Page 113 of Twisted Beauty

“Hold up, man,” Zach said from behind him. “I’m coming with you. Try not to go all apeshit on me, okay? I’m alone. Nate stayed behind to finish our drinks.”

“Decent of him,” Matt muttered.

Zach caught up with him and handed him his baseball cap. “You left this at the bar.”

He looked down at the fancy logo from his old restaurant. He wished he’d had a different cap with him. Any other cap. The last thing he needed right now was a reminder of everything he’d given up to be here. He mumbled his thanks, tossed the hat onto a ledge outside some dental office, and kept walking.

“Dude, you need to pull yourself together and think about what you’re doing.”

“Yeah, that’s what I was working on at El Condado before you showed up. With Nate of all people.”

Zach put a hand on his shoulder. “Believe it or not, that was Nate trying to be supportive. My bad. Dragging him along might not have been my best plan.”

“You think? Regardless, I need to talk to Tito. If you insist on coming, then shut up and walk.”

Zach shook his head but didn’t say another word. He really was a good friend if he was willing to put up with Matt’s mood today.

When they reached the shop, Matt took a breath and stepped into El Brujo with Zach right behind him. Tito was back by the register, talking on the phone. He had some kind of notebook on the counter in front of him, and he didn’t look happy.

“Tito? Is everything okay?” Matt called out as he wove his way through the familiar tables of trinkets. He tried to ignore how nicely organized they were now.

Tito raised a shaky hand in hello, muttered something into the phone that Matt couldn’t hear, and hung up.

“Mateo, mi hijo, you come.” Tito closed the notebook and reached up to place his hands on either side of Matt’s face. He patted both cheeks with his open hands. “Come sit. We talk.”

Matt glanced over at Zach, who was leaning against one of the tables along the wall, probably trying to give them some privacy. Zach shrugged, seemingly clueless.

A large, framed photo caught Matt’s eye. It hung on the wall just over Zach’s shoulder. The last time he’d walked in, there was nothing on that wall. Now there was a striking image of a priest in a darkened church, seated in a shaft of sunlight streaming in from somewhere above. If he wasn’t mistaken, it was taken at Our Lady of Guadalupe, just up the street.

Matt had a bad feeling it was one of Liv’s. “Where did that picture come from?”

He took a step toward the image, wanting to get a closer look, but Tito put a hand on his arm to stop him. “Later. Talk first.”

Right. The least he could do was sit down with Tito for a few minutes, considering he hadn’t stopped by once in the last two days. Matt helped Tito into his chair, and then dragged over a folding chair to sit next to him.

Tito picked up the notebook again and set it on his lap. On closer look, it was a photo album, covered in blue canvas with frayed edges. Tito opened it to a page in the middle and pointed to a photo of Matt’s father looking almost the same as the last time Matt had seen him in person, so many years ago. In the photo, his dad had his arm around a beautiful Mexican woman who looked half his age.

“Tu padre,” Tito said.

“I see that. Who’s the girl?”

Tito sighed and shook his head. “Wife.”

“What?” Matt felt like he’d been kicked in the gut. “Pop remarried?”

There was so much about his dad’s life he never knew, thanks again to his selfish mother. Why she couldn’t set aside whatever grudge she held so her only son could keep in touch with his family was something he’d never understand.

“Where is this wife now? Why haven’t I met her?”

Tito put a hand on Matt’s arm. “Not proud for me, Mateo. My son leave your mother for Isabel. Is why he move to Mexico.”

“That’s ridiculous. Mom told me herself that she threw him out. She probably thought she was too good for him.” Matt pulled the album from Tito’s grasp to get a closer look at the photo.

“No. He leave.” Tito shook a bony finger at him. “Your mother, she say she send him away so you don’t feel—indeseado.”

“Unwanted,” Matt muttered. He ran a hand through his hair and tried to remember how to breathe.

Fuck. Was it true? All these years, his mother was hiding this from him? If Tito was right, his father cheated and then abandoned him and his mom to start a new life in Mexico. Cut off all communications with Matt a short time later. Maybe he had a new family—half-siblings Matt had never met.