Hey everyone! THANK YOU FOR YOUR AWESOME WORDS AND THOUGHTS! It keeps me motivated and encouraged to know what you think! I really truly do appreciate your time reading my work and leaving kind words! YOU ROCK! I really want to encourage you to leave reviews for each chapter pleasepleasepleaseplease! I really get discouraged when I don't know your thoughts and it gives me some writer's block sometimes!
Please enjoy this chapter in sequence with the previous one! Rosalie is in Emmett's world now! What kind of shenanigans will ensue?! Review to make me update faster!
Notes on future chapters: I'm writing more in depth about Emmett and Rosalie's visit to Vera's. I'm also writing some background of Rosalie and Alice's friendship and what's going on back home, some dialogue for Robert and Rosalie and Camille and Rosalie, and some more things I don't want to spoil yet heheheh. Big things are brewing!
Don't Blame Me - Taylor Swift
I've been breakin' hearts a long time, and
Toyin' with them older guys
Just to play things for me to use
Something happened for the first time, in
The darkest little paradise
Shakin, pacin', I just need you
For you, I would cross the line
I would waste my time
I would lose my mind
They say she's gone too far this time
Don't blame me, love made me crazy
If it doesn't, you ain't doin' it right
Lord, save me, my drug is my baby
I'd be usin' for the rest of my life
Don't blame me, love made me crazy
If it doesn't, you ain't doin' it right
Oh, Lord, save me, my drug is my baby
I'd be usin' for the rest of my life
Rosalie: Don't Inhale
Five Years Ago, January
I followed him, my heart racing as I kept my eyes focused straight ahead.
Could he see it in the cold, clear, night air like I could?
It was much better to chalk it up to naivety or ignorance than to accept that he was fully aware of my advances on the development of my feelings for him and had rejected me…
My ego was too strong to accept that he had been cognizant in the denial of my affections.
Maybe I had to be a little more obvious…
But, what else could I do besides spell it out for him?
Honestly… What if he had a girlfriend? I'd never asked obviously. He'd never talked about her to me or in front of me so I assumed he didn't. But, what if he did?! I mean, why would a guy like him be single anyway?
My stomach sank as I accepted this assumed truth and I followed him forward in this breathtakingly cold night.
I mean, why else would he be able to deny my advances? He was spoken for… I was devastated.
He stopped on the corner, and I could confidently say I had no earthly idea where we were, but assumed we were still deep into Queens based on the Mets flag hanging from a building a couple windows down.
Emmett reached for the door with a sign above it that said: El Manzano.
"What does it mean?" I asked.
"The apple tree." He said plainly, but this gave me no real answer as to where we were.
"After you," Emmett smiled politely as he opened the door to a brownstone building that was so small it could've fit into any of the buildings in Manhattan.
"Where are we?" I asked, hearing music sung in Spanish and people laughing and talking quickly in a language I didn't understand.
Emmett didn't answer, but I watched his face change as we crossed the threshold and into the membrane that housed the music and heat.
I'd never thought he was reserved, uptight, or detached. In fact, I imagined him far from those things – but the way he relaxed as we walked through the door made me think he'd just shed a layer of his skin.
He looked at home. He looked unreserved. He looked free, and the freshness of that look on his face absolutely took my breath away.
He was striking.
I fell in love with him in that moment all over again.
And now… it was different. It was overflowing out of me like liquid over the rim of a teacup. I wondered if he could feel it.
Emmett's dark brown eyes looked deep as an ocean as he looked out into the room we'd just stepped into. His eyes seemed to take in everything at once, but didn't spare a detail. It seemed he could've been asked to sketch the room a year from now and he would've paid so much attention he could recall it precisely.
His jaw was strong and confident like he was in his element, and his smile was unabridged as it spread across his face. I had to consciously fight the impulse to stand on my tiptoes and kiss the dimples on his cheeks.
His smile didn't just touch his eyes, it radiated through his whole body and into the room around him. It was like sunshine. I swear I felt the room get warmer.
He ran a hand through his curly raven-colored hair and excitement seemed to overflow into his fingers as he shrugged out of his coat then reached to help me out of mine.
