“Okay, um… what gives?”
“Manuel is his given name,” he explained with a laugh. “Tito actually comes from ‘uncle,’ but it’s been his nickname forever, long before I was born. I picked it up as a kid, and it stuck.”
As they approached a man seated on a brown sofa, he called out to them, “You’re bringing me a nurse now, hijo? Am I sick?”
“Hush, Tito,” Felix said. “I’d like you to meet my friend Jo. I just found out she works here, and she wanted to say hello.”
“Hello, Mr. Navarro,” Jo said, extending her hand. “It’s lovely to meet you.”
Tito narrowed his eyes, regarding her hand with suspicion. “You’re friends with my Felix?”
“Yes, sir,” she said. “Felix speaks very highly of you.”
“Then how come he didn’t tell you to call me Tito, eh?” He pitched forward on the couch and jabbed Felix in the ribs with his index finger, completely ignoring Jo’s outstretched hand.
Felix squawked and dodged the blow a split second too late. As Tito cackled, Felix rubbed the flat of his hand over his side and said something playful in Spanish. Jo did her best not to notice the way that tight T-shirt shifted along his abs.
“Tito it is, then,” she said as she smiled and lowered her hand. “How long have you lived here with us?”
Tito’s brows flickered together briefly. “Almost a year now. Since mi vida, my wife, passed.”
Jo’s cheeks heated. Felix had said something about his grandmother dying last year, and she couldn’t believe she’d accidentally brought it up five seconds after meeting Tito. She pressed her lips together and sank down on the couch next to him, perched on the edge to avoid being too familiar. She was still a nurse meeting a resident, after all.
“I’m sorry,” she said. “Felix mentioned your wife last night. What was her name?”
Instead of answering, Tito slowly turned his head and raised an eyebrow at Felix. Felix ran his hand through his hair and sighed like a put-upon parent dealing with a stubborn toddler.
Jo felt like she was missing an inside joke. “Did I say something wrong?”
“Not at all, Jo,” Felix said, sitting in the armchair next to Tito. He crossed his ankle over his knee and gave his grandpa an exasperated look. “Are you going to answer her, or should I?”
“María Isabel Acosta Garrido,” Tito said, going dreamy-eyed and placing his hand over his heart. “Mi vida y mi corazón.”
“‘My life and my heart,’” Felix translated. “Maribel to her friends. Lita to me. From abuelita.”
Jo knew that one. “Grandma,” she said wistfully. “You both must miss her terribly. I’m sorry for your loss.”
Tito nodded with a sad smile. Then he suddenly clapped his hands together. “So, Jo, how did you meet my Felix?”
She stole a quick glimpse at Felix, who was watching her with lifted eyebrows. “At the library,” she said. “I’m volunteering with him to put on an event next month.”
Tito returned his attention to Felix. “How come you haven’t invited me to this event?”
“You wouldn’t like it. Too boring.”
Jo’s stomach flip-flopped. “You think it’s boring?”
Felix’s eyes went wide. “No! That was—I was referring to something Tito said earlier.” He reached toward his hip and pulled out a large, hardcover book with a dark cityscape and yellow text on the cover.
Jo wasn’t sure how a book was supposed to explain things, exactly, but she had clearly misread something. Tito rattled off a sentence in Spanish, and Felix looked chagrined.
“Don’t listen to my boy, Jo.” Tito patted the back of her hand. “Will you invite me to this event at least?”
“If you’ll do me the honor, Tito, it’s a date,” she said.
Tito shook his head and clucked his tongue. “This Navarro is too old for you, solete. I’ll come as your friend so you can bring a real date.”
Tito inclined his head toward Felix, and Jo’s entire face burned.
“Tito,” Felix said sharply. The blush Jo felt was mirrored on his cheeks. Tito spread his hands and looked between the two of them with a wide-eyed innocence that fooled no one.
“Come to think of it,” she said quickly. “I’ll probably be too busy at the event to bring a date at all. Better we all go as friends.”
“If you say so,” Tito replied with a shrug and a knowing look in his eye.
Before the awkwardness could fully set in, Jo pushed herself onto her feet. Felix stood up too. “I should get back to work, but, Tito, it was so nice to meet you.”
“Encantado, solete,” he said with a wide grin that made him look even more like Felix.
“Thanks for saying hello.” Felix tucked his hands into the back pockets of his jeans, not quite meeting her eye. “I guess I’ll see you on Friday.”
Shit, were things going to be weird between them now? Thanks, Tito. Sure, Jo liked Felix, and he was the kindest, most gorgeous man she’d ever met, but he had only ever treated her like a friend and colleague. Clearly, he was embarrassed by the idea of them dating. She needed to fix this, to make things normal again. If the next time they saw each other was Friday, alone in the library after hours, with Tito’s suggestion hanging over them…
“Have Leo page me before you leave,” she said. “I’ll come say goodbye.”
Felix blinked slowly and, when his eyes opened, he was looking directly at her with such obvious relief it threatened to overwhelm her. “I will.”
