Stranger Danger Read Free Page A

“What?”
    She laughed a little. “It’s the first time I’ve seen
you drink when you’re legal.   You, uh, we
were underage before.”
    “ Salud !”   He toasted her with a Latin shrug and drank a
long swig.
    Within minutes, she had the frozen fries toasting in
the oven and three thick hamburgers sizzling in a skillet.   Sara sliced a tomato, then an onion.   She seasoned the meat and flipped it over.   They didn’t talk much as she focused on
cooking and he finished the beer. For the first time since his arrival, Sara
felt very self-conscious and wonder what he thought.   He looked almost the same to her eyes, but her
appearance had changed or so she thought.   Did she look better or worse? Whatever had propelled him to seek
sanctuary in her apartment and the looming danger from M13 concerned her.   He has
to tell me, all of it, no matter how bad.   I have to know.
    She’d given her word, though, not to bring it up
tonight so she didn’t.   Instead, she
willed herself to relax and pretend Santiago had come for a social visit.   As she sat down across from him after
delivering their plates to the table, Sara gazed at him.   A rush of old affection surged as she admitted
his presence made her glad.   She wished
he’d come sooner and without any unknown circumstances or tension.   “So I guess I can’t ask what you’ve been
doing,” she said, without heat or snark.
    “No.” He spread mustard across the top half of a bun
and added a dollop of ketchup.   “Well,
you can’t ask about the two and a half years, anyway.”
    Sara put an onion slice and tomato on her burger,
then handed him the veggie plate. “I thought you’d been here six months.”
    “I have,” he said. “But what I’ve been doing, I’ve
done longer than that.”   Santiago bowed
his head and until he clasped his hands, she didn’t realize he meant to
pray.   The familiar words of the Catholic
blessing came from his mouth and after the first few words, she joined in.
“Bless us, o, Lord, and these Thy gifts which we’re about to receive through
the bounty of Christ, our Lord, amen.”
    “Amen,” she echoed. “Do you still go to church?”
    Mouth full, he shook his head. “No, not for a long
time, but considering the situation, a little prayer seemed right.   Do you?”
    She didn’t and hadn’t more than a few times since
she’d married.   Erik had been Baptist and
hadn’t been fond of what he liked to call her Popish rites. “I don’t, no.   Sometimes I think about it and almost go, but
then I talk myself out of it.”
    “Maybe when this is all settled, we should go to
Mass, together, for old times’ sake.”
    Santiago’s dark eyes met hers, serious and
somber.   He means it, she thought, and
decided she liked the idea. “We should. It wouldn’t be like St. Alphonsus, but
I’d like that, very much.”
    “Would you, la
muñequita ?” Santiago put down his half-eaten burger.
    Without understanding why, she answered in his first
tongue. “ Si , Santiago,” she told him, then added, in English, “I’m glad you’re here, no
matter why you came. I hadn’t realized how much I’ve missed you until now.”
    “Oh, carino .”   His voice was no more than a hoarse whisper,
but Sara heard him plainly. Santiago lowered his gaze and picked up the
hamburger.   He didn’t speak again for a
few minutes, then said, his tone too casual, “So, tell
me about you.   You have the florist shop
but what else?”
    Was she supposed to condense her history from the
time their relationship ended to yesterday? Sara swallowed a bite, then cleared her throat. “Posies and Pretties is about all I’ve got,” she said.
    “How long have you owned it?”
    “Almost seven years.”   Seven years, she thought, long and lonely.   If she didn’t have the shop where she could
occupy her time and spend her days around bright, beautiful blossoms, she
would’ve given up long before now. “I bought it after Erik died and