“She’s all right,” he said quickly. “She needs to lose weight, but I’ll never be the one to tell her. She’d have me assassinated.”
Talking about her with him made me nervous, even though I was the one who had brought up her name. Maybe it was my way of getting him to remember who his girlfriend was so he would stop paying so much attention to me, although I couldn’t help but be flattered by such a handsome boy.
“I should go n
ow to my aunt’s hacienda,” I said. “I have work.”
“Don’t worry. You would never be home by now walking, anyway,” he told me, and turned down a side street. “My father is fixing up some houses here for resale on this street,” he said. “He has his hands in a lot of things. Matter of fact, here’s one.” He made a sharp turn into a driveway. It was a house no bigger than the one mi tía Isabela sent me to live in with Señor Baker. “Let’s see how well the work is going.” He shut off the engine and got out of the car. “C’mon,” he urged.
I looked at the house. There was no one working around it and no other vehicle in the driveway. Behind us, the street was very quiet. There was no one outside any of the homes, and I had yet to see another car drive along.
“I have to get back home,” I insisted. “Please.”
“We’ll just be a few minutes. You’ll still get home faster than you would have walking, I promise,” he told me.
He looked as if he wouldn’t get back into the car unless I followed him to look at the house, so I got out.
“This one should be nearly done,” he told me. He led me around to a rear door. Under a mat, he found a key. Why were we going in through the back way?
The door opened on a small kitchen. I could see some tools on a table and some sawdust on the floor where a cabinet had been trimmed to fit a new dishwasher. At least he was telling me the truth about the restoration, I thought, and relaxed a little. He walked about, inspecting some of the work.
“My father’s made me his refurbishing assistant. I’m responsible for what goes on here. Eventually, I’ll take over most of his businesses, you know. He wants me to go to college to major in business education, but I’m not sure it’s necessary. We buy these houses for nothing, put in some money, and sell them at great prices.”
I followed him into the living room, where I saw work had been done around a fireplace and a new wood floor had been laid. He studied a window frame and shook his head.
“They could do better than this,” he said. “These gaps are unnecessary. Come here and look at what I mean.”
I stepped up and saw where he was pointing.
“See what I mean? Shoddy craftsmanship. Just because it’s an inexpensive house doesn’t mean we’ll tolerate that. My reputation is always at stake. You understand what I’m saying?”
“Yes.”
He smiled at me the way he had in the car. It was as if his eyes could undress me. It made me nervous.
“Man, you are a very pretty girl, Delia. I’ve never seen such beautiful eyes. Do you have a lot of boyfriends back in Mexico?”
“No,” I said. “I had no boyfriend.”
“What, are they all stupid? I thought girls like you were gobbled up.”
He ran his hand softly down my hair and my cheek, and then he leaned in and kissed me. I knew he was going to do it, but rather than back away quickly, I felt myself grow numb, frozen, helpless. He took that to mean I had wanted him to kiss me, wanted him to do more. He pulled me to him and kissed me harder, then kissed my cheek and my neck, his arms around me so tightly I couldn’t push him back.
I was so shocked I didn’t know what to say or do.
“I’ve been thinking about you ever since you walked into the house with Edward that afternoon,” he said. “Twice I drove the streets hoping to catch you walking home before Edward did.”
Why? I thought. What about Sophia? He kissed me again before I could ask anything, and this time, he accompanied his kiss with his hands moving over my shoulders and down over my breasts, before he embraced me around the waist and started to lower me to the floor.
Finally, I found the strength to resist.
“No, please,” I said. “Stop.”
“Don’t you like me?” he asked.
“Yes,” I said, “but…”
“That’s all that matters. Forget but,” he insisted, pulling me down harder until I sat on the floor.