The entire time they’d been there Brandon and Sofia had been as far apart from one another as possible. Usually, the entire length of the backyard had been between them. Now Brandon stood but a couple of feet away from the group of women taking photos. And Pat was looking in the back door calling out for Sofie.
Within minutes, both Sofia and Eric walked out together. Neither looked particularly thrilled, and Regina did not miss the deadpan way Eric looked at Brandon. It wasn’t a glare, but it certainly wasn’t welcoming. Sofia lined up with the women. Romero wasn’t the only one taking the photos now. Regina’s mom had gotten in on it, and that meant they were going to be there a while because she took forever to take her photos and was very demanding about everyone staying put until she was done.
Finally, they were done. Then her mom suggested that the guys line up this time. To Regina’s horror her mom turned to Brandon. “You too, hon. Anyone my kids bring home, whether a friend or more, is automatically welcomed into the family, so get in there.”
Brandon turned to Regina, who had nothing for him except a rueful smile. This would be over soon enough, and then they could get out of there. Regina squeezed his hand and tiptoed to kiss him as they walked past each other. Instead of escaping back into the house as Regina thought Sofia might do, she came over and stood by Regina and the other girls to watch the guys line up.
Of course, Brandon stood off to the side on the opposite end from where Eric stood.
“Stop with the faces, Moe,” Manny said from where he was sitting. “Swear to God, this guy . . .” He turned to his wife Aida, shaking his head, then back to Romero. “For all the laughing and goofing off you do, you’d think you’d do it for one stinkin’ photo. How many more pictures of you looking like mug shots do I need on my walls! Smile, will ya?”
Regina was glad there was no one heckling Brandon about his rigid expression. While he wasn’t making hard-ass faces like Romero, he certainly wasn’t doing any smiling. Still she couldn’t help but feel warmed that he was being such a trooper. Just coming here today to meet her family had to have been hard enough for him. She’d felt his unease mounting as they’d driven there. And then for things to turn out this way, she was certain he was regretting having come here at all. She just hoped it was all he regretted.
After giggling, Sarah turned to Regina, who couldn’t quite take her eyes off of Brandon. “Wow,” Sarah said. “I still can’t believe you and Brandon are together. I mean what are the odds that of all the marines you could’ve hooked up with down at that base, it would be Brandon?”
“I know, right?” Valerie said, leaning in and lowering her voice. “Is he always this serious?”
They all turned to look at him just as he glanced their way, and Regina turned away quickly, hating how obvious it was they were talking about him.
Grace turned to Regina, lowering her voice as well. “He’s very handsome, Gina.” She leaned into what now looked like a little gossipy circle of women. “But is he as intimidating as he appears to be?”
Regina smiled, and if Sofia weren’t in that gossipy circle with them, she might be tempted to tell them just how intimidating Brandon had really been when she first met him. She hadn’t had the chance to gush about him to anyone but Janecia, and even then she’d been limited in doing so. He’d been by her side every night or within hearing range when she was on the phone, and the only time she’d really gotten to talk to Janecia was when they got together on their date nights. Even then, with him there, she could only do it when he happened to walk away for something or they excused themselves to the ladies’ room.
Her sisters didn’t know all the details either. She’d refrained from telling them too much before they had a chance to meet him for fear they might judge him unfairly.
With the men’s photo shoot over, they began to disperse, and Brandon started toward them. Regina was about to respond to Grace when Pat tugged at her arm. “We’ll have to talk later, Gina.”
“Yes,” Valerie said, glancing at Sofia then Gina and finally giving Bell a strange cautionary look. “He was always a little different. I’ll call you tonight, Isabel.” Regina didn’t even have time to make sense of what that might mean when Sofia pulled her aside. She glanced guardedly over Regina’s shoulder. “You still have my number?” she asked quickly. Regina nodded. “Call me, please, if you need to talk about anything. I mean it, okay?”
Before Regina could even respond, she walked away in a rush. Not a second later, Brandon was at her side. He stared at her for a moment, his eyes as cold as they ever got. “Something wrong?”
“No.” She nodded, still confused about Sofia’s bizarre behavior.
What would Regina possibly want to discuss with Sofia? Brandon? Hell no! The last thing Regina wanted was to hear Sofia’s explanation of why Brandon wasn’t good enough for her or, worse, details about that moment they shared long ago.
“Are you sure?”
Regina must’ve looked as befuddled or maybe even as annoyed as she felt because Brandon was staring at her as if expecting a better explanation for her sudden change in mood.
“I’m sure,” she said then turned to the girls.
Sarah and Valerie had already walked away, tending to their little ones, and Pat had been called away by her mom. Regina smiled at Bell and Grace, hugging them both good-bye again. Bell told Brandon once again how nice it’d been to meet him, and they finally made their way out of there.
As expected, the mood was a bit tense in his Jeep. Regina hadn’t decided if she’d wait for Brandon to admit that Sofia Moreno was his Sofie from his past or if she’d bring it up on her own.
To her surprise, Brandon got right to it. “Did it bother you?”
She almost blurted out yes! She absolutely hated that the beautiful sexy Sofia with the curves to die for and those annoyingly adorable dimples was the girl from his past. But she took a deep breath and thought it better if she asked him to clarify exactly what he was asking. Did it bother her that it was Sofia or his reaction to seeing her? She still wasn’t sure which was worse.
“Did what bother me?”
“That your ex pretended not to know you.”
Disappointed but glad she asked for clarification, she shook her head. “Not at all.” She was surprised that after everything else that had come to light today he’d think she might be concerned about that. That was the least of her worries. “I had a feeling he might. My cousin Claudia can not only be annoying she can be a real bitch. If he’s been with her long enough that they’ve gone into business together, I’m sure he’s seen that side of her already. He probably figured she wouldn’t be thrilled that he dated her cousin, even if it was a long time ago.”
“Does he still look the same?” Brandon asked, lifting an eyebrow but stared straight ahead.
If this day had gone any other way, Regina might be tempted to smirk at that. But she was fairly certain that Brandon knew just how insignificant seeing Ricardo today was. It had nothing on the strangling feeling of knowing they’d be getting to the topic of Sofia and he might admit to feeling more for her than he’d actually first admitted.
“He does actually,” she said as indifferently as she could, glancing out her window. “His hair’s a little shorter now, but aside from that, he’s still the same as I remember.”
“So what happens if she marries him and he’s around for years? You ever gonna come clean?”
Regina shook her head, feeling a little annoyed that he was focusing on this when there was something so much more pressing she wanted to get to. “I see her once or twice a year if that. We’ve never been close enough that I’d feel compelled to tell her. Besides,” she said, turning back to him, “he’s a very inconsequential part of my past, someone I hadn’t even thought of until the other day when Pat called. We went out one summer, and when it was over, it was over. He wasn’t anybody that made a real difference in my life.”