Change Your Ticket [h.s] ON HOLD/EDITING

Chapter 4; Catalina

I quickly snap my gaze away from Harry's only to see my mother standing in the doorway with her arms extended. I run into them in a second and we're hugging.

"Mami! Padre told me you weren't coming back till next week! The inn's a complete mess! I need to clean it! Okay don't go in my room! I'm just so happy you're here! How was your trip?" I ramble.

"Mija! MIJA! Shush child. You're beautiful. You look beautiful. The inn is still, well the inn.," We both laugh. "And my trip was amazing. Abuela says hi, she loves you and she wants you to call her, alright?" I nod. I can't believe she's back.

She looks behind me then back at me expectantly. I turn around and then lock eyes with an awkward looking Harry.

"Oh! Mami, this is Harry, Harry this is mi madre." Harry looked confused, before I continued, after a roll of my eyes. "My mom."

"Oh, very nice to meet you, Mrs. Rivera." He extends his hand politely. My mother graciously accepts.

"Oh nonsense! Call me Valeria, really, the pleasure is all mine. We finally have a new cook I see. Finally. Don't know why it took Alejandro so long." She sighs, seeming irritated.

"Oh, well I'm here to help, always." He smiles at my mom.

"Well it was nice talking to you Harry I think I should go see my husband now though...see you two love birds later." She winked to me and I felt my cheeks heat up.

"Mom we aren't-" the door closed before I could finish my sentence. I turn and face Harry.

"Your mom is gorgeous.," He smirks.

"I know.," I sigh. I've been hearing those words my whole life.

"Almost as gorgeous as you.," he tries.

I just roll my eyes in response. At least he tried.

Having help really pays off. We finished preparing for lunch extra early. Now we could eat our lunch before it was time for it to be served.

"So yeah, we can have an early lunch now if you want. It's just easier to eat something big now because there isn't as big of an interval between lunch and dinner," I state.

"Oh alright...can we eat together? I just...don't know anyone else," he says. I cringe. I really want to but my dad, mom and I always eat lunch together in our home/gigantic suite.

"I would love to but I really can't. We really aren't supposed to be seen talking about anything non-inn related without another person there...plus my mom just got back." I said regrettably.

"It's fine. I'll look for some staff to befriend.," he smiled, seeming completely unbothered. Okay good, I didn't want to hurt his feelings...I just really couldn't risk it. I'd feel completely awful if he lost his job because of me.

"Okay I'll see you at about 4:30 to start dinner," I smiled, walking backwards to leave the kitchen.

He smiled and waved at me, I turned and brought some bistec up for my parents and I, as they paged me to do so.

I get up to our suite and see my parents already sitting at an already set table. Hands moulded together, waiting patiently. My parents had always been ones for PDA. They've always been saps who express their love for each other any way, any time they can. The only person my dad truly has a soft spot for is my mom. I mean, he does for me, he loves me, but he'll be super hard on me to my face. But he'll crush the skull of anyone other than him who tries to hurt me, or who he hasn't ordered to of course. I set a plate in front of each of them.

"You're late," my father states, matter of factly. "What took you so long? Better not have been talking to the gringo.," he warns, taking a bite of his food and eyeing me skeptically. My eyes nearly pop out of my head, I open my mouth to shakily respond until my mother beats me to it.

"Alejandro. Cut it out. He's new to our staff, I have no reason not to believe that he would have needed a little extra explaining  before she came up here, isn't that right mija? Hmm?," she looks at me expectantly. I look at my dad and eagerly nod as if that's exactly what had happened.

He waves the entire subject on before we go back to my mom's trip. Thank god. I love my dad don't get me wrong but if he really wanted to find something out, he could. If he had found out the little conversations Harry and I had today my punishment would be just...horrible. I'm glad my mom was always here to save me. I loved her.

She was about 2 or 3 inches taller than me, with a light complexion and thin pink lips. She had brown hair that went just past her shoulders and brown eyes. A very beautiful, young looking woman. That's what I get told everyday of my life anyways.

"How's school mija? I feel like I missed you growing up right in front of my eyes...," she cries.

"You were only gone for 3 weeks Ma," I sighed, rolling my eyes at her extraness.

"She just missed you, mind your manners.," my dad said sternly, flicking my head harshly. He's always there to defend her when I get an attitude with her because she's sacrificed so much for me. He never fails to remind me how much of a mistake I am. If I was such a burden she should've just aborted me. We all would've been a lot more happier I feel. I don't want to die or anything, I just wouldn't really care if I did. I'm just there.

I eat in mostly silence unless I was spoken to and pretend to be listening to the conversation. It's mostly my parents who chit chat back and forth though. I don't blame them. They're lovers who were separated for almost a month, they have a lot to catch up on.

I can't help my mind from wandering to Harry...and when I could see him again. I've never been so excited for dinner before. I literally couldn't wait.

"So I'm gonna go get ready for dinner a bit early because of the new staff member and all it could take extra time and we wouldn't want to be late.," I tried to say as monotone and bored as possible, trying to seem believable.

My dad narrowed his eyes at me but nodded and excused me with the wave of his hand. I exhaled a breath of relief and kissed him on the head bid him goodbye.

"Welcome back, Mami, sorry for being so mean.," I whisper to her before also kissing her on the head and swiftly leaving the room.

I walk downstairs and see Harry chatting with some other inn staff. I don't want to be rude and interrupt but I want to spend time with him and the earlier we get started on dinner, the earlier we can do that. I walk up to him and tap his shoulder. He turns around and smiles at me.

"Hey," he breathes out.

"Hey," I also breathe out. "Wanna get started on dinner?," I question, knowing he'll say yes. He nods eagerly and off we go.

We start on dinner having casual chats in between before we say our goodbyes and Harry clocks out for the day.

AN; hey y'all. I hope you're enjoying this book. You probably aren't because it's super boring right now but I'm just trying to build the connection between Cat & Harry and also letting you guys get to know the characters. Some juicy stuff will be happening so just hang in tight and keep reading. Imma just go cause I know nobody reads these things lmfao. ✌🏾️