“I’l bear that in mind,” I told her, trying to keep a straight face

She came closer to me and looked me in the eyes. Then she nodded to herself and touched my arm. I didn’t know what to make of this either and decided to think about al of it later.

Then she walked toward Eddie, reached up and touched his shoulder. He bent low to give her a kiss on the cheek and murmured something that was stil annoyed but also sounded loving. The sight and sound of it made me feel pleasantly strange again and I had to force myself to look away.

There were good-byes and more smal waves and they were gone.

Eddie stalked toward me, grabbed the box and then stalked into the kitchen.

I walked to the doorway of the kitchen and stood there.

“That was fun,” I told him.

He put the box down and started stalking again, this time his eyes were dark and his intentions were clear.

Eek!

I retreated, slammed up against a wal and he positioned his body close to mine.

I was looking up, my head tilted way back and his face was less than an inch away.

“One thing good about that, I’ve never seen you smile so much and I don’t think I’ve ever heard you laugh.”

“Your mother’s funny,” I told him, beginning to find it difficult to breathe.

He came even closer and difficulty breathing was no longer my main concern because the oxygen in my lungs started burning.

“My mother’s meddling and nosy and hel -bent on having dozens of grandchildren, the sooner the better.” I gave a little nod in the room I had to work with. I was trying not to think of giving Blanca grandchildren, but more, trying not to think of how I’d go about doing that.

“That sounds familiar,” I said.

His hands came up to my jaw, holding my face tilted. His eyes went liquid and he muttered something in Spanish. I caught the words cariña and hermosa, I began to lift up on my toes when my cel started ringing.

“Ignore it,” Eddie said against my mouth.

I wanted to, I real y did, but I couldn’t.

“I can’t,” I whispered. “It might be Mom.” He immediately let me go and stepped away.

I walked to the kitchen and picked up the phone which had stopped ringing.

I looked to see who’d cal ed and it was again Indy. I thought this was weird, considering she knew I was on a date with Eddie. She couldn’t want a progress report this soon.

“Indy’s cal ed twice,” I said as Eddie put the Napoleons on plates.

He handed one to me.

“If she needs to speak to you, she’l phone back.” He grabbed the wine and walked into the living room. I fol owed him. He set the wine and his plate on the coffee table, went to get our glasses, put them on the table and sat down. He grabbed the remote and turned on a basebal game.

I stood next to the couch and stared at the TV.

“Um… what are we doing?” I asked.

Eddie retrieved his pastry and put his feet up on the coffee table, “I have another brother, a sister and five dozen cousins. I’m not starting anything again until visiting hours are over.”

Goodie. A reprieve.

I sat down on the opposite side of the couch, putting my phone on the coffee table and I ate my Napoleon, my eyes on the game. I wasn’t a big sports fan. If pressed I’d go to games, mainly for the atmosphere, but I wasn’t fond of watching them on television.

The minute I consumed the last bite of my pastry and put my plate down, Eddie’s feet came off the table. He leaned down, grabbed my ankles and pul ed them in his lap. Then he started to work on the straps of my shoes.

“Eddie…” I began, trying to pul my legs away.

His hands wrapped around my ankles.

“Quiet, Chiquita. You’re going to relax.” He tossed my shoes several feet away and then he pul ed off his boots. I settled into my corner, as far away from him as I could get, thinking this was slightly anti-climactic. I didn’t have high hopes for my date with Eddie but I expected it would be me who screwed things up in some way or bored him to death. I didn’t expect to spend the night watching a basebal game.

His hand shot out and he grabbed me, dragging me across the couch as he put his feet back on the table. He tucked me into his side so my shoulder was wedged under his armpit and my cheek was against his chest. He wrapped his arm around my waist, his hand resting on my hip.

Dear Lord.

I wasn’t bored anymore, I felt nice. As in, real nice.

I put my feet up on the couch and curled into him, keeping my eyes on the game and daydreaming about doing this with Eddie again, maybe every night for the rest of our lives.

The next thing I knew, my cel phone was ringing. I could also hear Eddie’s.

I’d fal en into a doze and somehow my arm got wrapped across Eddie’s waist. I came up, pul ing my hair away from my face and grabbed my phone. Eddie leaned forward and pul ed his phone out of his back pocket.

My phone said “Indy cal ing”. I flipped it open and said,

“Hel o?” at the same time I heard Eddie say, “Yeah?”

“Jet? Are you with Eddie?” Indy said by way of greeting, her voice sounding funny and not in a good way.

“Yes. Is something wrong?” I asked.

She hesitated then said, “Is he on the phone?” I looked over at him. He was listening, then his face got tight and his eyes moved to me.

“Yeah,” I said to Indy.

“He’s talking to Lee. I tried to stop him. I promise I did everything I could think of.”

I felt a chil run up my spine.

“What’s happening?” I asked.

“Listen, our adventure at Einstein’s got out and—” I didn’t hear her say anything else as the phone was pul ed from my hand and flipped closed.

My head snapped around to Eddie.

“Hey! I was talking to Indy.”

“I know.”

He slid his and my phones on the table, looked at me, his eyes serious and maybe a little pissed off.

“What’s going on?” I asked, moving away from him.

“You’ve had a busy day,” he said.

Uh-oh.

I thought, at that juncture, it might be wise to keep my mouth shut.

“Went lookin’ for your Dad like I asked you not to do and found some trouble at a bagel place,” he said.

I forgot about keeping my mouth shut.

“Eddie, it’s none of your…”

His eyes narrowed.

“Chiquita, if you tel me it’s none of my business, I swear to God, I’l shoot you.”