Chapter 3
By December, I was ensconced in the family business. I wasn’t much help, but my parents seemed to like having me there and the tips were good. I was still single. Paco wasn’t. He’d gotten back together with his ex and things were going well. I was happy for him, during those moments when I could muster the maturity and decency to be so. I had no clue what was happening with Malcom. I was back to thinking of him as Mr. Darcy when I pictured him out of his shorts, all alone in the tiny bedroom at my parents’ house in which I’d spent much of my youth. I was moving out right after Christmas. That much was definite. How I was going to afford it, well, that was still up in the air. It was December 22 when I got an early gift, and a way out.
“Mr. Hernandez?”
“Hold on. I’ll get him,”
