Shane: “I didn’t know Mercedes was your type. But the way you keep kissing her ass proves me that sometimes I am wrong.”

Suddenly the door flew open and Carmen stormed in, tears running down her face. Instinctively I took her into my arm to calm her down.

Carmen: “Let’s go, Shane. It was a bad idea to come here.”

Shane: “Are you sure?”

Carmen: “Yeah…let’s go.”

Before we left the house I turned to Mercedes who was standing with her back to me.

Shane: “Miss Morales…thank you for the lunch.”

I got into the car were Carmen waited for me and drove away. She avoided to look at me but I could see that there was more than anger in her face. She was sad and disappointed. I took her hand and squeezed it lightly.

Shane: “You want to tell me what happened?”

Carmen: “I told her to stop hooking me up with Papi because I love you. And then she asked me how I could still love you after everything you did to me. I told her that you made a mistake and that you love me. She told that I was naïve and that you were going to break my heart again.”

She was crying and shaking uncontrallably now. I stopped the car in an empty street.

Shane: “Carmen…come here…please…”

She climbed onto my lap, while I wrapped my arms around her protectively. I waited until she calmed down.

Shane: “You are afraid that she might be right, aren’t you?”

Carmen: “I…I want to trust you…but she reminded me of all the pain I felt when you left me. She was saying things like “Have you forgotten the nights you cried yourself into sleep? Shane will never change, she will break your heart again. She will leave you again when she sees a girl that is prettier than you are. She will never be willing to marry you and to have children with you. She can’t make you happy.”…I know that she’s wrong…I don’t want to cry because of it…I’m sorry…”

Shane: “Shh…calm down, baby. You have every right to cry.”

Carmen: “I don’t want you to think that I don’t believe in us. I don’t to be weak.”

Shane: “Baby, it’s okay. It’s okay to be afraid. I am also afraid, you know?”

Carmen: “Of what?”

Shane: “Well, there are a lot of things I’m afraid of. I’m afraid that one day I could be stupid enough to forget how much I love you and do something stupid again… I’m afraid of losing you… Maybe one day you’ll realize that I am not the person you love. That I am not the person you want to share your life with… I’m afraid of not being good enough for you…But…fear is not always bad, you know? Sometimes it keeps you safe from doing stupid things. And sometimes it motivates you to do everything you can to make sure that there was no reason to be afraid of anything.”

Carmen smiled weakly at me resting her forehead on mine with her eyes closed.

Carmen: “I love you…”

Shane: “I love you, too…”