Page 2 of Something Tangled Something True (Rosa Ranch #1)
COMIN’ HOME
The sun pokes out from the horizon, illuminating the small BnB as we drag ourselves through the entrance.
I make my way to the shower, stripping as I wait for the water to heat. Once inside, a heavy sigh leaves my lungs at the warm water running over my aching muscles. I take far longer than necessary, doing my best to escape the thoughts dogpiling me.
If I leave him, how will I afford to live?
Will I ever dance again?
How would Karmella and Yanet feel about me leaving the studio?
Will I be letting them down after they took a chance on me?
Where will I go?
My muscles are still too tense by the time I climb out of the shower. My aching joints make it difficult to get over the lip of the tall tub, but I manage to grip the porcelain tight, swinging one leg over at a time.
After wrapping a towel around my waist, I glance around the tiny bubblegum-pink bathroom, and sag into myself. Damnit, I forgot a change of clothes.
I poke my head into the hall. “Could someone bring me something to change into?”
“One sec!” Mayte shouts, running to me ten seconds later with an oversized band-tee and black leggings in hand.
I don’t bother asking how she grabbed them so quickly. I thank her and slip out of the bathroom with a heavy heart and anxiety rumbling in my gut.
The bathroom is at the end of the hall, and I pass the three empty bedrooms, my brows pinched as I listen for my usually rowdy friends, but I come up empty.
The five women are seated on the couch and loveseat, unspeaking as they stare at their phones, pick at their nails, and, in Ewelina’s case, toss back another shot of vodka. I slump into the only open seat between Karmella and Mayte, clearing my throat loudly.
Their heads snap up, everyone’s wide gazes set on me.
I can’t keep my mouth shut any longer.
“I can’t do this.”
The room remains dead silent for an uncomfortable beat and, as Karmella would say, you could hear a cockroach fart.
“Can’t do what?” Mayte asks, her words slow and hesitant.
“I can’t marry him,” I whisper, my lips trembling, hot tears flooding my vision.
“It doesn’t feel right. The pressure to go through with it has been suffocating, but I just can’t,” I admit, throwing my hands up in frustration.
“He’s made me feel like shit for longer than I realized, and every time I considered leaving him, he held it over my head that I need health insurance.
But that’s not a good enough reason to marry someone,” I choke out, my tear-soaked lashes blurring my vision.
Mayte shakes her head emphatically. “No, that’s not a good enough reason, especially if you don’t love him. We’ll find another way.”
Johanna's eyes swing to me as she pins me to my seat with her wide stare. “As long as you’re sure,” she states.
Karmella blows out a long breath, clapping her hands on her thighs.
“Of course she’s fucking sure! Have you met that pendejo ?
Yeah, me neither! Because he’s been isolating her from anyone who could help her pull her head out of her ass.
Gracias a Dios ! Let’s get the fuck out of here.
” She stands abruptly, my jaw hanging open at her statement.
She’s right. Russ never wanted my friends around, getting pissed when Mayte planned this bachelorette weekend without his approval.
We certainly couldn’t have anyone thinking he’s an asshole, now, could we?
Karmella stomps through the living room, dragging the suitcases from the bedrooms, sweat beading on her forehead.
My head flinches back slightly. “What’s going on here? How is everything already packed?”
“You really thought we were going to let you make the biggest mistake of your life by marrying a man who can’t be bothered to meet your friends?” Yanet asks me.
“If you hadn’t come to your senses alone, we were going to drag your ass back to Rosa Ranch,” Mayte chimes in, and my head feels like it’s about to explode with new information and lack of sleep.
Yanet moves from the worn-out loveseat, taking Karmella’s place beside me as she gathers my hands in her lap. “Do you remember when you came to Fuego Fusion looking for a job?”
I bat away tears, choking on the ball of emotion stuck in my throat. “Of course. That day changed my life. Not only did I meet you and Karmella, but you gave me the opportunity to taste my dreams.”
“Mhmm, and a year later, when you showed up an hour earlier than you were supposed to?” Yanet’s brows are cinched, her eyes pleading for me to remember.
As if I could ever forget. I’d arrived at the studio early, looking for an escape.
Russ and I were having an argument about me moving in with him.
I hadn’t wanted to at the time, but he eventually beat me down until I felt there was no other option.
When I got to the studio, I didn’t think anyone was there—the lights were off, and the front door was locked.
I heard Yanet and her husband, John, screaming at each other.
I was terrified he was going to hurt her, but before I could step in, the yelling stopped, replaced by a loud thump and the shattering of glass I heard in my nightmares for months afterward.
“I remember,” I whisper.
“You know, John wasn’t always like that either.
He’s the one who helped me open the studio, worked tirelessly to figure out my permits and support my dreams. But when he shifted his focus to his own business and started making significantly more money than I ever could at the studio, that resentment changed him.
It didn’t happen all at once.” She shakes her head.
“It was a slow shift, so slow, I had time to acclimate to each change while constantly reminding myself of what a good man he had been at the beginning.” She squeezes my hands, hot tears spilling down my cheeks.
“It wasn’t until he pushed me into that mirror and there was a witness to his abuse that I was able to crawl my way out from under him and leave. ”
Mayte crouches beside us, flattening her palms over mine and Yanet’s intertwined hands. “We love you so much, Lols,” she whispers, her voice a broken plea. “We can’t sit back and watch as we wait for Russ to do the same to you.”
A choked sob leaves my mouth as I crumple against Yanet, her arms shooting out to wrap around me. Mayte runs a soothing hand up and down my spine as I let the tears fall. They spill out of me, hot and fast, tainted with the pieces of my soul I might never get back and the fear of what’s to come.
The truck has been dead silent, save for Karmella and Yanet’s loud ass snoring for the past four hours.
When the tires meet gravel, I know we’ve arrived, and apprehension floods my system. It’s been years since I moved, leaving behind a life I’d thought I’d never want for myself, but now, the familiarity of this place has me wondering if I was wrong from the start.
There was a time when this was the place I’d felt most safe and loved, but then the boy I’d loved most had grown into a man.
His grief too great to overcome the physical distance between us, forming an emotional valley that neither of us were equipped to handle.
The thought alone has my heart beating a little faster and acid churning in my gut.
The girls stir in the backseat, and Mayte parks beyond the gate. We sit here in silence, taking in the acreage I grew up on.
My mood shifts, and a laugh bubbles out of me, with Mayte following suit, unable to contain herself.
Ewelina clamps a hand over her mouth, doing her best to hold it in, but Karmella’s cackle results in the entire truck breaking out in a fit of laughter.
We’re delirious, exhausted, and as the reality of what we've just done settles in, the laughter continues to grow.
“We did it.” I chuckle, watching myself from somewhere outside of my own body, as if I’m floating above, disconnected from the moment, the world around me moving in slow motion.
“We really did,” Mayte snorts between laughs, her eyes brimming with tears.
“You’re a runaway bride!” Karmella shouts, officially breaking the dam that is Ewelina’s mouth. She can’t help but keel over in her seat, nearly hyperventilating with laughter.
Our bodies are shaking the truck until the last laugh makes it past our lips.
We sigh into the leather seats, unable to move.
Nothing about this is truly funny.
But sometimes, if you don’t laugh, you’ll cry. And I’ve already shed enough tears for that man.