Chapter 22


    “That’s okay.”


    Is it?


    If it was really okay, I could tell my mother. I had the chance to end this lying circus, bury all that regret somewhere


    deep and dark, and breathe. I could tell her that, yes, I was no longer in a rtionship, and consequently, I was no


    longer taking my—nonexistent—boyfriend home. That I’d attend the wedding alone. And that it was okay.


    &nbs


    p; She had said it herself. And maybe she was right. I just needed to believe she was.


    Taking a deep breath, I felt a surge of courage and made up my mind.


    I’lle clean.


    Attending alone wouldn’t be fun. The pity looks and whispers of a past I didn’t want to think of would certainly suck.


    And that was putting it lightly. But I had no options.


    Aaron’s scowling face popped up in my mind. Unannounced. Definitely unwee.


    No. I kicked it out.


    He hadn’t even mentioned it again since Monday. It had been four days. Not that if he had, it would have changed


    anything. I was on my own. But I had no reason to believe he had been serious.


    And it was okay; Mamá had said so.


    I opened my mouth to follow up with my decision of growing the hell up and to stop acting like apulsive liar for


    something I should have the maturity to face alone, but of course, luck wasn’t on my side. Because my mother’s next


    words immediately killed whatever I was about to say.


    “You know”—the way her voice sounded should have tipped me on what was about toe—“every person is


    different. We all have our own pace to put back together our lives after going through something like that. Some


    people need more time than others. And if you haven’t managed to get there yet, then there’s nothing to be ashamed


    of. Daniel is engaged while you are not. But that isn’t important. You cane to the wedding alone, Lina.”


    My stomach dropped to my feet at the thought.


    “I’m not saying Daniel needed to put his life back together in the first ce because, well, he jumped off that boat,


    unscathed.”


    And wasn’t that the damn truth? Something that, on top of everything, would make things even worse. He had merrily


    continued his life while I had … I had … gotten stuck. And everybody there would know. Every single person attending


    that wedding would know.


    As if reading my mind, my mother uttered my thoughts, “Everybody knows, cari?o. And everybody understands. You


    went through a lot.”


    All content ? N/.?vel/Dr/ama.Org.


    Everybody understands?


    No, she was wrong. Everybody thought they understood. Nobody did. They didn’t realize that all those pobrecita, poor


    little Linas, apanied by all those pitiful looks and nods, as if they got why I had been scarred and not able to find


    somebody else, were the reasons why I had lied to my family. Why I wanted to crawl out of my skin at the prospect of


    showing up alone when Daniel—my first love, my ex, the groom’s brother and best man—being there with his fiancée


    would only reinforce their assumptions of me.


    Single and alone after fleeing the country, heartbroken.


    Stuck.


    I was over him; I truly was. But, man, all that had happened had … messed me up. I realized that now—not because


    it’d suddenly hit me that I had been single for years, but because I had lied—and what was worse was, I had just


    made up my mind not to go back on my lie.


    “Everybody understands. You went through a lot.”


    A lot was a very gentle way to put it.


    Nope. I couldn’t. I wouldn’t do it. I wouldn’t be that Lina in front of my whole family, the whole damn town. Daniel.


    “Lina …” My mother said my name in that way only a mother could. “Are you still there?”


    “Of course.” My voice sounded wobbly and heavy with everything I was feeling, and I hated that it had. I exhaled


    through my nose, straightening in my chair. “Nothing happened with my boyfriend,” I lied. Lies, lies, and more lies.


    Lina Martín, professional liar, deceiver. “And I am bringing him, just like I said I would.” I forced out augh, but it


    sounded all wrong. “If you’d just let me talk before jumping to silly conclusions and sermonizing me, I could have told


    you.”


    Nothing came through the speaker of the phone. Only silence.


    My mother wasn’t stupid. I didn’t think any mother was. And if I believed for a second that I was out of the storm, I was


    probably wrong.


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