afternoon. They had planned to spend the night in the beach house and board the ship on Saturday morning.
When they got to the airport, they picked up the reserved cars. At the house it was time to allocate the rooms. Since they were only there for a short time, Isabel and Ramiro had agreed to sleep in the living room. So Lupe and Gaspar had the third bedroom. Lupe was satisfied because there had been subliminal discussions beforehand.
For the evening they ordered pizza and sorted out a few items which they wanted to leave in the house.
The evening passed calmly and comfortably. The kids all six went down to the sea after dinner.
"This is a dream place here." said Gaspar. "The house so close to the beach and all to ourselves."
Lupe sat in the sand. "But a pool at the house would be cool," she said.
"What do you need a pool for, we have the sea on our doorstep" said Alvaro. "Who will come into the water?" The boys were all there. Mia and Zoe were also sitting in the sand, but with the boys jumping up, there was a gap between them and Lupe.
"You don't go in," said Lupe. " no you?" said Zoe.
Lupe shook her head. Mia thought for a moment, then took off her shorts and shirt and ran into the water. Zoe laughed and shook her head.
"That was clear again," muttered Lupe.
Alvaro went up to Mia and took her in his arms. "You're still nice and warm," he laughed while she squeaked and said "How can you cool off in the seconds like that".
She went in with Alvaro and Gaspar dived under her, picked her up and threw himself into the water with her. Mia reappeared laughing.
Lupe watched the boys romp with Mia with narrowed eyes.
Juanma and Alvaro swam a little while Gaspar and Mia tried out who could stay under water longer.
When Alvaro and Juanma came back, Mia said "I'm going out again, it's getting cold."
She ran to Zoe and dropped back into the sand. Lupe looked at her "Now you're breaded."
"Anyway, I'll go take a shower," said Mia.
The boys didn't stay long in the water either and they went into the house. Lupe noticed that Gaspar fitted very well in the group. His friendship with Mia gave the impression that he was one of them.
When Alvaro and Mia were in bed later, Alvaro said. "That worked out pretty well today, didn't it?" Mia nodded. "It was fun in the water, if a little cold."
"I'm looking forward to sailing."
"Don't you actually need a license for that?"
"A sailing license, but Ramiro has one."
Gaspar asked Lupe when they were alone, "Why weren't you in the water with us. I had the feeling you were keeping a little apart from everything."
"I'm still getting used to Ramiro's new girlfriend and daughter." Gaspar rolled his eyes. "Come on, see it as an opportunity. Let's see how the week is. I can imagine we'll have a lot of fun."
Lupe grinned slightly and nodded. but Gaspar could see that she had other thoughts.
