Chapter 2.24- Distracted

          Fish. Fishing. Seafood. All he wanted to do was let his little daughter in on daddy’s favorite things, but she stubbornly refused to say those words.

          Tibi already had a favorite daddy activity: Spending time with daddy. Why should she have to talk to him when she did it? Besides, she knew how to get him to play her way. Look at that. Isn’t she adorable when she makes her eyes all wide and smiles sweetly? Abuela taught her that move.

          Ignacio felt a little inadequate sitting there trying to figure out just what interested this toddler. What might tempt her to form the words he wanted her to say.

          The times Tibi babbled to Layla had been painful moments for him. Layla would smile brightly, and nod doing her best to hide the terror in her eyes. She felt she should be able to understand what Tibi said, she didn’t understand that the amount of time that needed to be allowed before she’d be able to hear the pattern in the child’s words.

But Layla wasn’t here today. Fall was closing in as the summer days became shorter and cooler and she wanted to make sure she found plenty of gems and metals to sell before they were hidden by the carpet of fallen leaves brought about by the change of seasons. If she wanted to have enough to purchase a larger home any time soon, she needed to find a lot, quickly.

          “Cawwit!” Tibi cried out startling her distracted daddy.

          “Yeah? Carrot? Maybe Miss Lala will grow you a carrot if you ask her.”

          “Miss Lala may-does,” shaking her head somberly. Her tiny tongue could not quite wrap around Layla, but Lala was an easy word and so Layla had become Lala instead. The girl also found watching Layla work her tiny garden fascinating, especially the tomatoes. She thought Layla was growing the bouncy balls Tibi loved to throw and chase.

          “To-May-Toes,” Ignacio enunciated for his girl. It would be a long day for sure.

          “What about an actual ball you can play with? What about baseball?”

          Like the little girl was going to cater to daddy’s wishes on that one. Her lips were sealed.

          “Tsi-gen!” Tibi cried delightedly after a moment in thought. (Chicken)

          “Hmm. Maybe you need lunch. We’ll try again later.”

          “Bok bok?”

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          He should have been the one introducing his girlfriend to his father. But Santiago had caught a pretty face amongst the guests of his wife’s annual Fall First party and couldn’t resist. And how had they managed to come dressed alike? Ignacio finally understood why girls got so upset when another female showed up wearing her dress.

          His mother loved to throw this party each year for her clients, only most of them were too terrified of being spotted to actually show up and most of the rest of those in attendance were only there for curiosity and didn’t really interact with each other, or their hosts.

          The gentle touch of his mother’s hand on his shoulder turned him around.

          “He didn’t even give me a chance to introduce her. He just went right up to her first thing,” he whined.

          “She’ll tell him very soon that you are her boyfriend, so relax,” she soothed. “Besides, she doesn’t know that’s your father. She’s actually thought he was Raul at first and is now very confused. But she has no idea of betraying you with your father. No matter his intentions.”

          “Wait, his intentions?” Ignacio drew up short.

          “Calm down. I already told you she’ll handle herself very well,” Sabria sighed. The family was used to Santiago’s roaming eye, but Ignacio had never had it rove over someone he considered his.

          “Your hair is so much like moonlight,” Santiago’s voice drifted to them. “I would love to see you stand outside so I can tell just how closely your eyes match the stars.”

          “Oh,” Sabria said. “Oh he changed tack on me. I’ll go rescue her. Damn him. Stand here. You’ll embarrass her if you go. She knows who he is now and it’s starting to creep her out.”

          Reading the tension on her sons face, she laid a hand on his shoulder. “It’s alright. Really. She just doesn’t know how to stop him without being rude.” And she swept off as Ignacio’s siblings materialized.  Ignacio knew the drill as well as they did. Time to distract the unhappy couple their father had tried to get in between at yet another party. Only this was the first time it had ever hit so close to home for any of them.

          “He is drunk and he is an ass and he did not realize you are his son’s girlfriend,” the woman told Layla without preamble. “Mom knows how he is and she is not hurt and she does not blame you one bit. Neither do any of the rest of us.”

          Standing quietly for a moment Layla tried to reel in her thoughts. Who was this? Her words were accented almost as Ignacio’s were, only more heavily. Though maybe she could find traces of resemblance in her face too? Maybe not.

          “Sorry,” the woman said. She stuck out one hand in the same brusque manner as she had approached with. “Nalleli. Ignacio is my little brother.”

