Love on the Ledge Read Online Free Page B

later? Why is the absence of a man and the promise of that same baby also bad, only in a different way?
    “I’m not in a hurry. We’ve just been here for hours. These sandals are giving me blisters. It’s hot as balls, even in the AC, and you’re driving me crazy.”
    “ No me hables así , Sky Magdalena Lopez. I gave birth to you.”
    That “I gave birth to you” argument is going to follow me around forever. Why do Latin mothers, or maybe all mothers, like to hold that over our heads?
    I gave birth to you, wash the dishes.
    I gave birth to you, get a 4.0 GPA.
    I gave birth to you, I’m not going to die without being a grandma.
    “That’s not my fault,” I say, and receive an old-fashioned smack on the back of the head. Fine, I deserve that. But being around her makes me revert back to a teenager, and those were the worst years of my life.
    “Are you seeing someone we don’t know about?”
    “What? No.” Hayden’s face, his impossibly beautiful face, flashes in my mind’s eye, and I’m sure a blush spreads across my body.
    “Sky, I’m worried about you.” She pinches the bridge of her nose.
    The tension goes out of my body because I hate when she’s upset. I put a hand on her shoulder. “I know, Ma.”
    “Are you sure you can’t work things out with Bradley?”
    I snatch back my hand from her shoulder like she’s made of acid.
    “Don’t be dramatic, Sky. You know what I mean. Men are weak. You can’t always blame them. Sometimes, they can’t get everything they need from you, so they have to—”
    “Don’t even finish that sentence, Ma.”
    “I want you to have financial stability. If you won’t give Bradley another chance, then I know a nice young doctor. You might remember him—”
    “Can you stop?” I want to tear my hair from my skull. “I can take care of myself. I don’t need someone else’s checkbook.”
    “Sky.” She tries to reach for me but I take a step back, sending a delicate vase full of soft pink flowers shattering to the ground. “Listen to me.”
    “ No . I don’t care how much Bradley is worth on paper. I’d rather not have a dime to my name than let him touch me ever again. I’m not like you.”
    I turn away from her, pushing away the tears that swell in my eyes and put on a smile that I don’t feel. The front door jingles.
    A sales lady comes running from some storage room with a crease on her forehead.
    “I’m so sorry,” I say, choking on the sorry. “I’m here for the Vargas-Antonucci wedding. We’ll take a mix of the white and blush tea roses for the aisle. Sunflowers for the centerpieces. White and sunflower mixes for the four bouquets. And I’ll pay for that vase separately.”
    The sales lady’s frown quickly disappears when I hand her my credit card.
    No amount of money will fix my broken heart, but at least it’ll pay for this broken vase.
    • • •
    After we get home from the florist, I sit on my balcony sipping a bottle of water, and my heart does a little flip when I see Hayden standing in the center of the lawn, towards the line of trees, hammering a platform together. I suddenly realize that almost every guy I’ve ever dated has been blond.
    My dad was short, but muscular. He never shaved his mustache, and it was always a glossy black. His skin was darker than mine and he never smiled. He wasn’t the kind of man who chased after skirts. He was that angry, silent man who made women want to know why he was so serious. It made them come to him.
    I’ve made sure that every guy I’ve dated is nothing like my father physically, and somehow I still ended up in the same situation as my mom. Maybe it has nothing to do with race or culture. Maybe my mom’s right, men are weak. That doesn’t mean I have to be weak as well.
    The only couple I’ve ever looked up to is Pepe and Tony.
    I watch Hayden stand up and stretch. He works out the shoulder that was injured. The afternoon sun does wonderful things to highlight his biceps.
    My aunt