“Thank you so much for letting me use your kitchen, Dolores. I could have never pulled this off if you didn't help me hide everything over here. I also couldn’t have possibly gotten everything I needed. My little kitchen is well equipped, but it just covers the basics, and I certainly don’t have any baking supplies.”

“Don't even mention it, querida! I can’t wait to see his face! Do you think he suspects anything?”

I shake my head. “I don’t think so. He thinks he's picking me up later tonight for a night on the town, and I told him I made a reservation at this restaurant he likes.”

“How did you convince Lupe to give you her abuela’s chocolate cake recipe?” Dolores asks, pointing with her chin to the bowl in front of me. I’m whisking melted bittersweet chocolate with the sugar and butter I already creamed separately. I knew I wanted to make the spicy chocolate cake for Esteban’s birthday when he told me it was his favorite.

When I asked Lupe if she had any idea where I could find the recipe for the cake her brother liked, she explained it was her grandmother’s.

I shrug. “Lupe just gave it to me when I asked. I didn’t have to fight her over it or anything.”

Dolores’ eyes narrow. “Que extrano,” she mumbles.

“What’s so strange?”

“Don't get me wrong, I love the Garcias, but they can be very protective of their own, their secrets...especially when it comes to food. I remember asking Lupe before for her grandma’s green salsa recipe and she was put off. And I’ve known her since she was in diapers. I have to say I was a little…offended that she dismissed me like that.”

I frown. Lupe seemed happy to give me the recipe. I didn’t have to fight her for it. She reacted enthusiastically at the idea of throwing Esteban a dinner party for his birthday.

I shrug off Lupe’s weird reaction to Dolores. “I’ve never made a spicy chocolate cake before. I’m curious to see how this one will turn out. God, I hope it turns out all right. Do you think I need to have a plan B in case I fail?”

“No te preocupe, Ines. I’m sure it will turn out just fine. I’ve been watching you for the last two hours making those empanadas,” she says pointing at the tray of empanadas on the table. “It looks like you know what you’re doing. I don’t think this spicy chocolate cake will give you too much trouble. What else do you need help with?”

I think about it. Lupe’s husband, Marcos, came by earlier today and helped us get some tables and chairs out of storage. Lupe, Marcos, and I lined them up in the courtyard, and then we hung up a few lanterns and lights to create a cozier atmosphere.

“We just need to set the table when it gets closer to seven. And light those outdoor candles I bought and line them up outside at the entrance of the courtyard. Lupe is bringing a couple of dishes and Cyrus is showing up later with a couple of entrees.”

“What time is Esteban coming to pick you up?”

“I told him our reservation was at eight. He’s always early, so I expect he might show up around seven thirty. I told everyone to be here at seven,” I tell her with a dreamy look. I love that Esteban is always early, as if he can’t wait to see me, even though we spend almost every evening together. When he gets off work, he either comes and picks me up to take me to the Garcia manor, or he ends up staying at my place. I’m rarely alone at night, but when I am, I miss him with an intensity I can’t explain.

“Ayayayai, look at you.”

“I have no idea what you could possibly be talking about,” I tell her in jest, lifting my chin and closing my eyes, playfully dismissing her words even though I know that she’s right. I’ve been in trouble for weeks.

I’m completely done for. I’ve been enchanted by the beautiful, ambitious, and skillfully talented Esteban Garcia. So much so, that I’ve been spending hours in this kitchen cooking for a surprise birthday party with his entire family—minus his parents, who are still traveling, but who are supposed to make an appearance later via FaceTime.

I felt it was the least I could do. Esteban has done so much for me since I stumbled into his life.

Not only has he become my lover, but he’s been encouraging me to go back to my first love, painting.

Ever since finishing that first painting I gave him for the opening of Vida Dulce, there’s always a new blank canvas on my easel—and it doesn’t stay blank for long.

I paint a bit in between breaks from work, or on the evenings Esteban is slammed at the restaurant. I’ve been painting portraits of him and Lupe, and now I’m working on a painting for Dolores. She refused to let me paint her, and instead gave me one of her favorite pictures of Pueblo, the town where she’s from, so that I could paint it for her.

“It’s nice to see you happy, Ines. You deserve someone like Esteban. And he deserves someone like you, not like the women he’s dated in the past…” She gives me a knowing look, then quickly adds, “But I should keep my mouth shut.”

