Island Affair (Keys to Love #1)(98)

“Until Sara.” Enrique spoke the words Luis had kept to himself. Uncomfortable bringing Sara’s beautiful spirit and tenacity into a conversation filled with regret and mistakes.

Luis nodded.

The sun moved behind a cloud, darkening the morning sky, but Luis’s tired spirit brightened when his brother’s stiff shoulders relaxed. Despite the tired lines marring what Anamaría called Enrique’s infamous GQ looks, a semblance of his cocky grin curved his lips, hinting at his roguish charm.

“I’m happy for you.” Enrique took the wide step from the boat onto the seawall with ease. The two brothers shook hands, then wound up in a one-armed hug.

“Gracias, hermano.”

“I’ll regret that day at Bahia Honda for the rest of my life,” Enrique said, remorse still haunting his voice.

“Let it go. Regret. Anger. They’re soul suckers.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.” Enrique’s smile twisted into a tormented grimace.

The screen door to the back porch screeched its protest as someone opened it. Seconds later, lumbering footsteps pounded down the stairs.

“But”—Enrique punched Luis playfully in the arm—“I’ll also remember today, when you showed up at Mami and Papi’s looking like a lovesick puppy.”

Luis dodged his younger brother’s second punch, then looped his arm around Enrique’s neck in a chokehold.

“You should be so lucky,” Luis grunted as they jostled, each struggling to get the upper hand in their roughhousing.

“Oye, you two going to horse around or get my boat ready so we can head out?” their father bellowed from the bottom of the steps.

Luis and his brother broke apart. Though not before Enrique took one last jab at Luis’s abdomen.

“Cheap shot,” Luis grumbled. He straightened his T-shirt, giving his brother the side-eye. “We okay?”

The weight of encumbered history slipped away with Enrique’s brusque nod.

Luis elbowed his brother playfully in the ribs, two could play the cheap shot game, before greeting his dad with a love smack on the shoulder on his way toward the house. Then, he took the back stairs by two in search of his mom. He didn’t have to go far.

Inside the screened-porch area, his mami waited. Dressed in a bright floral house bata that fell mid-shin on her plump figure, she clasped her hands as if in prayer. A tremulous smile wavered on her lips. Her beautiful hazel eyes brimmed with tears.

“?Todo está bien?” she asked.

No, everything was not good. Not yet anyway. But he’d cleared the air with his brother. That was the first step.

Rather than answer her with words, Luis looped his arms around his mom for a hug. He dropped a kiss beside the mo?o of hair on top of her head. “I can’t guarantee no more fighting. But the old argument is over.”

His mami sank into his embrace with a muffled cry. Her tears wet the front of his T-shirt, but Luis welcomed their release. These tears were ones of relief and joy. They were a long time coming, and he was ashamed of his part in causing them.

He tightened his arms around her, murmuring, “Está bien,” over and over until she quieted. When she beamed a teary smile up at him and asked if he’d already eaten breakfast, he followed her inside. Cooking for her familia comforted her, and he could use a little of his mami’s comforting himself.

Memories of Sara’s first familia dinner swarmed him as soon as he entered the house. There she was, laughing with his sister in the living room. Blushing at his mami’s blunt interrogation tactics during dinner but taking them in stride.

Sara belonged here. She belonged with him.

Luis prayed he would figure out how to make amends. It couldn’t be too late for them.

No amount of forced time off would help him get his head on straight if he’d lost her.

*

Sara sat next to her sister-in-law crammed in the tiny third-row seat of her parents’ rental SUV as they headed to the airport Friday morning.

Her father slowed at the curve in the road that brought them to the long stretch of Smathers Beach. Sara gazed out at the light sandy shore, the wide palm trees providing shade, and the hardy bushes planted near the sidewalk edge. The shallow shoreline, with its varying shades of blue, invited sunbathers to cool off in the warm, salty water and linger on the sandbars.

She sighed, wistful for what might have been, yet refusing to cry anymore when she thought of Luis and their time together.

It seemed like just yesterday, and at the same time much longer, that she’d first seen this two-mile stretch of public beach. Its food trucks and gear rental stands parked along the wide sidewalk still beckoned. Same as a week ago when she and Luis had driven away from the airport in his truck as strangers.

The day he’d said yes to her crazy idea. The day he had answered her SOS wearing his KWFD tee and scruffy workbooks, driving his behemoth of a truck. Her very own big-screen hero come to life like many a schoolgirl’s fantasy.

But then, reality and his inability to live in the here and now had stepped in to blow up the slice of paradise she’d been living in for the past week.

Her cell phone vibrated in her hands. Another text message from Anamaría popped up on the screen. Safe travels.

Thanks! I’ll be in touch next week, Sara answered.

The thumbs-up emoji appeared under her last message.