Page 74 of Guava Flavored Lies

CHAPTER32

Sylvie sat on her parents’couch and stared out the sliding glass doors to the pool. The late Sunday morning was clear and postcard worthy.

It was the kind of day people imagined when they planned their trips to Florida. Despite being early June, it wasn’t too hot or too humid. At least, not yet.

Her thoughts turned to Lauren. She’d awoken to a text from her. A message saying good morning and that she’d woken up with Sylvie on her mind.

Sylvie couldn’t recall the last time anyone made her feel butterflies in her stomach. That she’d woken up full of energy and with a song in her head.

From the moment she’d left Lauren’s side the morning before, she’d been unable to think about anything but her. Her perfume. Her warmth. Her kiss.

Each time she thought of her, her chest tightened. It wasn’t just lust coursing through her body.

The sound of her brother Junior’s voice snapped her out of her daze. “Why the hell are you smiling to yourself like that, weirdo?”

All the tingling warmth in Sylvie’s body fled and was replaced with ice. She sneered at Junior, stopping just short of hissing.

Her brother plopped his square frame on the couch next to her. He kicked his feet up on their mother’s ornate coffee table. “You look too happy. Did you get laid last night?” He laughed, his round face turning pink as he amused himself.

“Junior, don’t disrespect your sister and get your feet off the table!” Their mother shouted from the kitchen on the other side of the huge, open concept house. Her newly dyed blonde hair loose around her shoulders.

“What kind of troll would sleep with you?” Junior muttered.

“One that I don’t have to inflate, which is more than I can say for you,” Sylvie snapped.

“Sylvia! Be nice to your brother!” Their father shouted as he washed his hands in the sink. “I don’t want you two squabbling today. Your grandmother is coming for lunch. Oh, and your aunt and uncle.”

Junior rolled his eyes. “You didn’t tell me the whole stupid family was coming or I would’ve stayed home.”

“What a shame to keep you from eating Doritos and masturbating all day,” Sylvie whispered, but not quietly enough.

“Sylvia! Don’t be crass!” Their mother slammed one of the double ovens closed.

“You wish you had something to jerk,” he muttered along with something that sounded like penis envy.

The insult was so stupid it made Sylvie laugh, defusing the anger usually prompted by Junior’s presence. “Your lack of understanding of the female body is astounding.”

Junior opened his mouth to say something else, but Sylvie didn’t wait around to hear it. She wasn’t going to waste her time with him today. She had more important things on her mind.

“Hey mom,” Sylvie crossed into the kitchen where her mother was taking a simmering pressure cooker off the stove. “Is Madrina coming today?”

She nodded. “Si, mi amor. Why?”

Sylvie glanced over at her brother who was busy scrolling through his phone. Her father, tongs in hand, was on his way outside where the barbecue was smoking.

It felt like a good time to bring up the topic of Freddie’s information. No. Not Freddie’s information. The truth. That’s what it was, and Sylvie was getting sick of carrying it on her own, but didn’t want to burden everyone else with it either. An impossible situation.

“I want to talk to her about something.” Sylvie opened a pot to get a peek at the chunks of white yucca dancing around the boiling water. Maybe talking to her godmother would help. She always had good advice, even if Sylvie didn’t often listen. She would help her figure out what to do.

A dinging phone drew her mother’s attention to the small screen. Her expression darkened as she read.

“Ugh,” she made a disgusted sound before getting back to the task of opening the pressure cooker. “I’m so sick of those campaign texts from Carla Machado. I’m going to report her for harassment.”

Sylvie shifted her weight uncomfortably. “Report her to who, mom?”

Her mother shrugged. “I don’t know, but it has to be against the law to bombard people with unwanted messages.”

“How is it any different than any other political campaign sending stuff out? You’ve never threatened to report those.”

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