The Spanish Love Deception novel Chapter 24

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Aaron, who had caught the Spanish words, put two and two together with an ease that shouldn’t have surprised me.

“Personal call at work?” he queried, shaking his head.

My mother, who was still on the line, asked in Spanish, “Is that him, the voice I’m hearing? This Aaron you are dating?”

My whole body locked up. Eyes wide and mouth agape, I stared at him as my mother’s words resonated inside my clearly empty skull because what in the world had I done?

“Lina?” she pressed on.

Aaron’s frown deepened, and he sighed with resignation as he stood right there. Not leaving.

Why isn’t he leaving?

“Sí,” I answered, not realizing she’d take that word as confirmation. But she would; I knew she would do exactly that, wouldn’t she? “No,” I added, trying to backpedal.

But then Aaron tsked and shook his head again, and whatever had been about to leave my lips scattered.

“I …” Oh God, why is it so warm in my office? “No sé, Mamá.”

Aaron mouthed, Your mother?

“¿Cómo que no sabes?” came at the same time.

“I … I …” I trailed off, not really knowing who I was talking to. The scowling man or my mother. I felt like I was flying on autopilot while my plane approached the ground at a breakneck speed, and I couldn’t do anything to stop it from crashing. None of my controls were responding.

“Ay, hija,” my mother said with a laugh. “What is it? Yes or no? Is that Aaron?”

I wanted to scream.

All of a sudden, I had this powerful urge to cry or open the window and shove the phone out and onto New York’s merciless traffic. I wanted to break something too. With my bare hands. While I stomped my feet with frustration. All at once. I wanted to do all those things.

Curiosity filled Aaron’s blue eyes. He tilted his head, watching me as I struggled to even take a decent breath.

I covered my phone with my other hand and addressed the man in front of me in a broken, defeated voice, “What do you want?”

He waved one hand in front of him. “No, please, don’t let me—or work—get in between you and your personal call.” He crossed his arms in front of his stupidly wide chest and brought a fist under his chin. “I’ll just wait here until you are done.”

If smoke could physically leave my ears, a black cloud would have been trailing up and circling over my head.

My mother, who was still on the line, spoke, “You sound busy, so I’ll let you go.” I kept my eyes on Aaron, and before I could even process her words, she added, “Wait until Abuela hears about you dating someone from work. You know what she’ll say?”

My dumb brain must have been still flying on autopilot because it didn’t skip a beat. “Uno no come donde caga.”

Aaron’s lips puckered lightly.

“Eso es.” I heard my mother chuckle. “I’ll let you get back to work. You’ll tell us about this man you are dating when you two come for the wedding then, okay?”

No, I wanted to tell her. What I’ll do is die, choked in my own web of lies.

“Of course, Mamá,” I said instead. “I love you. Tell Papá I love him too.”

“Love you too, cielo,” my mother said right before hanging up.

Filling my lungs with much-needed air, I glared at the man who had just complicated my life tenfold and dropped my phone on the desk as if it were burning my palm.

“So, your mother.”

I nodded my head, incapable of speaking. It was better that way. God knew what would come out of my treacherous mouth.

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