“It just so happens he’s been seeing someone else very seriously all this time. In fact, he took her to Hawaii with him. Her name is Dana Del Ray, and her father is the CEO of Atlantic Air. They live in Beverly Hills, and everyone says they’re minutes away from becoming engaged.”
I didn’t reply or look at her.
“So, I wouldn’t put too much hope in this date tomorrow. It sounds like he’s toying with you.”
I pressed my lips together to smother a cry. She’s lying, I thought. She’s simply trying to do anything she can to hurt me. I heard her giggle and then turn and start away, but at the door to my bedroom, she turned back.
“If you want, I’ll lend you my spermicidal foam. I’ll even show you how to use it. Just knock on my door in the morning. I don’t mind.”
She laughed again and left.
For a long time, I lay there, unable to move. Her words circled my head like wasps.
I finally fell asleep but nearly overslept. I rose, showered, and dressed quickly. When I opened my door to go downstairs, a box of Sophia’s birth-control foam was there on the floor.
I scooped it up, and then, as if it was a hot potato, I quickly dropped it in front of her door before I hurried downstairs to have some coffee and a piece of toast and wait for Adan. My stomach was in too much turmoil for me to be very hungry. I couldn’t even eat the toast.
Maybe because of the little sleep I had gotten or the confusion and excitement I was feeling, I felt dizzy. I sat at the table with my eyes closed most of the time. Tía Isabela did not come out to join me, which surprised me. By the time I heard the door buzzer, I was ready to go back upstairs to bed. I started toward the entrance, but Tía Isabela was there before me and before Señora Rosar
io.
“Why, Adan,” she declared, “you’re right on time.”
He stepped in, and she turned toward me.
“And so is our dear Delia. The two of you, so anxious to be together. How nice.”
Her smile put ice in my veins.
It was as if the devil had crawled into her and was urging me on through the gates of hell.
18
Rough Seas
“Are you all right with this?” Adan asked as soon as we closed the door behind us. “You’re not upset about my coming to ask you on the boat?”
“I’m not upset, but I am surprised.”
He nodded and opened the car door for me. I glanced at him and slipped into the seat. After he closed the door, he stood there for a moment, looking back at the house as if he were deciding whether or not to go through with this date. Then he hurried around and got into the car.
I waited for him to say more, but he drove away with just a smile flashed in my direction. Finally, after we had driven off mi tía Isabela’s property, he turned to me and asked, “How are things going for you, Delia?”
I remembered an expression my father would use whenever someone asked him that, especially after a hard day’s work in the fields.
“I’m doing well, if I count tips,” I said, and he laughed.
“I missed your sense of humor.”
I could see that he was thinking carefully before he spoke, combing through the words he was going to use. It made me uncomfortable. It was as if we were both in court, taking great care not to say anything offensive or anything that would bring up unpleasant things. How could we spend hours with each other this way, not to mention being alone so much on a boat?
“I’m sorry I haven’t come around sooner,” he began, “but I’m sure you can understand that it’s taken me time to work through everything.”
He paused so long I thought that was all he was going to say, but then he asked, “Have you been in touch with your friend Ignacio Davila?”
“I tried writing him, but he does not reply.”
“If you feel like it, you can tell me what happened. It’s all right if you don’t want to talk about it,” he quickly added.