As this caused me to turn my back to him and rip my eyes away from the splendor of beholding him in this moment, I looked around at the place that seemed to bring this side of him out.
The walls were weathered dark brick, or golden plaster, the lights were low but bright enough to see the bright green shutters acting as doors from the back and that seemed to lead downstairs. A macramé hammock hung in the back and a couple of people were swinging and talking while they kissed and drank cocktails.
He hung my coat on a nearby coat rack as I let my gaze dance over the new world he'd brought me to. Art hung on the walls that looked like street art, folkloric and true to the atmosphere – full of soul. A man poured more full glasses from behind the bar in the corner and there were people dancing in the center of the floor where chairs and tables had been moved to make way.
It looked like I'd just stepped into a scene from Dirty Dancing or something. The vibrancy of youth was astounding, even in the men and women with wrinkles around their eyes and smile lines near their cheeks.
I'd never seen something so beautiful.
Everyone seemed to be in love with someone or something even if that something was just the food they were eating, the cigar they were smoking, the drink they were drinking, or the life they were living.
Love was evident.
I inhaled. My dad had smoked cigars a few times growing up, but this was a new smell. It was the smell of cigars, good food, alcohol, and something else…
I'd soon learn to recognize that smell as sex.
There were green plants all around the room, and the whole space looked like I hadn't just come off a quiet street in Queens. It looked like an indoor open courtyard, with a street of brightly colored buildings creating a world right inside of the one we'd just walked from.
Everyone was talking loudly, so I almost didn't notice a girl with raven colored, curly hair had called Emmett's name and was throwing her arms around his neck until she had already done it.
He twirled her around in his arms and immediately kissed her on both cheeks familiarly. She was radiantly beautiful with big brown eyes and long black lashes. Her dark hair was unruly and pulled back from her face with a barrette, but the way her bangs and curls fell around her heart-shaped face made her look effortlessly sexy.
She wore a light pair of faded blue jeans that hung low on her curvy hips. The olive skin of her stomach showed slightly from the bottom of her white tank top. A light sheen of sweat made her skin seem to glow.
This girl was for lack of a better description smoking hot.
She was curvy, like a woman, but looked about my age – maybe just a little older.
I looked down, my cheeks turning a bright scarlet.
Then, a little girl about four years old squealed as she ran up to jump into Emmett's arms.
She was a skinny little girl, with long limbs and knobby knees. Her neck was long and swan-like, and her hair was dark and curly like the woman that must've been her mother to add a mature gracefulness to her gangly, childish figure.
I thought I was going to throw up. Irrationally, I thought this was his wife and child even though I knew he didn't have one. He didn't even wear a ring. But, in the moment, I was irrationally devastated by the girl in front of me.
This was her. This was the reason he wouldn't kiss me.
The woman next to Emmett looked on to the little girl adoringly, and then her dark brown eyes met mine.
"Since my brother is so rude and wouldn't introduce me, I'm Maria!" She said with a thick, deep Bronx accent.
This was his sister…
I'd known he had a sister, and I'd met both his parents and had heard them talk about Maria and her daughter Camila, but I didn't put it together when I saw her.
I couldn't help but smile at this, and sigh a little at just how much my heart had dropped at the thought of this girl being a romantic interest of his.
Of course that was irrational.
I saw the same dimples on her cheeks as she gave me the same wide smile. Her eyes squinted she smiled so big.
I tensed up only slightly as she kissed me on both cheeks.
"I'm Rosalie Hale." I said politely, looking back to the little girl in Emmett's arms because those light green eyes were just magnetic.
"Rosalie, now that's a beautiful name." Maria raved. "This is Camila."
"Nicetomeetcha." Camila said in a Bronx accent just as deep and her piercing green eyes met mine, sparkling.
She was a beautiful little girl.
I noticed how much she looked like Maria, so the traces of the feminine version of Emmett's features on her face made me uneasy.
Then, she hugged back to Emmett's side shyly.
"Now, in Spanish." He prompted her, but she buried her head deeper in his shoulder.
"Please tell me you've been practicing." Emmett pleaded with her, brushing her long black braid over her back.
