Page 30 of Jude

Now, I ducked my head from the sympathy in Jude’s family’s eyes and the clucking tongues.

Needing space and also wanting to earn my keep, I escaped to the kitchen.

Scrubbing dirty dishes spared me from socializing with Jude’s extended family.

Until Maggie whirled into the kitchen, letting out a tsk as she saw me scouring a skillet.

‘Put that down at once,’ she declared. You’re a guest here, not the hired help. Though goodness knows my son and nephews eat like a pack of feral dingoes and leave a proper disaster zone behind them.’

I managed a small, hesitant smile, keeping my attention locked on the soap suds to hide the moisture gathering in my eyes.

‘I prefer to work, signora. It keeps my mind busy.’

From slipping to its dark side.

Maggie’s blue eyes softened as she took the wet dishwashing pad from my hands.

‘I hear you, love. However, in this family, we don’t make people earn their seat at the table. You’re safe here because you’re a human being who needs a breather, not because you can scrub a pan.’

She placed the skillet on the counter.

‘In this house, we also don’t do the women-in-the-kitchen, men-having-fun-in-another-room nonsense. I’d rather kick back and celebrate my 60th than fix potatoes and assemble the salad and set up the dining room too!’

She turned toward the back window and yelled to Kian, Jude, and all the Martinez males lounging on the lawn chairs outside.

‘Get off your lazy asses, fellas! Sofia can’t be washing after us! And after dinner, it’s not gonna be ladies tidying up and doing dishes while the fellows sit around. We ALL help, and then we ALL relax!’

The men sheepishly strolled in through the patio door as Maggie, triumphant, pulled me away from the sink.

‘Now dry your hands and let me get you another slice of that vanilla cake before the boys inhale the rest of it.’

Chapter 8

JUDE

The orange light of sunset hit the patio, throwing long shadows across the lawn where the last of my uncles were packing away the garden chairs.

Maggie leaned on the wooden porch railing, her blue eyes fixed on the kitchen window where Sofia was back at the sink.

‘She’s so darling, hon,’ Maggie murmured, setting her teacup down with a small clink on the terrace ledge. ‘She’s also super stubborn and continues to slip past me to clean up despite my forbidding her. Then again, perhaps, as she said, it keeps her from overthinking her life. She does it with such sweetness, son, despite what she’s been through. A woman after my heart, I already adore her. Maybe this was the plan all along. That grace and providence brought you to that terminal for a reason.’

I leaned my back against the cedar post, my hands buried deep in the pockets of my jeans.

My gaze traveled across the yard to Sofia.

The dying sunlight caught the edge of her profile, illuminating the highlights in her hair and the delicate bridge of her nose.

She was stunning, no doubt about it, but the realization only made the cold, stubborn knot in my chest tighten.

I didn’t think this shattered, quiet woman fit the plans I’d drawn up for my life.

For more than a decade, I carried a specific picture of what my future was meant to look like.

In essence, an idealized vision of a partner who matched the success I was finally achieving.

If I were honest, my instincts gravitated toward a well-spoken, educated, preferably blonde-haired beauty.

I wanted a woman who resembled the dream I had been mulling for years.