Lola and the Rolling Stone

Chapter 26

"It was so good." she said telling her family all about Bruno's family with him interjecting at times as if it was the 100th conversation they had had together. Lola reached over to touch Bruno's thigh halfway through the conversation to reassure him that everything was okay. She could tell when he got nervous. He would reach over to his necklace and pull at it a little. She smiled a him at the same time as her sister started asking Lola questions about work. "Yeah. Everything is fine." she told her sister. "Have you been reading?"

Of course." Soledad answered. "And telling everyone that you'e dating someone and not living vicariously through someone else now..." she raised her eyebrow at her sister.

"Ugh. Rude." Lola said reaching for another piece of bread. "Thank you fr cooking mom."

"You're welcome....I think we're about done...come help me clean-up?" she asked her youngest daughter.

"Yeah. Are you okay, Bruno?" she asked waiting for his response.

"Yeah. We're good. I'll let Sol ask me a bunch of inappropriate questions." he laughed referring to Lola's sister's lack of boundaries.

"Well come and get me if you need me, okay?" she responded heading to the kitchen with her mother.

"He wants you to move...." Rosario said defeated.

"He does." Lola said.
"and you don't want to go, do you?" she asked.

"It's different that you and papi, mami." Lola replied handing her mother some plates to wash. "Dad was home. He worked, but he was home. Bruno won't be home. He'll be traveling all over the world while I sit on the couch, drink wine and watch DVRed episodes of Pretty Little Liars. It's not what I want. I want to be happy in New York City."

"You sound like Carrie." Sol interrupted. "You know...like with the Russian. She couldn't decide but she went."

"But look at how it ended up! She didn't end up with the Russian. She came back and ended up with Big!"

"But what if Bruno is your Big? You obviously don't have a Russian..." Sol said pausing. "Wait. Nevermind. Forget I said that."

"So are you saying David could be my Big?" Lola asked Sol.

"No...." Sol said with a slight hesitation.

"Because...." Lola sat down at the small nook against the outside wall of the house. "Things could be different. Bruno isn't the Russian...but he will be gone and have a completely different life than I'll have..."

"No tengo ni idea mis amores..." Rosario said continuing to wash the dishes.

"Mom..Sex and the City..." Lola said. "Remember the show that Sol and everyone would watch on Sundays and you didn't want them to?"

"Oh. That show. But the movie was so good..." Rosario said. "David is your Big...."

"No, Mom. He's not." Lola said. "You are no help. I thought you would just say to go and to suck it up...but then in comes Soledad with all her metaphors...."

"Go do something worth while, Soledad." Rosario said. "I need to talk to your sister."

"Fine. Lo que sea." she said to them raising her hands in the air.

"Delores....I cried and I cried and I cried when we moved here. But do you know why I did it all?"

"Why?" Lola asked.

"Because I love your father. Do you love Bruno?" she asked.

"I...." she paused. "I.....I'm falling for him. I don't know if I'm in love with him yet...I love him...but I don't know if I am in love with him...."

"See....that is very different." Rosario said shaking her head. "You have to do it for love. You don't do it to make him happy or to make yourself happy. Abuelita me dije que 'Necesitas hacer para su corazon ni para su cerebro...'" Rosario said.

"You have to do it for your heart, not your brain...." Lola translated.

"What are you doing this for?" Rosario asked.

"It wouldn't be for my heart yet, mami." Lola said.

"Then you need to tell him. You need to tell him that you need your heart to match your brain...and the only way to do that is to be together longer than the two seconds you have been together now."

"It's been a few months, mom. Not a few days." Lola said rolling her eyes.

"We will support you whatever decision you make, mija." Rosario told her daughter handing her a glass of wine.

"I don't know what I want to do. Do I just up and leave with him hoping I find a job or do I find a job there first?" she asked.

"I don't know what to tell you." her mother answered.

"Yes you do." Lola sighed. "I need to know the right answer, mami." she said feeling herself start to well up with tears.

"Oh, Delores....mija..." Rosario reached over to hug her daughter.

"Your answer will come, Delores. It will come...." she said kissing her daughter pushing her away playfully. "Now go rescue your boyfriend from your nosy father and sister."

"Fine." she giggled wiping away her tears. "Does It look like I was crying?"

"No." Rosario reassured her daughter following behind her.

About an hour later Lola and Bruno had wrapped up their visit and were driving back to the city.

"Why were you crying, Lo?" he asked her during a break in a song on the radio.

"Why would you think I was crying?" she asked.

"Because there's make-up on the bottom of your shirt. You wipe your eyes with your shirt when you can't find anything to wipe them with..."

"Are you an FBI agent or something?" she asked defensively. "I wasn't crying."

"Are we fighting?" he asked her suddenly realizing her defensiveness.

"No." she said. "I might just be a bit tired..." she said. "They wore me out." she tried to laugh.

"I have sisters...." he said reaching for her hand. "What's wrong, Delores?"

"I'm falling in love with you, Bruno." she said not taking her hands of the steering wheel."

"I'm falling in love with you too, Lola..." he answered.

"But I'm not in love with you....and I can't move until I'm in love with you." she told him.

"Then I guess I have some work to do, Delores." he laughed his infectious laugh reaching his hand over to her thigh making chills go up and down her spin.

"Yeah. You do." she told him.