WILLY

After breakfast the next day, I fired up Big Red and leaned against the wall as she idled, her engine running just as well as it had the day I’d bought her. Then I took my old, rusted ramps and set them against my tailgate. After attaching the safety straps to the truck, I loaded the three-wheeler into the bed of my truck and killed the engine.

By the time I had the ramps stowed under the machine and had tied everything down with ratchet straps, my mother had come out of the house to see what I was doing.

“You’re not going for a ride on that thing, are you, Guillermo?”

“I’m going to Daniel’s for a few minutes, Ma. I won’t be long.”

“Did Dani finally talk you into selling that monstrosity to him?”

She’d hated Big Red since the day she laid eyes on it, certain her only son was going to break his fool neck.

“Something like that.”

She narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms.

“Why now?”

I scratched my beard.

“I’m going to trade for some building materials, if you must know, Ma.”

“What could you possibly be building at this time of year?”

I rested my arms on the top of the bed and looked over the truck at her.

“Can you keep a secret?”

“Probably.”

When I just shook my head and waited, she caved.

“Yes, I can keep a secret, Guiller. I'm your mother.”

I nodded.

“I’m getting the stuff so Andrés can build his mother a hope chest for Christmas. With my help, of course.”

My mother looked at me for a long time, her usually open expression unreadable. I hated when she did that, and it took all of my willpower not to squirm.

Maybe Rue had told her about the kiss, although if she had, my mother probably wouldn’t have been able to help saying something by now.

“It’s a special thing,” she said finally, “A woman’s hope chest.”

“And the bastards took hers. Drés told me she cried in the bathroom and he wished she had another one.”

“It means something, Willy.”

I held up my hand to stop her.

“Her son is building her a hope chest. Sure, I’m donating the materials. But he’s going to do most of the work and it will be a gift from that boy to his mother. That’s it. And she deserves it.”

“Ay, my little angel. You’ve always had a good heart.”

Then she turned and went back inside without saying anything else.

No, I didn’t.

I’d gone and kissed the last woman on the planet I had any business kissing, and I’d gone and done it right before Christmas. If I caused tension with Rue that affected my mother’s first holiday without my dad, I’d never forgive myself.

It was best I threw myself into a task that would not only make a little boy happy but keep me too busy to get myself into any more trouble.

I drove into town and parked in front of the hardware store so Dani would be able to see the back of my truck from behind the counter and then, after a last look at the three-wheeler that simply confirmed I was doing the right thing, I went inside.

“Hey, Willy. How’s things?”

“Good. Been picking up some work at Elton’s place.”

“Heard that. He’s probably glad to have the help. I know he’d been turning away some jobs because he couldn’t do them himself anymore. What are you after today?”

“I’ve got a list,” I said, pulling it out of my back pocket.

Daniel looked over the list of supplies I had scribbled onto a now-faded grocery store receipt.

“This is quite a list. Hope chest?”

“Yep.”

“The oak will be pricey enough, but when you add in the cedar...” Daniel shook his head. “We’ve been friends since the sandbox, so I’m going to be straight with you. To fill this order, I’m going to send my helper to Home Depot and buy the stuff and then mark it up and sell it to you. As much as I appreciate your business, you’ll save a lot of coin by cutting me out of it and going yourself.”

That was the kind of honest business that had kept this hardware store going for a fourth generation.

“But they like cash up front.”

“We stopped selling on credit a few years back, Willy. Things are too tight now, even for an old friend.”

“Not asking for credit.”

I nodded my head toward the door and Dani craned his neck to see what I was getting at.

“Shut the hell up! Is that Big Red in the back of your truck?”

“It is.”

Daniel looked for a minute and then turned his gaze back to the list.

“I think we can work something out. I’ve been trying to get you to sell me that beast for years. Whoever’s getting this hope chest must be pretty special.”

She was.

“With Christmas around the corner, it goes without saying I’d prefer what I’m up to not get around town.”

“Not a problem. I work alone on Sundays, but I can have this stuff for you tomorrow by noon.”

“Sounds good. I’m working tomorrow until about one, so I’ll swing in after.”

The next day, when Andrés got off the bus, I took him into the garage and showed him the stack of supplies.

“Guess what you’re going to build.”

The boy frowned, staring at the pile of wood.

“I don’t know, a tree house? 'Cause that'd be so cool.”

I smiled and picked up a piece of the cedar lining.

“Here, smell this and see if it gives you a hint.”

Andrés put his nose to the wood and inhaled.

“It smells like Mommy’s hope chest.”

“That’s right. How do you feel about building your mom a new hope chest for Christmas?”

