Chapter Twenty-Two

In Which No One Listens to Elisa, As Usual

As promised, Elisa didn’t hear from Darcy again after she’d delivered the letter. She popped up now and again in Willow or Gianna’s social media feeds, but she didn’t call, text, or even like one of Elisa’s posts. She wasn’t sure if that was good or bad. Before reading the letter, she would’ve been eager to hold Darcy to her promise, but now that she had…

Now she couldn’t explain how she felt. She and Darcy weren’t friends, but she understood her a bit better. If nothing else, she certainly knew that she wasn’t heartless, as she’d once believed. And, whether she liked it or not, she definitely felt her absence.

She could not get Darcy out of her head. And she wasn’t even sure she wanted to anymore.

Because, apparently, the world has just gone completely insane.

It had been over a month since Elisa received the letter. February and March both passed in the blink of an eye, like her entire life was on fast-forward until she suddenly realized it was early April. She only had a week before midterms began, and after that, it’d be spring break, and she’d be spending the week at the Alexandra Pemberley Museum of Classical Art.

Elisa wasn’t the only Benitez sister with big spring break plans. The night before, Lucia had come home bouncing off the walls because her on-and-off BFF Vivian Forester was going to Daytona Beach and had invited her to come along.

Let’s hope they’re still in the “on” phase by the time the trip actually gets here.

Elisa was sitting on her bed, going over the review packet her Communications I professor had handed out, while Lucia hung out in the room with her, babbling on and on. She was talking about all the things she wanted to do and see in Daytona Beach, but Elisa wasn’t paying much mind until her ears picked up on the words, “Vivi’s turning sixteen, so this trip is her present—her parents promised to leave her alone and let her do her thing as long as she promised to call every night…”

Elisa looked up. “Wait, wait, wait. Vivian’s parents aren’t going?”

Lucia looked like a deer caught in the headlights. “Um…”

“Lulu, no. No. You cannot go. Not to Daytona Beach without any adult supervision.”

“It’s not without any adults,” she protested. “Vivi’s aunt lives in Daytona Beach, she’s getting us at the airport. We’re just, y’know…part of the gift is that we get to stay in a hotel instead of with the aunt, but she’ll be around some of the time.”

“Some of the time? Oh, great. Great.”

She crossed her arms. “Jeez, I’m not a three-year-old.”

“Daytona Beach is totally nuts during spring break. It’s not safe.”

“I’ll have my phone and pepper spray with me the whole time,” she insisted. “Besides, that’s why Vivi’s parents told her to bring a friend—so we can look out for each other.”

“That would be a hell of a lot more comforting if I didn’t know your track record.”

“Mom already said I could go.”

“What?”

“Look, I already talked to Mom, and I promised to be super-responsible and extra-careful. Video chats every night, updates every time we go someplace new—she’ll always know where we are. We have to touch base with Vivi’s aunt at least once a day, and I swore not to leave Vivi’s side the entire time,” Lucia said. “I only didn’t tell you because I knew you’d be like this.”

“Because, apparently, I’m the one with all the common sense in this family.”

Without another word to her sister, Elisa got up from her bed and stormed into the kitchen, where Alejandra was working on dinner.

“Mom.”

“Yes, dear?” she asked, not looking up from what she was doing.

“Did you seriously tell Lucia she could go to Daytona Beach?”

She sighed. “I was wondering when you’d flip out about this. Yes, I did. And don’t try to change my mind—Julieta already did.”

“Mom, you know how Lulu is. She could get hurt.”

“You can get hurt doing most anything,” she said. “Hand me the pickled jalapeños.”

Elisa grabbed the jar out of the fridge, handing it to her mother as she said, “Lucia’s not mature or responsible enough for this. I wouldn’t trust her to go to Cleveland alone, let alone Daytona Beach.”

“I used to go on vacation with friends all the time when I was a girl,” she said with a nostalgic smile. “Remember the stories?”

“Yes, Mom. Those stories were usually prefaced with, ‘If you ever do this, I’ll beat your ass.’”

