Chapter 4

Lou spent the rest of the day with a smile on his face. Joey had been so much better than he’d imagined. At turns shy then funny, vibrant and soft. A real woman he wanted to get to know, to understand what made her smile or cry, and to see why she acted so guarded. She’d been hurt before, that much was obvious. But she seemed too young to be so cautious. She had to be in her early to midtwenties.

Would she be bothered by their age difference? He was close to thirty-five. Did it matter? He’d never dated a woman based on age, only on interest. Not to say he wouldn’t dismiss a nineteen-year-old for being too young. But Joey seemed worlds older than what had to be her age. Her eyes spoke of experience, loss, acceptance.

Man, knowing even that much about her made him crave to know more.

“Come on, Lou. Wake up.” Heller smacked him on the shoulder. “Give me what else you have.”

Lou swallowed the curse that came to mind and showed Heller what he’d been planning once he cleared the grim reaper. The two classic car projects would take some time. The owners wanting them had been referred by other clients. They only wanted Lou to do the paint work, and they were willing to pay.

Lou worked on commission for Heller and Del. And he made a pretty penny when creating designer stuff for the rich guys who dealt with Heller. But he’d have to pull some real overtime to get his shit done at both places.

“Oh, and Heller, I can’t be here during the day too much. Del might cry. What can I say? She’s missing me.”

Heller grunted. “Your boss is a pain in my ass. But I like her.” He paused. “Don’t tell her I said that.”

“My lips are sealed. So let’s schedule my hours at night a few days next week and the weekend, so I can get this done.” It figured that Del and Heller would get along. Both were perfectionists and hard workers, and both liked to make their own rules. Talk about controlling.

Lou wondered if that’s why he got on so well with them both. He appreciated a dominant personality and didn’t chafe at taking instruction from those who knew the score. Del and Heller had worked hard to earn their places in life, and he respected them both. Truth to tell, he wasn’t sure who scared him more: Heller with his huge fists or Del with her smart mouth.

At the thought, he wondered who would win in a smackdown between the pair.

Heller raised a brow. “What’s that look?”

“Nothing, man. I need to go. Mama’s making her famous posole for dinner. She even puts the radishes and lettuce on top.” Lou loved the hominy-based soup. “If I’m late, she’ll swing by my place with the girls. Then I’ll never get them out.”

Heller shook his head. “I don’t know how you do it. Go to your mom’s. And maybe bring in some leftovers tomorrow, eh?”

“You know Mama loves you. I’ll have some.”

A ghost of a smile, then Heller left to bark orders at Mateo, who hadn’t yet finished sanding a troubled Viper with a truly awful paint job.

On the drive to Renton to see his mother, Lou wondered what she might think of Joey. Not an odd thought to have, because Lou loved his mother without question. Had she always made the right choices in life? Hell no. He had five sisters. One by his father, that scum-sucking loser. Three others by a guy just like his dad, but at least his mom had been married to the guy during his shitty behavior, so she’d had some financial support. Then the youngest’s father, who’d been a stand-up guy. Unfortunately, he’d passed away five years ago.

Renata Cortez Hernando had made mistakes. Sure. But she’d never squandered her love. She had too much to spare, in Lou’s opinion, but she loved the hell out of her kids. Problem was she hadn’t understood the best way to care for them when they’d needed it most; hence Lou and his oldest sister, Lucia, had stepped in when Abuela wasn’t around. Now he spent his time containing the youngest of them, Rosie and Stella, when they went wild.

He hoped Stella would get over her ex soon. Because she was the one he worried about the most. She’d had a massive crush on Sam for a time, but Sam had never returned her affections, thank God. Lou would have had to work to kick Sam’s ass. But at least Sam would have treated her right. Stella had a tendency to choose dickheads.

He sighed and pulled into his mother’s drive. She had purchased the house more than twenty years ago with two of her sisters, raised ten kids between them, then helped her younger sisters move close. More Cortez women lived on Oakesdale Avenue than anywhere else in the Pacific Northwest.

