Big Nick Energy (Bringing Home Trouble)

9. Blanca

9

Blanca

“How about we sit down,” My mom suggested. She pointed down at her shoes, and my eyes widened.

“Are you in heels?” I asked. My mom was a flats kinda girl.

“Your sister insisted. I think she’s trying to set me up with someone. She even did my makeup,” she shared just as we found a quiet space amongst the crowd standing around, waiting for the tree to be lit.

It sounded like Griselda. My little sister was a hopeless romantic who was always trying to set someone up.

“So, Nick Marsh, huh?” Mom asked, and I turned to look at her.

She had already sat down, and she patted the bench next to her. I sat next to her, expecting her to immediately go on a rant. But to my surprise, she didn’t. My mom didn’t even yell. Not that she was the yelling kind. But I figured if there was ever a time to yell at your kid, it would be when you found out they were seeing someone twice their age.

“I know he’s older and—“ I started to defend, but when her hand rose, I quieted.

“Do you love him?” she asked calmly, a lot calmer than I would have ever expected her to be.

“Yes,” I answered honestly. “I haven’t told him that yet, though,” I quickly clarified. “It’s kind of new. We haven’t been together for a while or anything.”

“You haven’t?” she asked, her head tilted. There was something in her eyes, eyes that looked a lot like mine because she had given them to me, that said she didn’t believe me.

“Not officially,” I admitted and glanced away. My eyes moved toward where Nick and Noah were talking. I didn’t want them to fight. I was half afraid they’d start throwing punches. Or that Crank would come back and barrel down Nick.

That’s when I told my mom everything. Mostly. I kept the dirty sex bits out.

I shared how I’d thought he was the most beautiful man I had ever laid eyes on when I had been dating Noah. How that summer after graduation, we bumped into each other at the mall, and he had bought me the dress I was wearing, and how I always kept it in the back of my closet, wishing and hoping for the day I could wear it out with him.

“Hmm… I thought so,” she murmured, and when I looked at her, her eyes were sparkling. “?Porque estas tan sorprendida, chula?

“Why am I so surprised?” I repeated and laughed. “Mom… you knew?”

“I didn’t know , know. But I had my suspicions. Plus, even when you were little, it wasn’t like you were swooning for Prince Phillip, like Gris, when you watched Sleeping Beauty . You always thought the two kings were cute. And when you watched Inside Out , you couldn’t stop talking about Riley’s dad. Or King Triton from The Little Mermaid .” She shrugged. “I figured if anyone came home, hooking their star, enamorados de alguien mayor, pues, mami, it would be you. I just didn’t figure he would be that old.”

“Oh my god!” I groaned, resting my head on her shoulder. I couldn’t believe she was so okay with the age difference. That she actually figured if one of her kids fell in love with someone older, it would have been me. “You’re not mad?”

“No.” She laughed. “I’m going to worry but not any more or less than I worry about Libby and Hector or your sister and whatever person she gets her hooks into. I worry because I’m your mom. Es mi trabajo. It’s my job to worry, Blanca.”

“I know but…” I pressed my lips together, and shockingly enough, my mom gave me a moment to find the right words. “You don’t have anything to worry about with Nick.” I looked up, and sure enough, when his eyes connected with mine from afar, even with the distance between us, something lit up.

No one had been punched.

The world hadn’t ended, and there hadn’t even been one shouting match in sight.

Maybe, just maybe, Nick and I could work out for real?

“Yeah? How do you figure? You said you two just started,” she reminded me. I turned, losing eye contact with Nick but connecting with my mom’s.

“He won’t hurt me,” I stated, and my mom’s eyes softened. I knew she thought I was being na?ve, and before she could say anything, I kept talking. “I mean, I know we will probably argue and disagree on things. We’re different people with a lot of differences between us.”

“Like two decades,” she muttered, but I kept talking.

“But he’s… I don’t know how to explain it, Mom. He’s different. He gets me. I feel… like me when I’m with him. It doesn’t matter what sarcastic or goofy thing I say, he gets me. And if he doesn’t, he tries.”

“Honestly, Blanca, he’s a man trying to?—"

“He watched Family Stone with me. He’d never seen it.”

“You didn’t do that to him!” She laughed, shaking her head. She hated the movie.

“I did. And he watched it, and then he got it. He saw what I saw.” Mom breathed in deep.

“Okay.” She nodded after exhaling slowly. “If you like him, I’m sure I’ll like him, too.”

“You’re going to love him. I promise. He’s funny and kind and generous and…” I shook my head with a smile on my face. “I can’t explain it… He’s just different. I feel like––“

“What?”