          “Oh! I didn’t realize-” Layla tripped a little over her words. “I didn’t know-It’s nice to meet to you.”

          As the two women attempted to get past the awkwardness of having ones father hitting on the other, Santiago passed by his sons deep in a discussion of ancient Egyptsims methods of mummification and what happened when the process sometimes went wrong.

          “You should have told me that is your latest piece of-” he snarled.

          “-You don’ want to finish that.” Ignacio interrupted.

          Eyes narrowing, Santiago passed on muttering under his breath.

          But Raul had gained an idea by what his father had said. Across the room, Layla was unaware that yet another of Ignacio’s family members watched her closely.

          “So are you guys getting married any time soon?”

          “I’m-uh-ah-What?”

          “You have lasted longer than anyone else,” Nalleli continued as matter of factly as she had begun. “And I know that you survived Mom’s First Interview: spook predictions, your past deeds, threats and all. And Mami says you are going to be around for a while so we just kind of figured.”

          “Threats? Your Mother didn’t threaten me. Well, she did some strange faceplam move and she did indeed do the spooky predictions and brought up my past. But no threats.”

          “Wow. That’s kind of her thing. It is always how she manages to get the girls to run. I got to watch her do it once, she was seriously frightening.  Pretended to predict that all kinds of horrible stuff would happen to her if she stayed with Ignacio. He never knew that part, but he could never believe anything bad about Mami.”

          “Imagine that.”

 

          Abruptly, Nalleli turned to peer at her brothers.

          “Really,” Layla continued without noticing. “Your mom wasn’t too frightening. I kind of thought she was sweet. I loved the story of how she first met your dad too.”

          “Uh-huh,” Nalleli’s eyes narrowed and she turned back to Layla. “How she saw him sitting by her side? Yes. She loves that tale. Tells it all the time. Like it justifies how she’s stayed with-”

          And she clamped her jaw tightly closed.

          “Do you like fishing, too?” Nalleli asked, changing the subject abruptly, making Layla blink in surprise.

          “It’s got to be started soon if it’s going to work out,” Raul spoke quietly, those the noise around him wouldn’t have made eavesdropping easy anyway. “Are you sure Matthew is on board to move it all out?”

          “I have already gone over that with you,” Ignacio answered. “He understands the situation and is sympathetic. We have even worked out the best times for me to deal with him so it doesn’ look too suspicious.”

          “You’re positive he’s sympathetic?”

          “Yes. He doesn’ like it any more than we do and is prepared to assist.”

          “You better be safe,” Raul’s brow had lowered. “I don’t need you taking unnecessary risks just because you think you can. Are you sure people are still avoiding you?”

          “Iggy has actually taken my brother Cyrus out and shown him some spots,” Layla was still talking to Nalleli. “But we’ve never gotten around to it with just each other.”

          Nalleli hadn’t taken her eyes off of her brothers. Raul had something new up his sleeve this time and had somehow managed to rope Ignacio in. She’d hoped that wouldn’t have been the case, but hopes rarely do anything other than disappoint in her experience.  

          Her jaw hardening in distaste she briefly debated on pulling Layla off somewhere to perhaps enlighten her, maybe convince her to convince Ignacio to get himself out of it all. Nonsense. There was nowhere in the house that was private right now. Maybe she could invite Layla over sometime, or maybe out to lunch.

          “I just want to make sure that Layla stays out of it,” Ignacio said. “She is not going to make drops for you, and you stay away from her and her things. That is my house now too, and we are not funding your enterprise.”

          “I would really like to take you out to lunch sometime,” Nalleli said, still very distracted as she puzzled over what Raul's newest plans could possibly be. “Do you usually go home for lunch, or have you been to the diner?”

          “Her assistance could be lucrative for us if we add her,” Raul said. “Really, let’s face it, if she made drops too we’d double the good we’d be doing. Double our meager profits, too.”

          “Who hasn’t been to the diner?” Laughed Layla. “For a solid month after I’d arrived in town Sally- Sixkiller, my cousin- took me as often as she could in order to meet as many people in town as possible. She didn’t do much introducing though. Just pointing and a brief life story. Though there were quite a few people I didn’t spot there. You for instance.”

          “Layla stays out of it or I am out of it,” Ignacio said firmly. “She has no ties here and I have no problems telling what I know to the police and dragging her and Tibi into hiding with me. You would never find me, brother. Stay away from my girl.”

