Not That Bad

TWENTY-EIGHT

Once Kaya explained why the two teenagers were staying in the house, Augusta immediately started claiming Santiago and Ximena as her new children, and Kaya knew that the poor boy beside Augusta didn't know what to make of it. The woman just squeezed him tight, gave him her phone number, and told Santiago to call her whenever he needed her, and that she was his mother now.

Honestly, it made Kaya want to cry. She could tell that Santiago wanted to as well, but was fighting it.

Though the people of Layton had misjudged Augusta Perry terribly, the woman was a hard-working giver through and through and was always there for anyone she deemed worthy of her affection. It was how she'd become friends with Ty's mother—an immigrant who'd entered Layton's good graces with her cooking—how she'd been able to survive in a town against her, and how she was able to immediately open the North kids with open arms.

After that, she made her way into the kitchen to start breakfast.

"Now I see where you get it from," Santiago said, looking toward the kitchen. Kaya glanced at him.

"What do you mean?" she asked. She walked over to him and put her arm around his shoulder, squeezing him tight. The kid was almost taller than her at this point.

"You're so nice," Santiago said, "and you don't judge us at all. And you try your best to help." He looked at her, his eyes glassy. "Thank you, Kaya."

Kaya gave Santiago a watery smile and hugged him. "You're very welcome."

Fifteen minutes later, Ty burst in after getting a text from Kaya that her mother had arrived and gave Kaya a quick peck on the cheek before greeting Augusta with a hug that lifted the woman off of the floor. Ximena appeared in the living room wearing a scowl on her face at all of the noise. Kaya heard her mother's loud exclamation and lifted her eyes to the ceiling.

With her mother here, the house was going to be even louder.

"I need you to walk a little bit faster when you start your dialogue," Kaya said. "You're moving a little bit too slow. And I noticed that you talk with your hands when you're off-camera. Don't refrain from that here. You're looking a bit stiff when you keep your hands to your sides. We want you looking relaxed, like you were talking to a customer."

The car dealership owner nodded, grumbling a bit. Kaya, the owner, and the man's staff had all been outside since seven that morning and they were all tired. After five false starts, a staff fainting from not eating the night before or that morning, and Kaya being the cameraman, director, and every other role in the book, all of the people involved just wanted to go home.

"Bear with me," Kaya said. "If we get this last take, you can have a look at it and if you like it, we can finish up and go home."

The owner nodded again and moved back to the starting area marked "X" on the pavement. He was just ready to go home and was getting annoyed. The shoot wasn't supposed to last this long. Kaya wanted leave, too, but didn't want to show her impatience. She was a firm believer that a good attitude from the leader contributed to a good attitude from the team—even if it was just her. It was almost three and she was hungry as well.

They finished around five and Kaya packed her things up to take to back to her office before going home. She was so tired that she didn't even want to start editing the video; the rough edit wasn't due to the client until the next week, and she could squeeze in some editing the next morning before she headed off to another shoot.

When she arrived home, Ty, Julian, and Santiago was sitting on the couch, bowls of tortilla chips and salsa on her coffee table and a soccer game on the TV. They didn't notice her entrance, too engrossed in the game, and she didn't even care. The last thing she wanted to do was to interrupt them. And, though Ty and Julian were older, it did Santiago some good to hang out with men who could be role models to him.

Augusta had taken the guest room that Julian had vacated when she arrived. He moved out three days earlier than he was supposed to, because no one wanted Augusta staying in a hotel when she owned the home. She was currently there, talking to Kaya's step-father. The two waved at each other as Kaya passed on to her room.

They didn't notice her presence until after the game, when Ty passed by her room to use the bathroom and Julian noticed her bedroom light on.

"When'd you get back?" Julian had asked. He was carrying the tortilla chips and salsa in his arms, most likely taking them to the kitchen so that he could pack some to take home and eat while he went online to look at highlights.

"About an hour ago," she replied. "From the way you guys were acting, the game must've gone well."

Julian smiled. "We won," he said, his face lighting up. "Our goalie deflected a ball at the last possible second and kept the other team from getting a tie. If there was a tie we would've lost during the tiebreaker."

"Well I guess it's a good thing you have a good goalie then," she said, smiling back at him. Ty clapped Julian on the shoulder and the man said goodbye as Ty walked into Kaya's room. He joined her on the bed, immediately pulling her close.

Augusta was absolutely over the moon when she realized that Kaya and Ty were dating. Honestly, Kaya thought she'd told her mother, but from the stern look on the woman's face after she'd caught Ty and Kaya cuddling on the couch on the first day of her visit proved Kaya wrong. At first, Augusta was wary of the development, having known about Ty's reputation when he was in high school, but Ty pulled Augusta aside and assured her that he'd never hurt Kaya and that he was serious about her.

"Good game?" she asked, adjusting herself to be more comfortable.

"Yeah," Ty said. He stilled smelled a bit like the salsa they'd been eating. He'd made it from scratch when he arrived to Kaya's house an hour before the game and had Santiago help. "It could've been better though." Ty went on to talk more about the game and Kaya nodded at the appropriate moments although she didn't know what the hell her boyfriend was talking about.

She yawned and Ty stopped talking to look down at her. "You ready for bed yet?"

"I can stay up a bit longer," she said. She looked past him and imagined that she could see Santiago and Ximena's room. Ximena was still packing, the room a whirlwind, and she just knew that Santiago was sitting on his bed, watching.

"You're still worried about him," Ty said, following her gaze.

"Yeah," she said. "I know just being there for him helps, and the therapy is helping a little bit, but he's still withdrawn. And Ximena's noticed it too and is really worried and thinking about staying and going to college here."

"Do you want me to talk to him?" Ty asked.

"There's only so much talking we can do," Kaya said. "Especially if he's not willing." She sighed. "I know that he wants to go with Ximena, but that's going to put so much stress on her. She should be a young college student worried about her next exam, not about how her brother is going to be when they're separated."

The two were both quiet for a moment, thinking.

"Do you think that I could send him to stay with my mom for a week or so?" she asked. "Just like, as a mini-vacation. Mom mentioned that he might could do with a change of scenery, and Ximena is moving into her apartment right before Santi's spring break."

"It could work," Ty said. "But he might feel like we're sending him away."

Kaya looked up at him. Ty was right, and she was terrified that was what Santiago would think, although she knew that she was trying to do good for him.

"We'll have him talk to Mom," Kaya said, her voice quiet. "Then we'll let him decide. He still needs that choice, that autonomy."