Page 36 of Jessica, Not Her Real Name

Sebastián rolled his eyes. “No.Es la novia de Daniel.”

Julia’s tiny amount of Spanish was enough to deduce that Sebastián had just called her Daniel’s girlfriend. It wasn’t true, but the mere idea of her being that sent a stupid little thrill through her.

Martín’s reaction to that news was very different. He looked at Julia with a mixture of pity and horror, like he’d just been told she had some incurable, life-shortening disease.

Sebastián laughed at his response. Then he tugged Julia away, through a doorway curtained by long plastic strips. It led to the kitchen, which was cramped and hot and loud, with servers and cooks bustling between the counters and speaking loudly in Spanish. She pressed herself against a refrigerator door and made herself small. Sebastián went over to one grill and spoke to the cook manning it. A minute later, he came back with a plate containing two overstuffed fried sandwiches.

“Tortas,” he explained, handing her the plate.

She trailed him out of the kitchen and through the dining area to a small table near the door.

While they ate, she kept snatching glances of him across the table. She tried to spot differences between him and Daniel. Sebastián’s face was thinner, more sculpted. None of Daniel’s scars or tattoos. More handsome, but less animated. Daniel’s eyes contained all his thoughts, swimming right on the surface. She sensed Sebastián kept his much deeper down.

He said, “So how’d you and my brother meet, anyway?”

She bit the inside of her cheek and said nothing.

“Sorry,” he said. “I didn’t mean to pry.”

“It’s not that.”

She looked down at her plate. Every time she thought about telling anyone what had happened in Daniel’s trailer that night, she felt a stab of panic.

Her eyes flicked back to Sebastián. “It’s just a long and kind of awful story.”

He didn’t seem surprised that they hadn’t met in some adorable, romantic way like you see in a rom-com. Or maybe his guarded expression was just Sebastián’s standard reaction to everything.

She said, “How long have you worked here?”

“About a year and a half. Since we got here from LA.”

“Just you and Daniel?”

He nodded.

“Why’d you leave LA?”

He didn’t answer, just pushed his plate away. He sat forward, crossing his arms on the table. “Listen, Julia. I’m not trying to scare you away here. But there’s a lot of stuff you don’t know?—”

Behind her, the restaurant door banged open. Sebastián fell silent.

She swiveled in her seat and saw Daniel standing in the doorway, wearing baggy jeans and a green checkered shirt over a white singlet. The color of his shirt seemed to make the hazel in his eyes even more striking.

His gaze went straight to Julia. And she instantly felt like there was no longer enough oxygen in the room.

She couldn’t seem to make her tongue work, so she just stared at him. Daniel’s eyes went to his brother, and something passed between them, deep and unspoken. Something like gratitude, only a hundred times stronger.

Sebastián stood and tossed him the car keys.

Daniel snatched them out of the air. He nodded at Julia, then turned and left the restaurant without a word.

She got up and pushed her chair in. Her hands were shaking, so she pressed them to her sides. “Thanks for dinner,” she said to Sebastián.

At the door, she paused and looked back. Martín was standing over by the counter, serving a customer. She gave him a little wave. He just shook his head and went back to punching buttons on the cash register.

* * *

Julia’s heart was thumping as she crossed the street to where Daniel was waiting for her in the ’Cuda. Outwardly though, she tried to appear calm as slid into the passenger seat.