THE DAY OF Gaz’s new-artist showcase, he woke hours before the alarm went off.

Going downstairs, he poured himself a cup of coffee and sat at the kitchen table, studying his lyrics. He’d written all the songs, but he was so nervous he worried he’d forget his own words. He’d already seen it happen that week at the conference. Just the day before, a guy had gotten up to perform at a showcase and flubbed his lines—not once, but twice.

Watching that guy choke and blow his one chance to impress the music-industry pros at the conference, Saniyah had given Gaz some good advice: “Focus on the melody.” She followed that advice up with, “Let the guitar lead, because your fingers are stronger and surer than your voice will ever be. When I sing, I’m really paying most attention to the guitar. My voice is just along for the ride.”

He just hoped he would remember that when the spotlight was on him.

To distract himself from what was going to happen later, he showered and dressed as quietly as he could. He looked at the hall clock. Six fifteen. Still plenty of time to catch the antelopes. He paused before Alicia’s door. He wanted to wake her, get her to walk with him, make sure that she saw that he was wearing the shirt she had given him for good luck. He raised his hand to knock, but let it fall. There’d been nothing but frostiness between them since he had missed his appointment with the chambelanes. She hadn’t even given him the shirt in person. She’d left it on his bed the night before with a note that just said, I believe in you. None of her typical x’s and o’s.

He couldn’t completely blame her. He had been slacking off on his responsibilities. He hadn’t rehearsed the cumbia song he was supposed to play on his guitar for Valeria’s father-daughter vals. He hadn’t listened to any of the ninety-five feminist goth songs that Valeria had loaded onto an iPod for him to help him figure out the musical theme. But he wasn’t like Alicia—how she kept so many things going at once was nothing short of a mystery to him. She handled it all, from budgets and schedules to choreography and supplies.

He was different. He needed to do one thing at a time. He knew how much he owed the Castillo family, and he would start pulling his weight as soon as he got through this one make-or-break day.

Stepping outside, he took in the morning that was still so dark it felt closer to night than day. He had a thermos of hot chocolate and the flashlight, and his guitar, strung over his shoulder. He found his spot on the bench and felt himself relax. His spot. He’d been in Austin for exactly ten days, and yet the ranch felt like a second home.

In the stillness of the new day, he took a sip of cocoa, then began to play his guitar—running through his songs softly and sweetly until the antelopes breezed past him and the sun revealed itself lazily in the sky.

By the time Alicia woke up at eight, Gaz was long gone. She texted him: See you there. Buena suerte. Good luck. And she told herself that she was being oversensitive in thinking that his one-word response (thanks) was cold.

Valeria’s quince was just three days away, and Alicia knew from experience that this was the time to check and double-check the details. There were going to be a half dozen veggie appetizers to supplement the chocolate buffet. Jamie had done a charcoal portrait of Valeria with her new haircut, and Alicia had sent it out to be printed on two hundred paper cups and two hundred napkins. Even when you paid extra for rush service, you never knew if a package would turn up on time. Alicia had been tracking the cups and napkins on the UPS Web site on her cell phone from almost the moment she woke up. She breathed a sigh of relief when the doorbell rang at eleven A.M. and she saw the driver walk in with her two giant boxes.

Once that was settled, she began calling around about additional DJ equipment. Gaz would be DJ-ing largely using speakers plugged into his laptop, but Alicia always thought it looked best when a full DJ stand was set up, ready to go if Gaz felt inspired to throw in a CD that wasn’t on the original mix or if a guest made a special request. Of course, Gaz had yet to give Valeria the tracks list to sign off on, but they could take care of that quickly. It was Wednesday; the party was Saturday. He’d get it done. She looked at her watch. Twelve thirty P.M. She had a meeting downtown with the pastry chef at one thirty, which would leave her plenty of time to get to Gaz’s showcase by three.

At least, she should have had plenty of time.

Things started to unravel during the drive downtown. It took longer than she’d planned to get from the ranch to the panadería. Then, when she got there, she was told that the pastry chef, Noreen, was running a little late. On top of that, he had mistaken her order for someone else’s, and she had to review all the items on the menu with him all over again. She chewed her lip nervously and kept her eye on her watch. Despite the setbacks, Alicia was sure she was not more than fifteen minutes behind schedule, and she was confident that she could make it on time.

