I'm sure most of you have read my note on Cash chapter 15 so I won't post it again so quickly unless it seems there is a need to. Weird lazy day and I have a headache so I'm posting this a little later than I wanted but I know you all want this update and I understand! Thank you for all the support in the many different ways you've given it.
Penelope woke up to her alarm. She was about to let out a cranky groan until she remembered in under an hour he would be here. Instead of hitting the snooze on her phone, she whipped the covers off of her and put her feet on the floor, rushing to the bathroom to get ready for the day.
After her shower, as she was curling her hair, she jumped at the loud thud on the door. "Sis, I've got to pee." Git's annoying voice rang in her ears.
"Go use Mom and Dad's," she instructed him.
"Dad's in there having a nice morning poop." A few moments later, he banged on the door again.
It scared her, and the curling iron hit her neck, and she yelped as soon as she felt the contact. "Gah! Stupid jerk." She wasn't sure if she was yelling at her brother or at the curling iron. She set it down, to inspect her neck as she jumped once more when the door opened. "What are you doing?" She screamed as she continued to inspect her burn.
"Peeing," he said to her as if she was the dumbest person in the world. He started pulling down his boxer shorts, and she ran out, slamming the bathroom door behind her.
She groaned and then headed to the kitchen, "Mom, Git burned me," she whined, holding her fingers to her neck to indicate the mark.
"Oh pobrecita, here let me get you some cream." Flora walked to the cabinet just near the hallway and pulled out a bag. She rifled through it, picking up a small tube. She washed her hands and then put the aloe vera on Penelope's skin. "Better?"
Penelope felt the relief of the cream immediately and nodded. "Yes, thank you. You need help?" She indicated the toast that was being buttered.
"Sure, mija, can you get out the fruit so I can slice it for you?" Penelope followed her instruction, grabbing the various fruits from the counter and fridge.
"You look very pretty. Luke will not be able to look away from you." Flora raised her eyebrow conspiratorially at her.
"That's not what I did it fo-" She stopped herself mid-lie. She'd revealed so much to her mother not two days ago. There was no point. "He said he liked my hair up, and it's so warm here in the summer anyway." Penelope twirled the curls in her ponytail.
"You do look nice with your hair back. It gives you a longer neck, and, since you always have your boobs out, it frames the top half of your body differently." Flora was bringing the knife down over and over on the strawberries she had in front of her.
Penelope stopped buttering the bread. "Mom, I don't always have my boobs out."
"Oh Honey, yes you do. Maybe not at work, I don't know, but everywhere else, yes. All of your tank tops are barely there. I've never seen a tshirt you didn't cut down the middle, and all of your dresses are low cut, not a high neck in the bunch. Do you wear high collars at work?" She never tore her eyes from her task as she spoke.
Penelope shifted her weight from foot to foot as she attempted to think of a protest or example to counter the remarks but she couldn't. "Well, I've got 'em." She shrugged.
"You do, and that Luke likes them. I caught him looking down your dress when you were refilling your water glass."
"What? Really? No, he doesn't do stuff like that." Penelope was hopeful and then immediately talked herself out of it.
"I believe you because he didn't look at any of the waitresses or dancers at all. Even when they were trying to make him. But you, he looked."
Penelope felt a smile crawl across her face. "Well I - you know what he said to me yesterday? He told me to dream of him. Is that weird? What does that mean?"
"It probably means that he already dreams of you, and, by dream of you, I mean he thinks about you when he-" Flora let her hand flip over and waved the knife a couple times.
"Oh my God! Mom! I can't believe you. You're supposed to be the good one."
"Hmm hmm, and so are you, but you've thought about being very bad with him." She set the knife down, going to the cabinet for a bigger bowl. "That's why those are so far out today." She pointed at Penelope's dress, the low dip went down between her breasts, the two small triangle shapes covering just enough of her to not be completely indecent for family breakfast and the thin, partially see-through, flowy cardigan on top doing nothing but giving a little mystery to the skin underneath.
"That's definitely why those are out." Santi picked up a slice of strawberry from over Penelope's shoulder.
She had jumped when she heard his voice right next to her. "Are you all trying to give me a heart attack?"
Santi kissed her cheek before moving around the island to sit on the stool. "Don't change the subject. Those spaghetti straps are working overtime to hold those up." He pointed at her chest with another slice of strawberry.
"Is anyone in this family appropriate? Are there any boundaries?"
"You're asking about appropriate boundaries?" Santi said to her in disbelief before breaking into maniacal laughter.
"What boundaries?" Marcos asked as he came into the room followed by Git and Arturo.
"Sis has her boobs out for Luke," Santi said instead of explaining.
"They're always out," Git said.
"Oh my God!" Penelope hollered. "My boobs should not be the topic of conversation in this family, ever."
"Then maybe you should put them away." Juan's voice made her look to the living room where she saw a smirking Luke, standing behind a sweaty Juan, just back from a run she assumed. "I let him inside, but I wouldn't have if I'd known you were still getting dressed." Juan pulled his headphones from around his neck, tipping his chin at her dress.
She gripped the knife harder in her hand, "Oh my God!" Five voices exclaimed in unison, only one of them hers. She slammed the butter knife down as she stared at the four people who called her sister.
"That's not a dress; that's pajamas," Arturo announced, mystified.
"No, Art, that's one of the dresses we bought the other day." Flora's back was turned to the rest of them, but she winked at Penelope, who was still next to her leaning against the counter. "I saw it, and I thought she should have it."
"You bought that dress for my daughter? To wear on purpose? During the day? In front of people?" he asked the questions to his wife's back.
"Yes, I did and plenty of other ones too. She will look nice this whole vacation, and she won't have to worry about boob sweat because they'll already be out getting the fresh air they deserve." Flora rinsed some fruit in the sink as she spoke.