“Don’t you think you’re being a bit dramatic? It’s not as if I’m letting them run off completely by themselves—I’m not an idiot.”

“Have you ever even met Vivian’s aunt?”

Her mother deflated, admitting, “Well, no. But I have met her parents, and I trust them. So long as they see her aunt at least once a day, and she sees them to their room every night, I don’t see the harm in letting them stay in a hotel. Especially not if Vivi’s parents are paying.”

“Oh yeah, Lulu with unsupervised access to a building full of young, male tourists, a hot tub, and unlimited room service. That can only end well.”

Mom glared at her. “You watch your mouth. Your sister should get to have a bit of fun, and I’ve made it very clear that if she betrays my trust on this trip, there will never be another.”

“There shouldn’t be a first.”

“Elisa, I’m her mother. Not you.”

Mom went back to cooking, effectively ending the conversation.

She couldn’t believe her mother was being so incredibly stupid. Exasperated, Elisa left the kitchen and stepped outside the apartment, fishing her phone out of her pocket. Leaning against the wall in the hallway, she dialed her father’s number.

“Hello?”

“Papa, it’s Elisa—I need your help.”

“Is something wrong?” Miguel asked.

“Not yet. Look, it’s kind of a long story, but the short and short of it is that Lucia’s going to Daytona Beach with her friend over spring break, and her friend’s parents aren’t going with them. I mean, her friend’s aunt will be there, but they’re not staying with her, they’ll be in a hotel on their own, and…and I don’t know, I just have a bad feeling about this.”

Miguel paused. “Does your mother know about this?”

“Yeah. I tried to talk to her, but she’s fine with it. I thought maybe if you talked to her—”

“Lisa, you know your mom.” He sighed. “How do you think she’d take it if her ex-husband called to talk her out of something he wasn’t even supposed to know about—but did, thanks to one of her daughters asking him to interfere on an issue she’d already decided?”

“I know, I know, but…I’ll tell her it was all my idea. I’ll make sure she yells at me and not you. Just—just stop this.”

“What makes you think I can?”

“You’re Lucia’s father. If Mom won’t listen to me, maybe she’ll listen to you.”

“I agree with you completely. I think this is a terrible idea. But both Lucia and your mother are incredibly stubborn. And even if I managed to persuade Alex not to let her go, we’d never hear the end of it. You know how long Lulu can hold a grudge.”

Elisa was appalled. “So you won’t even try?”

“I don’t see how I could do any good.”

She groaned. “Forget it.”

“I’m sorry, Elisa.”

She massaged her forehead. “I’m—I’m being dumb, right? It’ll be fine.” Even as she said it, she didn’t believe it. Lucia going to Daytona Beach with limited supervision was more than a terrible idea. It was a ridiculous, awful, potentially lethal, piece-of-shit idea.

“I’m sure it will be,” Miguel said, sounding as unconvinced as she felt. “Try not to worry too much about it. Your sister’s getting older—she’s not a baby anymore.”

“I… I know. I guess I’m just… I love Lulu too much to not worry about her, you know?”

“I get it. But you’ll have to stop fussing over her sometime,” he said gently. “Try to just relax and enjoy your own spring break. You’re going to that museum, right?”

“Yeah,” Elisa said. “I’m, uh, I’m going to Pemberley with my art class.”

“I went to Pemberley once, back when I still lived in Columbus. You’ll love it.”

Elisa smiled a bit, despite the situation. “I’ll send you a postcard from the gift shop. We can see what gets back to Steventon first—it or me.”

“I’m looking forward to it. Look, Elisa, I better go—I’m meeting a friend for dinner. He says if I’m late, he’ll make me pick up the tab.”

“Okay. Love you, Papa.”

“I love you, too.”

Elisa hung up, but remained out in the hallway for a while longer, trying to tell herself that her father was right. She couldn’t baby Lucia forever. Maybe Lucia would prove her wrong. Maybe everything would be fine.

She didn’t actually believe it, of course. But she had to keep telling herself that. The only alternative was to worry.