Luis dropped her at the conference center at two forty-five. Still plenty of time. She went right to the visitors’ desk to get a map so she wouldn’t get lost. But the conference center was a maze. Simultaneous events were taking place in four different locations. Breathless, she ran toward the annex that housed the new artists’ showcase. By the time she finally made it to the courtyard where Gaz was playing, the crowd was clapping, and he was walking off the stage. Saniyah was sitting in the front row cheering. She made eye contact with Alicia, a distinct look of disapproval flashing over her face.

Normally, that would have bothered Alicia. But not now. She had no right to be mad at Saniyah. The girl had made it to support Gaz, who wasn’t even her boyfriend. And Alicia? She had missed his event.

Her stomach was in knots. This was the worst thing that could have happened. Especially as things weren’t exactly great between them. She was going to have to do some pretty good explaining, not to mention issuing a ginormous apology. But when she went up to speak to him, he gave her a huge hug, and her resolve vanished.

“What did you think, Lici? Amazing, right? I was only supposed to sing two songs. Then, you saw that guy in the blazer who came up to talk to me? He’s one of the conference organizers. He told me to go ahead and play another one.”

Alicia hugged him tightly. He obviously thought she had seen his performance. “That is great! Of course, you were good,” she said, hoping he couldn’t see through her lie.

He kissed her. “It wasn’t me. It was my lucky shirt and my incredible girlfriend. I wouldn’t even be here without you.”

She looked around and realized there must have been two hundred people jammed into the courtyard. Gaz hadn’t seen her come in.

How could she tell him the truth?

After dinner, later that night, Saniyah surprised everyone by showing up at the house. The Miami crew was sitting around the kitchen of the guesthouse eating homemade prickly pear sorbet. At the sight of Saniyah, Alicia’s heart raced. Was she here to rat Alicia out to Gaz?

Luckily, that wasn’t her reason for stopping by. “Hey, Valeria,” Saniyah said. “I just stopped by to give you this. It’s a little birthday present. Gaz was telling me about the girls you mentor and how much this tradition means to you, and I was just so inspired I wrote a song about it, about you. It’s called ‘Hermanas.’”

Valeria stood up and gave Saniyah a hug. “Oh, my God, thank you! Will you perform it at my quince?”

Saniyah laughed and looked down at her feet. “Come on, you haven’t heard it yet. It could suck.”

Valeria shook her head. “I haven’t heard the song yet, but I’ve heard you. Your voice is so beautiful. It would be an honor for me if you would sing at my quince.”

Saniyah looked touched. “Well, when you put it that way, I’d love to. My mom is actually waiting in the car for me, so I’d better go. Good night, everyone.”

Valeria nodded. “I’ll walk you out. I should head back up to the house anyway. Buenas noches, everyone.”

She left, and Jamie went up to the room the girls shared to work on her special video project. Carmen went off to text Domingo. Soon, Alicia and Gaz were the only ones left in the kitchen. Alicia began to clear the table. “How about you wash and I dry?”

“Or you could wash and I’ll dry.”

Alicia held up her hands. “Brand-new manicure. I dry.” Then, turning to him, she said, “That’s pretty cool that Saniyah wrote a song for Valeria.”

“I didn’t even know she was working on it,” Gaz said, nodding. “I can’t wait to hear it.”

“Well, it does pose the question of why you’ve never written a song about me,” Alicia said teasingly.

Behind her, she heard the glass break. Whirling around, she saw Gaz standing over the broken dish. He looked confused and hurt.

“What’s wrong?” Alicia asked, concerned. “Are you okay?”

“I did write a song about you: ‘Playing for Keeps,’” Gaz said. “It was the first song that I sang today. If you’d been there, like you said you were, you would’ve heard it.”

Alicia started to stammer. “Well, I was there. You saw me. You know how spread out everything is there. I was a little late. I must have missed the first song.”

Gaz leaned against the counter and crossed his arms. “How late? Did you hear the second or third song?”

Alicia shook her head.

“Why did you lie?”

Not knowing what to say and fearing that her mouth had already gotten her into a lot of trouble, Alicia said nothing at all.

That was all Gaz needed to hear—or not hear. He turned and walked out of the house. Alicia wanted to follow him, but what would she have said? “Sorry” wouldn’t cut it. Not now. Not after how royally she had messed up. So she did what her mother always advised—she controlled the controllable. She got a broom and a dustpan and began to sweep up the broken glass.