          “I can ride a broomstick upside down!” Nalleli popped out as she had completely lost the thread of the conversation as her mind worked.

          “No need to get so touchy,” Raul sneered. “We’ll leave her alone.”

          “Ok,” Layla was completely mystified trying to figure out where that came from. “That’s-uh- that’s really-really neat.”

          “Check out the pigtails on Cruz,” Nalleli pulled Lalya near.

          “I mean it, Raul,” Ignacio leaned forward menacingly. “You will swear it on Mami’s life that you will leave her alone.”

          “I saw that,” Layla’s eyes were wide in merriment. “I thought that was just the trend for men in Lucky Palms! I never dreamed it would hit here.”

          “Fine. I swear it. We will leave her alone,” Raul stormed off the moment he had said it and Ignacio deflated.

          Nalleli heard Raul's growl over the buzz of people in the room and sighed with relief. Maybe she wouldn’t have to tell Layla anything at all. Maybe Ignacio would tell her when he needed to. Or maybe her not knowing meant he’d try to get out of the scheme more quickly.

          “Go find my mother,” Nalleli told her instead, finally remembering what the pair had been talking about. “Ask her to join us for lunch tomorrow, eh? I want to talk to your boyfriend for a little bit.”

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          Layla thought there were plenty of people in the living room, but the bathroom was obviously the happenin’ place to be. Here she found Sabria and several other guests along with Santiago.

          Dear PlumbBob, what was her cousin Silas wearing? And Santiago was kind of freaking her out with the stiff looks he kept shooting at her.

          “So Nalleli and I were planning on going to lunch at the diner tomorrow. Would you like to join us?” Layla asked cheerfully. It was unnerving though. Why was everyone in the bathroom?

          “How sweet of you to remember me, but no thank you. In fact, I’m not sure this week will be a good one for you either,” Sabria answered. Layla’s face fell.

          “Oh, my dear,” Sabria caught herself. “I’m sorry. You’ll just probably have a much better week if you stay close to home. I’ll even let Nalleli know that you won’t be able to have lunch with her for a little bit. Ok? And tomorrow, I’ll even come by to help with Tibi.”

          Layla looked at the woman baffled. Why would she need Sabria’s help with Tibi? Ignacio was always there if Tibi was there.

          Santiago and Cornell Riffin finally left the bathroom making it feel much more roomy. Too bad Silas still stood there staring a hole in Layla’s head.

          “Is there something I need to know?” she asked slowly. She’d really rather not know if something is going to happen, but Sabria was making it sound like some disaster was about to happen.

          “You’ll know when the time is right,” Sabria said gently. “Just remember: Time is always precious.”

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Arrrrgh! No one would do what I wanted them to do. Blast them all to hades. I wanted Sabria to be the one to talk to Layla, not Nalleli. And Nalleli was wearing that ridiculous skirt and my game kept freezing (so there was no way I was opening CAS to fix it) and Santiago keeps trying to flirt with Layla and then I could Not get Sabria out of that bathroom. Obviously my game knew I was trying to do something particular and determined to foil my attempts. So! Lots of tidbits, not many answers. Stuffs next time. Hang on folks, Mr. Toads Wild Ride is about to begin.

Oh, and isn’t Nalleli lovely? There's a shot where you actually see her face on the bloopers page. Also, while all this was going on Sally aged up to YA. I did open her up to save her to the bin (and fix her hair and eyebrows and outfit) And not ten sim minutes later she’s married to Ottawa. (check her bin save and sure enough, Sally Fox) The very next pop up I get? Guess who’s expecting? So we won’t see her as soon as I had originally planned, but she’ll be around again.

And there are a million bloopers up for this one. They all had far too much fun with their conversations and I wanted to use it all So badly, but couldn’t. For instance, everyone seemed very much to want to talk about death. Lol. So go check out the bloopers and have a laugh at their expense.

And last- It’s officially summer break and my updates are going to slow down quite a bit as we spend a Lot of time in the pool and I have youngsters to entertain all day long. Lou will go to a summer program starting next week, but my son’s summer program doesn’t begin until July and I’m doing a lot of his pediatric therapies at home in the meantime and those take a lot of time. Also there is a two week vacation at the end of June/beginning of July where a solid week I won’t even have internet. *cries. Just bear with me, the Sixkillers aren’t going anywhere.