Page 94 of Sleeping with the Frenemy

“I am,” Abuela Fina said.

“What?” Sofi exclaimed. “There’s no way!”

Abuela looked at her like she was a poor little idiot. “Nena, what do you think happened to all of your tío’s baseball money?”

“I don’t know. I figured he’d spent most of it and the rest went to his and Abuelo’s funerals.”

Mami shook her head. “Half went to your abuela and the other half went to me.”

“If you’re rich then why did we always live paycheck to paycheck?” Sofi asked.

“It wasn’t a lot at first, a few hundred thousand, because Manny was reckless with his spending. I kept it in case of emergencies and for your school. But when you didn’t need it, I invested it and it’s been growing ever since.”

“But you work so hard,” Sofi said. “You cut coupons and only get the generic brand of stuff.”

“Claro, I work hard because I love my job. It’s important, and just because I have money doesn’t mean I need to flaunt it.”

“You’re really telling me that I used to eat the same meal for days on end and learned to sew up the holes in my clothes for nothing?”

“You should’ve told me that you didn’t want it or that you needed new clothes,” Mami said.

Sofi gasped in outrage. “You should’ve told me that we weren’t poor!”

“Vez, this is what happens when you close yourself off and try to do everything alone,” Abuela Fina said. “You two are so much alike—stubborn and uncommunicative.” She shook her head. “If you’d both just stop trying to be so damn independent, trying to not burden each other, you’d realize that you’re only holding yourselves back.”

“She’s right,” Mami said. “I’ve been trying for so long to keep you out of everything, to just handle all the difficult stuff so that you can live your life without worry. It never occurred to me that you’d draw your own conclusions and try to be the one protecting me instead.”

“Of course, I’m going to want to protect you too. You’re my mother. You’re the most important person in my life. I want you to not worry about me and to be able to live your life too. That’s why I try to do everything myself. I know that my childhood was hard for you because you were by yourself doing everything, so I want you to be able to live your life freely now. Why do you think I’m always trying to get you to take off work and do something fun? And you better believe that now that I know you two are loaded, I’m going to be badgering you to take more vacations.”

“You don’t have to badger me,” Abuela Fina said. “I’ll go on a cruise in a heartbeat.”

“See? Look at that. You two can go on a nice long cruise to Hawaii or something. Maybe even a singles cruise!”

Mami grimaced. “I amnotgoing on a singles cruise, especially with my mother. Besides, she’s not even single anymore.”

“Alicia!” Abuela Fina exclaimed, smacking Mami on the arm. “Why would you say such things?”

Sofi rolled her eyes. “If you think everyone doesn’t already know about you and Papo Vega, you’re delusional.”

Abuela Fina actually blushed. It was adorable. “We are friends. Good friends.”

Mami snorted. “Good friends who kiss.”

“What?” Sofi exclaimed.

Mami smiled. “Yep. She didn’t think I saw them in the arts and crafts room, but I did. They were Frenching like two teenagers under the bleachers.”

Abuela swatted Mami again. “Que falta de respeto hacia tu madre, muchacha malcriada.”

Mami laughed. “You’re the one who raised me, so if I was raised wrong that’s on you.”

Abuela Fina stuck her tongue out at Mami. “Bye, Alicia,” she said with a sassy neck roll and hand flip.

Sofi laughed. “It’s ‘bye, Felicia’ and no one says that anymore. Besides, don’t be mad at Mami when you’re the one out here kissing boys in public, you light-skirt.”

Abuela Fina gasped in outrage. “¿Mira, muchacha del diablo, como hablas así a tu abuela? You need to worry about yourself. I’m not the one locked in my room, crying, and smelling like dog.”

“I knew it was only a matter of time before you brought that up!” Sofi exclaimed. “But since you did, let’s talk about it. How dare you join forces with Leo and Papo to manipulate me like that?”

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