A Cuban Girl's Guide to Tea and Tomorrow

by Laura Taylor Namey

And I was also thinking of Jules and how she’s not waiting and hoping for her big break to just drop onto her stage. She’s working so hard for it.” “She’s not hanging her future on any wishing stars, that’s for sure. She’s gonna make herself the star.”

But I’ve made this deal with the universe. I’ve learned not to ask more of it than what I’m given, both good and bad.”

I’ve grown to find peace and acceptance in not fighting what I can’t control.

“Thing is, when you put something back together it’s never exactly the same as it was before.

“See, we’re not so different after all,” he adds. No, not on the inside. But our outsides are as opposite as our coasts—my Cuban, tanned and brunette. His British, light and blond. Beach sand and cobblestones, spaghetti straps and sweaters. But I remember we are both stars. Estrellita and Orion, a fierce little star and a warrior constellation.

“And when it’s right, you can find someone again.” He tightens his grip. “But I have a few requirements for any future bloke. Hypothetically speaking, of course.” My laugh spurts out. I sniffle. “What requirements?” His look, like I’m dense. “Obviously, he has to have a motorbike. Now, I’m okay with him not naming it.” “How generous.” “I am that, if anything.” He shakes a warning finger. “And he must be able to make a decent cuppa. Because you need your afternoon tea now. And he’ll have to take you to just sit and look at this beautiful world, because you tend to work too hard.” “Deal.” My voice is a ghost. “Anything more?” “So much more, Lila.”

I love England. I just do. And if there’s one thing I know, it’s what it feels like to fall in love.

“Try again. I didn’t go to Andrés with my news. Didn’t call or message or even think about him. I can’t be with a person who’s a second thought. Yeah, I loved him for a long time, but I can’t go back to him, Orion.” My words tangle in a rush of oxygen. “He should be with a person who runs to him first. I didn’t want to.”

You know you can be whoever you are with me.” “I don’t want to be someone who hurts you.” “Yeah, but you will,” I say. “And I’ll hurt you. But there’s the kind of hurting that happens between… friends that makes you human. You get past those hurts.”

Is there a superstition about things you let go of, only to be surprised later with a version of them that’s so much better?

“Lila, answer the simple things,” Papi says. “Your sister told us about your Orion. Does this boy love you too?” I close my eyes as inner snapshots flip. Orion Maxwell has never said the words, but he’s also shouted them a million ways, a million times. “He does.”

“Back in England, I didn’t want to be ‘that guy.’ I couldn’t ask you to leave your family, your business, your country, just for me.” He rubs my shoulder. “So I wanted you to choose a future that’s first and foremost yours alone. Not to belong to me. I want you to belong with me. That’s the part I didn’t say enough.”