He still got queasy thinking about moving back in. Hell no. Life in Rainier Valley suited him just fine. Close enough to help if family needed it, but far enough away his mother wasn’t barging in to check on him every freakin’ day. That she still did on occasion he’d take to his grave. God forbid the guys or Heller found out his mother really did try to keep an eye on him.

He took a hard look at the house and made a mental note to take another pass at the screen door. Rosie had no doubt been slamming in and out again. Only Rosie, Stella, and his mom still lived in the place, unless Tía Adelita and her girls had moved back in. Last he’d heard, his aunt and two of her four girls had been living in an apartment a few minutes away.

He noted the cars lined up in the driveway and in front of the house and saw that Lucia, Carla, and Maria were here. But none of his aunts. Maybe, just maybe, he’d be saved from Tía Alma tonight. Man, could that woman nag. If he had to hear one more time how he was hurting the family by not procreating…

Fuck. There were twenty-six of them, including all his cousins, sisters, aunts, and grandmother. And she wanted more?

When he entered the house, Rosie ran up to him, and he lifted her into a hug.

“Guapo! You’re here!” Rosie had been calling him handsome since she’d learned to talk. Repeating too much of what her older sisters said. Except they’d called him handsome with snark, whereas she meant it.

“Hey, Rosita. Where’s everybody?”

He took a huge whiff and sighed. The scent of food made his stomach rumble, and he realized he hadn’t eaten anything all day but a few bites of bear claw…and Joey.

“In the basement. Mama wanted us to have the party down there.”

“Party?” He set her down and managed not to trip over the high heels and sandals littering the hallway. He added his boots, knowing he’d never hear the end of it if his mother saw him tramping around her house wearing shoes.

He stopped in the kitchen to grab a beer and shoved a twenty under the magnet on the side of the refrigerator, where he typically gave his mother something for her trouble. Before he left for the evening, she would walk to the fridge and demand he take his money back, protesting that she didn’t need it. He’d insist she take it, add another ten for her stubbornness, then leave after she grudgingly relented.

Rosie opened the door to the basement, and he heard chatter in a mixture of Spanish and English over muted music. Something not Latin, for once, but an alternative band. Most likely Stella’s choice. He followed Rosie and ended up hugging the girls, oldest to youngest. Lucia, almost five years younger than Lou. Then Carla, twenty-seven, Maria, twenty-six, Stella, now twenty-three, and again back to Rosie, eight. They all looked alike, sounded alike, yet couldn’t be more different.

“About time you got here,” Lucia muttered. The oldest of the girls and the most rational. She worked as a paralegal and loved being single, dating sporadically, much to their mother’s consternation. Carla and Maria owned a cleaning business together, just like their mother and aunts. They’d become even more successful than Mama, the little brainiacs. Both were dating guys he wasn’t quite sure of, but since the guys treated his sisters right—so far—he’d been leaving them mostly alone.

Stella, no longer dating the dickhead, started mouthing off about how Mama had found her a nice boy from down the street. A boring guy who’d just graduated college and cared for his grandmother.

Lou thought he sounded pretty damn good.

Rosie abandoned him for Abuela, their grandmother. Shit. He’d forgotten to return her call yesterday; he’d been so wrapped up in thoughts of Joey.

Doing his penance, he gave Abuela a kiss, a hug, and an apology. In Spanish, because Abuela didn’t speak English, though she could understand some of it, he said, “I’m so sorry, Grandma. I meant to call but got caught up in a project. You should see the new paint jobs I’m scheduled to do.” He told her all about the grim reaper on the Corvette.

She nodded, smiled, showing a gap where she was missing a tooth, and punched him in the arm.

“Ow.”

“Liar. You got a woman on the brain. I know.” Behind her, his mother brightened.

Hell.

“But that’s okay, Guapo. She’ll make pretty babies for your mama to care for. I’ll let it go.”

“Is that true, Luis?”

Lou sighed. “No. Not exactly.” He didn’t like lying to his mother. Plus the woman read him as well as his grandmother did. He sometimes feared Abuela had a touch of the sight, because she could know things about him even he found out later. And of course she always shared with Mama.

“Well, what then, exactly?” Renata sparkled, the love for her family showing in everything she did. When they all came together, she practically glowed. And her good mood infected everyone.

