Page 64 of The Crush
As a result, I had already accepted that I would be cooking alone this year, although how I’ll be preparing the food while avoiding going to the store to get the ingredients is still to be determined.
At least I have the costumes figured out for Halloween.
I check the list over one more time before tucking it back in the drawer, mentally calculating how much money I will need to pull from my stash. Still shocked I have a stash at all.
“Here’s your share, Isa,” Tadeo had told me a week ago, placing an envelope in front of me as I sat down for dinner.
“My share?” I had been distracted at the time, frowning over the large amount of food Daniel was scooping onto my plate instead of his own. I stood and took over the serving utensils before asking again. “My share of what?”
“The group we sold yesterday,” Daniel replied, before accepting his now-heavier serving of chicken and rice. “There will be more after we take in the bigger group in a couple weeks.”
Still confused, I sat again and opened my envelope, nearly choking on an ill-timed sip of water when I saw there was cash inside.
“No, I can’t—I can’t take this.” I tried immediately to hand it back over. “You don’t have to do this. I’m already—you don’t need to pay me a share.”
Daniel and his dad exchanged a look before Tadeo replied, “We do. You’re working here. Every day. You’re getting paid.”
“But I’m already staying here and I—”
Tadeo’s expression turned stern. “I’ve told you before, mija, you always have a place here.”
“Yeah, but…”
I was certain I had never held that much money before without immediately having to give it up. Practically any money I’d made at school had gone right back into my education. Any money I’d made at home… Well, according to my father, my and my siblings’shareswere under his care for our futures. Whenever those might be allowed to start.
“I really don’t—this isn’t—are you sure?”
Daniel turned in his chair and kissed me right on the mouth in front of his dad. “He’s sure. It’s your money, Isabel. Now eat.”
My money. Which meant I got to spend it however I wanted. On whomever I wanted.
As if on cue, the front door opens, both Ríos men materializing in the front entryway. Both looking equally flustered.
“Everything all right?” I ask, walking out of the kitchen to search for injuries and thankfully finding none. “What happened?”
“It’s all fine,” Tadeo answers. “I just went ahead and picked up Daniel down at the barns on my way back, because…”
“Your mamá is on her way,” Daniel finishes for him, my resulting anxiety instantaneous.
“She is?” Apart from her weekly calls to check in on if I’d changed my mind, she’d kept her distance, same as my father. “When is she getting here?”
“In about twenty minutes,” Tadeo says apologetically. “She told me as I was leaving church. Said she needed to grab a few things first.”
“Did she seem…angry?” I ask hesitantly.
“How would you tell?” Daniel quips and receives a swift warning look from his dad.
“I’m sure she only wants to talk,” Tadeo suggests. “She misses you.”
I wish I was as sure.
Forty-Eight
Daniel
Eva thunders in like a storm. Hair up, church suit crisp, and expression murderous as she makes her way up our front path.
Automatically, I tug at my button-up shirt, trying to straighten any remaining wrinkles and hoping the place on my neck where I’d nicked myself shaving had stopped bleeding.
