No, it wasn’t Shane who was calling her. It was Maria. She was leaning outside the window of the car parked on the pavement in front of Carmen’s house. The car was packed with friends from highschool.
‘Carmen! Get in! We’re going to Matheo’s party!’
‘I’m sorry guys, I can’t,’ Carmen said, shaking her head. She clutched the strap of her shoulder bag tighter in her fist.
‘But you have to! It’s his 17th birthday!’
‘I promised Lucia to help her with her homework,’ Carmen lied, ‘I really can’t Maria.’
‘Hm, OK,’ Maria shrugged, ‘Maybe next time, right? I really don’t understand why you always have to hang out with Lucia though. I mean- no offence, but she’s a bitch.’
Have sex with her and you’ll understand, Carmen thought.
‘Yeah, she’s really full of herself,’ another guy, Louis, commented, indicating breasts on his chest with his hands. Maria gave him a nice hard slap on his head.
‘And she spreads like peanut butter,’ someone commented.
‘Eww, gross!’ Maria shrieked, wrinkling her nose in disgust.
‘What? Who said that?’ Carmen asked angrily. Everyone in the car grew quiet. ‘Who the fuck said that!?’ Carmen repeated, increasing her voice. ‘Was it you Ricardo?’ she asked, pointing her finger hard at his chest, ‘Because you’ll never get into her pants and you know it! So back off!’
Maria grabbed Carmen by her elbow and pulled her close. ‘Carmen, c’mon, they don’t mean it like that,’ she spoke calmly.
‘They don’t know what the fuck they’re talking about,’ Carmen growled under her breath.
‘I know.. they’re just a bunch of losers.’ Louis gave her an offended look. ‘What, you’re gonna deny it? Please,’ Maria rolled her eyes, before turning her attention back to Carmen. ‘Hey, but next time, you’ll come with us right?’ Maria asked, looking at her expectantly.
‘Yeah,’ Carmen let out an exasperated sigh, ‘I promise.’
‘I’ll keep you up on that one,’ Maria smiled warmly, finally letting go of her arm.
‘Bye Carmen!,’ they yelled.
She waved back at them until the car disappeared around the corner.

When she sat up her forehead collided with something hard, and when she opened her eyes she found a pair of dark brown eyes staring back at her.
‘Fuck,’ Carmen hissed, rubbing her head with her hand.
The eyes widened and it was then that Carmen recognized the person who was staring back at her.
‘Oh! Sorry, that’s a bad word,’ she said quickly.
‘Daddy, daddy, Carmen is awake!’ Eliza yelled excitedly. The little girl got off Carmen’s lap and disappeared out of Carmen’s sight. Carmen looked at her surroundings. She was lying on the backseat of Shane’s car, outside she could see the church upside-down. Shane’s blazer was folded neatly into a pillow under her head.
‘Hey.’ Shane’s head appeared through the opened window. ‘How are you?’ Carmen couldn’t help but giggle at the site of Shane’s face upside down, but looking so concerned.
‘I’m ok.. I guess.. what happened?’ she asked.
‘You fainted. When Charlie and I put you in the car you woke up and fell right back to sleep.’
‘Oh god..,’ she sat up slowly, ‘How long have I been passed out?’
Shane checked her watch. ‘Twenty minutes. I told Charlie he could go home but he wanted to wait and make sure you’d be okay.’
‘Shit, Charlie! I gotta meet him,’ Carmen said. She climbed out of the car determinedly but was stopped by Shane who grabbed her arm. ‘Are you sure you’re OK?’ she asked.
‘I feel fine. Babe, you worry too much,’ Carmen smiled, looking around to find Charlie standing a few feet away, balancing Eliza on his hip. He listened to the young girl rambling excitedly. Carmen walked over to them and shook his free hand.
‘Hey, I’m Carmen, it’s nice to meet you.’
‘It’s nice to meet you too Carmen. Glad to have you back with us,’ Charlie said.
‘Yeah,’ Carmen chuckled self-consciously. She watched Eliza resting her head on her dad’s shoulder. ‘Hey Eliza,’ Carmen said, smiling warmly. She turned away, too shy to say something back.
‘Normally she’s not so shy,’ he said, patting her back. Carmen nodded and met his eyes, taking in a deep breath. She wasn’t sure what she was supposed to say. She now understood why Shane had been so nervous. There was nothing you could do for one who had just lost everything. ‘I’m really sorry about your wife..’
Charlie nodded, clearing his throat with some effort, ‘Me too.’
‘We heard a lot about you Carmen, didn’t we?’ Charlie said with a fragile smile, smoothing a hand over Eliza’s head. Eliza eyed her curiously.
‘You did?’
‘Yes, Shane just told me that you knew her back in highschool? Well, Maria, mentioned a certain Carmen De La Pica Morales a couple times before.’
‘Really? Wow. All good I hope.’
‘Of course,’ Charlie smiled warmly and Carmen felt an inner sigh of relief. Charlie was easy to like, she’d recognized the McCutcheon charm immediately. But he was different too, more open, easier to navigate.
‘Y’know, I wish I could say that I heard a lot about you too, but..’ she started hesitantly.
‘Shane’s still not much of a talker, is she?’ Charlie finished for her, looking at Shane who came to stand next to them. Shane draped her arm loosely over Carmen’s shoulders. ‘No..,’ Carmen replied, taking Shane’s hand in her own and giving it a gentle squeeze.
‘I should go,’ Charlie said, ‘I promised this little one right here to make her some hot chocolate when we get home.’
Eliza nodded enthusiastically, ‘And we’re gonna watch Finding Nemo!,’
‘For the 100th time,’ Charlie sighed, ‘She loves that movie.’
‘Well, it’s a great movie,’ Carmen chuckled, giving Eliza a wink.
‘We uhm..,’ Charlie paused, ‘we should catch up sometime. I don’t know.. Have dinner?’
‘Yeah..,’ Shane nodded slowly, ‘I would really like that.’
‘You should come too Carmen.’
‘Me? Oh, I don’t know..,’ Carmen stumbled, left hand over her chest.
‘Of course, you two love each other, I wouldn’t want to get in-between, not even for one night,’ Charlie smirked.
Carmen chuckled softly, ‘Okay..’
‘After all, life’s too short,’ Charlie said sadly, his eyes growing dark.
‘If there’s anything we can do for you, anything at all, just let us know okay?’ Shane asked worriedly.
‘Yes, anything,’ Carmen chimed in.
‘Thanks. But for now, I just want to go home and try to get some sleep.’
‘No sleep, Finding Nemo!,’ Eliza pouted.
‘Right. First we have to find Nemo back ..again,’ Charlie corrected himself.