Yes, yelling. And, yes, in Spanish.
I tried to take a step back because, well, she kind of scared me but Hector still had a tight hold on me.
Then she started waving her arms around and she spun, stalked up to Eddie, got in his face and started yelling at him still in Spanish.
Then she turned to Lee, wagging her finger at him and then she yelled at him (in Spanish).
“Mamá,” Hector said low, cutting into her tirade.
She spun around from wagging her finger at Lee and glared at Hector.
“Cómo?” she snapped.
“Sadie’s hungry,” Hector told his mother, throwing me right under the bus.
“No!” I cried instantly. “No, really, carry on, um… yelling at people. It’s your house. Do whatever you want. I’m good. I’m not hungry at all.”
She pointed at me and I could tell just by looking at her I was in trouble.
“You! Too skinny!” she declared, jabbing her finger at me. “We eat. Mi hijo likes curves. Any real man likes curves. We gotta work on your curves!” Then she stomped out of the room and within moments we heard pans crashing and other various extremely loud kitchen noises.
I scanned the room and everyone was smiling at me, Indy and Jet were both even giggling a little. I didn’t think there was anything to giggle about.
I looked up at Hector and glared. He was looking down at me and grinning.
He dipped his face close to mine and whispered, “She likes you.”
Blooming heck.
*
I got through the dinner at Hector’s mother’s house (her name, by the way, was Blanca and the pretty, older, blonde lady was Nancy, Tex’s girlfriend and Jet’s Mom) with only a few uncomfortable incidents.
*
First, after we all sat down and passed around Blanca’s delicious food and everyone had started eating, Blanca threw her napkin down, stomped to me and snatched my plate right out from under my raised fork. She then stormed around the table, stopping at each platter full of food and mounding more and more on my plate. Then she stalked back to me and dropped my plate in front of me with a curt, “Too skinny!”
I looked down in horror at the virtual mountain of food on my plate.
Blanca went back to her seat at the foot of the table (Eddie was at the head, Jet to one side of him, me on the other side) and she started gabbing happily like she hadn’t just made a huge Food Scene.
When I thought it was safe, I turned to Hector and whispered, “I can’t eat this much food.”
His eyes cut to me and they were dancing. “Relax, mi cielo, I’ll take care of you.”
Then, if you could believe it, he did take care of me. Throughout dinner he alternately ate off his plate and (when Blanca wasn’t looking) my plate until both were empty.
How bizarre was that?
*
I did okay through dinner though it made me feel weird like I felt when I first moved in with Buddy and Ralphie.
See, these people were friends. In fact, it was clear they’d known each other for years so they were beyond friends. It was hard to describe but since (except for Hector, Eddie and Blanca and, of course, Jet and Nancy) there were no blood ties to bind them and yet they still chose to spend their lives together it was more like a close-knit, happy, relaxed family-of-their-own-devising. They laughed, talked, gossiped, smiled and teased each other with fond affection.
Outside of Ralphie and Buddy’s friends, I’d never been around anything like it and I didn’t know how to act, what to say. I only knew that the Ice Princess was really not welcome here. I couldn’t click her into place to help me cope even if I wanted to.
I also knew that New Sadie was not ready for this experience, not even close.
So I stayed quiet, smiling a little when someone looked at me or there was a joke that I should have laughed at but was too stressed out to relax and be real, like them.
I felt like an outsider looking in, removed, not unwelcome just that, well…
I didn’t belong.
*
The second incident happened while everyone was chatting and the stragglers were finishing up their meals.
Hector had pushed his chair a bit away from the table and to my shock he pulled my casted wrist onto his thigh. Then the tips of his fingers touched the tips of my fingers that were exposed by the cast.
His touch made me go warm.
I turned to him and he was looking down at our hands.
“When do you get this removed?” he asked quietly.
“Wednesday,” I replied, wanting to pull my hand away if only for sanity’s sake but thinking it might not be a good move at Blanca’s table. I knew one thing, there was no way on earth I was going to survive another scene and I also knew I’d do just about anything to avoid it, including letting Hector touch my hand.
“Good,” he murmured.
I swallowed.
His black eyes came to mine and there was something burning there so strong, I felt my heart start to beat faster.
“She’s pulling away,” he whispered.