No ideas seem to come to either of them as they try to think. Imelda can tell Héctor hates struggling with his music.
"You can't think of anything?" she asks him.
Héctor shakes his head, guitar positioned in his hands. He narrows his eyes in concentration.
Imelda looks at his face, once again taking in how frustrated he looks. After a while, he sets his guitar down beside him and sighs.
"Maybe we should work on this tomorrow," he suggests.
Imelda shakes her head. "No. We put it off and we'll never get it done in time."
"But neither of us can think of anything."
Imelda points at him. "We are not giving up, Héctor. You already have the title and the melody of the song figured out."
Héctor looks at her.
She smiles. "By the way, you haven't played the melody for me, yet. Let's hear it."
Héctor continues to stare. "What if Ernesto comes back and--"
Imelda holds up her hand. "What did I tell you? Forget about Ernesto. Right now, what matters is finishing the song. Now play it so I can hear what it sounds like."
Héctor sighs and half smiles. "Look who's taking charge."
He grabs his guitar and starts to play. The tune is bouncy and upbeat, a song that will make anyone dance just from listening to it. Imelda can tell he wants to dance while playing, but he holds his composure.
When he finshes, he looks at her again. "I wanted this to be a suprise for you," he explains. "I was going to perform this for you at the concert, but then you asked if you could sing onstage with us and..." He trails off, not finishing his scentence.
Imelda widens her eyes. That's why he was so hesitant about letting her perform with him.
"That's... nice of you," she says, a bit startled at the thought.
Héctor nods.
Imelda taps his songbook pointedly. "Now let's get back to work," she tells him. "I think it's better this way anyways."
"Why?"
"Because I love hanging out with you." Imelda giggles. "That, mi amigo, is better than any suprise you can give me."
She sees him blush before she turns to stare at his notebook.
"Can I look through this?" she asks.
Héctor nods again.
She flips to the beginning. Everyday Fun is the first song listed. She widens her eyes as she reads the chorus.
Everyda-ay, all we wanna have is fun, fun, fun.
Fun anywa-ay, so just come and join us one by one.
"Me and Ernesto's theme song," Héctor says suddenly. "I promised not to share it with anyone else."
Imelda stares at him. "Theme song?"
"Ernesto deserves one. All special people deserve their own songs."
Imelda shrugs as she turns more pages. The World Es Mi Familia.
"Also for Ernesto," Héctor tells her.
Un Poco Loco is the last one. The pages for that song are blank.
Imelda sets his notebook down. "You have quite an interesting mind."
Héctor smiles. "You think so?"
Imelda nods. "But Ernesto doesn't deserve your music."
At this he frowns at her.
Imelda shakes her head. "Let's get back to work."
Héctor sets his guitar down. "I wanna take a break first."
Imelda gives him a look.
"We'll finish later," he promises, taking her hand as he stands up. "Right now, I think we should take a little break."
Héctor leads her away, towards the one place he tries to stay away from as much as he can.
He pushes open the gate to the town cemetary, tightening his grip on Imelda's hand as his heart races. The place is practically empty, yet the nervosness stays with Héctor as he walks to his designated area.
He hears Imelda ask, "Why are we here?"
Héctor swallows but doesn't answer. He spots his parents' graves up ahead, a lump in his throat as he looks at them, side-by-side.
Isla de la Cruz 1854-1917.
Renaldo de la Cruz 1852-1917.
Imelda steps beside him. "I'm sorry, Héctor," she says. Her voice is wavering.
Héctor's hands squeeze to fists. "I've gotten used to it. I don't think Ernesto has."
"Is that part of why you stay by his side sometimes?" Imelda asks.
"That's not why." Héctor looks upwards. "I've always liked being around him."
Papá had been out with his amigos. They didn't share what'd happened to him, they simply just told them the news. All of them-- Héctor, Ernesto, and Mamá-- had done a great deal of crying for weeks on end. That was one of the few times Héctor had seen Ernesto bawl like that.
Héctor shudders as he remembers Mamá's death months later. A carefree smile had been on her face as she closed her eyes.
How could she have been so happy? She was in pain. Even Héctor couldn't smile right then. How could she? She was the one suffering, yet she looked as happy as a little girl.
Héctor forces a smile as he stiffly turns away. "Let's go," he says flatly, feeling like the air could flatten him with how heavy it feels.
Imelda looks at him. "Are you sure?"
Héctor closes his eyes. "We have to finish the song, remember?"
Imelda gives him one last long look before letting him pull her away.
Héctor opens his eyes and steels himself as the two of them walk away. He is not going to cry. Not even for his parents. He didn't want Imelda worrying about him.
He forces himself to calm down as him and Imelda work on, and finish, the lyrics to Héctor's new song.