Chapter 4 THE REALITY OF IT

LUCIANA'S POV

I'd forgotten to clean up again. Everything really was stressing me out. My eyes watered as I stared at the bathroom.

"Mama." Rodri calls and I turn to him with a forced smile.

"Come on honey." I reply and help him into the bathroom, kicking away all the stuff in our way. I'd clean up after.

My phone rings as I help Rodrigo wash while he plays with his legion of yellow ducks in the bathtub. He stares at me, his eyes widened in surprise and anticipation. "Is it abuela?"

"I'm not sure, but let me check," I say while rinsing off the lather from my arms. " Don't drown yourself while I'm gone, little sailor".

He giggles and continues playing with his ducks while I step out of the bathroom quickly and pick up my still ringing phone. It was my mum calling. I accept the call and walk back to the bathroom to check on Rodrigo who is now flying the largest duck in his collection like an airplane. I cock my head in confusion trying to remember if ducks even fly.

"Baby, it really is your abuelita," I proceed to smile at Rodrigo who puts down his duck in excitement and claps happily in triumph.

"I knew it was her," his childish voice said, seeped with giggles which sounded magical like the chiming of bells or wind chimes.

"Rodrigo, _m'ijo_, how are you?" My mum's familiar voice comes out of the phone which I place on the washbasin and then go to finish up Rodrigo's bath.

"I'm fine, grandma. How are you?" He inquires while I softly massage the shampoo into his wavy raven black locks which look exactly like mine, albeit much shorter in comparison to my waist length ones and a little more straighter.

" Oh, honey, I'm doing alright. Mexico is treating me just fine," she responds affectionately. "Are you taking a bath?"

"Yes, grandma. Mama is done bathing me now though. How did you know that?" Rodrigo says doing his best not to bounce around with his always seemingly endless energy while I try to dry him up with a large towel.

My Ma chuckles and responds, "I used magic. Don't tell anyone, especially your mama".

My son stares at me with his honest honey-brown eyes and then tries to avoid my stare while speaking in a conspiratorial tone, " Don't worry, abuelita. I won't tell her. Cross my heart".

I roll my almond shaped dark brown eyes skyward at their silliness and walk into Rodri's bedroom, phone in hand, while the little conniver walks ahead of me to go pick out the pajamas he'd like to wear to bed. I sit on his tiny bed running my fingers over the Lilo and Stitch bedcover he practically "cute trapped" me into buying. I wasn't going to, but I really couldn't help myself, especially when he did that thing he always does with his doe eyes.

"Talking about heart," my madre voices out bringing me out of my thoughts, "I got Sheila to fix another blind date for you since you chose to forget to go for the last one and left your poor date waiting in the cold for hours," she continues, placing emphasis on the "forget".

I roll my eyes and sigh while looking at Rodrigo standing on the other side of the room, who, it seems, is confused between wearing his Donald Duck pajamas and the other one with miniature sized SpongeBobs plastered all over it. He ends up choosing the former, as I had already guessed he would and places the other one nearly into his nightwear drawer. I palm my forehead and chuckle. His obsession with ducks needs to be studied. He looks at me, his doe eyes widens in confusion, having heard my chuckle. I blink guiltily and avoid his eyes, trying to focus on the conversation with my madre.

"Mum, first off, what's heart got to do with a blind date? Secondly, I didn't leave him in the cold. I clearly remember repeatedly telling him beforehand I wasn't going to be coming for that date and yet, he chose to wait for me in the cold. What did he want? To guilt trip me or something?" I actively soften my voice towards the end, trying not to sound confrontational, so I won't end up hurting her feelings.

"Ah, m'ija," my mum sighs from the other end of the receiver, "Alright. I know it's not your fault he chose to go anyway. But still, you've not even gone to any of the blind dates I've been setting up for you in Mexico, and now, in Ireland. And God knows how hard it is to set up a blind date for you when I'm literally continents away from you. Sheila is already fed up at this point, since you end up not going to any of the dates I beg her to set you up on. She says it's giving her matchmaking services a bad name or something along those lines," my mum says the last part with a mocking tone and a slight scoff which I knew truly held no malicious undertones.

Her love hate relationship with Sheila never fails to baffle me. According to my sources- said sources being herself, Sheila and my father- it all started even before I was born, since their teenage days in highschool when they both fell for the same guy, a dude called Juan who was an aspiring musician back then. All this was before she met my father and ended up falling for him instantly on one of these so called blind dates. Probably why she pushes me to go on all of these blind dates.

"I really get that you want me to move on from Connor, but I'm too preoccupied with finding a job right now to actually focus on dating someone. Plus, there's Rodrigo to think about too. How do you think he would feel with a strange man suddenly intruding into our lives, ma?" I really lower my voice during the last part while staring at my son who has just finished buttoning his pajama shirt.

"I know that bastard ex of yours did a number on you, m'ija, but still. I just want you to find a good man, a really good one who will love and treasure you and my grandson like you both really deserve. You really need someone who will take care of you, and I just want to see you have that, you know. Just like your father did for me," my madre enthuses from the other end of the receiver, her voice a bit more muted and melancholic than it was a few moments ago.