Page 86 of Guava Flavored Lies

The verbal sparring stopped abruptly.

“What the hell are you talking about?” Sylvie’s mom glared at her through her blue contact lenses.

“You know that lawsuit I was looking into? Well, I found the answers I needed. The truth about who stole what from who.”

“What lawsuit?” Lauren’s mom asked, her face glistening with perspiration.

“What you talking about, Syl?” Lauren’s voice was low as she leaned in close, but Sylvie couldn’t look at her.

Sylvie took a breath to steady herself. There was no turning back now. “We’ve all been protecting our great grandpas like they’re saints and they’re not. They’re both douchebags who stole someone’s work.”

As she explained, without divulging Freddie as her source, nearly everyone on the ground looked up at her in disbelief. When she was finished, she looked over at Lauren who was stunned into speechlessness.

“Where do you get off making accusations like that?” Lauren’s uncle was the first to respond.

“They’re not accusations.” Sylvie insisted, but he wasn’t listening.

“These are fighting words—”

“Es la verdad,” Lauren’s grandmother clutched her rosary beads. “The girl is telling the truth. We discovered this great shame during the lawsuit. Just like she said. The Machado and Campos families both agreed to bury it and never speak of it again.”

“There’s no way.” Sylvie’s mother shook her head. “There is absolutely no way this could be true and us not know about it. My father would never be part of any deceit.”

“Mami, how could this be true and you not tell us?” Lauren’s mother wrapped her arms around herself as if in a soothing embrace.

The old woman looked down at the sidewalk. “It was very shameful, mija. Your father never spoke of it again. Not even to me.”

“It’s true,” Sylvie’s aunt slipped out from the crowd and took Lauren’s grandmother’s hand in hers to comfort the crying old woman. “I accidentally walked in on a conversation when I was a kid.” She looked at her sister with obvious regret. “Papi conditioned my inheritance on me keeping my mouth shut. I don’t even know how much he told Mami about this. It was . . . really bad. He was beside himself. I think they figured the best thing to do was go on like they’d never made the discovery. Like he never learned that his father was a thief. My guess is Mr. Machado felt much the same way.”

Confusion and horror took turns claiming Sylvie’s mother’s face. The pain was a punch to the gut. Sylvie didn’t want everyone to suffer the same disillusionment she’d felt when she found out.

I should’ve kept my freaking mouth shut, she thought as her chest ached.

“This can’t be right.” Lauren’s father shook his head weakly at his brother. “My father-in-law was the most honorable man I’ve ever known. He wouldn’t lie to us.”

In the stillness, the screech of a blaring siren echoed in the distance. Sylvie steeled herself and turned to Lauren.

“I’m sorry,” Sylvie said softly.

Lauren shook her head. “I can’t believe this. Can I see what you found?”

Sylvie lowered her gaze as the fire truck turned the corner onto their street. “I made a promise that I wouldn’t divulge this or how I found it. I already messed up the first part. I can’t—”

“Let’s talk when we get down, okay? Half the neighborhood is about to watch us climb outta here.” She smiled, but it was frail and uncertain.

“Yeah,” Sylvie agreed despite the fist crushing her heart. “Okay.”

Together, they stood at the opening of the treehouse and watched the fire truck back up to the tree.

“Do you think this is what cats feel like?” Lauren asked before taking Sylvie’s hand.

The touch eased the panic starting to simmer in Sylvie’s chest. “You think cats are embarrassed too?”

Lauren laughed. “At least fire fighters rescuing a cat is a lot more likely to go viral than we are.”

With a groan, Sylvie looked out at the crowd that had formed in clumps all along the street. She’d much prefer not to have an audience.

As she stared down the ladder slowly making its way toward them, she realized she was less scared of falling off of it than she was of talking to Lauren.

Would she forgive her for not telling her immediately? Would she forgive her for not taking the secret to her grave and protecting both their legacies?

“Ready?” The fire fighter held out his hand.

“No,” Sylvie confessed before taking a step off the treehouse.

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