She shot her head up, shaking it back and forth so her hair whipped side to side.
"Why not?" He asked, shooting Maria a look that was a mix between betrayal and annoyance.
"Can I go play now?" Camila wiggled and he set her down as she ran off toward the corner where some other kids were playing.
"You try keeping her still enough to learn anything." Maria said sharply, but still full of lightheartedness as she looked back to me.
Emmett tugged on the end of Maria's hair like an immature teenager full of teasing and she squealed as she tittered over her appearance, making sure her curly hair wasn't out of place even though it was already wild.
They had a quick sidebar conversation in Spanish, before he turned back to me.
"Are you hungry?" Emmett asked me with wide eyes.
I noticed how empty my stomach felt, and even the mention made it growl.
"A little." I shrugged, but my eyes wandered to where people were dancing.
A couple near the outskirts were close enough to mesh into one body. It made my cheeks flush red.
"Let's get you something good to eat." Maria said excitedly. "Mamá knows what she's doing in the kitchen."
"Is this your parents' restaurant?" I asked and Maria looked back to Emmett with an anticipatory smile.
"It is." He said plainly.
"It's really his. This is what he gave them for Christmas a couple years back." Maria was full of life and teasing as Emmett put his arm around her shoulders. "He's the favorite child of course."
She wrapped her arm around his waist hugging to his side, and I crossed my arms over my chest.
"That's really amazing." I said with a little smile.
"It's true. I am the favorite." He shrugged, leading us toward the left side where there were some empty tables.
A few men were smoking cigars and playing cards at one of the tables in the corner and they looked up, giving warm Spanish greetings.
Their eyes were heavy on me and I pulled the sleeves of my sweater over my hands, balling my fingers into the fabric. I chewed on my bottom lip, uncomfortable.
Emmett seemed to know them and had a short conversation with them before I saw his mother come from behind the green shutter doors.
"Hey baby, I thought I heard your voice!" Carmen, his mother, threw down an apron on a nearby table and made her way over to him.
I thought it was amusing to view him as her child. It wasn't hard to imagine him as a child with that boyish grin on his face and it made me smile too to see him so unweighted and happy here.
"Of course you heard his voice. You could hear him yelling from a mile away in the middle of Manhattan." Maria teased him about how loud he talked and he shot her a look.
Carmen reached up, throwing her arms around him like she hadn't seen him in years, standing on her highest tiptoes even as he bent down for her to kiss him on the cheek.
She looked strikingly young - too young to be Emmett's mother - and had shoulder length, curly black hair and her perfect olive skin and wide, round brown eyes that made her look even younger. Carmen had a tiny frame and was a little shorter than Maria, who was a few inches shorter than me so Carmen was more than a foot and a half shorter than Emmett.
He definitely took after his father. I couldn't see Emmett in her features at all, except that raven colored hair. Even though they didn't look alike, some of the animated faces she would make in conversation seemed to be a habit for Emmett too.
"Hey Mom." He just laughed, kissing her back.
"Rosaliá!" She exclaimed the variation on my name, tossing her arms around me now.
I really had to get used to how much these people hugged and kissed each other.
Then, it made me think about how open with physical affection Emmett was with everyone but me…
I appreciated his reticence of course, but there was something in me that was starting to warm up to the idea…
How could I get him to see that?
"Hey." I said softly in an awkward greeting. "How are you?"
"I'd be much better if you'd let me feed you." She put both of her hands on my shoulders, seeming to size me up.
"I swear you get skinnier every time I see you."
I immediately felt self-conscious.
"That's why we're here." Emmett said with a little laugh, but shot her a look for commenting on my weight. "I'm starving."
"Are you really?" Carmen raised an arched eyebrow.
"No. But, I'm pretty hungry." He teased back.
"You didn't tell me you were coming!" She looked over at Emmett accusingly switching into Spanish to scold him it seemed.
Her eyes kept darting to me and I wondered if it was a problem that I was here.
"I texted Maria." He said in defense.
Maria held her hands up in surrender, not wanting to get in the middle of this obviously.
It amused me to watch him with his family.
"Well, that's not telling me!"