Even Stella laughed when only yesterday she’d cried on his shoulder over douchey Paul.

“Okay, you want the truth? A pretty girl called me last night, and I was so surprised to hear from her, I forgot to call you back.”

“What girl makes you forget your grandmother?” His mother narrowed her eyes on him. So did his grandma.

Then Rosie did it, and he couldn’t help laughing. “You’re all very scary, you know that?”

“Bah. Nothing scares you, Guapo.” Rosie shrugged the notion aside. “But I don’t know… You talk to girls all the time. What’s the big deal?”

“I, ah…” He saw too many of his sisters listening in and changed the subject. “What I want to know is how Miguel and Doug are treating my sisters. Do I need to pound anyone this week or what? And Mama, where’s dinner? I’m starving.”

“Hold on, boy.” She and Abuela went with Lucia to grab the food from the small kitchenette in the corner. His mother had so many people coming and going from her house, or at least she used to, that she and her sisters had turned the basement into its own little living quarters. Now, for parties, they cooked downstairs and opened up the double doors leading to the backyard. Or, like today, they made a meal everyone could enjoy either in the basement or outside. He noticed the doors open and a few tables with tablecloths outside on the patio.

Considering the weather felt just on the warm side of cool, they’d do well to take advantage of Seattle’s spring.

“Maria, Carla?” Lou asked, his voice overly loud. “I’m still not sure about these bozos you’re dating. Want me to talk to them for you?”

“The way you talked Doug into nearly peeing himself the last time you mentioned ‘talking’ to him? You had him convinced you were a homicidal ex-con who liked pretty boys.”

Carla said, “Juvenile detention is not real jail, moron. Leave Miguel alone too.”

“Well, Doug is pretty.” Lou grinned at the girls. “And juvie wasn’t a cakewalk. I could have been in real trouble if Mama hadn’t flirted outrageously with the judge to get me less time.”

“Luis Cortez!” His mother glared.

“Kidding.” He wasn’t, actually.

Maria fumed. “Doug’s a good man. And he wasn’t flirting the last time we went out. He knew the waitress from work.”

“Uh-huh.” Lou didn’t give a shit. Nobody messed with his sisters.

Maria rolled her eyes. “Doug is great, business is fine, and I’m not planning to get married anytime soon. Happy?”

“He proposed?” Wow. Lou hadn’t thought the little guy had it in him.

She frowned. “Not yet. But when he does, I’ll think it over before saying yes.”

“Good. And you?” he asked Carla.

“Miguel and I are just having fun. I’ll leave babies and marriage to my older sister and brother.” She gave him a fake smile. “How’s that going, by the way? Anyone you’re interested in proposing to, hermano? Like your little phone friend?”

She only called him “brother” in that tone when annoyed.

Mission accomplished on that front.

He spent the rest of the night filling his belly, laughing at his sisters, fending off his grandmother’s demands to meet his “phone girl,” and talking his mother into cooking something special for Heller next time. The man was half in love with her anyway, and it couldn’t hurt to kiss his ass so that Lou could take some longer lunches to flirt with Joey.

After helping to clean up, because all the Cortez children cleaned after themselves, he cornered Stella. “You doing okay?”

“Fine.” She sighed. She wore dark makeup around her eyes, a bright red on her lips, and her hair straight and long down her back. Demurely dressed in jeans and a baggy sweatshirt, Stella looked like a young Salma Hayek, and she had the admirers to prove it.

“How are you really doing?” he asked.

“I miss Paul.” She sniffed. “He was an asshole, and he cheated on me, but I think I might have pushed him into it.”

Yeah, right. “How’s that?”

“He and I were only together a few months, but he was so nice to me. And it was so cool seeing him up on stage.”

Paul, the drummer for an alt-rock band, seemed to think he was on the rise. A hot girlfriend had certainly helped his cred.

“And?”

“He was always playing at night, but I couldn’t stay out so late. I mean, I have work, you know?” Stella cleaned for Maria and Carla’s company while also working on her cosmetology classes. “And we were, well, I know everybody does it, but I wanted to take it slow while dating. You know, to really get to know him first.”

