He saw her eyebrows pinch and he knew he’d hit a nerve. Shit.
“She had to sell it when my mom said we were moving to El Paso. She was my dad’s mom and aside from him, we were all she had, so she gave up the restaurant to follow us.”
Sal parked the car and turned to her. “But Juarez is right over the border. Why didn’t she just keep it and visit you guys?”
Grace shook her head and Sal saw that her eyes glistened. “She was getting older. My dad had pretty much been running the restaurant for years. She couldn’t do it without him and my mom wanted nothing to do with the restaurant.” Grace opened the door and got out.
When Sal got out and faced her over the hood of the car, he saw her wipe away a tear. “Hey, I’m sorry if I brought up a sore subject for you.”
“No. I’m sorry. This is supposed to be a happy day. Let’s just not talk about this anymore.” Her forced smile was hardly convincing. “Let’s go see those babies.”
Damn it. He knew he should’ve stopped when his gut told him to. “Okay.” He said, refraining from asking or saying anything more.
They walked into the hospital silently. When they reached the waiting room where everyone was, he saw they surrounded a very red-eyed Alex, still in scrubs.
Sofia turned when she saw Sal. Her eyes were all misty as well. The closer he got the more he noticed everyone was teared up. “Everything okay?”
“Yes perfect,” Sofia said, hugging him. “Sienna and Savannah—those are the names of your two beautiful nieces.”
Sal swallowed hard, feeling silly about the lump in his own throat. He walked over to Alex and hugged him hard. “How’s it feel little brother?”
Alex nodded but was clearly still feeling emotional. “I gotta get back in there. They’re gonna be in the NICU for the first forty-eight hours but the doctors said it’s just precautionary. The girls are actually looking very good.”
“How much did they weigh?”
“They were both just shy of five pounds. So as soon as they hit that five pound mark we’re out of here.”
Their mom hugged and kissed Alex. “You’re going to be such a good father, mijo.”
After letting them in on a few more of the details about the birth and how Valerie was doing, Alex went back in.
Sal’s mother finally turned her attention to Grace then looked at Sal. “Mom this is Grace. She’s the one that made the casserole.”
“Oh,” His mother reached out her hand. “You’re the new cook. Your casserole was delicious.”
“Thank you,” Grace said, obviously a little self-conscious.
“She’s a natural in the kitchen, mom,” Sofia added.
“So you’re the new cook we’re gonna have to steal?” Angel said, wrapping his arms around Sarah from behind.
Alex saw Grace’s face flush a little. She obviously wasn’t used to being the center of attention.
“You’ll have to go through Alex to steal her. He’s very proud of being the one who discovered her.” Sofia smiled at Grace.
The only glimpse they got of the babies was through a window but it was hard to really see them since they were in an incubator. They stuck around and waited for a chance to see them up close but after Alex came out to let them know it wasn’t happening tonight, everyone grudgingly started to make their exits. Sarah and Sal’s mom still insisted on at least seeing Valerie.
Sal and Grace said goodnight to everyone and left. As they exited the hospital, they ran into Romero and his Izzy. Since Isabel and Valerie were so close, Sal actually been surprised that they hadn’t been at the hospital when they got there. “Hey, you out already?”
“Yeah, we’re not going to be able go in to see the babies tonight. We were already in there for a while.” Isabel’s expression fell. “But you can see them through the window and go in to see Valerie. My mom and Sarah are going to.” Isabel smiled and glanced at Grace.
“This is Grace,” Sal said, then added, “One of our newer employees at the restaurant.”
Once everyone was introduced, Romero asked, “So did you get the tickets?”
“Oh my God. He hasn’t stopped talking about those tickets,” Isabel laughed.
“It’s the Elite Eight!” Romero looked at her like she was the crazy one.
Sal started down the stairs of the front entrance, shaking his head. “Not yet but I’ll get them this week.” He turned to Grace who was a couple of steps behind him and felt the crazy urge to put his hand out for her to take but he didn’t.
She crossed her arms in front of her when they reached the bottom. “Alex looked so happy. Who would’ve thought such a big lug could get so emotional? But I guess seeing your baby for the first time will do that to you. And this was a double whammy for him.”
“Oh yeah.” Sal turned just as the wind blew a wisp of her hair across her face and she used her tongue to move it away from her lips. He nearly lost his train of thought. “That guy’s always been a softie on the inside. As hard as nails as he is on the outside, when it comes to Valerie and his baby girls they’re all gonna have him wrapped around their fingers.”
“That’s sweet.” She smiled, making Sal glad she’d forgotten about the conversation when they arrived at the hospital. “As intimidating as he looked that first day I met him I could tell right away he was a sweetheart.”