Page 62 of Love is Grand

“It’s okay, I’m right here.” I sat down in a high-back chair facing the hot tub and kept an eye on Weezie.

A server came around with appetizers. Shrimp cocktail, conch fritters, and some type of burrata on toast adorned the tray.

I was about to select a piece, and Cal said from across the way, “Is burrata okay?”

“I’m having a shrimp.” I waved the crustacean in the air, and he turned to talk with my dad. I heard snippets of their conversation, something about supply chain, shipping, and America.

I didn’t even want to know.

We stayed like that for the allotted ten minutes I’d given to Weezie, and then I went to help her get dry and dressed.

By the time I was back, the grill was smoking, and someone was flipping steaks and burgers.

Weezie ran to my mom, cuddling with her before my mom said, “Soon, you’ll have to share me.”

“Abuela, that’s okay. I’m getting big,” my daughter said back.

“Unless you move to America, and then I won’t have either of you.”

Thank goodness I wasn’t eating, or I would have choked. Suddenly, I was burning hot in my lightweight sweater and maternity jeans.

“Mom!”

“What? Adam moved here, and it’s clear your guy has too much work in the Big Apple to do the same, so you can go there.”

“Mom. Again, stop. I’m not moving. Cal isn’t moving. He’s not Adam.”

“That’s for sure,” my mom muttered.

Cal shot her the side-eye at that but was too smart to engage. Not me, though.

Whipping my hair back, I said, “Mom, this is all we are, okay? Be happy.”

The cook came out, unaware of the tension, and said, “Dinner is ready.”

“Perfect.” Cal stood and acted like he hadn’t just been insulted.

I didn’t think he appreciated the comparison to his brother. Cal wasn’t like Adam, and he had no intention of being like him, despite his whole I haven’t given you a ring yet speech.

“That was a disaster,” I said to Cal after he buckled Weezie into the backseat and then opened the driver’s door for me.

“At least your dad likes me.”

“He’s trying. You got me to quit the restaurant, so he’s temporarily satisfied.”

Cal leaned in and brushed his lips across my cheek. “Wish you’d stay.”

“I can’t. It’s not the right look with Weez. She’s young and doesn’t understand what all this means.”

He nodded and placed a quick kiss on my lips. “Tomorrow. Dinner at the Ritz. You and me. I want you all to myself for one night.”

I confirmed and then got into my car and went home to my dilapidated shack, certain Weezie would dream of his mansion for months. Mentally, I beat myself up for even bringing her over.

But when I got home, the evening went even more downhill.

I didn’t dream, let alone sleep, because something upset my stomach shortly after I lay down. I spent the night on the bathroom floor, finally calling my doctor at three o’clock in the morning. She said for me to come in for a quick check in the morning, sure that it was either a virus, something I ate, or second-trimester morning sickness.

By the morning, the sickness had abated, and I decided to not tell Cal. When it hit again as we were leaving for dinner, though, I had to come clean.