Page 30 of Wild Hit
Marty leans closer, eyes wide like I’m showing her what stardust is made of. “And you do that every time?”
“Yep, until you don’t need to draw the Cs anymore because you know exactly what to do.” I slide her textbook with the math problems back to her. “Try it.”
“Hmm.” She gets to work, sticking her tongue out the corner of her mouth.
I smile. What a little weirdo.
Something grabs my attention from the corner of my eye. Consuelo looks down quickly at the glass that she’s rinsing before putting it in the dishwasher rack. I push away from the table and get up.
“Can I help you with anything?” I ask the older woman once I reach her.
“It’s fine, mija. I got it.” I’ve been around enough Latina friends to know what mija means, and this woman is so grandmotherly that I almost melt.
“I would love to help. You did feed me for free, after all,” I insist.
“Okay.” She glances around. “Then, can you help me put the leftovers away?”
“Yes, ma’am.” I start flipping cabinets open until I find some airtight containers and go to town distributing the leftover soup.
“You’re very good with the kiddo,” the woman says besides me, as she collects more used utensils from over the stove.
“I am?” I ask, not because I’m fishing for compliments but because I’m genuinely surprised.
She leans closer to whisper. “She seems to get along better with you than even her dad.”
I shake my head. “In my experience, it’s a daughter’s duty to be a pain in the neck to her dad. Marty’s just carrying on a long legacy.”
“He’s a pretty good fellow, though,” Consuelo says, passing me a kitchen towel when I spill a bit of the soup on the marble countertop. “I don’t actually understand why they don’t get along when he loves her so much.”
A little groan pulls our attention behind us. Marty’s facepalming with gusto, and it’s not because her homework is frustrating. “Dad is so embarrassing,” she says.
Consuelo turns to me slowly, the wrinkles at the corners of her eyes intensifying with her amusement. Pretty sure I look the same.
“How so?” I prod with a light tone of voice, even though I’m curious as hell to see what ammo I can use to tease the unsuspecting All-Star.
“He’s just so…” Marty makes the universal expression for yuck. “Sappy.”
Of all the things I could’ve expected, that one wasn’t it.
Does she know that pitchers tremble when Miguel walks up to the plate? That he makes outfielders move back without even noticing that they’re anticipating a canon blast from one of the most powerful hitters in the history of the sport? Does she have any idea how much my father had to shell out to entice Miguel to join our team?
And also, does she know that he’s this untouchable giant everywhere else, but is a sap only for his baby daughter?
I think it’s the cutest freaking thing. I wish my dad had cared a fraction of this for me.
“Besides,” Marty adds, lowering her hands as she looks on at us. “I really hate this thing that he does…” Consuelo and I lean toward her, two very curious cats. “You know, where he tries to also be my mom because I don’t have one.”
Well, there goes Consuelo’s and my amusement. That’s just heartbreaking.
Tentatively, I say, “I heard that he tried to talk your school into letting Consuelo or him go to the tea party with you.”
“I know. He promised he would.” She looks down at her scribbles and pushes around her mechanical pencil. “But it doesn’t matter. I’m not going.”
I tuck my tongue against my cheek.
It’s been at least a week since she first mentioned this, and clearly the poor kid can’t stop thinking about it, which means she really wants to go. She doesn’t want to be the odd one out, the kid who’s different, the one everyone will point at and pity.
I’ve been there, albeit for an entirely different, also heartbreaking reason. It wasn’t like my acquaintances were actually my friends, but they endured me well enough so they could hang out around my brother, who was the real star ofthe show. After he was gone, their tolerance turned into pity, and then into condescension and bullying. According to Miguel, his daughter has already gone through that. It would suck if it happens again.
