Twice a Quinceañera by Yamile Saied Méndez

Author:Yamile Saied Méndez [Mendez, Yamile Saied]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Kensington Books
Published: 2022-06-13T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 11

Nadia

In Nadia’s defense, she didn’t sleep a wink all night. Besides, the Salt Lake City airport had been remodeled, and she didn’t recognize anything around her as she drove in circles, missing the freeway exit time and again. The renovations had been finished for a few years, but Nadia had been nowhere close to flying anywhere that whole time. She’d been busy with school and then work to take even a weekend off to go to Vegas or even St. George.

Lost in the maze of the highways, confused by the voices of three devices giving her GPS directions, and flustered under her mother’s watchful eye, Nadia once again took the wrong exit or entry or whatever.

In the passenger seat, her mom remained silent, clutching her giant floral purse. But when the devices all said in unison, “Recalculating,” she let out a sigh that contained almost thirty years of frustration.

“There’s your sister,” her mom said, pointing at the white van heading in the right direction.

Isabella and her family, along with Nadia’s dad, had left twenty minutes behind them. But of course, her perfect older sister never got lost.

“We’ll be okay, Mami,” Nadia said, trying to sound soothing. “You’ll see. I’ll drop you off on the curb, and then I’ll get a parking spot.”

Her mom sighed again. “I hope I find your father on time. I don’t want the family to arrive and see us arriving in different cars.”

Nadia wanted to kick herself. Why hadn’t she insisted her mom drive in the minivan with her sister? Instead, she had her mother in the passenger seat, and her dad, holding Tinkerbell the Yorkie, was in the back seat of Isabella’s van, acting like a petulant child.

They’d decided Nadia’s car was too casual and non-elegant to receive the older members of the family. There were weeks to go before the party, and like she’d told Marcos the night before, they were scheduled down to the minute with activities. There were so many details she still needed to figure out.

She went over them in her mind one more time:

Dress.

Cake.

Music.

Photos.

This morning, she’d been tempted to text Marcos that she’d found someone else to take the photos. But the idea of calling more people, who would either say no or ask for her (still not even dreamed of) first child as payment, exhausted her. At least she could cross one item off her list, even if Rocket would be the one on the other side of the camera.

Her hand prickled with equal parts excitement and embarrassment for the previous nights, and she dried them on her jeans. She could’ve done with a nap, but a nap wasn’t in the schedule, at least until after the party.

In an attempt to get some breathing room, Nadia had suggested her family spread out their activities over the whole month they’d be in Utah. Since she wouldn’t be leaving on a honeymoon now, she could spend time with the family after the party. She hadn’t mentioned the little detail that she didn’t have a job anymore.

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