“I feel like I’m home when I’m with him,” I admitted softly, and my mom wiped away tears from her eyes.

“My baby is in love,” she whispered. “Okay,” she sniffled. “Not that you need it because you’re an adult, but you have my blessing to keep seeing him.”

“Thank you, mami!” I hugged her. The air changed around us, and I didn’t have to look to know he was there. We pulled away and stood up. My mom stared up at Nick and extended her hand.

“It’s nice to meet you, Nick. I’m Val.”

“Val.” He smiled, shaking her hand softly before dropping it.

“Well.” She cleared her throat. “I should go look for my other kids. How about you two come over for Christmas Eve? Spend it with us, so we get to know each other.” Nick looked at me, and when I smiled, his eyes did, too. Almost like a weight had been lifted off his shoulders as well.

“We’d like that. What can I bring?”

“How about a keg?”

“Mom!” I scolded, and she simply laughed.

“I’m kidding.” She rolled her eyes before turning toward my man. “Heads-up, she sometimes doesn’t have a great sense of humor.”

“Mom!”

“I’m kidding!” She winked at me. “How about a bottle of wine and a dessert? I got the rest.”

“You got it,” he agreed, and with that, she hugged me and waved goodbye to Nick then went out to look for my sister, brother, and best friend.

The moment she was gone, Nick tucked me into his side and hugged me tight.

“You okay?” he asked quietly, obviously still concerned about the conversation that had gone down with my mom.

“Yeah, I’m very okay. You?” I asked, pulling back so I could look at his light brown eyes.

“Everything’s good. Noah just asked if he could please not have to call you mom.”

“Eww.” I scrunched my face, and the two of us broke out into laughter. “He has nothing to worry about there.”

“Good. We’re good.”

“Yeah, we are.” I sighed happily. His hand wrapped around mine as we started to walk. He held me around the waist, resting his face at the crook of my neck and on my shoulder as we looked on when the big Christmas tree went from dark to sparkling, lit up with soft blue lights and adorned with oversized gold ornaments.

From afar, I spotted Libby with my brother. Her phone was set on us, and I knew she had snapped a picture. One I couldn’t wait to get her to send me so I could print it out and surprise Nick with. I turned to look at him, and his eyes were already on mine.

“Ready to get something to eat?” he asked. I nodded then shook my head. His brows rose dangerously close to his hairline.

“Did you know that your truck has tinted windows?” I asked.

“Yeah, I’m aware.” His voice was laced with curiosity. I bit my lip, and his gaze darkened before I lost sight of him. “Is my princess feeling greedy?” he whispered against my neck, and my body shivered before I answered with a strangled yes.

“Have you ever made out in the backseat of a truck?” I shook my head.

“Sounds to me like a good time for another first, no?”

“Very,” I whispered, and my heart felt like it was going to burst from my chest with how overflowing with love it was. Before we reached the parking lot, I slowed, and he looked back, slowing down his own steps.

“What is it? Change your mind?” I shook my head and licked my lips. My mouth was suddenly dry.

It was crazy to me how quickly life could turn and change.

I’d known from my own family history that anything was possible, but usually, I’d seen the sad side of life. Loss and death. This felt new. New and shiny. Full of endless, limitless possibilities.

“I love you.” The words tumbled past my lips, and his eyes darkened before he picked me up and my legs wrapped around his waist. I had never been happier about wearing a long dress than in that moment.

“Say that again,” he demanded.

“I love you, Nick,” I repeated easily. I wasn’t scared to tell him how I felt. No matter what, I knew I was safe with Nick.

“Fuck. Fuck. Fuck,” he cursed. Suddenly, his steps grew longer, wider. “We’ll do this next year,” he muttered, sounding almost angry.

“Next year?”

“The winter festival stuff. Or maybe we can come tomorrow.”

“Why?” This surprised me. He’d sounded excited to check out the place. Maybe I had said too much, too fast?

“Because the things I want to do to you right now after you gave me those sweet words would get us arrested. Even if the windows to my truck are tinted.” That made me laugh and bury my face in the crook if his neck. I breathed in his manly expensive scent and let it fill my lungs.

“I need to get you home and show you just how much I love you under our Christmas tree,” he added, and I pulled back.

“You love me?”

“With every cell of my body, Blanca.”

Love stories come in all shapes and sizes.

But in the end, it’s simple. Even through the complicated messes. Finding your person, two people who somehow match or click with each other, no matter what their thing or kink is, like Libby liked to say.

And thankfully, Nick’s matched mine. Because even after only the small amount of time of us being a thing, I couldn’t imagine life without him.

And I couldn’t wait to see what life had in store for us.