"Yeah, it was a last minute decision." Emmett said, reaching over the counter and grabbing a cigar box and cutting a cigar. "Dad's working late tonight though, right?"
Carmen nodded and didn't argue with this, but she seemed to disapprove of him smoking even though she pulled a box long cedar matches out of her own pocket to hand it to him.
They had a conversation in Spanish as he struck a match to light the cigar and rotate it before taking a drag.
I watched him do this simple task with ritualistic familiarity, absolutely enchanted. There were all sorts of little things he did, making it look like he'd been smoking cigars since he was born. I mean… he was Cuban, and I knew that was stereotypical of him to like cigars, but it was religious the way he did it. I wanted to watch him forever.
There was something about him here that just made him seem so… different. It was like he wasn't camouflaged and I could see the vibrancy of his colors. He'd… revealed himself to me and it took my breath away.
My very core seemed to ache for more of him.
His eyes darted toward me every so often.
I wished I understood what they were saying in Spanish.
"I'll make something for you, Rosaliá, any time mi cariña." She nodded back to the conversation that included me.
"And, you, even though you're late and the kitchen's supposed to be closed." Carmen narrowed her eyes at Emmett, seeming to still be in good humor though.
He spoke some seemingly sweet Spanish to her, hugging her and kissing her cheek and it became apparent he was buttering her up.
"Oh, you smell like a damn cigar. I hate that smell." She smacked him on the arm lightly, but something about this made it seem more serious. "Now, Rosaliá what do you like to eat?"
I started to speak, but Emmett cut me off. He spoke Spanish and she nodded.
He seemed so much more comfortable speaking Spanish than English even though he was perfectly fluent and spoke it beautifully. I hated I couldn't meet him in that subject. I knew nothing about the language.
"Well, Emmett seems to be confident that you'll love my ropa vieja." Carmen said toward me.
"You have to try it." He said with so much happiness on his face I knew I couldn't say no.
I had no idea what that was, but I trusted him and wanted to open myself up to whatever experiences he wanted me to have of this new environment for me.
I trusted him.
"Sure." I shrugged with a little smile.
Emmett grinned, leaning back on the bar to face the dance floor. I watched him smoking and I wanted to inhale him as he exhaled. I had to look away.
I think I wanted him to kiss me…
I wanted to taste that cigar on his lips.
It was torturing me whether he wanted me back. Could he want me back?
"Do you want to try?" He held out the cigar with an amused look on his face.
He'd caught me staring at him.
"I uh…" I kept my arms crossed over my chest, but I tucked a strand of hair behind my ear.
"Don't do that. It's disgusting." Maria rolled her eyes. "And you know mom hates when you smoke. It reminds her of…"
Emmett cut her off, switching to Spanish.
I didn't have to understand Spanish to know it must have reminded her of his and Maria's biological father.
Maria eventually gave up, but I saw she was fiery and kept Emmett on his toes.
He kissed her on the cheek, giving up too.
"I'll try it." I included myself in the conversation, trying my boldness and also wanting to be connected to him in this way.
I wanted to show him I was interested in him. I hoped he saw that through me being interested in what he was interested in. That made sense, right?
I felt my face go white as he looked back at me.
"Are you sure?" He raised an eyebrow.
No, I wasn't sure about smoking. I'd never even smoked a cigarette before.
I was sure about him though.
I nodded.
"Okay," He smiled, and it had just the effect I wanted it to.
His big brown eyes glistened as he handed it to me. It seemed so awkward in my hand and I was immediately intimidated.
"Don't hold it like a cigarette." He directed, his fingers wrapping around mine to place them.
My heart raced out of my chest at his touch, but he didn't notice.
"He's a cigar snob. Hold it how you want to." Maria rolled her eyes.
Before I could talk myself out of it, I brought it to my lips and inhaled.
Immediately, I started coughing, and the more I tried to stop coughing the more I kept coughing. I was mortified, and I felt my face turning red not only from coughing but from mortal embarrassment.
Emmett was immediately worried about me, and I handed him that death trap right back.
Through coughing my lungs up, I could hear he was laughing wholly and fully. I was even more mortified now at his humor, but I did love hearing him laugh.
