Page 28 of Yours, Forever

"You got married?!" Her voice was sharp.

"It was a whirlwind wedding..."

"Who is he? I can't believe it!"

"Listen, I... well. What do you know?"

"I know that my daughter got married and I wasn't there."

I rolled my eyes again. If she hadn't left Laguna Island as soon as she could legally leave me behind, maybe I would have thought to tell her. But she wasn't very present in my life nor in my thoughts, and the idea never crossed my mind. Max and I could have gone the full two years without her knowing and it wouldn't be a stretch of the imagination.

On that note...

I frowned. "Wait. How do you know I got married? I thought you never wanted anything to do with anyone from here. Who told you?"

"I got a call."

"A call?" My stomach twisted with sudden nerves. "Who called you?"

"Rosario... something."

"Who is Rosario?"

"You know... Rosario. I don't know. The name sounded familiar and I was too embarrassed to tell her I didn't remember."

I closed my eyes and groaned. "Mom, did you talk to a stranger about me?"

"I think I knew her from before I left!"

Mom had left fourteen years before, and many things had changed since then. I couldn't think of a single Rosario living in town that would have known about the wedding. As far as I knew, only people in Laguna Island, some of Max's friends, and his father's team knew we were married.

It didn't bode well that my mom had spoken to an unknown person on the phone.

"Please, I'm serious." I rubbed my eyebrows with rigid fingers. "Don't talk about me with random people who call you!"

"She knew so much about you, though! She said she wanted to congratulate me on your wedding to such a wonderful, well-connected man. She said he's rich? What was I supposed to say? That I didn't know anything about my own daughter's wedding?"

"You didn't have to tell her anything! What if they were a scammer?"

Or worse, someone who was investigating me.

"They didn't ask me anything too personal, Eva. They wanted to know my thoughts on the wedding."

"What did you tell her?"

"That I was very happy for you, of course. Not because I know anything about it, but because how mortifying, otherwise. My own daughter didn't tell me."

"Darling?" Max entered the backroom, a worried look on him. He stayed by the door, giving me some room but keeping me in his view.

"Is that him?" My mom said on the phone. "When can I meet him?"

"Mom, stop."

"I want to meet mi nuero!"

"One day. I can't talk right now."

Do you need help getting out of the call?Max mouthed to me. I nodded.