Chapter 4

CHAPTER FOUR

VALENTIN

I shower as quickly as I can. I want answers and need Alondra to confirm what her father told me. That she walked away because what we had wasn’t worth it to her. I need to hear it from her lips. Maybe I can finally close out that chapter and get some peace.

When I get downstairs, she’s not in the kitchen. I put the defrosted lasagna in the oven and go looking for her. She’s not in her room, but her SUV is still in my driveway.

I step out onto the veranda. The wind is picking up. I spot her sitting halfway down the steps, shoulders slumped, looking out into the ocean.

“Alondra,” I call out. She doesn’t respond.

I repeat her name. No answer.

I take the steps down. She has her phone in one hand, and her other hand is pressing on her belly. I touch her shoulder. Her gaze is blank as it lands on me.

“The food is almost ready.”

Her face contorts in disgust. Then she shakes her head. “I can’t eat anything right now.”

She goes back to looking out, and something twists in my chest. I sit next to her.

“When was the last time you ate?” I ask.

She shrugs. And that tells me everything I need to know. If she’s still the same Alondra I knew, she could never eat when something bad happened, either in school or at home.

“Why don’t you tell me about it?”

She looks at me and snorts. “Story of my life. I put my trust in the wrong people and had my eyes so focused on the prize I forgot to pay attention to the signs. I ended up paying for it dearly.”

It’s a punch to the gut because she could be talking about us. She trusted me, and I got caught up in proving what a big man I was.

“What happened in New York?” I ask.

She hands me her phone. I take it and read the article on the screen. The reporter paints a picture of the corrupt administration and the program administrator, Alondra Tatis, managing aid to the underserved by funding nonprofit agencies. How could she not know Mayor Briddams and his cabinet had a hand in creating the awarded nonprofits? These were agencies through which he accepted large sums of money from millionaires and billionaires. Briddams funneled these funds through initiatives that benefited all his donors with tax breaks, permits, and contracts. Ms. Tatis allocated the money to the nonprofits. Her hands can’t be clean in all of this.

“You need a lawyer,” I say.

“Probably.”

The noncommittal tone has my gaze snapping to hers, making me want to shake her. “You have to fight, Alondra. You were not part of this.”

“What makes you so sure?”

I place a hand over hers. “Because I know you. You’ve always been as straight as a pin. You’re the only person I can say would never do anything illegal.”

Her smile is so sad. “You’re right. I wasn’t part of it. Thank you for believing in me.” She pulls her hand away and stands. “I want to walk on the sand for a little bit.”

“I’ll come with you. Let me turn off the oven.”

She places a hand on my shoulder. “You must be tired. I don’t want?—”

“I’m coming with you.” I insist.

I go inside quickly, turn off the oven, and come back out half expecting her to be gone. But she’s waiting, and we go down to the beach. Her Adidas sink in the sand, but she keeps up the pace.

I point at her sneakers. “Those are not going to hold here.”

“It’s all I brought other than flip-flops. How did you end up here? Last I heard, you were in the Army.”

“You kept tabs on me,” I tease.

She doesn’t take the bait.

“I enlisted in the Army and deployed to Afghanistan, where I met my good friend, Kyle. This was his hometown. We always talked about coming here to help his grandpa run the B&B. Kyle died in a raid.” I say like I can’t still hear his laughter right before the grenade landed only steps away from us. My ears still ring with his screams.

And I’m back in that moment, with my heart pounding and desperation spiking the walls of my chest. I’m crawling to him until something tugs at my hand, and I find Alondra’s fingers wrapped around mine.

I anchor myself to her warm hand and stare into her face, framed by all that wild hair.

“I’m sorry about Kyle.” Her chestnut brown eyes are warm and deep heart familiar.

I bob my head up and down, not trusting myself to say more. She starts to walk again. I wonder if she knows that she’s still holding my hand. This takes me back to who we were, best friends who fell in love like only dumb high school kids can.

“I didn’t want to go back to Yonkers after getting out. My family moved to Lawrence, and my brother is still hustling. I didn’t want to get dragged into the drama. So, I came to find Kyle’s grandfather and work for him. He died two years ago and left me the B&B.”

“Wow,” she says. “He must have loved you too.”

I smile. “Kyle told him about me, and Javier had no one else. He became a grandpa to me.” I tug at her hand. “What about you? What have you been up to?”

She chuckles. “Didn’t you hear enough about that?”

I shake my head. “That was the last few days. I want to hear about the rest.”

“My parents sent me to the Dominican Republic to attend a private school after I last saw you... After I graduated, I got accepted into Cornell on a full ride.”

“Of course you did. You were always smart and knew what you wanted. We all knew you would go places.”

She pulls her fingers from mine and wraps her hands around her elbows. “Book smarts are easy. My problem is that I always make dumb decisions about life and people.”

I reach for her, but she takes a step back.

“I’m ready to go back now.”