"Oh, God, you don't inhale a cigar, Rosalie." He laughed.
"Don't you think you should've told her that first instead of how to hold the damn thing, you pretentious asshole?" Maria laughed just as heartily.
"I'm sorry, Rosalie. Really." Emmett laughed and put his arm around my shoulder for a fleeting moment in an apologetic gesture and if I weren't still coughing my lungs up, I would've melted. "I'm so sorry!"
That was the first time he'd done something like that, just hug me like he was familiar with me, and I would've choked a thousand more times to make it happen again.
"That was fun." I coughed a couple more times, and Emmett laughed again before bringing the cigar that was just on my lips back to his.
"It's a sign I should stop contributing to your delinquency." He smirked in my direction.
I rolled my own eyes in flirtatious teasing.
A man with the same piercing green eyes as Camila approached, wrapping his arms around Maria from behind. He was tall, but not as tall as Emmett and was much lankier. He had dark hair but not raven black - more of a chocolate color, and his button-down shirt was unbuttoned low enough to show a gold chain and olive skin.
"What's going on over here?" He asked excitedly.
Maria turned around, kissing him cheerfully.
"This is my husband Lorenzo." Maria lit up, and I saw she was genuinely happily married.
"You brought a girl?! Must be serious." Lorenzo said, pushing on Emmett's shoulder a little in teasing.
My face turned bright red and Maria grabbed Lorenzo's arm, with wide eyes.
"She's obviously gorgeous and has half a brain Enzo, of course she's not here with him." Maria laughed, making light of the situation. "Right?"
Maria raised an eyebrow looking over at Emmett.
I watched Emmett's expression remain unchanged as he brought the cigar back up to his lips. The three of them had a short Spanish conversation.
I wondered what they said.
"Sorry, Rosalie." Lorenzo said, offering his hand. "I don't know what I'm saying half the time."
I swallowed before shaking it, holding my breath at the contact.
He chuckled a little and I gave a slight smile.
I thought about what it meant that Emmett brought me here. Did it mean something was serious? We'd never talked about what existed between us, so I wondered if I was just making it all up in my head…
Emmett smiled over at me easily.
I wasn't just making it up in my head.
I couldn't be.
"So what do you do, Rosalie?" Lorenzo asked.
"I… I'm in fashion." I said very vaguely.
Maria and Lorenzo just nodded.
This made Emmett smirk a little, but he kept looking away.
"I feel like I've seen you somewhere before." Lorenzo puzzled.
"I have one of those faces." I said, this time not able to fight the smirk on my own face as my eyes met Emmett's as we shared this little inside joke.
I wasn't in fashion. I was fashion. Lorenzo had 100% seen my face before if he didn't live under a rock.
Emmett turned away, the smoke escaping his lips making me want to kiss them.
I had to look away now, distracted throughout the rest of the conversation.
I learned Lorenzo was a second generation Spaniard – his parents emigrated from Barcelona right before he was born. He and Maria met at a grocery store a few years back and the rest was history. They swore it was love at first tight. It was sweet. Throughout talking with Maria and Enzo, I learned over and over again how much I loved hearing Emmett laugh…
As conversation progressed, I saw how much Emmett seemed to like Lorenzo, but I also saw how close he was with Maria. He seemed intensely protective of her, so him liking and approving of her husband was apparently of utmost importance. Maria also seemed to value Emmett's opinion like gold.
They had a sibling relationship like I'd always wanted.
It made me smile.
I got my wish with Edward I suppose and I wondered what Edward would think of me right now… He had become an older brother of sorts. Would he approve?
He'd been extremely busy with his new engineering job and was usually very stressed out so I hadn't gotten to spend any time with him recently.
I couldn't believe I was thinking about Edward's opinion right now. I rolled my eyes at myself internally.
"Where's Camila?" Lorenzo eventually asked, looking around until he found her with a group of kids playing dolls at a table in the corner.
An old woman with white hair was playing along, laughing with a little girl bouncing on her lap and directing her dolls.
I noticed how intergenerational this place was – like a big family reunion. Everyone was talking and laughing and dancing like everyone knew everybody. It was like everyone was a family.