“Nooooo,” I encourage her. “I want you to tell me all about Esteban’s past girlfriends. I talked to him about Brad, and besides him, I don’t have a whole lot of significant dating history. Esteban, however, has been particularly mum about his past girlfriends. I bet that whoever knows Esteban or his family has swooned after him at some point.”

“Ay, sì. There’s been quite a few girls who chased after him, but I only remember one in particular.”

“Who was she? How long were they together? Details, Dolores! Please?” I encourage her, as she glances to me a bit skeptical, as if she’s meddling in things she shouldn’t discuss. “I won’t tell Esteban…or Lupe. I promise. This is between you and me.”

Dolores opens her mouth and I can tell she’s about to spill and tell me everything she knows, when we both hear voices outside that distract us.

 The courtyard is usually quiet, and the only time we hear loud voices is when Lupe has Vincent and Oliver over at the store and they play outside.

But we can clearly hear the voices of two women, so naturally, we peek out of Dolores’ kitchen window.

I see a woman dressed all in black with long, voluminous and silky black hair yell something in the direction of Lupe’s store. She’s wearing motorcycle boots despite the warm weather. The tattoos on her arms are the only bit of color about her.

She stops for just a second to look at the preparation for Esteban's birthday in the courtyard and she scoffs, then shakes her head and marches up my stairs. She starts banging on my door and becomes frustrated when no one opens.

Who is she? I’m positive I’ve never met her before. I’m sure I’d remember her.

Dolores mutters something under her breath, so low I can’t even understand.

“Do you know her?” I ask her, but she doesn’t respond.

“Where are you going?” Dolores asks as I head for her door.

“Whoever she is, she must be looking for me, so I better go see what she wants, don’t you think?”

“Be careful, querida. That one out there is a viper.”

A laugh escapes my lips and I frown. “So you do know who she is.”

“Not well. Wait for me, I’m coming with you.”

“Hi, are you looking for someone?” I ask the woman in black as I descend the stairs from Dolores’ house.

“Yes,” she yells back. “I’m looking for the woman who’s renting this apartment.”

She comes down the stairs just as I reach the courtyard and I stop by the tables lined up for Esteban’s birthday, grabbing the back of an old wooden chair.

“That would be me,” I tell her, exhaling a breath.

“You’re Ines?” she asks, narrowing her eyes, the expression turning her features in a mask of defiance. She is, however, quite beautiful. Her complexion is creamy and youthful, despite the heavy makeup on her eyes and eyebrows. She circles around the table and comes closer, until there’s no more than two feet between us.

Goodness. Up close she’s even more beautiful…and I’m scared shitless of her.

I don’t know why, but the way she looks at me makes me feel like I need to stand up taller, as if I need to prove something, even though I don’t know what.

Her lips are full and defined, and she’s wearing a light pink, rosy lipstick that gives a softer edge to her harsh, rocker-chick look. She even has a choker around her neck, and several bracelets, including a leather band that reminds me of the one I’ve seen on Esteban before. Now that I think of it, he hasn’t been wearing it at all since we started going out together.

Both Lupe and Dolores join us at the same time, while we’re engaged in a silent standoff.

“For the love of God, Reagan, leave her alone,” Lupe pleads.

“I just want to see her up close, Lupe.  I'm not here to kill her,” she says with a wolfish grin worthy of every fairy-tale villain, and I frown. Now I know why I feel the need to stand up taller.  It’s because Black Beauty here might or might not be ready to poke my eyes out. “You’re Ines?” she asks again in an incredulous tone.

“Yes, and you are?” I ask, still a bit confused, determined to keep an open mind. That is, until biker chick scoffs at me.

“You’re nothing special,” she says with a snide smirk. It’s times like this that I wish I had a catchphrase like a heroine in a TV comedy, but I don’t think anyone would be impressed if I used Mindy Lahiri’s famous “Exqueeze me?” line from The Mindy Project or even The Office’s Kelly Kapoor’s “How dare you?”

I raise my eyebrows in surprise and I give her a long bitch, please look.

This is bullshit, and I’m not going to take it from gothic Miss America.

“And you’re gorgeous, but obviously ugly inside. Now, tell me what you want with me or please get lost. I’m kind of busy, as you can see,” I tell her, gesturing toward the table and the courtyard.

“Oh, I see how busy you are. You’ve wasted no time at all,” she implies.

