Till The End

Nine

"Hey." I smile, walking up to what has almost become 'Malumas' table. I don't even bother saying my little server speech, I just pull out my pad and pen. "What do you guys want to drink tonight?" I ask. He's with his friends, as always.

Dinner goes by as it always has when he comes. Completely normal. "I hope you don't mind me always asking for you to be our server." he apologizes as I pass him back his card.

I shake my head. "Not at all. One of our biggest clients always wanting me to be their server makes me look good." I smirk.

He chuckles. "Good."

"Yeah..." I trail off, nodding.

He begins to get out of the booth. "I wont ask you for a date this time, just because I know I'll get turned down again." he smiles, standing.

"This time?" I ask, raising a brow at him.

He nods. "This time."

I smile, shaking my head. "Until next time then, Juan Luis."

"Bye." he shoots me another charming smile, turning and beginning to walk away.

Stop it. I mentally scold my heart for fluttering so much.

- - - -

"How was work this week?" asks my mom on Friday night.

I nod, taking a seat next to my dad. I got out of work earlier than usual today, so I decided to stay over for dinner with my parents tonight when I dropped by to pick up Bella. "It was good." I nod. It's been a bit over a week since Juan came by the restaurant, and each day as I walked into work, the first thing that came into mind was whether or not he would show up on that specific day. He hadn't yet.

"How have you been? I feel like we haven't talked in ages." my dad chuckles, looking over at me.

"You're always working!" I exclaim, shaking my head. He smiles, nodding. "I've been good though. Working a lot too, if I'm being honest."

"Good, good." he nods. My dad is reaching his fifty's, but he claims he feels as good as he did when he was in his twenties, hence why he still works like a twenty year old. Owning his own small construction company also plays a big part into why he's always so busy.

"Papa," we all turn our attention to Bella who walks into the dining room. "play." she runs over to my dad, reaching for his hand that's on the table, tugging at it.

I look down at her. "Bella, Papa's still eating."

My dad shakes his head. "I was practically done anyway." he smiles down at her. "Let's go."

I laugh, shaking my head as they both walk out of the dining room. "They're best friends." my mom smiles once we hear the door to the backyard slam shut.

"Yeah." I nod. I love how much they love each other. They really are best friends. My parents weren't elated when they found out I got pregnant, but as soon as Bella was born, they were obsessed with the cute little girl. Especially my dad. I have a theory that she reminds him a lot of me when I was a baby, and that's why he's so obsessed with her. He missed having a baby in the house.

"Have you heard from Dylan?" asks my Mom after a few moments of eating in silence.

I choke on my rice with wide eyes. "What?" I ask, coughing loudly, taking a long drink of water.

"Jesus, you act as if I asked you if you've spoken to Satan himself."

I roll my eyes, setting down my glass of water after taking another sip. "It's just a really random question. I haven't spoken to him in years, Mom. You know that."

"Yeah, okay.." she nods slowly.

I narrow my eyes at her. "What? Why are you acting weird?"

"He may or may not have reached out to me a few days ago." she shrugs.

I feel my heart drop. "What?" I ask in disbelief.

She nods. "Yeah."

"Why did he call you?"

She sighs. "Wanted to check up without actually talking to you directly."

I scoff. "So basically he didn't have the balls to call me? I have the same number I've always had."

"He was surprised to know you weren't living here at home anymore."

I roll my eyes. "Why? Because he thought I could never figure anything out on my own?"

"I don't know, Ximena." she sighs, shaking her head.

"What else did he ask you?" I ask as I cross my arms over my chest.

"He wanted to see a picture of Bella."

My eyes widen. "You didn't send him anything, did you?!"

"Of course not!" she shakes her head quickly. "That's not my place, and I know that. I told him to call you for any of that."

I shake my head. "Well he hasn't called. I guess he didn't want to know what his daughter looks like that badly."

"How does he even know you had a girl?" my mom asks curiously.

Dylan left me for college a few weeks before I even found out the gender of our baby, and we haven't spoken since, so he didn't hear that I was having a girl from me, he found out from a mutual friend who let it slip. "Someone else told him." I shrug.

"Oh." she nods. "Well he sounded pretty interested in getting to know more about her."

I shake my head. "Did he even ask what her name was?"

"Well.."

I scoff again. "See? He doesn't give a shit, Mom."

"Maybe if you gave him a chance to try..." she trails off shrugging.

I shake my head. "You just don't think I'm doing a good enough job on my own, right? That's what it is."

"You know that's not true, Ximena."

I stand, feeling anger build up inside me. "I'm starting to think it is true." I yell, feeling tears sting my eyes.

"Ximena, sit down." she sighs.

I shake my head. "No, I'm just gonna go."

"Sit down, Ximena." she repeats.

I roll my eyes, plopping down in my seat again. "What?" I ask with a shaky voice.

"Ximena, I think you're a wonderful mother, and you know that." she says, pointing a finger at me. "I just feel horrible knowing that little girl doesn't have a father." she frowns.

I sigh, breathing through hot tears that are threatening to pour out of me at any moment. "She does have a father, and he left her for something else. He left us, Mom." I blink, letting the tears fall. "She doesn't need a father when she has a mother who can be both for her. I refuse to believe that I cant do this on my own." I pat dry the tears with the sleeve of my shirt, shaking my head.

"I'm not saying you cant do this on your own, Ximena." she shakes her head, reaching for my hand and giving it a tight squeeze. "I know you can. Believe me, I know you can, I've seen you do it since the minute you moved out of this place, but she also has a right to meet her father, and I know you know that." she nods, giving me a knowing look. "Especially if he seems very interested in getting to know her. And Dylan does."

I sigh, wiping at my set of new tears again. "If he calls me, I'll consider it. If he calls me. I'm not calling him first. I wont ask for him to come back."

She nods quickly. "And you don't have to. I'm sure he'll call you any day now."

God, I hope not.

A/n
I know there wasn't Maluma in this chapter, but I promise he's coming up a lot more often from here on out. Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter, let me know your thoughts!