The walls crackled with energy.
My blonde hair and violet eyes made it obvious that I didn't belong, and a few dark eyes were staring, but I didn't feel like an absolute alien next to Emmett.
That part at least felt natural.
"Camila's getting so big. I think we need another baby around here." Maria finally looked up to Lorenzo with wide, love-filled eyes.
He swung her in his arms and the intimacy of their quick kiss made me have to look away.
I bit my lip at the happiness and simplicity of their love.
"I think it's your turn." Lorenzo seemed to tease Emmett.
"No chance in hell." Emmett seemed to laugh this idea off as he rolled his eyes.
He disposed the cigar behind him, turning to make it obvious he wasn't continuing in this conversation.
Did he not want kids? I mean, I'd never thought about it before. I wasn't exactly really great with kids or really even spent that much time around them; I was just curious as to what he thought of them…
He had seemed to light up at even the sight of Mariana and Camila. He seemed really good with them – very natural.
"Enzo…" Maria seemed to beg, pulling me from my thoughts.
"Why don't we go dance and have this conversation later?" Lorenzo seemed to want to distract her as he twirled her under his arm and pulled her toward the dance floor.
"Oh, but you know where dancing leads?" Maria winked.
"Babies." She mouthed at me before she turned to follow him to the center of the room.
Emmett slapped a hand over his face, scolding her in Spanish it seemed.
But, I laughed – freely.
He smiled at me, his eyes seeming to search over my face as I continued to giggle.
"Are you okay?" He asked, sliding down the bar to stand closer to me.
He leaned back on his elbows as he sat back on a barstool, his eyes on me.
I looked over with a nod, and he smiled.
"I'm sorry about before." He chewed on his bottom lip nervously.
I was distracted, then I realized I had to respond.
"I suppose you can make it up to me." I shrugged, trying to be flirtatious.
"Oh, of course." Emmett agreed, and I smiled in his direction, knowing he felt it now.
I was confident he felt something between us. He sensed it in the air.
My smile faded though as I noticed a woman with long, straight black hair and pouty pink lips wink at Emmett as she took a shot with three other men at the bar.
His eyes were on her now and she fluttered her long black eyelashes over her round, chocolate brown eyes in his direction as she leaned forward on her elbows to accentuate her long waist and perfect hourglass figure in a short red dress.
When she caught me looking at her too, she flipped her hair over her shoulder, turning her back.
I was mortified, my face turning bright scarlet – but I was ultimately unshaken in my pursuit of him. I paid no mind to competition. In a way, it fueled me.
"Do you want something to drink?" He asked, seeming to know I'd noticed that girl. "Sorry, I swear I was raised right and have manners. I just…"
"I'm fine, really." I chuckled, noticing a boyish nervousness in his voice.
I hopped up on the barstool next to him and I crossed my right knee over, folding my hands and sitting forward. If I rotated another inch to my left, we'd be touching.
Did I dare?
"So what-" We both started to speak at the same time.
He chuckled and I bit my lip, my eyes darting down.
"You first." He said with a little laugh.
He rotated to his right and my shin made contact with his knee.
I noticed the girl in the red dress had her eyes on Emmett as she led another guy to the dance floor. Her body was liquid, perfectly fluid as it flowed into her partner's. He dipped her so her long black hair was a curtain, falling off her tanned neck before she snaked into him again, kissing him in a way that made me have to look away.
"No, it wasn't important." I turned away, not brave enough.
"Anything you say is important." He insisted, his amber-brown eyes on fire.
He hadn't looked away from my face for a second. This made me feel victorious in a way, but I was also intimidated.
"O-okay." I stuttered with a little smile.
"Emmett, there's something I wanted to ask…" I started, my voice seeming tiny.
My heart raced out of my chest as he kept his eyes on me.
Thankfully, Carmen approached with some delicious looking food.
I exhaled in relief.
What was I thinking asking what he thought about me when that gorgeous woman he obviously had history with was just right there? Ugh, I was so stupid.
