Page 45 of Lodged

“Good, and great now that you’re here. Come on, you’re just in time for dinner.” He grabs my bag and takes it to the room I usually stay in. It’s a beautiful summer evening in the Maipo Valley. The vines are starting to flower, and soon there will be grapes. I love how peaceful it is here.

“Inés,” I say as I walk into the kitchen and see the woman who has been more of a mother to me and my siblings than our own.

“Oh,mi niño.Come give me a hug.” She opens her arms, and I go to her immediately, a tear slipping down my face.

“Ha, little boy? No, Inés. This one is finally an adult,” Luca says, and I chuckle, wiping away my tears. It’s hard to get emotional when my brother is around.

“He finally got a girlfriend, Inés. Can you believe it? He had to go all the way to the United States to find love—who wouldhave thought.” Luca shakes his head in mock disbelief as Isa and Karina roll their eyes at his theatrics.

“You’ll tell me all about her later, but let’s eat before it gets cold.” Inés motions for all of us to take our seats. Luca starts passing plates, and my mouth waters. There’smatambreandmilanesa. I don’t think I’ve had these in over a year..

After dinner, we all go to the patio to enjoy the breeze and afernet. As I gaze at the beautiful mountains covered in vines, I can’t help but think about the mountain girl who stole my heart. My phone vibrates with an incoming call—I love that even with thousands of miles between us, we’re still connected somehow.

“Hey, sweetheart.” I answer my phone as I move away from everyone

“Is this a good time?” she asks hesitantly, and I hate that she still hasn’t realized that I’ll always be available for her.

“Of course, we just finished dinner and were relaxing outside. About to open presents in a little bit. How’s it going over there?” I ask her as I make my way through the vines, letting the warm summer breeze run through my fingers.

“It’s been fine. We had dinner earlier, and I told my family about you, even though I still didn’t tell them you used to be my teacher. They’re all excited to meet you once you come back.” I smile at her excitement.

“I can’t wait to meet them, too.” I rub the back of my neck, silence falling between us.

“Blue, what’s wrong?” she asks hurriedly.

“I miss you. I wish you were here with me, meeting my family. Enjoying this beautiful weather, learning about my food and culture. And I feel like an asshole for missing you and wanting all those things, because I know you love your family, too, and wanted to spend time with them.” I blurt out everything that has been bubbling up in my chest since we kissed goodbye a week ago.

“I miss you too, so much. And it’s funny because I’ve been feeling the exact same way. I wanted you here with me instead of going to see your siblings, and that makes me feel like I’m a bad person.”

“I guess next year we’ll have to plan better and try to be in one place for Christmas and another for the new year. Or maybe we spend Thanksgiving with your family and Christmas with mine since we don’t celebrate Thanksgiving.” I chuckle at the fact that I’m already thinking about the future.

“Yeah, we definitely have to plan better next year. One thing I’m one hundred percent certain of is that I don’t want to ever be apart from you this long.” I heave a deep sigh in relief as her words fill me with her love.

“Same, baby girl.”

“Ruru, who are you talking to? Is that your mystery boyfriend?” I hear a deep male voice in the background and chuckle.

“Ugh, sorry. That’s Miles being a nosy brother.”

“He sounds like my brother, Luca,” I say, and we both laugh.

“Did you call me?” Said brother comes to stand next to me with a fucking grin on his face.

“No, I was just saying Ruin’s brother sounds as nosy as you.” I try to walk past him, not wanting my call with Ruin to end just yet.

“You wound me, big bro. Here, let me talk to her.” He tries to snatch my phone, but I move farther away from him.

“No way, man. I don’t want her to realize how crazy my family is just yet.”

Ruin explodes in laughter on the other end of the line as I hear Miles say, “See? even our families are similar. You should have invited him over.”

“Can I please have some privacy?” Ruin sternly requests, and I can picture the way she’s looking at her brother.

“Karina, please come get your husband,” I shout, and my brother whines, making me laugh.

“You had to out me, huh? Since when do you need my wife to help you get rid of me?” Luca asks, and I can’t stop laughing.

“Since I know she has you by the balls, little bro.”

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