“I’m sorry, I’m afraid I don’t understand…”

“Reagan is Esteban’s ex-girlfriend,” Lupe intervenes. “Reagan, if you care about my brother like you say you do, please stay out of this and leave Ines alone. She doesn’t know about you and him and it’s not her fault if things ended between you two.”

“You’re joking, right? She is the reason why your brother and I are no longer together, and the only reason why he’s been so indecisive all these years…”

Indecisive? My accomplished Esteban? I’m confused, and I don’t understand why she thinks any of this is my fault. Sure, Esteban did break up with her right after I got to town, but it sounds like things between them were already on the rocks, at least from the little bits Lupe told me.

“I’m going to tell Miss Southern Hospitality here how she ruined my life…”

I frown, confused, as a victorious gleam flashes across Reagan’s eyes, the look of a cat who’s about to pounce the clueless chirpy canary. She purses her lips in amusement despite Lupe’s protests, and is just about to say something when a thunderous voice echoes through the courtyard.

“Reagan!” Esteban’s voice takes me by surprise, mostly because the only time he’s ever raised his voice in my presence was when he told Brad off.

His eyes widen as he takes in everything that we set up in the courtyard, and when he meets my gaze, it’s apparent he’s both alarmed and hopeful at the same time.

He steps closer, stopping right behind me, and we exchange a look.

“Hi,” I tell him softly.

“Hi,” he replies with the same tenderness. Then he looks at Reagan, and there’s only anger in his expression and his voice.

“What are you doing here?”

“Oh, come on, Esteban. I didn’t mean any harm, I swear,” she says, raising her hands up defensively. “I just wanted to meet the famous Ines, that’s all.”

Famous Ines? Sure, people around town have seen us together, but no one has made a fuss about us. No one except Reagan.

I narrow my eyes at her and fold my arms across my chest, letting out a frustrated breath.

“I had to see who the woman who stole my Esteban’s heart was,” she says, glancing toward Lupe and Esteban both. Lupe seems even more frustrated than I am. She’s clutching the back of a chair so hard, her knuckles turn white.

I don’t know what happened between Reagan and Esteban, but I can tell that there’s no love lost between her and Lupe.

“You saw me and said I was nothing special,” I tell her, and I hear Esteban hiss behind me. “Now you can just leave. As you can see, we’re busy. I don’t have any time to waste in a standoff with you, gothic Barbie. I don’t give a damn that you and Esteban used to date. He’s my Esteban now. And you ruined his birthday surprise, thank you very much. So, leave.”

She laughs, and I can’t tell if it’s out of nervousness or amusement, but she has enough nerve to ask, “Or what?”

“Or I’ll call the cops and I’ll make you,” Lupe cuts in, placing herself between me and Reagan. “This is my property and you are persona non grata. Leave, Reagan.”

Esteban’s arm comes around my waist and Reagan doesn’t miss it. Her lips twist in an angry pout and she resentfully glares at the two of us. For a moment, she looks like she’s about to cry, but then she straightens up and storms off.

“Go to hell, all of you. And fuck you, Esteban.”

“Noted,” Esteban mutters against my hair without turning around.

Reagan leaves the courtyard and I watch her stomping away, like Maleficent, who failed to ruin the party for everyone. Well, in a way she succeeded.

She ruined Esteban’s surprise.

“Please tell me we won’t be receiving any more visits from scorned ex-girlfriends,” I say when I turn to Esteban.

He shakes his head and gives me a long look. He tucks a lock of hair behind my ear.

“I’m sorry you had to deal with her. Are you okay?”

“I am. I’m just sad she ruined your surprise birthday party. Also, what the fuck is her problem?” Well, I get it. I’d be heartbroken if I lost him, but going around insulting strangers is definitely not my style.

“I’m sorry. It’s my fault,” he says.

“I mean, I understand it…I think. I’d be crusty, too, if I lost you to someone else, but I thought things between you two weren’t great to begin with…”

“They weren’t. Reagan is…Reagan. She can be…as prickly as a cactus.”

I wrap my arms around his waist and rest my head on his chest. He kisses the top of my head. “I can’t believe she’s still so angry about our breakup.”

“I can’t believe she had the nerve to call her plain! I can’t believe we all had to put up with her that long, Esteban! Ugh!” Lupe admonishes him. I pull back from his embrace, and he winces, glancing at his sister briefly.