My empty stomach jumped for joy as she sat a hot plate in front of me. It was nothing like what I ate normally, so I couldn't help but be a little apprehensive, but the pride on her face and the comfort on Emmett's made me want to try.
"I hope you like it!" Carmen clasped her hands together then proceeded to explain it all to me.
She sat on Emmett's other side and I saw by the look in her eyes as he picked up a fork that she showed her love through her food.
This meant a lot to her.
"What do you think?" Emmett asked right before I even had time to swallow my first bite.
They both waited in anticipation with wide amber-brown eyes.
I chuckled as I held a hand over my mouth to swallow.
"It's so good." I said truthfully.
Emmett and Carmen smiled at each other as if they'd just won a competition.
"¡Excellente! Oh, I'm so glad." Carmen clapped happily as I blushed.
Emmett looked at me like he was proud of me, and I had to look away or I'd get addicted to that way he was looking at me.
What else could I do to get him to look at me like that?
I picked up my fork again, my mind drifting to what I was going to ask him just moments ago – praying he wouldn't remember.
I was going to ask what was going on between us… How stupid could I have been?
He remembered, as we ate, much to my disappointment.
"What were you saying earlier, Rosalie?" He asked me.
I took another bite so I'd have time to think of something on my feet. As I swallowed, something came to me.
"Why is it called the Apple Tree?" I asked.
That was good enough.
Carmen looked over with a beaming smile, but Emmett pursed his lips not seeming to enjoy the story as much as she did.
"Can I tell her?" Carmen asked, leaning forward on her elbows excitedly.
"Sure." Emmett nodded, twirling his fork.
"It's a really good story." Carmen grinned.
"It's really not that interesting of a story as she's making it sound." Emmett chuckled humorlessly as he rolled his eyes.
"Oh hush, so, I'll tell the whole thing – that's what makes it good."
"No, mom." Emmett protested, obviously thinking I was getting an abridged version, and it made me curious.
"So okay okay here's the full story - God love him, but English did not come easily to Em when we got to America." Carmen started, mussing his hair like he was a child.
He seemed to tune her out, because he didn't respond.
I watched his face, seeing something in his eyes but she went on before I could identify it.
"He would spend hours in front of the television trying to repeat the words he heard the news anchors saying even though he didn't understand what they meant." Carmen went on.
Emmett looked up now, slight annoyance in his eyes.
"Just tell the story." He said.
"I am. I am. She just needs some background information." She insisted, seeming to get back on track.
"So… after we'd been in New York for about a month, he had to start school. Maria was crying all night and all that morning so we were both exhausted and running late for his first day."
"She was just three at the time and I was going to drop her off at a daycare on my way to work so I could walk with Em halfway to school, but she had a fever and they wouldn't let her stay at the daycare so I was stressed, but I was still making him go to school."
"He was not happy about that and I swear you'd think I was walking him to his execution the way he trudged along the street that day on the way to the train station." Carmen sighed. "Never in a thousand years would I have imagined that he'd end up at that genius school just two years later."
"Mom…" Emmett looked at her the way most people look at their moms when they're bragging on them and his face turned a light scarlet in embarrassment. "It was a specialized school."
I found his modesty charming and I had to fight my smile. I'd read somewhere he'd gotten into Stuyvesant High School, then went to Princeton, then Harvard and graduated at the top of his class.
"No offense dear, it was just that school just didn't come naturally to you so I just thought…" Carmen shrugged, misreading his expression. "Not that you were stupid or anything…"
"Oh my God." Emmett groaned a laugh, wiping a hand over his face.
I bit my lip now, unable to hide my smile of amusement.
"This is entertaining to you, I presume?" Emmett raised an eyebrow and I nodded with a little chuckle.
"Please, go on." I giggled, and Carmen winked at me.
"He hated hated haaaaaated school so I felt like the worst mother in the world sending him that first day, but he had to go of course. I'd been an English tour guide for a little while in Havana so I was making him practice some basic English phrases on the way and his little skinny knees were knocking he was so nervous. He was so afraid of the teacher and the other kids making fun of his English and –"
"Mom." Emmett's eyes shot to her as he tried to get her back on track again this time a little more harshly.
