Unwrap My Heart

Capítulo 10

WILLY

On Saturday, five days before Christmas, I parked my truck in the driveway and then walked straight into the inevitable.

Ruelle was in my mother’s living room and there was no sign of my mother or Andrés. She was dusting the knick-knacks scattered around the room and she froze when she saw me.

“Oh hi. Your mother said you wouldn’t be home until after supper.”

I shrugged.

“I was supposed to run an errand to pick up some parts from a junkyard for Elton, but he ended up finding some locally and got them himself.”

“Okay.”

“Where’s Ma?”

“Since you weren’t going to be around, she went down to your sister’s to watch the kids while Fer got some last-minute stuff done. And since they played so well at Thanksgiving, she took Andrés with her.”

“And you’re using the alone time to dust our living room instead of doing your own last-minute stuff? Or relaxing with a book?”

She laughed and I felt the sound tug at my gut. I’d missed her since I went and screwed everything up by kissing her. Sure, I’d seen her since then, but it hadn’t been the same. I felt awkward around her and our conversations had been stilted and always in the presence of my mother or her son.

“Well Rosa does so much for me and she’s been busy with the holidays, so I snuck in to do some of the little housekeeping things that fall by the wayside.”

I shoved my hands in my pockets as I watched her dust the small porcelain couple who’d stood on my parents’ wedding cake decades before. It was one of the many things I admired about her. It would be easy for her to take advantage of my mother’s kindness, but instead, Rue went out of her way to make sure their relationship was balanced.

Their friendship was genuine.

And it was just one more reason on the long list of reasons I should leave the room and keep on walking until I’d locked myself in my apartment.

“Hey, we should talk,” I heard myself say.

She didn’t stop dusting to look back at me, but I saw her shoulders tense up.

“About what?”

“About the other day,” I forced myself to say it out loud. “About me kissing you.”

“It was just a kiss, Guillermo.”

If either of us believed that, there wouldn’t be so much tension between us.

“Can you stop dusting for a minute and talk to me, Rue?”

When she turned and threw the dust rag down in a rare show of temper, I almost wished I’d kept my mouth shut.

“Why talk about it? You’re pretty good at pretending nothing happened. Why stop now?”

“I pretend nothing happened because I don’t know what to say. And you’re pretty good at pretending nothing happened, too.”

“Why did you kiss me, Guillermo?”

Willy. And because at that moment, kissing you had seemed like the only way to ease the aching.

“Because you’re an attractive woman and I like you and... it just felt right at the time,” I said instead. “Why did you let me?”

“Because you’re an attractive man and I like you, Willy. So much” She put her hands on her hips. “This feels more like some kind of a game of turning things around on me and I’m not playing it. I’m also not going to be your yo-yo while you work through your issues.”