Page 38 of For the Love of Animals

“It’s my grandma’s last goodbye, or so she thinks.”

“Querida, those psychics just make stuff up.”

“I know that, but if we don’t go, Grandma’ll be really offended.” Plus, she’d promised to make churros for dessert. “It’s only a few hours, and then I’m yours for…well, however long you’re here.”

“Yeah, about that…”

“Lunch starts at twelve. Please?”

He rolled me on top of him and kissed me on the forehead. Sweet. When he did that, I couldn’t hate him at all anymore.

“For you. I’ll go for you.”

“And Dali. Don’t forget my brother still has her. He’ll want Pasqual’s ring back too.”

“Dali. How could I possibly forget the dog? More to the point, what the hell are we going to do with her?”

“I don’t know. Do you have a garden back home?”

“Yeah, I’ve got twenty acres.”

“Perfect. Since I’m about to be homeless, she’s yours.”

“Why are you about to be homeless?”

“I’ve been considering my future. There’s got to be more to life than a job I hate, and I’m not planning to renew my contract at GAFE.” I hesitated, unsure whether Nate had been joking the other night when he mentioned a job. “About what you said…”

His phone rang, and I fell silent as he picked it up. What if I was reading more into this than he was? Sure, we had good sex—great sex—but he had a life in America and I could hardly just insert myself into it. What if he hadn’t been serious when he mentioned the job, and I pushed him, and he offered me something out of sympathy? That would be a sure way to build up resentment, and… Hold on, what did he just say?

Nate shifted the phone against his ear. “Declared dead at two o’clock? Excellent. Make sure you chill the champagne.”

“Lozano died?” I whispered, and Nate nodded. With all that had happened afterwards, I’d barely given our favourite drug lord another thought.

“I’ll pack tomorrow,” he told the person on the other end of the line. “The courier can take my gun again, and I’ll fly back commercial. Emmy did what? Actually, forget it. I don’t want to know.”

When he hung up, a chill ran through me. Tomorrow. He’d be leaving tomorrow. We only had one day left, and he’d still offered to spend it with my family. The selfish part of me wanted to keep him for myself, but I couldn’t let them down.

“Grandma usually has a siesta in the afternoon. We can leave then.”

Nate kissed me again, and I nearly said to hell with the celebration. But then he pulled back and smiled.

“Agreed. And tonight, querida, you’re all mine.”

“What now?” I asked my brother, not bothering to hold back my groan.

Teo had rushed out of the house towards us, and now he shoved us behind the tree again. Why did we even bother walking up the path?

“Before you go in there, I just want you to know that this is not my fault. I’ve been busy with rehearsals for the last four days, and nobody told me a thing about it.”

Teo was an actor, and his new play opened in three weeks. He’d spent so much time practising his lines, he sounded croaky.

“What isn’t your fault?”

“Even Pasqual knew, and if he’d told me, I’d have tried to stop them. Honestly I would’ve.” Teo huffed a little. “I can’t believe he didn’t tell me.”

“Stop them doing what, Teo?”

The front door burst open and the rest of my family spilled out.

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