style="font-size:15px;"> “I want you to have some fun this weekend.” She said it in such a hushed, serious tone—like she was confessing to a sin.
“Fun?” Sofia shook her head from side to side, wondering when the world stopped making sense. Fun had always been low on her mother’s priority list. “Mom, this is a business trip. We’ll be working.”
Her mother clucked and patted Sofia on the cheek and just like that, Sofia felt like she was seven again. “Ayi, it is—but this is the first time since David died that you’ve...” Her voice trailed off.
Sofia was suddenly terrified of what her mother might say. Because what it sounded like Mom was saying was that it might be a good idea if Sofia considered sleeping with her boss on a weekend getaway and that couldn’t possibly be true. Especially not when Sofia had been daydreaming about doing just that.
“There’s nothing going on here. We’re just old friends who happen to work together now.”
Her mother gave her another look, one that had Sofia’s mouth snapping shut on any other protest. “It’s been almost a year and a half. You need to move on with your life.”
Sofia stared in disbelief, but Rosa Cortés didn’t so much as blink. “I am moving on. I got a new job and some new clothes.” Clothes that Eric had paid for. “There’s nothing else I need from him.” It didn’t matter how much that might be a lie—she was sticking to it.
“Nothing?” Mom clucked again and dug out a bag to put the snacks in. “He grew up. So handsome. And thoughtful, to come get you himself.” She sighed again and Sofia swore she could see stars in her mother’s eyes. “The twins love him. You can just tell.”
She could. Even Addy had warmed up to him in record time. “Mom...”
Because this was not the beginning of a new story. This was not a happily-ever-after in the making. And if Sofia allowed herself to buy into that delusion—that a hot, rich, thoughtful billionaire who cared for her and the children would somehow give her a perfect family and a storybook life—no. He was so far out of her league that she knew she’d fall if she tried to climb to his level. And she couldn’t fall again. She wouldn’t survive the bounce this time.
“It’s just that you’ve been through so much—you deserve a little fun, don’t you?” Mom nodded to herself as she bagged up the snacks. “It’s time for you to smile again.”
“I smile. I smile all the time.” It was hard not to smile and laugh when Addy and Eddy were being adorable—or even when they were getting into trouble.
But even as she thought that, Sofia knew she was being deliberately obtuse because that’s not what Mom was talking about and they both knew it.
Sorrow pulled at the corners of Mom’s mouth. “Ah, you smile for your children. You even smile for me and your father, as if you think we can’t see how you’re hiding behind it. But, cariño, when was the last time you smiled for yourself?” With that parting shot, Mom carried the overflowing bag of snacks and sodas out to Eric.
Sofia stood there, struggling to breathe. Mom was wrong. That’s all there was to it. She smiled. She was moving on and living her life. She...
Sofia dropped her head into her hands. She didn’t get enough sleep and every day was a new battle to be waged against crushing depression and anxiety. Her entire life had become faking it until she made it. Apparently, she wasn’t faking it well enough to fool her own mother.
And what, exactly, was that woman encouraging her to do? Seduce Eric? Have an affair with her boss? It didn’t make any sense. Although she had liked David and approved of the marriage, Rosa Cortés had been horrified when Sofia and David had moved in together before the wedding. Mom was a very traditional woman. She would never do anything as risqué as condone an affair.
But the moment the thoughts of seduction and Eric ran headlong into each other in Sofia’s head, her mind oh-so-helpfully filled in the blanks. A big soft bed in a hotel room, Eric looking at her with desire in his eyes as she slipped the buttons free on his shirt and he slid down the zipper on her dress. Would he pounce on her, all masculine strength and raw lust? Or would it be a slow seduction, one that left her shaking and begging for release?
God, she missed sex.
“Wow—Takis? I haven’t had these in years!” she heard Eric say. Sofia swung around to see him surge to his feet as Mom held out the snacks. “I can’t believe you remembered how much I liked these!” He rummaged through the bag. “And Conchas? Oh, man—these are always such a special treat! Sofia always shared these.”
Sofia watched as her mom ducked her head, another girlish blush on her cheeks. “We always brought extra for you. But not too much—we didn’t want to make your mother mad.”
“As long as we didn’t get orange fingerprints on her office furniture...” They laughed, as if the passage of years had never happened.
Have fun. Maybe Sofia was reading too much into this.
It wasn’t like she could just decide not to be anxious. It didn’t work that way. But she could make a conscious choice to enjoy herself this weekend. She could continue to fake it until she made it because even if she’d still be forcing herself to smile, she might eventually make it to having a good time. To enjoying her time with Eric. Even if that just meant sharing a bag of fried corn chips.
Or even if it meant something...more.
God, it’d be so good to smile again. To be happy again. At least now, she could almost see happiness from where she stood. It wasn’t a star hung too high in the sky that she’d never be able to reach, like it’d been in the first terrible months after David’s death.
She’d never forget her husband—she didn’t want to—but maybe it wasn’t such a bad thing that Eric reminded her she’d been a happy, whole person before her marriage and she might be one again.
As she watched, Eric pulled Mom into an impulsive hug. “It’s been so great to see you again, Mrs. Cortés. My parents always love to hear from you.”
“Give my best to your mother.” Just then, Eric’s watch beeped. “Oh, you must go. You’ll be late! I wouldn’t want you to miss your flight.”
Eric laughed. “Don’t worry. They won’t leave without me.”
Eddy toddled over to him, holding up a sheet of paper. Eric bent down. “This is really nice, big guy. Did you make this for me?”
Eddy grinned widely and nodded. Not to be outdone, here came Addy, also brandishing a sheet of paper. “Oh, this is lovely,” Eric said so seriously that Sofia couldn’t help but laugh. “Can you write your name on it for me?”
Addy hurried to the table and then slashed a line in bright pink across the bottom.
“That’s my girl,” Eric said and another part of Sofia melted.
He would be so easy to fall for. She could fight against the fact that he was gorgeous and the fact that he had more money than most of the rest of the city put together. She could even work around the way he treated her with kindness. But this?
Because right now, he wasn’t some unreachable fantasy. Right now, he was joking with her mother,