Even better. They hadn’t had sex. “Good. So what’s the problem? His balls turn so blue he had to go fuck a girl so he wouldn’t die?”

“Lou.” She blushed. “He said it was hard.”

“I’ll bet.”

“That we weren’t doing anything,” she said through gritted teeth. “And they were throwing themselves at him, but I wasn’t there to help.” Her anger melted, and she sniffed. “He said if I would have stopped acting like a little girl and given him what he needed, he never would have gone to the others.”

“Others? With an S? What a prick.” He pulled her in for a hug. “You can bet your ass a real man wouldn’t cheat. It sucks, yeah, but if you like and respect your girl, you wait until she’s ready. And you sure as shit don’t go to other girls because she said no.” Maybe he would go pound the little shit after all. “You are so much better than him, Stella. You know that, right?”

She shrugged, her tears burning his shoulder. He pushed her away so she could see him telling the truth.

“No. Let me tell you something. Sam would never treat a woman like that. Ever.” He knew she still idolized the guy, even though he’d found Ivy. “You think he’d go hounding after some other woman if Ivy couldn’t ‘take care of him’?” At the small shake of her head, he added, “Do you think I would do that to someone I cared about?”

“No.”

“So why is it okay that some douchebag can screw around on you? Just because you said no? Would you go out and see some other guy if he was busy some night? Because I know you get hit on all the time.”

“Of course I wouldn’t.”

He grew angrier. “So why are you acting like he’s God’s gift to women? Jesus, Stella. Grow a pair. Get mad. Get even—be happy. Know that you’re better off without him.”

“I do, okay?” she shouted.

There. He liked her rage much better than her tears.

“But he slept with Missy Bonekker, and she’s a complete bitch.”

“Stella,” their mother cautioned, hearing the language.

“Well, she is, Mama. She’s in my classes at school, and she was bragging about how she stole him away. She’s such—oh. I hate her.”

Now understanding the issue a lot more clearly, Lou shared a glance with Lucia.

Lucia came over and took Stella aside. “You want to get even with this witch, let me tell you how…”

Leaving Stella in good hands, Lou crossed to his grandmother and kissed her on the forehead. “I have to go, Grandma.”

“Bring your girl for dinner, and we’ll see.”

He rolled his eyes. “She’s not my girl, and we only had coffee. It’s nothing serious.” Yet.

“Bring her. You have two boys and a girl, I think. Next year, a baby for me to hold, okay, sweetie?”

“Oh my God. Grandma, no.”

She laughed at him before joining Stella and Lucia.

After finishing his goodbyes, he and his mother walked upstairs, where they haggled by the twenty he’d left on the fridge. He gave her the ten he’d been saving, promising to take Rosie to the park on Saturday.

“I’ll pick her up at noon. So you good, Mama?”

She smiled. “Yes. I’m seeing a new man.”

He swallowed a groan of disappointment and forced a smile. “Great.” Life would have been much easier if his mother hadn’t been so easy on the eyes.

“I know you don’t like me with other men, but hijo, that’s normal. It’s not natural for a woman to be alone. Or for a young man to stop dating.” She gave him the look. “It’s past time you got married.”

Like you? Two marriages and three baby daddies? All those boyfriends we were forced to share a dinner with, wondering if they’d be moving in or moving on? No thanks. He loved his mother, but he didn’t understand how she could so easily fall in and out of love. Or how she could think that hadn’t affected her children. “Yeah, great. Just be careful, okay? No more sisters. I can’t handle it.”

She laughed. “I know about safe sex, Luis.”

He cringed. “I have to go.”

“Rosie still wants a little brother, you know.”

He lit out of her driveway and didn’t look back.

* * *

Thursday morning at work, Joey rubbed her gritty eyes. For the past two nights, she’d done nothing but dream about Lou. Naked.

He pranced, he danced, he stripped her down and went wild. She’d woken sweaty and frustrated, and this morning she’d been joined by an equally angry little boy. Apparently Brandon didn’t want to take a lunch box anymore. He wanted a hot lunch, which, one, wasn’t in the budget and, two, would only guarantee he got a slice of pizza and tater tots. Starch plus starch in addition to the apple the school would plunk on his tray but he wouldn’t eat.

