Regina had always liked Sofia. She’d always liked the entire family. They were beyond pleasant to be around, and she’d even had some great conversations and good times with Sofia and her sisters-in-law at gatherings like this one. There was never anything not to like about them, until now. She knew what growing up around them had been like for Brandon, but, at that moment, Regina knew she could very easily hate Sofia.

It was irrational, she knew. Sofia had never been anything but sweet to Regina, but it killed her to know Sofia was the cause of Brandon’s first broken heart. Regina knew now that Sofia had used him to alleviate her curiosity, but if she’d been the least bit interested in him in any other way—she’d been his first choice—Sofia might be here with Brandon instead of Regina. The only reason Brandon had even noticed Regina to begin with was because she’d reminded him of Sofia.

What’s past is prologue. What’s past is prologue.

Regina closed her eyes for a moment in a desperate attempt to calm herself. She reminded herself that if things had gone differently in her life, she, too, might be here with someone else, her husband, Ryan. Regardless of why and how things had come about between Regina and Brandon, everything happened for a reason, and that’s why he was here with her now.

Brandon tugged her hand. “Your sister’s calling you, babe.”

Regina snapped out of her thoughts to turn in Pat’s direction. She was standing with her cousin Claudia and Ricardo, motioning for her to come over. Great.

Forcing a smile, she turned to Brandon, who’d now snapped out of the stupor Sofia had put him in. He smiled back at her in what felt like a hopeful smile. Hopeful of what? That she hadn’t caught the gazing exchange between him and Sofia? Or that she still hadn’t picked up on who she was? Starting toward her sister, she pulled Brandon along with her. “Come on. It’s time to meet Ricardo.”

Ironically, coming here today, she’d thought this might be the most uncomfortable moment she and Brandon would be dealing with. Pat wore a mischievous grin. Before she could say anything, Regina shook off the unnerving thoughts of Brandon and Sofia. She smiled big and hugged Claudia. “Hey, where have you been hiding? I haven’t seen you in so long.”

“I know,” Claudia said, pulling away. “I’ve been so busy trying to get my business going. It’s been crazy.” She turned to Ricardo, who was smiling nervously at Regina, and wrapped her arms around his arm. “This is my boyfriend, Ricky. Honey, this is my cousin, Gina.”

Regina had met Ricardo the year she decided to take the summer off school and came home. She spent most of her time on the beach where she met the former US Junior Surf Team member trying to go professional. He was working as a part-time surf instructor in the meantime. While he was very nice on the eyes and made for an exciting summer fling, other than trying to make the US team, he truly was a beach bum. He had no real aspirations of doing much else with his life, and her sister Pat had been the first to point that out.

Pat was probably the reason why the fling went on longer than it might have. Unlike her sister Bell when she first brought Romero around to her unimpressed older sister, nothing was more satisfying to Regina than seeing Pat’s disapproving face whenever she walked into a family gathering on the arm of her eye-candy beach-bum boyfriend. Maybe if Regina had been serious about him, it might’ve bothered her. Instead, she got a kick of annoying her sister to pieces.

She and Ricardo had both agreed neither was looking for anything serious, and Regina knew her stay in Southern California was only temporary. By the end of the summer, the fling had run its course, and Regina had the perfect excuse to end things. She was going back to New York. They agreed to keep in touch, and they had for a few months, until all communication had slowly tapered off.

Regina smiled, holding out her hand and waiting for Ricky to either come clean about knowing her already or pretend not to. She’d already decided if that was the card he wanted to play she didn’t care either way. She saw her cousin once or twice a year, and they’d never been close, so it didn’t matter to her. Not surprisingly, Ricardo cowardly chose the latter. “Nice to meet you, Gina,” he said, reaching out his hand.

Regina went along, introducing them to her boyfriend while her insides still roiled about the real elephant in the room. After some small talk, they got back to the topic of Claudia’s house cleaning and landscaping business and how she and Ricardo had met when he applied as a landscaper. Pat immediately gave Regina a knowing look.

“That was way back when I was first trying to get things going,” Claudia said.

“Yeah,” Ricardo added as if Regina really cared. “I was just looking for a job on the side, but I was still doing surf lessons at the same time.”

“Now he runs the landscaping part of the business, and I run the housekeeping side,” Claudia said proudly. “We stay real busy.”

Brandon gave Ricardo as much attention as he deserved since he was such a complete nonissue. He glanced away often, though Regina had to wonder if his indifference with Ricardo was intentional or if he truly was too distracted with other things to care much.

Glancing behind Ricardo, Regina’s eyes met with Valerie’s. Valerie, who was standing with Sarah, smiled big. She tugged Sarah as they both made their way toward her and Brandon. Regina wondered how much about Brandon and Sofia either knew. Sarah smiled as big as Valerie when she saw Regina, but there was no missing the way her mouth fell open when she saw Brandon. Both she and Valerie spoke in voices too low for Regina to hear as they approached, but the big smiles were back once they were close enough to reach out and hug her.