Page 68 of Love and Other Goals

Mateo

Words can’t express how glad I am that you came this weekend. Can’t lie, losing today totally sucked. But holding you afterward helped me keep things in perspective

Dean specifically asked me to tell you “that sucks” so you have officially won him over to the Mateo fan club

Speaking of fan clubs, my dad is fighting me for the presidency of yours. He won’t stop raving about you. It’s legit making my mom furious that she wasn’t here

Your dad is precious. I could talk to him all day. It’s making more and more sense where you get your magnetism. You both make people feel so important

Just wait till you get to meet my mom. She could melt the coldest heart with her kindness. And her food! We’ll have to find a way to make it happen

I smile to myself, thinking about the surprise Luis has in store for Mateo.

I hope so

You need to rest. Go to sleep!!

I will now. Goodnight Lana

Night

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

Eight days later, I’m on another airplane, this time flying north to Grand Rapids, where Mateo’s sister, Isabel, will pick me up from the airport. With my parents’ enthusiastic support of the trip, Luis and I coordinated dates for me to fly up for a few days. His wife, Rosa, and Isabel are both in on the surprise, but Mateo has no idea.

It was so hard to keep a secret from him, especially since we had more free time during finals week to spend together than we had all semester long. It’s amazing how much schedules open up when classes and soccer practices are both over.

The plane begins its descent, and thirty minutes later, I’m wheeling my carry-on through the airport, following the ground transportation signs. Isabel got my number from Luis and texted me that she was here, assuring me that she would recognize me instantly from “the zillion photos” Mateo has shown her.

Sure enough, the second I exit the automatic doors, I hear my name called out just before a woman I assume to be Isabel nearly bowls me over in a hug.

Laughing, I hug her back. “The Michigan tourism department should hire you to greet all visitors at the airport,” I say as I draw back to look at her. “It’s so great to meet you, Isabel.”

She shares Mateo’s same skin tone and eyes, though hers are a shade darker than his. Her hair falls just to her shoulders, and deep dimples show up in both cheeks with her warm smile.

“Call me Isa, all my family does. I can’t believe I’m finally getting to meet you! Ay, my mom is so mad that I’m seeing you before her, but there’s no way she could have left the restaurant today without raising suspicion,” Isabel chatters. She loops her arm through mine and leads the way to the parking garage. “I’ve been hearing about you for so long; I thought I would never meet you in the flesh, and now here we are.”

“It’s only been a few months,” I say with a chuckle, but Isabel immediately waves her free hand at me as if dismissing away my comment.

“Chica, no, Mateo has been telling me about you for years,” she says firmly. “Literally, years. It’s about time he finally snatched you away from that dumb other boy.”

My cheeks warm. I knew that Mateo had liked me that long, but I had no idea that he openly talked about it with his sister, or that he had explained the situation with Aaron to her. That makes his feelings for me all these years seem that much more real.

Isabel unlocks her car, and I slide my suitcase into the backseat before sitting next to her in the passenger side. “So did you like the playlist we made for your first date?” Isabel asks as she backs out of the parking spot.

“Wait, you made that playlist? Mateo did not mention that,” I say with a laugh.

Isabel tsks. “Of course he’d take all the credit. He told me that you listened to chill music, and he knew that you liked Taylor Swift and the cello, but I took it from there. He listened to what I put together and deleted a couple of songs and added a few others, but consider me the DJ of your relationship.” Isabel makes a small bowing gesture. I can tell I’m going to have a great time getting to know Isabel. I’m grateful we have this hour drive alone together.

She pulls no punches and jumps right into the deep end as she pulls onto the highway. “So, you really didn’t like Mateo before he asked you out? You were just obsessed with that other guy the whole time?”

I groan and bury my face in my hands. “Isa, you couldn’t throw me a soft pitch question first?”

She tsks again. “Sorry no, hermana, you’re a soccer player, not softball. We get straight into it,” she says with a playful smile as she glances over at me.

“Okay, okay, it’s true, Mateo wasn’t really on my radar. Like, at all,” I admit. I briefly fill her in on how I started to like Aaron at our first Summer Project and was just kinda stuck on him despite him being so cagey about the status of our relationship. Or lack thereof.

Isabel frowns. “Ayyyyy dios mio, then it’s my fault it took so long for you and Mateo to finally get together. Maybe if he was there that summer you would have noticed him sooner.”

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