Rose had listened the entire time without saying a word or changing her expression. The very thought of someone hurting Grace because of something Rose had done made her shudder. She understood why Vincent seemed so angry at himself. Suddenly Vincent seemed nervous. “Rose, please don’t let this scare you into not wanting to be my friend…or more. I’m not like that anymore. I have a job still with my dad, and I’d be there now, but my dad wanted me away from the neighborhood for a while after the whole tagging thing. At first I didn’t want to. I know what the family thinks of me. I didn’t want to be scrutinized all summer, but after meeting you at the shower and then getting to know you better over texting, I could hardly wait. They can scrutinize all they want; it’s totally worth it. I’m straight now. I swear. No more of any of that shit for me ever, especially because my uncle and Sal have already warned me if I screw up, I’m gone.”

Rose gulped, feeling the steady beat of her heart strong. She was anxious but at the same time strangely excited. The touch of his fingers against hers sent shivers up her spine, his words making her insides liquid. Had she heard him correctly? Or more? What those two little words did to her was unreal. But if Grace knew everything he’d been in trouble for, guns, drug dealing? She didn’t care what he called it—delivering—selling. It was still drug dealing, and her sister would surely forbid so much as even a friendship.

Their eyes met, and his were so piercing, so full of remorse that Rose instantly caved. He did say it was all in the past. She inhaled deeply. “Is that it?”

For the first time in a while, he smiled. “Yeah, that’s it. I told you everything else in the email. And most of this was from way back, Rose. I swear.”

“Why do you get into so many fights? You said you’ve been in fights, but you didn’t elaborate just said lots.” She smiled nervously.

His smile morphed into a forced smirk. “In my neighborhood, it’s just like that.”

Rose frowned. She wouldn’t let him off the hook so easy. “Vincent, look around. I’m not exactly in La Jolla here. El Paso wasn’t much better either, and I’ve never been in a fight in my life.”

She wouldn’t mention that Grace had been in quite a few when they first moved to El Paso. But that was different. She was bullied because of her accent. There’s only so much you can take before fighting back.

“It’s different for girls, Rosie. When you’re a guy there’s a lot that’s so hard to let go.”

Rose was still recovering from hearing him call her Rosie, but she shook it off. “Like what?”

He stood up, shoving his hands in his pockets and kicked a few rocks on the ground. “Like seeing others get picked on, girls disrespected, your buddies getting wailed on. You don’t just walk away from those things. My brother…sometimes he has a smart mouth and shit.” He shrugged. “He’s just a funny dude, but sometimes people don’t like it, and I’ll be damned if anyone’s gonna f**k with him. They go through me, first, and…over the years, that’s happened a lot.” He looked up from staring at the rocks he was kicking and flashed a hopeful smile. “Can we talk about something else now? Please?”

She was sure he used the sweet expression to gain her sympathy; instead, it made her knees weak. How could she say no? “Okay,” she smiled back, “but just one more thing.” His expression went hard again.” It’s not so much about you but about your dad. I’m just curious.”

Now he looked curious. “My dad?”

“Yeah, Grace told me about how Sal’s grandpa started the business way back with a taco truck, and then Sal’s dad got involved, and they made the restaurants what they are now. Sal’s dad and yours are brothers right? Why didn’t he join the business? I mean, how did you guys end up in La Puente?” She hoped he wouldn’t be insulted, but from all the stuff he just told her about Sal’s family and then his own, their families were like night and day.

Rose was surprised to see a little humor in Vince’s eyes. “Grandpa Moreno got busy after Grandma Moreno passed away and didn’t tell anyone.” He smiled at Rose’s raised eyebrows. “Yep. And then I don’t know why, but my grandma never told anyone either. My dad didn’t even know he had a brother until he was already married and had moved to La Puente near my mom’s sister. Then my dad found out my grandpa never even knew about him. My grandpa tried to make up for the lost time and even offered to let him come work for him at the restaurant, but my mom said my dad was too proud. He already had a gig.” Vince frowned shaking his head. “I was such a dick to my dad when I was younger. My mom would tell me he was working up north, but like an idiot I didn’t buy it.”

“Why not?”

“In my neighborhood, ‘Your dad’s going away for a while to work’ was code for a lot of things—going to jail, carrying off a job for the mob, going to live with his other woman; you name it. It was never anything good. So here I acted like a total ass**le when he’d get back from ‘work’ and the whole time he’d been up north working his ass off as a field worker to support his family.” He winced shaking his head again. “Now can we talk about something else?”

Rose felt bad that Vincent felt so guilty, but she didn’t blame him. She was almost sorry she’d made him tell her, so she quickly agreed to change the subject. “What do you wanna talk about?”