Page 27 of Dina's Favorite Mistake

“Sky doesn’t want to live here?” He didn’t know anything about Rafa’s young wife other than she was beautiful and sweet and had been horribly mistreated by her father’s first wife.

“Oh, she’d love to live here!”

“But?”

“The will and all the letters.” Lola rolled her eyes. “I loved Maddie, but she was such a control freak. Like even in death, she’s still controlling Sky and Rafa.”

“How so?”

“She and Jaime wrote these letters when they drew up their will and left instructions for how Jasper was to be raised if anything happened to them.” As if seeing the morbid curiosity on his face, she explained, “Maddie had a lot of anxiety. Likea lot a lot.I’m sure writing out those instructions gave her a sense of peace, but I wonder if she knew how they would affect Sky and Jasper.”

“She probably never really believed they would be needed or used,” Steve supposed.

“Probably.”

“So, they’re staying in San Antonio then?”

“For a while,” Lola said before pressing the accelerator and continuing the drive. “Rafa will want to come back hereeventually, and Jasper should be raised here like we were. This land is in our blood. It’s in his blood. He needs to grow up with this dirt under his fingernails.”

“Like his Aunt Lola?”

“Yes.” She smiled at him, and it was like looking at a younger version of her mother. “What?” she asked a bit anxiously.

“Nothing.” He offered an apologetic smile. “I was just thinking how much you look like your mom.” She wrinkled her nose, and he quickly clarified, “In a good way!”

Lola laughed. “I’ll take the compliment.”

“Well, at least someone in the family will take one,” he grumbled.

She eyed him knowingly, and her mouth curved with a mischievous grin. “Soooo,” she drew out the word with a dramatic flourish. “What’s the deal with you and my sister?”

“I don’t know what you mean,” he lied, stone-faced.

Lola chortled. “Please. Spare me. Okay? I knew Rafa was in love with Sky for years. There’s no hiding anything from me. I can see that there’s something going on with you and Dina.”

“There’s nothing going on.”

“Bullshit.” She purposely brake-checked, and he lurched forward.

“Hey!”

“Tell me the truth or I’m going to do it again and launch you into that mound of cactus over there!”

“You are crazy!” Steve shouted as she sped up and angled the vehicle toward the dangerously spiky overgrowth. “Lola!”

“Tell me!” She sped up even more and tapped the brakes over and over, causing him to bounce wildly.

“We met at a bar in Dallas!” He flinched as the vehicle swerved so close to the pile of cacti he could smell the floral musk from some of the broken and exposed leaves.

Lola stopped the UTV and turned to gawk at him. “Shut. Up.”

Now that the truth was out, there was no denying it. “We did.”

“When?” Lola narrowed her eyes. “Oh. My. God. Last year? When she was in Dallas for that convention?”

Steve shrugged. “I don’t know all those details.”

“Oh. My. God. Ohmygod.” Her jaw dropped, and she gaped at him. “Wait. It was a hookup? My sister—my perfect, modest, demure sister—hooked up with a stranger?”

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