And when Brandon didn’t get enough to eat, the boy could rival Oscar the Grouch for grumpiness. Please. Been there, done that.

Then the hot water had given them fits. So with cold showers, the last of the dino-egg oatmeal, and an argument over hot versus cold lunch, she’d shipped her boy to school then went to work on three hours of sleep.

Miserable, to say the least. To make matters worse, she had dinner scheduled with Lou later that night. Her boss had been almost more excited than Joey that Joey had a date, so she’d volunteered to take Brandon out for burgers. He loved Stef, so at least that had gone Joey’s way.

But now Joey had too much time on her hands to think about sexy Lou and what he had planned—or not planned—for this starter relationship.

While there was no reason to take him too seriously, she didn’t think she’d be able to handle him in the long run. In her fantasies, they made love, and he was magnificent. Then he’d bowl over any objections she had to keeping her heart safe. She’d fall in lust, then in love…and he’d break her heart after giving her an STD. Best case. Or she’d get pregnant while on multiple forms of birth control. The other best case.

She sighed. Even in her dream world, reality reared its ugly head.

Still not sure why she’d gone out with him in the first place, she wanted badly to regret it. But she couldn’t. She’d felt special Tuesday. For all of an hour over coffee and a bear claw, Joey had felt not like someone’s mom or disappointing daughter, but like a real, desirable woman.

Lou didn’t know her as a screwup. She attracted him, and he’d laughed with, not at, her. Big difference.

She’d enjoyed herself enough to want another date. And now she had one in eight and a half hours. Oh man, today is going to drag.

Except it didn’t. A last-minute beauty pageant fill-in had them making a dozen corsages and large bouquets for the winning age classes. Between her and Tonya, they’d worked hard. Manning the front and taking calls in between creating grand-prize arrangements, they also had their regular deliveries as well as the new guy to handle.

To her surprise, she’d recognized him from Del’s wedding. Apparently Theo Donnigan was Del’s new cousin by marriage. Talk about a small world.

She figured she’d need to take time out to show him around, but he’d been more than happy to help out where needed.

“Theo, can you hand me the gyp? I mean, the baby’s breath?” she asked.

“Uh, that one?” He pointed to the bucket of delicate white flowers.

“Yep. Gyp. It’s actually common gypsophila. The delicate little white-and-pink flowers are great as filler, but they get overused that way a lot. We’re just going to use a smaller branch of it here”—she tied it to the floral wires sticking through the base of the purple spray rose—“in addition to a larger frond and two white carnations. Simple but effective.” Then she wrapped floral tape around the wires and managed the tiny arrangements.

Next to her, Tonya had already finished her fourth corsage and was starting on a fifth. “So how do you like S&J, Theo?” The older woman smiled at him, probably seeing her own teenager in the young man.

He’d come by looking for part-time work two weeks ago. Stef had been so impressed with his work ethic and stellar references, of which he had many, that she’d hired him on the spot. Apparently his current job at a coffee shop was hitting a few bumps due to a girlfriend who’d recently been promoted to manager. His hours had gone down, and he thought he might need to quit sooner than later.

In any case, Theo would soon be twenty-one and joining the Marines. In the meantime, he needed gainful employment.

“Can I make one?” he asked, watching intently.

Joey nodded, and they worked in companionable silence for a while.

“You guys need music in here,” he said.

“Good point.” Tonya turned to Joey. “Well, Ms. Manager?”

As pleased as Joey that she’d gotten the job, Tonya had been glad to see the last of their old manager. Not that Georgette had been a bad sort, but she’d been too rigid, afraid to try anything new. Her move away had come as a blessing. Especially because it had opened up the possibility of Joey taking over.

“Manager? Sweet.” Theo grinned. A good-looking guy with dark hair and a tall if skinny frame, he’d be a definite lady-killer in a few years. Despite only being a few years older, Joey felt worlds apart from the younger man. She had a son and responsibilities while he was just getting started with life.

