Page 16 of Raine Out (Grand Slam 2)

“You know beer is bad for you, too, but you drink enough of that to fill your entire swimming pool,” Rosa says as I walk toward the patio door.

“Beer is mostly water, Rosa—”

“And sugar from the carbohidratos.”

“Carbohydrates,” I say, not turning around. “Don’t cheat by using Spanglish.”

As I walk out on the patio, Ant jerks his feet down off the chair he had them resting on.

“It’s my chair, Ant, not hers,” I say, laughing. “Put your feet back up. You work hard. You deserve a rest.”

He keeps them on the ground. “It’s funny that you think you run this house when my mom’s around. My dad’s delusional like that, too.”

Rosa comes out of the house and places a regularly sized slice of cheesecake in front of Ant.

“You missed some dead flowers on the hydrangeas,” she says, pointing across the patio.

“I haven’t gotten to that side yet.” He takes a swig of beer. “I’ll do it when I’m done here.”

Rosa makes a beeline to the hydrangeas and starts pulling off the dead flowers.

“Hey, Ant. What are you doing this weekend? You want a free trip to St. John?”

“For Seb’s wedding?” he says, looking over at me with his mouth full of cheesecake.

“You can go to the wedding if you want, but just to take a break, you know? You deserve a vacation.”

“You’re asking me so Caroline’s sister won’t come on the trip, right?” He laughs as he shoves another bite in his mouth.

“Damn, how do you know about that? Did they tell you, too?”

“Bruh, they don’t talk to me,” he says, shaking his head. “They barely look at me. They talk in front of me, though. I don’t think they know I understand English.”

“What? You were born here. How do they not know you’re fluent in English?”

“They barely know my name. Caroline’s called me Anthony more than once. And I think the sister thinks my name is Andrew.”

“Sounds about right.” I drain the rest of my beer and pop open another one. “So Cece really thinks she’s coming on this trip with me?”

“It’s all they’ve been talking about since Manny told them about the trip like a week ago. They’ve been coming home with shopping bags every day full of vacation clothes.”

“Well, she’s not coming with me, so either you take the extra seat on the plane or it’ll be empty.”

“Caroline will fire me if I take her sister’s place on the trip—”

“Her sister doesn’t have a place on the trip,” I growl. “And Manny’s the only one making any money in that house. It’s his decision whether you work there or not.”

“You’re not as smart as I think you are, Alex, if you think Manny makes any decisions in that house,” Rosa yells from across the patio. “Caroline has the pants in that family.”

“Wears the pants, Rosa,” I yell and then lower my voice. “Damn, she has ears like a bat. How’d you get away with anything when you were growing up?”

“Shit,” he whispers. “You think I got away with anything with her as my mom?”

“Don’t think I don’t hear you both cursing because you try to whisper now,” Rosa says, swarming our table. She jerks away Ant’s unfinished plate. “You can have dessert when you clean up your dirty mouth, Antonio.”

Ant waits until the kitchen door is firmly closed behind her and then looks at me. “You know what? I could use a little time to myself. I’m in. When do we leave?”

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