Page 60 of Take the Blame (Seaside Mergers #3)
Chapter Thirty-One
ALTA
The number flashing on my screen pulled me out of the deep end.
I’d been staring at my computer for what felt like forever, my fingers flying across the screen like a maniac for the past hour.
It was early. Like, I’m pretty sure I’d gotten to the office at the same time my brother usually did, early.
But I had a deadline, and I was determined to make it.
Last week I had gotten the go ahead on my proposal and I was officially taking over the entire project, so I wanted to be able to put the first phase into effect before the holiday.
I only had a couple of days to accomplish that and lately I’d been focused on things that had nothing to do with my career and everything to do with a man that was becoming larger than life in my eyes. Out of nowhere, I wanted to be everywhere he was.
I couldn’t get enough and sometime between confessing my deepest secrets to him on that freezing ledge and getting his confessions in return, I’d decided I was no longer going to try.
And why did that decision suddenly make me want to run to him?
To go to him and claim him and shout from the rooftops that he was mine?
I wasn’t sure the science behind making a decision and immediately wanting to carry out every possible avenue to actualizing it, but I did have a suspicion the impromptu call from my mother that brought an apprehensive pull to my gut was not in aide of my newfound revelations.
It must have been another scientific phenomena to know when a call from your mom would good or bad. Gulping, I accepted the call knowing the science wasn’t on my side.
“ Amá !”’ I said, artificially cheerful even though something was telling me to put my guard up. “ Que Pasa ?”
“ Dónde estás, Mija ?” she asked. “You’re usually home by now. Is something wrong?”
I looked at my watch. Noon. When the heck had three hours passed so quickly? Anxiety hit my chest as I took in just how much more I had to go and I banged my fingers along the keyboard even faster.
“ Trabajando, Amá . I’ll be home later tonight,” I said. She hummed. A sound that pulled my moving hands to a stop. A sound that did not sound particularly supportive. Warily I repeated. “ Amá ?”
“Do you have a moment to talk, Mija?” she asked. “I was hoping to speak when you arrived but… well, I’m not sure when that will be.”
My stomach knotted. Amá sounded serious, and when she was serious I usually didn’t like what she was going to say next.
“What is it? Did something happen? ”
“No…” she said. “Is anything happening with you?”
My neck prickled, that bad feeling churning, making me wary. “ Amá , please just say it plainly. If there’s something wrong, don’t beat around the bush.”
She grumbled, ever the prodder, my mother liked to feel out every situation before jumping into it. I had never had that skill. Most of the time I needed to know things up front or else anxiety of the unknown crippled me.
“Melissa says you’ve been ignoring her,” Amá said, crippling me anyway.
“What?” My head whipped to the door of the girl in question. The door was closed. The door had been closed for the last couple of weeks. The prospect that I was the one ignoring her was crazy since she was the one who seemed to disappear every time I entered a room. “Why would she say that?”
“I don’t know, Mija,” she said. “Is it true?”
“Of course it’s not true! Why would you even ask?”
“Well, the others say you have been distant too. They miss you and they’re worried about you,” she continued.
“Who said that?” I snapped.
“ Mija , cálmate ,” she hissed. “See, this is why they are upset. You are not acting like yourself.”
“I am acting like myself. Myself has just been busy with work lately,” I said. “Melissa knows that she sits right beside me.”
Amá grunted. “Yes, and we’re proud of you for working so hard, mama. But have you checked in with your brothers and sisters lately? No one seems to know what is going on with you and you really hurt Melissa’s feelings by not acknowledging her. She’s convinced you hate her.”
“She said that?” I found myself snapping again.
“ No ,” she said. “But I could tell. She did say she was afraid to talk to you about it, because of your sudden temper. ”
I guffawed. “She’s afraid to talk to me , but Ceci can throw apples at her and she can talk to her all day?”
“ Que ?” she questioned, completely thrown off.
Oops. I forgot Amá didn’t know about that particular fight.
Wisely, she decided to brush it off for now.
“I am not taking sides or saying that any one of you is right or wrong. This is why I am calling, to ask you if there is something going on? Because if we raised you to do anything, we raised you babies to be good family to each other. Are you doing that, Mija?”
I swallowed hard, guilt landing exactly where she wanted it to.
It’s true I had been a little distant maybe, but that was because I wanted to work on my project.
And maybe I've been kind of short with my siblings lately too.
But that was only because I was trying to stand up for myself more. But was I really being a bad sister?
Did Lis really think that I could hate her just because I turned her down for lunch a few times?
“I’ll be home soon, Amá,” I said quickly, unable to think of yet another thing on my plate at that moment. And only because this hurt in a way I wasn't expecting, I added. “I’ll try to become a better sister by the time I get there.”
I didn’t give her a chance to answer before hanging up.