Luz comes home from her first day of school babbling excitedly about her new teacher. Her name is Ms. Ledford, and from the first sentence out of her mouth, everything starts with "Ms. Ledford".
At dinner, "Ms. Ledford says that a rainbow plate is the best plate. All the different colours should be there."
While reading her a book, "Ms. Ledford says that books expand the mind. Is my mind going to get bigger now?"
While going to sleep, "Ms. Ledford says that sleep is just as important as eating."
By the end of the week, Thomas can tell that if this does not let up, it is going to be a long year.
Luz is like her mother in genius, like himself, to be honest. They were all a bunch of stubborn mules.
When she obsesses, she obsesses hard. Soledad was the same way, that is why she and Thomas had met at a football game in Mexico City, and that is why they fought many, many times when their teams faced each other.
He misses her, sometimes, still. Luz was two when her mother died, and does not remember much, but Thomas had loved her, and he still feels her loss like a throbbing ache, even four years later.
Soledad was not his soulmate, and Thomas was not hers, and they knew that going in.
He had a soulmate, once, and blew his chance away, and she was in need of a way into the US. It was not perfect, but they worked together, they complimented each other, and he knew he could live out the rest of his life next to her and be happy with what he accomplished.
Still, Thomas sees her face in passers-by, sometimes, but it is never really her, and the man does not want to wait for something that might be a pipe dream. He cannot live that way.
It does not mean he has not sketched that face over and over again from his memories, since he forbade himself from really coming out as definitively pathetic and stalking her in social media. He might look back fondly and feel heartbroken over it even nowadays, but he cannot let it rule his life.
Soledad had agreed. She had agreed to make do with most, but not all, of his heart, and it was okay for them. They built a beautiful life and a beautiful daughter together.
He cannot help but miss that. To miss the feeling of having his heart in functioning order. It had been just too long.
The days went by and he learnt to filter out the name of the damn woman whenever his daughter mentioned her. In the third week of school, it was time for parent-teacher conferences.
Luz is terrifyingly excited for Thomas to meet the famous Ms. Ledford, so much so that, when the lawyer comes out wearing a blue polo, the little girl scowls pronouncedly at him.
"No, daddy." She shook her small head derisively.
Thomas blinks at her.
She is going to be a bully in high school, he thought, privately. She is too good in making others feel bad.
"What?" He asked, with his voice off-pitch.
"No, daddy!" The girl insisted. "Wear the green with the buttons! It matches your eyes!"
Thomas stares down at his six-year-old. Is she, God forbid, trying to match-make him?
Luz just scowls and stamps her foot. Thomas figures there is really no point in arguing. Besides, Luz is not wrong. The forementioned green button-up had been one of Soledad's favourites.
He just sighs and goes back into his room in compliance.
When he comes out this time, Luz just smiles.
"Perfect!" She says.
Thomas just rolls his eyes at her, and that is when there is a knock on the door.
He opens it and grins. "Hey, Levi. Thanks for watching her tonight."
Levi grins, wide and sincere. "Hey, I've always got time for my favourite little niece!"
"Uncle Levi!" Luz cries, her glee clear. She runs up and hugs him fiercely, as she usually did. "Did you bring me a present?"
Levi grins, wickedly. He really enjoyed spoiling the girl, and he also enjoyed the displeased glare of her father's. Someone had to knock him from his high horse sometimes.
"Of course, I brought you something!" He says, and he hands her a lollipop.
Thomas rolls his eyes at them, but he expected nothing less from Levi, so in the end he just smiles and slips out the door.
He finds the door to Ms. Ledford's classroom easily, following the signs. When he walks in, there are a few other parents scattered around the room. In the front, behind a desk, is a woman who looks startlingly familiar. Same iron-curled hair, same arched back, same left dimple on the same bright smile.
Thomas has even seen those small freckles before. He has spent hours and hours during high school trying to count them.
There were fifteen. He wonders if that changed, too
The kind teacher wears a grey cardigan over a plain blouse, and her hands are folded in front of her on a stack of papers.
Thomas stares, starstruck. He wonders if he is being creepy, but he cannot help himself.
After a moment, Ms. Ledford looks up. Her attentive gaze catches on the man before her, and Thomas knows. He knows those amber eyes.
This is the love of his life. The girl who got away. His wildest dreams come true. They, indeed, crossed paths once more.
He could not be happier, and, based on the way her soft gaze lingers, Thomas would wager on it being at least somewhat reciprocal.
After a moment, he shakes off his shock and moves forward, offering a hand to the woman, who hastily stands.
"Thomas Mendez, but I guess you know that." He says. "Uh, Luz is my daughter."
"Tara. Tara Ledford." She says in return, gaze flickering to the floor. "I guess this is news for you. The surname, I mean."
He shook his head. "I saw your name on the wedding announcements."
"Oh, I…" Her cheeks turn pink. "It was Guy's idea. He likes attention. I'm divorced, now, though."
"I see." He said, struggling with his words, feeling like a schoolboy again. "Are you… Uh, would you like to maybe get dinner after this? I miss you, and I'd like to get reacquainted."
Tara looks up. She almost looks surprised. "Uh, I- I'd… Yeah, sure. Dinner would be… Nice."
Thomas smiles. "I'll take a seat, then."
Thomas cannot help but notice that, the whole time she talks, Tara's eyes keep flickering back to him. He does not blame her. Personally, he cannot keep his eyes off the woman, either.
It had been all pretty stupid.
Tara Day attended the same high school Thomas did. She, however, came from a poorer neighbourhood in downtown Albuquerque, attending Bernhardt on a scholarship, while he lived by the school, in the North Valley.
As soon as he saw her coming off the bus, bag in place and wide-eyes to the whole experience, he knew she was the one for him.
Unfortunately, he still was a shy boy with horrendous experimental braces, a rakish thin figure and no friends to speak of. So, he consoled himself with being her friend, along with another social outcast, Levi Schuler, the only Jew in campus.
The years passed them by like a flash, and when Thomas was going to ask Tara to the prom, after practicing incessantly with Levi, after having it all planned out, he was narrowly beaten to the punch by Guy Ledford, the football captain.
He was heartbroken, and then proceeded to do the worst thing he could have done, he overreacted and blew it on her. After he shouted his lungs out, she cried and refused to talk to him for the rest of their high school career.
Through the alumni newsletter, the man came to find out Tara and Guy got married in California in their Sophomore year in college. Years later, by fate, he crossed paths with the man himself, who mentioned in passing that they had divorced, and that he was dating some inappropriately young digital influencer.
That is when Thomas began to hope again. He did not know it would come true in such a way.
This time, he was going to seize that chance.