Echar Agua al Mar

Chapter IX

"We're home!"

"And we've brought a surprise!"

"Welcome back!" Julio practically rushed into the workshop, tripping over his own feet in his hurry to reach the wayward Riveras before Imelda could. "Well?" he added, only to stop short when he caught sight of Lucía standing in the threshold.

"O-Oh! Pardon me," he apologized quickly, removing his hat with all the respect afforded by his small town upbringing. "I thought that perhaps the surprise was..."

"Héctor? No, no, it's only me." she guessed, smothering her laugh behind her hand. "Do you remember me?"

"Of course!" he replied, moving to usher her inside. "Please come in, Doña Lucía. You're very welcome here."

"Thank you. You know, you haven't changed one bit, Julito!" Lucía looked him over in quick appraisal. "Why, when I look at you, I see that eager apprentice who nearly got himself killed on his first day." Julio's skull sank into his collar with embarrassment, nearly slipping into his ribcage as the twins began to laugh.

"I was young and foolish," he admitted, fingering his mustache nervously. "I should have asked for help."

"And I'm sure you would have," Oscar quipped, "if you hadn't been trying to impress a certain young lady watching from the window." Julio didn't deny the fact, though his face surely would have been beet red if he'd possessed the ability to blush.

"It was my first day on the job! How was I supposed to know rolls of leather were that heavy? We mostly worked with fabrics in my family's shop."

"Even so..." Lucía tapped her chin thoughtfully as she looked around the empty workshop. "I wish Fernando had thought to bury me in those lovely Rivera boots, you know? All those years I wore them, and not a single blister."

"That's the Rivera guarantee!"

"Are they finally back from that so-called walk?" Before anyone could answer, Imelda swept into the room in a flurry of skirts. "Do you realize what time it is? If you want something to eat, you'd...best..." she faltered, noticing their guest for the first time. "Lucía? What on earth...?"

"Imelda!" she squealed, whipping the faded green shawl from her head and tossing it onto the workbench. Rosita immediately grabbed it, smoothing out the creases before running to hang it up beside the front door. Lucía practically shoved the twins out of the way, making a beeline for her best friend and sweeping her up in an embrace that would rival most constrictors.

"It's been so long since we last spoke, you know? How have you been? I've had to rely on these two blockheads," she jerked her skull at the twins, who were picking themselves up off the ground with identical winces, "to tell me how you were!"

"B-But... why are you here?" Imelda managed, wheezing despite her lack of lungs or an esophagus to be crushed. "Your apartment is so far away, you might as well live in another city entirely!"

"Fernando sent me out for cake," Lucía replied, with the ease and grace of someone used to bending the truth to the point of breaking. "Your brothers managed to find me, and in the process of catching up they let me in on a choice bit of information." She let Imelda slide to the ground, crossing her arms with a conspiratorial glare. "You, Imelda Rivera, sang onstage at the Sunrise Spectacular! And what's worse: you didn't tell me!"

"Don't even mention that night to me," Imelda groaned, rubbing her forehead with a grimace.

"I can mention it, and I will mention it! Right then and there, I decided that I wouldn't be satisfied until my Imelda had told me every last detail, exactly the way it happened. So? What happened?" She shifted her weight to one hip, looking down at Imelda with an expression that was as familiar as it was unwelcome.