Page 200 of Tell Me What You Want, Or Leave Me

We dance in silence. Neither of us speaks; we just dance, listen to the song, and hold each other.

We kiss. I want him, he wants me, and we want to continue with what we were doing the night before. But Eric’s cell phone rings. I roll my eyes and protest furiously.

“Who could be calling now?”

He smiles. He understands my frustration. He kisses me and picks up. He talks to someone and quickly leaves the room. Without a clue as to what’s going on, I put on a robe, and, when I go downstairs, I see Eric opening the front door and notice the lights of an approaching car.

“Who’s that?”

But before I can answer, a taxi stops at our door, and I’m speechless when I see who emerges from it.

Mother of God, my sister’s going to lose it when she sees Juan Alberto here.

“I’m sorry, honey, but I thought it best that the guy who created this situation should have to deal with your sister’s hormones,” Eric says.

Instead of bothering me, that makes me laugh.

An unshaven Juan Alberto comes in.

“Where is that woman?”

But before Eric or I can answer, my sister is upon us.

“If you come anywhere near me, I swear I’m going to split your skull open.”

I turn around and see her in the middle of the hall, with a glass of water in her hands. I start to go to her, but my husband holds me back.

“Eric...”

“Don’t move, sweetheart,” he whispers, and I listen.

With his eyes fixed on Raquel and without fearing for his physical integrity, Juan Alberto goes right by us and straight up to my sister, though he doesn’t touch her.

“You’re going to kiss me and hug me right now.”

She throws the glass of water in his face.

Oh God, excellent start!

But instead of getting angry, Juan Alberto takes another step forward.

“Thanks, sabrosa. The water helps clear my head.”

Raquel raises her eyebrows. Oh...that’s bad...very bad...

“You can go right back where you came from,” she says.

Juan Alberto drops his bag.

“Why haven’t you taken my calls? I’ve been going crazy calling you, my queen. I’m sorry for what I said the last time we talked. I got entangled, like a moron, imagining all sorts of things, but I love you, beautiful. I love you, and I need to be by your side and for you to love me.”

Fuck...we’re right smack in the middle ofEmerald Madness.

My sister collapses. She has no resistance to these beautiful and sweet words. She’s an inveterate romantic, and I know that what Juan Alberto is saying is shooting straight to her heart.

But I’m puzzled by her passivity.

“I know you’re pregnant, and that baby is mine. My child. Our child. And I’ll be forever grateful to my good friend Eric, who called to tell me. But why didn’t you tell me yourself, my queen?”

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