Falling with Grace - Page 194

“Elias, you’re blocking my light.” Mamá waved her hand, shooing me away.

“Right.” I tucked my hands in my pockets and walked through the doorway, glancing over my shoulder before I turned the corner.

“Remember when I told you she had you wrapped around her finger?” Javier’s voice traveled down the hall, shrinking my stature a fraction.

“I vaguelyrecall.” My back rested against the wall outside the conservatory, the silence stretching out like imposing shadows into the hall from within.

“Well, I may have underestimated her hold on you.”

My head hung down as he smiled in my peripheral vision. “I love her, Javier.”

“After everything, I’m not surprised.” His shoulders fell as he exhaled. “Iamsurprised you’re finally admitting it, though.” He crossed his arms over his chest and stood square to me. “I had a running bet with Ramirez that it would take you at least a year. He said three months…and no thanks to you, I owe him fifty Pesos.” He held his finger out. “Although, he never heard you say it, so keep it under wraps for…” he wagged his palm side to side. “Six or seven months, I’d say.”

I let loose a mild snicker. “Just pay him fifty Pesos.”

“I thought you were my friend.” He hung his head with a subtle shake, feigning contempt painting his face.

A tender giggle shot out from the conservatory, stealing my heart midbeat.

Silence fell over the hall as I strained to hear it again.

“He does?”

Mamá muffled her low response.

“How do you know?”

“He told me,dolce.”

“This feels like I’m delving deeper into Hell,” Javier muttered, stepping back. “I’m going to go.”

I narrowed my gaze and pressed my back to the wall, my ear trained in their direction.

“I… I had no idea.”

“You haven’t seen the way he looks at you? His face lights up like the houses during the festivalde Las Posadas.”

Christmas lights…Mamá?

Jesus.

I shook my head.

“What is that?”

“Never mind that. Can you place that piece right…there, yes, perfect.”

I pushed off the wall and ventured into the office, the heavy stone in my belly lifting as the door closed.

The manila envelope sat tucked inside the drawer, and I pulled it out, studying the girl and her papers, which was the final act for Grace’s closure.

Do I tell her or sit on it?

Does she need it now or appreciate it later?

The decision poisoned my soul, the weight pressing on my shoulders more than the lives of my own men.

Knock. Knock.