Page 36 of Big Nick Energy

“I know he’s older and—“ I started to defend, but when her hand rose, I quieted.

“Do you love him?” she asked calmly, a lot calmer than I would have ever expected her to be.

“Yes,” I answered honestly. “I haven’t told him that yet, though,” I quickly clarified. “It’s kind of new. We haven’t been together for a while or anything.”

“You haven’t?” she asked, her head tilted. There was something in her eyes, eyes that looked a lot like mine because she had given them to me, that said she didn’t believe me.

“Not officially,” I admitted and glanced away. My eyes moved toward where Nick and Noah were talking. I didn’t want them to fight. I was half afraid they’d start throwing punches. Or that Crank would come back and barrel down Nick.

That’s when I told my mom everything. Mostly. I kept the dirty sex bits out.

I shared how I’d thought he was the most beautiful man I had ever laid eyes on when I had been dating Noah. How that summer after graduation, we bumped into each other at the mall, and he had bought me the dress I was wearing, and how I always kept it in the back of my closet, wishing and hoping for the day I could wear it out with him.

“Hmm… I thought so,” she murmured, and when I looked at her, her eyes were sparkling. “¿Porque estas tan sorprendida, chula?

“Why am I so surprised?” I repeated and laughed. “Mom… you knew?”

“I didn’tknow, know. But I had my suspicions. Plus, even when you were little, it wasn’t like you were swooning for Prince Phillip, like Gris, when you watchedSleeping Beauty. You always thought the two kings were cute. And when you watchedInside Out, you couldn’t stop talking about Riley’s dad. Or King Triton fromThe Little Mermaid.” She shrugged. “I figured if anyone came home, hooking their star, enamorados de alguienmayor, pues, mami, it would be you. I just didn’t figure he would be that old.”

“Oh my god!” I groaned, resting my head on her shoulder. I couldn’t believe she was so okay with the age difference. That she actually figured if one of her kids fell in love with someone older, it would have been me. “You’re not mad?”

“No.” She laughed. “I’m going to worry but not any more or less than I worry about Libby and Hector or your sister and whatever person she gets her hooks into. I worry because I’m your mom. Es mi trabajo. It’s my job to worry, Blanca.”

“I know but…” I pressed my lips together, and shockingly enough, my mom gave me a moment to find the right words. “You don’t have anything to worry about with Nick.” I looked up, and sure enough, when his eyes connected with mine from afar, even with the distance between us, something lit up.

No one had been punched.

The world hadn’t ended, and there hadn’t even been one shouting match in sight.

Maybe, just maybe, Nick and I could work out for real?

“Yeah? How do you figure? You said you two just started,” she reminded me. I turned, losing eye contact with Nick but connecting with my mom’s.

“He won’t hurt me,” I stated, and my mom’s eyes softened. I knew she thought I was being naïve, and before she could say anything, I kept talking. “I mean, I know we will probably argue and disagree on things. We’re different people with a lot of differences between us.”

“Like two decades,” she muttered, but I kept talking.

“But he’s… I don’t know how to explain it, Mom. He’s different. He gets me. I feel… like me when I’m with him. It doesn’t matter what sarcastic or goofy thing I say, he gets me. And if he doesn’t, he tries.”

“Honestly, Blanca, he’s a man trying to?—"

“He watchedFamily Stonewith me. He’d never seen it.”

“You didn’t do that to him!” She laughed, shaking her head. She hated the movie.

“I did. And he watched it, and then he got it. He saw what I saw.” Mom breathed in deep.

“Okay.” She nodded after exhaling slowly. “If you like him, I’m sure I’ll like him, too.”

“You’re going to love him. I promise. He’s funny and kind and generous and…” I shook my head with a smile on my face. “I can’t explain it… He’s just different. I feel like––“

“What?”

“I feel like I’m home when I’m with him,” I admitted softly, and my mom wiped away tears from her eyes.

“My baby is in love,” she whispered. “Okay,” she sniffled. “Not that you need it because you’re an adult, but you have my blessing to keep seeing him.”

“Thank you, mami!” I hugged her. The air changed around us, and I didn’t have to look to know he was there. We pulled away and stood up. My mom stared up at Nick and extended her hand.

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