When Andrés launched himself at me, wrapping his little arms around my neck, I sucked in a breath. Then I rubbed the boy’s back and set him down on his feet.

“So that’s a yes?”

“Yes! She’ll be so happy she’ll probably cry, but not in the shower.”

I really wanted to wipe the memory of Ruelle trying to hide her tears in the shower from Andrés’ mind forever.

“Now remember, champ, this is a secret.”

He made a big crossing motion over his heart.

“I promise. I won’t even give hints.”

“Okay. We’ll start tomorrow after school. We don’t have a lot of time, so we’ll have to work hard a little bit every day. And you’ll have to listen to what I say so you’re safe, too.”

Andrés beamed, his smile huge and so like his mother’s.

“I will. This is going to be the best Christmas ever!”

And that’s exactly what I wanted to hear.

***

RUE

I tucked the vacuum away in the hall closet, humming along to Meghan Trainor's 'My Kind Of Present' as I closed the door.

I’d just gotten off the phone with Mrs. Bloom and they were absolutely in love with Miami. They had no intention of moving back to New Hampshire and they wouldn’t even think about selling the house for at least a year at the soonest, since that’s when their son might get out of the military and they’d give him first dibs.

In the meantime, they hoped I wouldn’t be going anywhere. I mean I wouldn’t be. My son and I had our home for at least another year and that’s all that mattered. I’d worry about the next year when it arrived and keep tucking away money just in case.

“Mommy!”

The door slammed behind my son, who’d been spending even more time than usual across the street. Most of it in the garage doing something secret. I wasn’t even allowed to help with the recycling until it was over because the bins were in the garage and it was strictly off-limits to me.

“I’m right here and what did I tell you about slamming the door, young man?”

He skidded to a stop in front of me, his hands behind his back.

“Sorry, Mommy. I need you to do a secret for me.”

A secret huh?

I smiled, wondering what my son was up to now.

“Drés baby, if it’s a secret, how will I know what to do?”

“I’ll tell you what to do, but I can’t tell you what it’s for. That’s the secret.”

“Okay.”

When he revealed the piece of red construction paper he’d had hidden behind his back, I figured they must be making holiday crafts at school.

“Red paper is a very good color for Christmas.”

“It’s a secret.”

After giving me a look meant to drive home that fact, he laid the paper flat.

“Please put your hand on it.”

I did as he instructed.

“Should my fingers be together or spread apart?”

He frowned, considering the question.

“Spread apart.”

Probably not a mitten decoration for the tree, then.

“Like this?”

“Yeah.”

He painstakingly traced the outline of my hand onto the construction paper, his brow knit, and tongue peeking out in concentration.

When he was done, he took the paper and ran back out the door, though he was careful this time not to let it slam behind him.

I walked to the window and watched him run to the edge of the curb. Then he stopped, looking both ways before running all the way into the garage.

The amount of time he was spending with Willy concerned me. My baby boy was growing more attached to the man every day and I worried about what would happen if Willy left town again or found other things to occupy his time. Or maybe he’d start dating a woman who didn’t want the neighbor’s kid underfoot all the time.

Andrés had been abandoned by his father. He didn’t need to be left behind by another man he’d grown to care about. The silver lining in the fact Armando wasn’t a very good father was that their son seemed to be handling his loss fairly well. But Willy was a different kind of man and Andrés would miss him.

But I didn’t put a stop to the visits to the garage, not only because it was obvious they were scheming a grand Christmas surprise, but because I wasn’t sure I was projecting my own emotions onto Guillermo’s relationship with my son.

I was growing attached to him, and I knew if he left town or found some other woman to date, I’d miss him.

Especially if he found another woman to date— one who didn’t have a child and baggage and knew how to change the batteries in her own smoke detectors.

It had been almost a week since he’d kissed me, and the first time I’d visited Rosario after, it had quickly become obvious they were going to pretend it hadn’t happened. He hadn’t been cold to me or avoided me, but he also hadn’t treated me any differently than he had before.

That made me angry if I was honest with myself. The kiss had meant something to me and for him to so easily brush it off was hurtful. If he didn’t want me, he should stop touching me. If he did... that was the hard part.

It would be so easy to let Willy sweep me off my feet and into his life. He would take care of me, and he’d take care of my son, too. The lure of that was strong enough so it scared me.

Having a man like Willy to do the things I had a hard time doing for myself would make me stop trying so hard, and then I’d be vulnerable again. That fear was why I went along with pretending the kiss never happened instead of making him talk about it.

If I didn’t depend on him, he couldn’t let me down.