Page 59 of Don't Tell Me Who To Love

Nana turned to Gabi. “Cariño, Gabriela.”

Gabi turned her attention to Juan.

“Juan, this is Gabriela, my granddaughter.”

His smile was warm and sincere. He held his hand to his heart. “How lovely to meet you,” he said. He opened his arms to Gabi and kissed her cheeks. He smelled of cigarettes, and wine, and sandalwood. There was something else—not a smell but more a feeling that she couldn’t define. It touched her. “You look just like your nana.”

“Except for her eyes,” Nana said.

Aisha came to Gabi’s side.

“This is Juan,” Gabi said.

“Yes, Matías’s papa,” Aisha said.

“Superb dancing, Aisha,” Juan said. “You get better every time I see you.”

“How do you two know each other?” Matías asked.

Juan and Nana looked at each other with soft smiles and an unwavering gaze. Their fondness shone like a beacon, no doubt triggered by a recollection of the times they had once shared and the love that hadn’t been extinguished by the years of separation. She checked where Pilar’s attention was before smiling at Aisha.

“How long ago?” Juan asked Nana.

“Fifty-six years, give or take a few months,” Nana said.

They stared at each other, smiling.

Juan was handsome but shorter than Gabi had imagined. He had greying hair and a gentle energy that effused kindness and contentment. He didn’t strike her as the rogue Nana had described, but then he was at least as old as Nana, so he’d probably had to clip his wings. His eyes were sapphire blue, like Matías’s, and he seemed to take in his surroundings with the same zest for life that Gabi saw in Nana. As he chatted to Nana, he laughed, and they looked as if time had stood still, and everything that had happened in the intervening years had been lived out in an alternative reality.

Nana’s laughter melted Gabi’s heart. She watched them touch hands from time to time, while she stood apart from Aisha and felt the unfairness of it all. Nana drank sherry, Juan red wine. He smoked a thin cigarette slowly and chatted without pausing for breath. And when he offered Nana his hand and they danced together, they moved as one, with grace and elegance, as if they’d always been this way.

“Would you like to walk with me?” Aisha asked.

Gabi glanced around. She couldn’t see Pilar. Her heart thundered, and she looked around the group.

“Everyone is busy.”

Gabi locked eyes with Aisha. The memory of her touch ignited her desire to escape this group of people and spend time with Aisha alone, doing nothing. Even just stargazing would be preferable to the pressure of Pilar’s watchful guard.

Aisha led them across the field, deeper into the darkness, and the terrain was uneven. Around the back of a small stone construction, a feed-house of some kind, Aisha stopped and looked back. The streetlights cast light into the night over the roof of the feed house. They couldn’t see the source of the music that echoed softly, distant from them now. The shrill of the cicadas and rustling from the bushes caught her attention, and she hoped there weren’t any snakes in the undergrowth. Away from the street, the stars were brighter against the cloudless sky, and the warm air was fragrant with herbs, and sunflowers, and a hint of lavender. Aisha coaxed Gabi to lean against the cool stone.

“I’ve missed you tonight,” she said and kissed Gabi hard.

The wine was strong on her breath, and she slurred a little. Gabi kissed her mouth and her neck and whispered into her ear. “I missed you too.”

Aisha ran her thumb across Gabi’s lips, and Gabi kissed it. “I want to make love with you,” Aisha said.

Gabi shook her head, and the throb between her legs intensified. “It’s too risky.”

Aisha stared at her. She appeared emboldened by the wine or maybe the occasion. Or maybe it was just that Gabi was holding back. If they were anywhere else, Gabi would have undressed Aisha already. She was getting harder to resist, but what if they got caught?

Aisha ran her hand along the back of Gabi’s head and drew her into a lingering kiss that challenged Gabi’s conscience. Aisha pushed her back against the wall and unbuttoned her jeans. Gabi should be sensible and object. They should take a slow walk back to the party and talk to different people and guard their feelings. Gabi should go home, adjust to the events of the evening, take in Nana’s delight and the repressed environment in which Aisha lived. It had been an odd night.

But Gabi couldn’t do that. She couldn’t just walk back to the party, not with this deep need. She wanted Aisha in a way she’d never wanted anyone. She kissed Aisha, tasted her, explored her with tenderness and whispered a groan as Aisha discovered her wetness. She struggled to support her own weight as Aisha slipped her fingers deep inside her and moved with the gentle rhythm of a lazy tide. She peaked too soon and was left feeling empty. Illicit moments behind an animal feed shed would never be enough, and she didn’t want to hide her love. She wanted to fall asleep with Aisha in her arms and wake her with kisses. She wanted to see the world with her. She loved her, and anything other than being together would break Gabi’s heart.

“Your mama is suspicious,” Gabi said as they made their way slowly back across the field.

“She’s nosy,” Aisha said.

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