I pushed my lips together, biting down my teeth as I saw the embarrassed look on his face.
"Okay, so he didn't want to go to school," Carmen summarized and got back on track. "But when we got closer to the train station – there was this lady with a produce store on the corner. She held out an apple for him because she saw him with a backpack and knew he was going to school." Carmen ran her hand through his hair lovingly and he shook her off.
I loved seeing him through the lens of her eyes. It was nice to see him as her son.
"He looked at her like she was offering him a million dollars. His sweet face," She tapped his cheek where his dimple would be if he were smiling, and I couldn't help but smile in response.
"See, in… in Cuba…" Carmen began and Emmett's head shot up to look at her.
His eyes danced on her face, and she paused.
"Do you want to tell it?" She asked.
"No, I… I just haven't heard you say anything about Cuba in a long time…" Emmett trailed off, looking down now.
"In Cuba, we lived on a ration system, and you filled out the card and got the month's groceries, so grocery shopping looked very different than it does here, so…"
Emmett looked at her like he couldn't believe what she was saying.
"Em had never even seen an apple before." Carmen kept eye contact with him as she said this as if I were invited into a big secret.
He swallowed, but didn't protest as she went on with the story; he just kept his gaze down from then on.
I wanted to take his hand.
"And he was so mesmerized that people here had enough food that they could share so he equated apples with prosperity." Carmen explained.
Now, he looked up at her and my heart was aching. I couldn't imagine what they'd been through together, but I loved learning about him in a way I couldn't even begin to explain.
"And when I saw the look on his face when he tasted that apple, I started to cry. I knew I'd done the right thing bringing him to America where he had more opportunities, but I still worried you know?" Carmen looked at me like I had infinite wisdom.
Oh, but I didn't possess any wisdom or grace… I felt so small and insignificant, but her gaze assigned me so much worth.
"I mean, I ripped my child out of his home…"
"Mom…" Emmett tried to redirect her softly.
"So, then he told me it was going to be okay because the lady on the corner had apple trees and she could share with us." Carmen said as if this was the 'and they lived happily ever after' part. "That's what really made me realize we could make a home here."
I noticed I was leaning forward with wide eyes as I listened intently.
Emmett's dimples showed and a slight scarlet tinted his cheeks.
I saw so many facets of him in one day and I was in love with them all.
He put his arm around his mother's shoulders kissing her on the cheek and she tapped the dimple on his cheek in a sweet playful gesture.
"Now that you're bored to death." Emmett raised an eyebrow, looking back to me.
"I'm not." I said almost too swiftly.
"At least her belly's full so it'll make for a good nap." Carmen winked in a joke, taking my empty plate from in front of me.
I blushed at how much I'd eaten.
"Let me help you." Emmett stood, reaching for the dishes.
"No, no, no. Rosaliá's your guest. It's her first time here. Show her the place. Take her dancing." Carmen insisted, standing on her tiptoes to kiss his cheek before taking his plate too.
My eyes darted out to the dance floor where everyone was dancing and I was intimidated.
I don't think my hips could move like that if I tried.
I knew I was a beautiful girl. I didn't lack any self-confidence in that aspect, but I was just that… I was a girl.
These were women. They knew their bodies in a way that made me look like an uncoordinated baby giraffe.
I was far too vain to fail at this.
"Thank you so much for dinner." I said, looking back to Carmen. "It was amazing."
"It's my pleasure. Now, I'm going to clean up and I'll see you Sunday morning for Mass, cariña." Carmen kissed my cheek now and I didn't even flinch away.
Progress.
As she turned on her heel, my heart began to race at the thought of dancing with Emmett.
"You don't have to dance, you know." Emmett said, but there was something in his eyes.
And, I think I wanted him to be close to me…
"I just… don't know how." I hated to admit, but I looked up at him in a way I hoped he would read.
"You just need a good partner." Emmett smirked in a confident way.
He read me like a book.
"I know what I'm doing." He said, standing in front of me and offering his hand.
"All right." My skin tingled with anticipation and I had to fight a goofily wide smile from showing on my face at the excitement of thinking about putting my hand in his.
I realized… he wanted to dance with me.