Later that night, Jamie and Carmen went out to hear a local band, leaving Alicia in the guest room wondering how things had become such a big mess. Her eyes were red and puffy from hours of crying, but she didn’t care. Who was going to see her like this, anyway? Suddenly, there was a knock at the door, and Valeria entered.

“Hey, how’s it going?” she asked.

Alicia straightened up and tried to pretend that she hadn’t just been crying. “Everything’s great,” she said, trying to smile brightly. “Your quince is going to be amazing.”

Valeria shook her head. “I know it will be great. That’s not what’s worrying me. But I am worried about you and Gaz. It seems like you guys are in a rough patch.”

Alicia sighed. “I lied to him. I got caught. Life pretty much sucks right now.”

Valeria smiled gently. “You know, in Texas, we have a healthy respect for the tall tale. You may have told a lie, but he’s been stretching the truth, too.”

Alicia’s eyes widened. “Do you think he’s been cheating on me with Saniyah?”

Valeria put a reassuring arm around her new friend’s shoulder. “Oh, my goodness, no. I just mean I think Gaz has been fooling himself by pretending that his heart is in Amigas Inc. You know, there’s another saying, you can’t dance at two weddings with one tush.”

Alicia nodded slowly, as understanding dawned. “He can’t be in the quince business and the music business at the same time.”

“Exactly. But just like you need him to forgive you, he needs you to give him an out,” Valeria said. “Why don’t you invite him to go on a boat ride tomorrow? Riding around Lake Austin in a canoe is one of the best cure-alls I know.”

Alicia looked at Valeria. “You’re pretty wise for someone who hasn’t turned fifteen yet.”

“Well, we’re just generally more advanced down here in Texas,” Valeria joked, giving Alicia a hug. “Big hats, big cattle, big brain…big hearts.”

Gaz seemed hesitant when Alicia asked him to take a ride out with her to Lake Austin the next morning. But he softened when she added, “If we’re going to be well and truly done, let’s make sure we finish things right.”

“I’m not saying we’re done,” he whispered.

“Good, then come out with me.”

They didn’t say much on the ride over. But their eyes widened as they walked down the path to the boat-rental shack. The lake was big and beautiful, and they felt as if they were walking through a painting.

Alicia paid for the rental, and she and Gaz pulled the boat into the water, laughing a little as they tried to steady it and get in.

“The urge to throw you in is so huge,” Gaz grinned.

“And I completely deserve it,” Alicia added. “But as I didn’t bring a change of clothes, I’m going to beg you to take it easy on me.”

“Maybe,” Gaz said.

“I’m sorry I lied to you,” Alicia said when they had paddled away from the shore. The lake was still and peaceful. “Not my finest moment, and it won’t happen again.”

“I want to believe you…” Gaz began.

“So, believe me,” Alicia insisted. “Because I need you to know that, as much as I want us to do everything together, including planning quinces, and going to school, and hanging out, and talking about music the way you do with Saniyah, I finally get it. Just like I eat, sleep, and breathe quinces, music is your everything. You should focus on that. I’m not a musician. I don’t know a lot about the industry, so I can’t say I’ll be a huge help with your career. But I can tell you that if you let me, I’ll be in the front row each and every time.”

Gaz was silent for a long time, and Alicia felt her heart pounding.

And then he spoke.

“So, no more Amigas for me?”

She nodded.

“And you’d basically be my groupie?” he asked, mischievously.

“Something like that,” Alicia said.

“Will you wear a T-shirt with my picture on it?”

“Absolutely.”

“Memorize all the lyrics to all my songs?”

“Done.”

“Will you make sure I have only blue M&M’s in my dressing room?”

Alicia raised an eyebrow.

Gaz shrugged. “I read some bands have got crazy riders in their contract like that. Only blue M&M’s. Only orange Fanta in the fridge. Stuff like that.”

Alicia sighed. “When you start performing at places with a dressing room, then, yes, I will be on M&M duty.”

Gaz conceded. “Then I think we can officially consider ourselves made up.”

Alicia shook her head. “No. Uh-uh. Not yet.”

“Why not?”

Alicia answered, “Because there will be no making up without the make-up make-out.”

Gaz smiled. “No problem.” Then, balancing the canoe ever so carefully, he leaned over and kissed her.

Sighing, Alicia lost herself in the moment. This, she thought, is how it should always be. And while she hated fighting, she was glad they were back on the same page—and maybe even stronger than before.