Page 155 of That Last Summer

“Really?” This is the first time Alex has talked.

“Excuse me?” That’s me.

“Fuck! Are you a spy? Are you like James Bond?” Jaime asks. “Do these things happen in Spain?”

“You’d be surprised,” Marcos answers my friend.

“So he’s not just the computer guy, huh?” Jaime looks at me, reminding me of the conversation we had the day we sampled the wedding cakes. I just roll my eyes.

“I’m not like James Bond. Well, I am, a little bit.”

“Why didn’t you tell us?” Hugo asks.

“Because it’s the CNI. Do I need to explain further?”

“But we’re your family!”

“What do you do for them?”

“I’m a computer specialist.”

“See?” I say to Jaime. “IT.” He’s the one rolling his eyes now.

“And what does Catalina have to do with this?” Hugo asks.

River lets out another sigh before he answers. Poor River. He’s having a hard time talking about all this.

“It’s about her father. We’re watching him, his business. The CNI has been doing it for years. I ran into Catalina by pure chance, I swear, but then it occurred to my asshole boss that he could use that opportunity to get closer to her and thus to her father, and one thing led to another and the CNI thought that if I infiltrated the family, we’d be able to make progress in the investigation. You already know the rest.”

“Fuck...”

“So all these years, you’ve been sleeping with a woman for work?” Jaime asks, even more shocked than before.

“Did they force you to marry her?” I ask him. I’m beginning to understand so many things...

“They didn’t force me, I just had to get close to the target, but things got messy. And that’s it, I can’t talk anymore.”

“Who the hell is Catalina’s father for the government to be after him?”

“The mayor,” I answer.

“I can’t talk about it, guys. I’ve said enough already.”

“You’re going to have to explain this to me a little more,” Jaime says in my ear.

Me? But I know nothing!

“Well,” Marcos says, “does anyone else have something to confess? Damn, this is like Christmas 2011.”

“I’m out of here,” Alex says, getting up from his chair and grabbing his suit jacket off the back. “I foresee long chats around lots of beers, but it’ll have to be tomorrow. It’s been a long day and I want to go home.”

Understandable. He’s put up with enough. As little as he wishes to be around me, he’s behaved like a true member of our family today. He hasn’t left Marcos’ side at any moment, and he was the one who mediated with Alicia’s parents the most. He also gave mine a hug when they left and has offered his help with whatever they need.

“Bye, dude.” Marcos gets up and gives him a long hug. “Thanks for everything.”

“There’s nothing to thank me for. You’d have done the same for me.”

“Absolutely.”