Then, his jaw locks, as if he’s bracing for my questions.

“Wait…how long did you guys date?”

“We’ve dated on and off for a few years.”

“How many, Esteban?” I ask with a certain impatience.

“Ines, I honestly don’t know how long we’ve dated. We were a couple in high school, and broke up after three, four years?”

“So you broke up when you were how old?”

“Twenty-one?” he says in a questioning tone, as if he couldn’t honestly remember.

“And how many times did you hook up since?” Lupe asks, and Esteban gives her a long, hard look. I glance at him first, and her next, looking for answers. “It really isn’t his fault. It’s more that she’s like a fucking annoying mosquito, always buzzing around, ready to suck his blood during a moment of weakness.”

“Is that true?”

He nods, lips stretched in a line, looking embarrassed more than anything else.

“When did you hook up last?” I ask him.

He pauses and looks up, exhaling before locking eyes with me again. “It had to be…a couple of days before you and I met.”

I take in his words and look down, considering what he said. I frown.

“Wait…you hooked up a few days before we met? And then what?”

“I broke up with her, once and for all. I told her it didn’t feel right.” Esteban’s eyes are clouded with worry, carefully studying my reaction.

A thought crosses my mind.

“You didn’t…you didn’t break up with her because of me, right? After all, we’d just met. Sorry, sorry, I’m being presumptuous,” I say, waving a hand in dismissal, but he takes it in his, and places it over his heart. I thought the fact he’d broken up with his girlfriend around the time I got to town was a coincidence. When Lupe told me that back in July, we’d just kissed. I didn’t want to be presumptuous and think it had anything to do with me.

“What if I did?” he asks.

“Huh? Are you serious?” I ask him, incredulous.

“Do you remember how you felt when we met? Because I remember how it was for me.” A fuzzy feeling spreads in my chest, and my cheeks flush. My throat closes up on me, and I can barely nod and lick my lips.

I do remember. I was attracted to him even then, and I didn’t understand why. I didn’t understand the pull I felt then, but here we are now. From the corner of my eye, I see Lupe and Dolores leave, heading toward the store, presumably to give us some time alone. Esteban’s arms wrap tighter around me, as if he’s afraid I’ll slip away. But he is wrong. There is nowhere else I’d rather be.

“You broke up with her because of me?”

He runs a hand through my hair, his eyes soft and hazy. “I told you that before, remember? On our first night, I told you I wanted to get to know you since the first time I saw you. What I felt for you since the first time I saw you…I’ve never felt it for anyone else. I knew I was supposed to be with you.”

There’s nothing I can say to his words, because they make sense to me. That’s how I feel about him, about us.

I reach for his lips and I kiss him. “Happy Birthday, Esteban.”

“Thank you. Now, why don’t you show me what you were doing before you were so rudely interrupted?”

“Come.” I take his hand and I lead him up the stairs to Dolores’ house.

Luckily, I had just gotten started with the cake. If I had added any baking soda or baking powder, I would have to throw it away and start all over again.

Esteban looks around, taking in everything, and then stops.

“Is that…?”

“Your abuela’s recipe. Lupe gave it to me,” I say excitedly, clapping my hands.

He reaches for the spatula and licks it, giving me a mischievous look. I’m sad that Reagan ruined the surprise, but I’m enjoying this too much to care.

“Maybe another time…we need to do this.”

“Do what?” he asks with an amused gleam in his eyes as he takes a small scoop of batter and feeds it to me.

“Me. You. And cake batter.”

His expression darkens instantly but then he flashes a naughty grin. “Sounds like a plan.”

“I’m sorry your surprise got ruined.”

“Me too. But guess what? Now I get to count the hours until I can come back here and enjoy my evening with you.” He runs his fingers across my cheek, and I have to fight the impulse to drag him across the courtyard, straight to my apartment…and my bed.

“I can’t wait, Ines,” he mumbles against my lips.

“Then you should go, so I can have everything ready by the time you come back,” I say reluctantly, keeping a solid hold on his arms.

“Thank you for all of this. I love you,” he says and then he leans down to kiss me, slow and passionate, both of us tasting of chocolate and chile.

“I love you,” I respond, before my lips mold to his again. The spicy heat of the chile makes my lips tingly, and the passion of his kiss ignites a fire in my chest that burns bright and strong…along with the other one below my belly.

I can’t wait for Esteban to extinguish the flames later tonight.