Page 76 of Last First Kiss
“Hey.”
“Hey, I’m sorry I didn’t pick up earlier. I was in a meeting. Is everything okay? Areyouokay? I have like fifteen missed calls from you.”
Hearing her voice makes my chest loosen a little.
“Yeah, I’m okay. It’s Lala; she’s at the hospital.”
“What happened? Is she okay?”
“Yeah, she’s okay. She fell in the shower, and they’re keeping her overnight. She’s sleeping right now,” I say, looking back at Lala, who’s watching me pace around her room.
“Lala, hey,” I say, and my voice quivers. “I’ll call you back,” I say to Clara.
“Tell her I love her. I’ll try to get out of this next meeting and join you at the hospital. Do you need anything?”
“I left my license on my desk. I didn’t even think to grab it. Will you bring it for me?”
“Of course.”
“Thank you. I’ll see you soon.” I hang up and walk back to the chair beside my grandma’s bed.
“How are you?” I ask, grabbing hold of her hand again, seeing now that there’s also bruising on her forearms. The sight of them makes my stomach cramp up.
“I’m okay, mamita,” Lala says with a tired smile. “It looks worse than it feels. I’m old and bruise easily,” she adds, looking down at her arms.
“Who were you talking to?” she asks.
“Clara. She said to tell you she loves you.”
“Ah, such a sweet girl,” Grandma says with a weak smile, giving me a slow wink. “You lucked out with her.”
Guilt coils around my heart, squeezing so hard I think my heart might give up. I glance down at my grandma’s frail hand in mine, the beeping of the monitors suddenly louder than it was a second ago.
“Grandma, I ... I need to tell you something,” I start, my voice unsteady.
She gives me a small, gentle smile, folding her hands in her lap. She doesn’t say anything, just stares at me patiently, waiting for me to continue.
“Lala, Clara, and I lied to you. We weren’t actually dating when I told you we were.” I press my lips together and brace for her to lay into me about lying. But when nothing comes, I look back at her and seeher nodding her head calmly as if she’d been expecting this.
“I know,” she says simply.
“You—you knew?” I blink.
She chuckles softly. “Mija, I’ve lived long enough to know when someone’s telling a story. And I know you both well enough to tell you were lying. You’ve never been good at it,” she says as she reaches out to pat my hand.
I exhale sharply, a weak laugh escaping my lips.” Why’d you let us lie for so long?”
“Oh, I don’t know. It was fun to watch you both struggle through the lie. And I thought maybe if you and Clara pretended for long enough, you’d eventually figure it out.”
I smile at that. “Well, your plan worked.” And at that, her eyebrows rise so high they almost touch her hairline.
“Oh,” she breathes, caught somewhere between surprise and excitement.
I smile, thinking of Clara, of the beautiful future we could have together. For a moment, it feels clear and bright. But then, like an uninvited guest, New York and the job offer from Limon creep into my mind.
“What’s wrong?” Lala asks gently, searching my face.
“Nothing’s wrong.” I breathe the words more than I speak them. “I just ... can’t believe I finally found the person I’ve been waiting for. And I haven’t even told her that, this whole time, I’ve been quietly debating whether to take a job offer in New York.”
