Page 30 of Until You Came Along

“I told you to get used to it, though today he was beside himself.”

“Why did you say we have to get up early tomorrow? I don’t think it’s right for you to make your family believe there’s something more than friendship between us.”

“I said it to test the waters a bit, I know what I’m doing. Besides, I wanted to invite you to the beach. What do you think?”

“And for that we need to get up early?”

“Because the idea is to go to Punta del Este. We have an apartment there and we can spend the weekend,” he proposed.

“We have?”

“It belongs to my family.”

“And I imagine it has two bedrooms.”

“You imagine wrong, it has four. You can relax,” he informed me, laughing.

“Very well, in that case, I accept the invitation,” I responded.

When we arrived, Baco thanked me for the company and we said goodbye with the plan to leave as early as possible the next morning, but as I was getting into bed my phone rang. It was Baco.

“Don’t tell me you’re calling to say goodnight?” I joked.

“I wish it was for that. Unfortunately, it’s to cancel our plans. Tomorrow I have a meeting at eight with my mother and brother. I’m sorry, Delfi.”

“Don’t worry. It’s better that you talk about it as soon as possible.”

“I tried everything to postpone it, but my brother didn’t give me a chance. I told him I had plans with you for the entire weekend and that made it worse. I think he’s jealous.”

“Jealous? Why would he be?”

“I don’t know, but that’s the feeling I get. Maybe because it’s the first time I’ve brought a girl home. I have no idea, but I assure you I’m going to find out.”

“I don’t think that’s it. Does your brother understand that we’re just friends?”

“He’s asked me several times, but I always leave him guessing just to make him suffer.”

“Then it must be because he doesn’t know, and from what you’ve told me, he always wants to have everything under control.”

“Could be, but... I don’t know. Anyway... forgive me for changing the plans. We can leave after the meeting, though I can’t guarantee what time it will end or if I’ll make it out alive,” he said, and I could tell he was laughing.

“You’ll do great, you have your mother’s support,” I encouraged him.

“We’ll see what happens.”

“Well, good luck.”

“Thanks, I’ll let you know tomorrow.”

“Sleep well.”

“Sleep well, beautiful.”

It was impossible not to think about what Baco had told me. Could Hermes be jealous? I didn’t want to get ideas about something that couldn’t be. The best thing would be to do everything I could to get him out of my thoughts. It had been a long time since I’d dated anyone, and maybe if I went out with some guy, I could get Hermes Darwich out of my mind.

I fell asleep convinced that the best thing was to start accepting invitations to go out and have fun.

Chapter 4