Page 32 of Redeemed

Impending Doom

JTfollowedhisnoseback to the Benevides' kitchen. It smelled amazing. Even with his pounding head, his stomach thought it might get over the flipflopping it was doing for a taste of whatever was cooking in the pot on the stove.

Sofia's mom pointed to the small kitchen table. "Sit."

JT quickly complied. He was rewarded a few moments later with a steaming bowl of menudo. The pot on the stove was the stew they had made yesterday and had simmered overnight. He took in a deep breath of the spicy smoke and licked his lips. "Smells great," he complimented Mrs. Benevides.

The small woman looked him up and down with a knowing eye. "Good for a hangover."

JT studied his bowl, chagrined. He thought he had cleaned up pretty well, but the woman had an eagle eye. He should have known he wouldn't be able to pull anything over on her. He clanked his spoon against his bowl, stirring the menudo but not bringing the spoon to his lips.

"Eat. Eat," Sofia's mom commanded him and sat in the chair across from him with a cup of coffee.

He dug in and almost groaned as the spices hit his tongue and opened his sinuses. Before long, the bowl was empty, and JT thought he might feel almost human. Amarylis had been right. The stew even stood up against Jose Cuervo. Today might not be as horrible as he expected. Even the pounding in his head was down to a small ache behind his eyes.

"Ready now?" the woman asked him. He thought he saw a small smile playing at her lips behind her coffee cup. That certainly wasn't the look he was expecting.

"Yes, ma'am," JT agreed with a grin. "That stuff is magic. I understand now why Amarylis said she had to have it at the wedding."

Mrs. Benevides nodded. She motioned him out of his seat. "Come. There's much work to do."

Hours later, JT was exhausted but had a feeling of accomplishment. He'd gotten the recipe for the tamale filling and after much trial and error, had twelve dozen tamales ready to cook that passed Mrs. Benevides' exacting standards. Though tired, he felt better than he had when he had arrived. Between the menudo and the sweating over the tamale prep, he figured he had sweated most of the leftover tequila out of his system.

Sofia's mom presented him with six packages of foil wrapped tamales and a large Tupperware container of menudo to take with him. She patted his arm almost affectionately. "You did a good job. The wedding will be very good."

"I can't thank you enough, ma'am," JT told her honestly. "I would never have been able to do this without you."

"Pssht. No worry. You are a very good cook. I know." She patted the bag full of tamales. "You give Sofia half, okay?"

The woman actually gave him a smile, patted him again and walked him to the front door. He waved at her and gave a honk of his horn once he had his delicacies loaded into his Jeep. He drove to the corner and sat there, not sure where to go next. The unanswered text from Sofia practically yelling at him from his phone. Not answering her at all had been a dick move but he still didn't know what to say. An old Chevy finally came up behind him, so a decision had to be made. He turned right towards home. He'd take a shower and decide what to say to Sofia. He owed her a response of some sort and he did promise her mom he'd deliver her portion of the tamales to her.

He exhaled loudly as he drove into his garage.Okay, dude, quit being a pussy. If she's gonna dump your sorry ass, get it over with.He scrubbed his hands over his face and texted.

JT:

He sat staring at his phone waiting on the three little dots that would tell him she was responding. He thought it felt like a long time but was probably only a couple of seconds.

Sofia:

JT:

Sofia:

JT let out a breath and headed into the house with his booty from today's cooking lesson. Only a few days ago, he would have been rushing to get to Sofia. Now, he felt like his boots were filled with concrete. And there was that feeling of impending doom again.Shit.He glanced at what was left in the Cuervo bottle but then shook his head. While he now had the best hangover cure in the world in his fridge, he needed to save his buddy Jose. He might very well need him later. He grabbed a Dr. Pepper for a little pick-me-up and headed to the shower.

Sofia put down her phone with a frown. He was acting so weird. Her stomach had been in knots all day when he didn't text her back or call about dinner. At least he was going to come over now and she was going to get to the bottom of whatever was going on. As she put together ingredients for dinner, she thought about how she should handle things. She knew the best way to get JT to shut down completely was to push him, but she deserved to know what was going on.

She froze with a skillet in her hand as a thought caught her by surprise. Could he have met someone else? Was he wanting to break up with her? They'd had that agreement… but that was when they were pretending, right? They were together almost all the time. When would he have met someone? He had been staying late at the café working on the wedding menu. She lay the pan on the stove and fought down the ball of dread that had suddenly taken up residence in her belly. Was he going to break up with her? She didn't think she could take losing him after having her dream come true for so short a time.Relájate, respira profundo, Sofia. (Relax, take a deep breath, Sofia.)She was determined not to borrow trouble tonight.

Chapter thirty-one

Get Out!

JTpulledupinfront of Sofia's apartment a little before 7:30. He sat there, looking at the light from her front window. Again. He rubbed at the tightness in his chest.Let's get it over with.He hauled himself and the tamales out of the car and headed to the door. Sofia met him there before he could ring the bell. She gave him a smile, but it wasn't one of her usual ones. He thought it looked forced.Jesus! I was right. She's gonna dump my ass.

Sofia opened the door and tried to give him a smile. He could barely give her a quirk up of his lips. He looked pained.Dios mio. He is going to call it off."Come in," she said, trying her best to sound cheerful. "I've missed you."

He leaned down and gave her a peck on the cheek. "Me, too," he responded flatly. "I brought tamales. Your mom made me promise to bring you half."

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