Pat was probably the reason why the fling went on longer than it might have. Unlike her sister Bell when she first brought Romero around to her unimpressed older sister, nothing was more satisfying to Regina than seeing Pat’s disapproving face whenever she walked into a family gathering on the arm of her eye-candy beach-bum boyfriend. Maybe if Regina had been serious about him, it might’ve bothered her. Instead, she got a kick of annoying her sister to pieces.
She and Ricardo had both agreed neither was looking for anything serious, and Regina knew her stay in Southern California was only temporary. By the end of the summer, the fling had run its course, and Regina had the perfect excuse to end things. She was going back to New York. They agreed to keep in touch, and they had for a few months, until all communication had slowly tapered off.
Regina smiled, holding out her hand and waiting for Ricky to either come clean about knowing her already or pretend not to. She’d already decided if that was the card he wanted to play she didn’t care either way. She saw her cousin once or twice a year, and they’d never been close, so it didn’t matter to her. Not surprisingly, Ricardo cowardly chose the latter. “Nice to meet you, Gina,” he said, reaching out his hand.
Regina went along, introducing them to her boyfriend while her insides still roiled about the real elephant in the room. After some small talk, they got back to the topic of Claudia’s house cleaning and landscaping business and how she and Ricardo had met when he applied as a landscaper. Pat immediately gave Regina a knowing look.
“That was way back when I was first trying to get things going,” Claudia said.
“Yeah,” Ricardo added as if Regina really cared. “I was just looking for a job on the side, but I was still doing surf lessons at the same time.”
“Now he runs the landscaping part of the business, and I run the housekeeping side,” Claudia said proudly. “We stay real busy.”
Brandon gave Ricardo as much attention as he deserved since he was such a complete nonissue. He glanced away often, though Regina had to wonder if his indifference with Ricardo was intentional or if he truly was too distracted with other things to care much.
Glancing behind Ricardo, Regina’s eyes met with Valerie’s. Valerie, who was standing with Sarah, smiled big. She tugged Sarah as they both made their way toward her and Brandon. Regina wondered how much about Brandon and Sofia either knew. Sarah smiled as big as Valerie when she saw Regina, but there was no missing the way her mouth fell open when she saw Brandon. Both she and Valerie spoke in voices too low for Regina to hear as they approached, but the big smiles were back once they were close enough to reach out and hug her.
Pat was busy grilling Claudia about the business she’d started up, so Regina could focus on Valerie and Sarah.
“Oh my God, you look so good,” Valerie said, hugging her. “Isabel told me you were moving out here. You’re staying for good, right?”
“Yes, I’m pretty sure,” she said, pulling away from Valerie’s tight hug then hugging Sarah. “The job I’m working on now will take at least a year, if not longer, but I like being close to the family, so I think I’ll stay.”
They both turned to Brandon. Before Regina could figure out whether she should introduce him as if they didn’t know him, Valerie turned to him. “Isabel said this was her first time meeting your boyfriend. I take it this means you and Brandon are an item?”
Regina nodded, her knotted insides getting tighter. She wasn’t sure how she should address the fact that, unlike her and Ricardo, Valerie was not going to pretend not to know Brandon. “Yes, we met on the base two months ago.”
“Oh,” Valerie turned to Regina, still smiling but her brow lifted significantly. “So it hasn’t been long?”
Without giving Regina a chance to respond to that, Sarah turned to Brandon. “What a small world.” She smiled sweetly, turning to Regina for a moment. “Brandon and Angel and his brothers grew up just a few houses away from each other and went to the same schools.” She then turned back to Brandon. “How’ve you been, Brandon? Obviously, life in the Marines suits you well.”
“Always has,” Brandon said with a small smile. “And I agree,” he added, looking around, the already small smile waning a bit. “It’s a very small world. But I’ve been good. It looks like the family is really growing.”
Just then one of the twins ran over to Valerie, screeching as The Taz caught up to her, holding something out with an evil laugh that made the little girl scream even louder. Even Valerie braced herself. “What is that?” she asked, her face contorted in disgust.
“It’s a worm!” his sister screeched, hiding behind Valerie.
Out of nowhere, Alex swooped down and lifted him easily over his head and onto his back. “Boy, didn’t you promise you were gonna behave?” he asked the now-laughing-hysterically Taz. “Drop the worm,” he ordered, trying to sound firm, but Regina could see he was holding back a smile.
With the worm dropped, Alex began putting him down, tapping him on the behind. “No more worms, you hear me? Go take care of your sisters.”
Just behind him Angel now approached, also putting down his own son, who quickly took off after The Taz. They were both headed at top speed toward Mandy’s outdoor playset.
Alex kissed Valerie then turned to Regina with a smile but addressed Brandon first. “Billings?” he said. His smile wasn’t quite as bright as when he smiled at Regina. “Long time.”
Brandon nodded, glancing around. “Yep. Long enough. I see the second generation of Morenos is growing fast.”
“That it is,” Angel said, wrapping his arms around Sarah’s waist from behind. “What about you? Any kids yet?”
Brandon shook his head, and Sarah smiled then winked at Regina. “You never know though. He and Gina have been dating for a few months now.”
Bell and Romero approached them. As usual, Romero wore a huge grin. “Isn’t this crazy?” Romero asked. “Gina and Billings. I never thought I was gonna see this guy again. Now we just may be related someday.”
“What is that you guys always say,” Pat suddenly chimed in. “Easy! They’ve only been dating for a few months, and Brandon hasn’t been made to jump through all our hoops yet.”
Feeling Brandon tense, Regina turned to Pat, trying not to sound as annoyed as her comment made her. She hoped Brandon didn’t think she meant all of them as in the Morenos as well. Regina knew Pat meant her family, but with all of them standing there, it could easily be construed as all of them as well. The last thing she needed today was for her sister to add to the already mounting tension. “Pat—”
“You see here,” Romero’s uncle Max stuck his phone in Pat’s face. “That was me back in high school.”
With a frown, Romero suddenly scoffed. “Will you stop trying to convince her you were good-looking once upon a time.”
“Once upon a time?” Max lifted his collar on both sides. “I’m a fucking chick magnet. What are you talking about?”
They all laughed, and for a few minutes while Romero, Max, and Pat went back and forth, the attention was off Regina and Brandon. The phone got passed around to the guys, who all laughed and poked fun at Max for the clothes he was wearing in the photo.
“Check out the Fonz.” Romero laughed.
Sal and Grace arrived. They came over and chatted and said hello to Regina and Brandon. Much like the other two brothers, Sal was civil but not overly friendly to Brandon. They were the only couple who arrived without kids.
“You don’t have any kids, Sal?” Brandon asked, and he seemed to have loosened up just the tiniest bit like Regina, but neither was completely relaxed.