Eighteen (18)(51)

I sigh as I sit on the back steps waiting for him to pick me up for the airport. He’s late. We leave in four hours and LAX is a good hour-and-a-half drive in traffic at this time of day.

A horn honks in the driveway, and I get up off the stoop and peek around the corner of the house. Oh, shit. It’s his mother in a pale yellow, classic Mercedes roadster. She’s got the top up and she’s leaning out the window. “Shannon, honey. Mateo is running late and he asked me to run you to the airport.”

“Oh,” I say, disappointed.

“Come on. Do you need help with your bags?”

“No,” I say, grabbing my backpack from the stairs and walking to the passenger side door. I slide in, my bare legs loving the softness of the leather interior.

“He didn’t buy you a bag for this trip?” she asks, looking at my pack. “What kind of animal did I raise?”

I giggle at that. “He did offer. He was just as appalled as you that I was taking a ten-dollar backpack to Hawaii. But I said no. I’m not a traveler. I probably wouldn’t get a lot of use out of it.”

She gives me a sideways glance as we back out of the driveway and get on Broadway. “Honey, Mateo loves to travel, so you should just take him up on that offer. You’re going to need it.”

“Hmmm,” I say.

“What’s that mean?”

I like Gigi. I’ve seen her regularly since Mateo first introduced us. Mostly when we go eat at Alesci’s Laguna. But she’s been in Alesci’s Anaheim a few times when we’ve stopped in too. We eat there once a week at least. “I don’t know. I can’t predict the future. And Olivia is here. I can’t just go on trips all the time, you know? Jason was pissed off about this week, but I told him months ago, so there was nothing he could do.”

“I see,” she says, getting on the 5 north. “But they are not your only family, Shannon.”

“No, they really are. I know it’s hard to understand that, coming from such a big one yourself, but—”

“No, sweetie. We’re your family now too.”

I think I blush. I have no idea what to say to that. Does she really think Mateo and I will be together after he finishes his dissertation? Because I’m not that delusional.

“What are you going to do after graduation, Shannon?”

“Oh, I’m thinking about web design. I’m doing a project in school right now and I really like it. Plus, I can do graphic design at the same time. It’s sort of a win-win for me.”

“Do you do web design? I didn’t know that. Would you like to redesign the Alesci’s site?”

“Oh, wow, that must be a huge project.”

“Well, we can start small, maybe? How about just the Anaheim site? And then we’ll see where we are when you’re done with that.”

“Yeah,” I say, excited. Gigi speeds up to get over, and then we get stuck in bumper-to-bumper traffic trying to merge onto the 91. “I’d really like that, actually.”

“I’ll pay you, of course. What do websites go for these days? Last time we redid it I think it was somewhere in the neighborhood of eight thousand dollars.”

“What?” I almost choke. “I’m pretty sure my services aren’t worth eight thousand dollars, Gigi.”

“Honey,” she says, raising an eyebrow. “Never undersell yourself. Always know your worth. And if you come out high, you can always lower your price during negotiations. But since I came in low, as a new businesswoman you will want to counter with something higher. Include a list of your talents and services. Now what are you worth?”

Is she asking me to raise the price on her?

“Shannon?”

“Yeah, OK.” I take a few seconds to collect my thoughts. “Well, I’ll do an original design that will showcase the history of the Anaheim store. Include some of those old photos you have hanging on the walls. And pictures of the family who work there, of course.” Lots of cousins work at the Anaheim store. “And you know what, Gigi? You know what you can maybe add in?” I get a little excited at this idea.

“Tell me, honey.” She’s smiling big at my enthusiasm.

“An online order form for delivery.”

“You’re a genius, Shannon.”

“Right?” I laugh. “People can pay online and stuff. Then the food just appears at their door. We can totally set that up. I’m pretty sure they have some kind of extension I could buy that will have the basics.”

“I love it,” she says.

“But I might need to hire a programmer for the custom stuff. I’m not sure I could do it all myself.”

“So true, honey. OK, you drive a hard bargain, but you’re right. You need ten thousand for that site. Deal.”

Ten thousand dollars. I’m speechless.

But I realize she’s offering me her hand to shake on the deal and I take it, leaning back into the soft leather seats, smiling. “Thank you,” I say. “I know you’re going out of your way to help me and I just want you to know, I really appreciate it.”

“You’re family, Shannon. That’s what families do for each other. And if,” she gives me a sideways glance, “you and Mateo have a disagreement, well, the job is not conditional on your relationship with him. Put a plan together and bring it to me the next time you’re in Laguna, Ok, sweetie?””