Penelope couldn't help but laugh. Flora had tried to save her from the embarrassment of dressing up for Luke with an excuse but went too far. "Thanks, Mom," she said with a chuckle at the attempt.
"Boob sweat?" Juan said in disgust. "What the fuck is that?"
"Language!" Flora admonished.
"It's what's coming down your chest right now." Penelope pointed at his sweaty chest.
He stuck out his lower lip and shrugged. "Huh, never thought of that, and there always trapped in bras, even in the heat. Hmm, well you learn something new everyday." He tapped Luke on the shoulder before walking out of the room to shower.
"Luke, come in. Sit down." Arturo pointed at a chair. "Do you have any thoughts on boob sweat?"
Luke was laughing already as he took a seat. "I can't say I've thought about it too often," he replied.
"That's all we've got out in the field. Back to you, Carina." Arturo peeled a banana that he had used as a pretend microphone.
"Okay, okay, Penelope is right. We shouldn't discuss her boobs at breakfast." Flora paused. "Wait until dinner. If she changes into a push up bra, that will be cause for conversation."
"They can't come out any further than they already are." Santi spoke up. "Look at 'em."
"No, nobody should look at them," Penelope said.
"To be honest, mija, that's not the argument you should go with here," Flora pretend whispered to her.
"Oh my God! What happened to being on my side?" She watched Flora shrug, "What about Git's boobs. They're bigger than mine." She picked up the butter knife again and pointed towards the man sitting on a stool with his head down on the counter.
After a few moments of no comment from him, Marcos pushed him, causing him to almost fall off of the stool but catching himself. "Wha-what happened?" Git was wiping the drool from his face.
"Are your boobs bigger than Mariposa's?" Marcos asked.
Git yawned. "I don't know, but I can move them on their own, so I win."
"I can move mine on their own." Penelope protested before she realized what she'd said. Her eyes flew open after she uttered the words. Her eyes shot to Luke's, seeing what she thought was intrigue before she whirled around to continue buttering the bread.
"I make my dick move up and down on its own sometimes for fun when I'm bored," Santi said as he sipped some orange juice.
"My kids, huh? Watch out world. The Garcias are going to save us all." Arturo stuffed a piece of banana in his mouth.
Luke was trying his hardest not to laugh too loudly, realizing how much his face would hurt if he were around these people all the time. He thought Penelope was the only one who could make him laugh so much, but now he found six other people to add to that list.
"Mijo, don't say 'dick' when we're about to eat," Flora told him.
"I'm sorry, Mom. Is that not as proper as boob sweat?" He put his hand on his chest, dramatically taking in a large breath.
Juan returned. His hair wet and dripping down to his fresh shirt. Flora turned and started passing out dishes and trays of food. Everyone started piling stuff on their plates and eating where they were. Luke and Arturo were the only ones at the actual table. The brothers were at the counter. Penelope got her plate. She grabbed a water bottle and came to the table to sit next to Luke. "Good morning," she muttered.
"Good morning."
"Do you regret coming over here yet?" she quizzed.
"Not even a little bit." He gave her a shy smile, which she returned in kind.
She was eternally grateful that the boys had all decided to pick on a very hungover Git, leaving her with just Luke, Arturo, and a newly seated Flora. "So Luke, did Penelope tell you that we'd like you to stay after you're done helping down at the school?"
"Yes, she mentioned. I told her it was up to her."
"Oh good, so you're staying," Arturo spoke. "You'll have to share with Juan, unless Git or Santiago go to their own places." He shoved a forkful of eggs in his mouth before reaching for the hot sauce and dumping it over his entire plate.
"Dad, maybe ease up on the sodium intake," Penelope said before turning to Luke. "You don't have to stay if you don't want to, really."
"Oh please, she wants you to stay, and you want to stay. Let's not play this game," Juan came over, picking up the bottle of hot sauce before traveling back to the counter.
Penelope put one elbow on the table as she put her hand on her forehead. "You can stay here now if you want, but I don't know if you need to be close to the school," Flora said to him.
"It doesn't matter. It's only a thirty minute drive. I commute further to work." He shrugged. He very much wanted to stay close to Penelope, but he wasn't sure if he'd be torturing himself if he wasn't allowed near her bedroom. But then again the torture would probably be worth it. "Uh, I think we're going to be done by Friday anyway."
"Good, so you can stay here. Can you keep borrowing your friend's truck, or do you need a car?" Flora asked.
"Brian has a car here too. Most of the others ride in his truck or the van. They gave me the car so I'd be able to do runs to town. Since I speak Spanish, he thought it would eliminate any problems. I'll be giving it back when we're done though."
"No matter, we have a few trucks for the business. You can take one if you and La Reina want to go somewhere after next week," Arturo said.
"You can change your flight so you go home together?" Flora asked.
The two of them peered at each other shyly. "Yeah, I'm sure it will be easy enough," Penelope answered the question.
"Well, that's settled then. Eat up. We have work to do," Art spoke to Luke.
"Dad, no," Penelope protested. "Don't do this."
"What? I have to see what the boy can do. Don't worry. We're just building a cabinet set for mi chiquita's room. It'll be fine."
"Dad, he has on jeans and a button up, not an old shirt," Penelope said.
"Actually, I've got my bag in the car. It's better to keep your stuff with you. The workers at the rental property know when we come and go, so we don't leave anything we don't need to." It was only a partial fib. He'd left his clothes the first couple days but threw all his other stuff in his bag. But this time he stuffed all his things in his duffel, just in case he'd be asked to stay the weekend. He didn't want to have to leave Penelope when he didn't have to. He smiled at her quizzical look before tucking into his food, hoping no one in this straightforward family decided to call him on it.