Author's Note: Another review request. Enjoy this one guys! Much love to my awesome readers.
An Unexpected Visit
Just because she didn't live at home anymore didn't mean she wasn't there all the time anyway. It was, after all, her first year living on her own. And despite the fact that she was 21 years old, she still needed her family.
It wasn't that she didn't love her apartment, a little stucco building with a clay tile roof sandwiched between half a dozen others in a little gated area in Huntington Park, with rows of nicely kept palm trees planted out front next to desert-stiffened shrubs. It was just that she found herself missing home. Her father on the couch after dinner with a cold Corona, and the smell of her mother cooking sancocho or locrio de pollo for supper. The sound of her father's car roaring into the driveway when he came home from work. The way her mother would hum whenever she folded laundry without ever seeming to notice.
Hell she even missed the way she would occasionally find her parents snuggled together on the couch some nights, or her mother sitting in her father's lap after dinner, whispering things in his ear that made him grin like an idiot. It partially disgusted her, but the adult in her realized that not everyone's parents loved each other like hers did, especially after so long.
But she didn't think she'd ever outgrow her need to make gagging faces at them whenever she caught them being lovey dovey together.
To her father's pride she'd transferred from junior college to UCLA to pursue a degree in Mechanical Engineering and she had more than a knack for it. Even as her knowledge of parts and systems grew in leaps and bounds she still felt most at home around cars. She still put in a few hours at the garage at least three days a week. Went home with her parents for dinner, except for on Fridays which had become their 'date night'. She preferred not to ask.
On Sundays there was always a barbeque at Aunt Mia's house, and the whole family would gather. Even Vince would drive out, every Sunday, despite the fact that he now lived an hour away.
He'd recently started bringing his girlfriend with him. This one might be a keeper.
On Saturdays her parents usually worked half a day at the garage, so any time after 2 pm she could often catch them at home. Her mother always told her she should call first, because what if they weren't there and she dropped by to an empty house. But Saturday was her errand day, so she was always out and about to begin with, and it was so easy to swing by home after picking up the dry cleaning or having her hair cut. She could bullshit with Dad on the back porch for a few hours, or pester Mom into talking about her questionable past.
Sometimes she'd find the two of them in the garage out back working on the Charger. They were always working on that car, even though it had been in fine shape ever since she'd been born. She knew it had seen more than a few accidents, that her aunt called it a curse but her parents seemed to think otherwise.
So today when she pulled up in front of the house and saw both her Mom and Dad's cars parked in the drive she smiled to herself. Maybe they were getting predictable in their old age, because she hadn't dropped by once to find them out somewhere else.
The front door was open, so she let herself in without the aid of a key. Once inside she looked around. There was a basket of fresh laundry to be folded sitting on the couch, and the television was on mute. The kitchen was also empty, but for the half-finished Corona on the table, leaving a ring of condensation on the polished wood. Frowning she started for the stairs.
"Hello? Anyone home?"
An exploration of her old room – they still hadn't changed a damn thing, which made her smile, and the master bedroom told her that they weren't upstairs either. Not unless they were hiding in the bathroom to scare her…
Nope, not in there either.
They must be out back or working in the garage. But strange, she hadn't seen them when she'd pulled up. Shrugging, the young woman went out the back door. The yard was empty and the garage door was closed. She frowned. But… where could they be? Maybe they'd walked somewhere?
No…. no her parents wouldn't go somewhere without driving.
She was about to give up and head home when she heard her mother's voice… coming from the garage? She raised a brow. They couldn't be working in there with the door closed. The garage was old and drafty but it had no AC and even on a mild spring day like today it would get hot in the enclosed space. But perhaps they weren't going to be long.
She started around the side of the garage for the door, her mouth open to call out a greeting when she caught the sound of something that was vaguely familiar.
Familiar in the way of avoided trips to the bathroom past her parents' bedroom late at night. In the way of her iPod blasting in her ears because their walls definitely weren't soundproof. In the way of her mother's voice huskily murmuring things in Spanish she wished she didn't understand.
Yes… they definitely were not working on the car.
Well… maybe they were working on the car. Just… not in the way she'd first assumed.
Grimacing she back-pedaled quickly away, spun on her heel and high-tailed it back into the house. She grabbed a fresh beer from the fridge, retreated to the living room to turn the volume back on the TV and began mindlessly folding the laundry.
She was done with the folding and paging through a magazine by the time the back door swung open twenty minutes later. Her mother appeared in the doorway, dark hair curled with sweat, cheeks flushed, and clothes not quite straight. She crossed her arms over her chest and smirked.
"I told you to call before you came over."
"I will!" the young woman announced. "Believe me, I have learned my lesson. Geez, aren't old people supposed to have boring sex lives or something?"
"Sweetheart, those are the old people who get divorces," Letty said with a laugh. "Now get the hell out. Thanks for folding the laundry and all but you're cramping my style. I thought you moved out."
"When I did you and Dad didn't want me to go!"
"Yeah well we like the perks of a child-free house. Now scat. We'll see you tomorrow." And with that Letty disappeared back into the kitchen. Her daughter could hear her say something and the murmuring answer of her father's voice. She decided to heed her mother's advice, and beat it, before she saw something she really didn't want to see.
But as she crossed the front lawn to her car parked at the curb she couldn't help but smile. Even after all these years it was nice to know how much they still loved each other.