“Joey worked hard for the promotion, let me tell you.” Then Tonya did just that, regaling Theo with stories about Joey staying late and butting heads with Georgette.

The buzzer signaled new customers in the store, letting Joey know to wait by the counter. And the day went steadily onward from there, busy then slow, with arrangements to put together in the back. Theo spent much of the day working with Tonya. By four, Joey told him to go home.

“You did great today, Theo. We’ll get you going on deliveries soon enough. Get familiar with the city traffic and road closures.”

He sighed. “No kidding. It takes forever to get around here anymore.”

“I know.”

He looked down at her from his impressive height. “Man, you’re short. Boss.”

“Hey, not nice.” She grinned. “How tall are you?”

“Six three.” He flexed a skinny arm. “But I have a lot of filling out to do to catch up to my brothers. They’re home now, but they used to be in the Marine Corps.”

She nodded. “Is that why you’re going to join up?”

“Partly. And partly because I always wanted to.” He shrugged. “It just feels right.”

“That’s great.”

He smiled. “What about you? Did you always want to do this?”

“Not exactly. I was never really sure what I wanted to do. My parents always pushed me to get straight A’s and excel in everything, so I never had a chance to just breathe and figure things out.”

“Yeah. My parents kind of pushed me too. Until I pushed back.” He snorted. “My mom, I love her, but she’s hard to please sometimes. Not as bad as my dad, though. And everyone thinks he’s the easygoing one.”

Do I know what that feels like. “Funny how that works, isn’t it? But at least we have a good thing going here. The flower shop is an awesome place to work. Stef is great. You met her.” At his nod, she continued. “It’s not too snooty, the people are nice, and we don’t worry about getting robbed or mugged in the parking lot. Plus we’re always busy. This is a great location. Wait until you start making deliveries. Everyone loves to get flowers. And you’re cute, so you’ll make big tips.”

He flushed. “Thanks.”

She stifled a laugh. “Sorry. Didn’t mean to embarrass you. But we deliver to a lot of women, and that’s what our last delivery guy told me, and he was kicking thirty. An old man,” she teased.

Theo nodded, apparently not getting the joke. “So why did he leave?”

“He and his wife moved to Tacoma to be near family, and he started working for his father-in-law.”

“Makes sense.”

“You did great today. Go home, Theo. Rest up for tomorrow.”

“Yes, boss.” He saluted, grinned, and left through the back with a shout to Tonya.

Tonya soon joined her out front, pushed her glasses higher on her nose, and combed her dark-blond hair behind her ears. “I like him. He works hard. Reminds me of Billy.” Her son.

“Me too. I think he’ll make a nice addition to the team, for as long as he’s here anyway. I figure we’ll have him a few months before he leaves for basic training, right?”

“I guess.” She looked at Joey. “He’s pretty cute, don’t you think?”

“Billy? Sure. He looks like you.”

“I meant Theo.”

“Oh. Oh.” Joey flushed. “Come on, Tonya. That kid makes me feel ancient.”

Tonya laughed. “Honey, ‘that kid’ is maybe four years younger than you. That’s not too old.”

“It is to me.” She felt nothing but manager-ly toward their newest employee.

Tonya laughed. “Sorry I asked. But you know, Stef and I talk. We think you need to start dating again. Don’t let that Adam and, who was the other one?”

“Jim.” From nine months ago. Adam had been a year past. Oh boy. She did need to get out more.

“That’s right. Jim. Don’t let them put you off men, honey. You’re young, smart, and pretty. You deserve some fun in your life.”

“I have a date tonight” slipped out.

Tonya gaped. “Well, no kidding.” She grinned. “Good for you! How did that happen?”

“He came in the other day to get flowers for his sister. Then he asked me out. We’re just doing dinner tonight. No biggie.”

“I want details tomorrow. Don’t hold back.”

Joey rolled her eyes. “Yes, Mom.”

Tonya cracked up. “Is he coming to pick you up?”

“I’m meeting him at six-thirty. Stef is watching Brandon for me. And no one but you, me, and Stef know about this.”

Tonya twisted an invisible key over her lips. “Mum’s the word.”