**Later that afternoon**

“Okay, I’ll set it up!” Nick said, cheerfully. “But let me set it up my way. I don’t want her to know what’s happening when it’s happening. Make it for three. I’ll be back.” Nick whipped out his cell phone as he exited the busy office. He punched in seven digits and put it up to his ear, waiting for a De La Cruz voice on the other end.

“Hello?” It was Brash.

Nick smiled and walked out to his car for some privacy. “Hey, Baby.”

“Hey Nick. I got your note this morning. Where’d you rush off to so early?”

“I had a meeting. Actually, that’s why I’m calling you now. Did Sass tell you anything?”

“She told me some stuff but I think she left something out on purpose. Why? What’s going on?”

“Can you bring her down to me?”

“Sure. Where are you?”

Nick read off the instructions to her then paused. “I’m sorry I couldn’t stay longer. I wanted to.”

“It’s okay. But boy did you miss out on an opportunity to have some great sex!”

Nick did a double take. “Excuse me?”

“That’s the beauty of being pregnant, hormone imbalances.”

Nick groaned. “Don’t tell me these things. It’s not easy to handle over the phone.”

Brash laughed. “Okay. Well I’ll bring her down now.”

“Tell her to wear something that will make an impression.”

“What kind of an impression?”

Nick smiled into the phone and then started to tell her about his morning encounter with Sass. Brash soon understood and knew the perfect outfit for her kid sister.

“So you’ll be here by 3?”

“Yeah. I’ll see you later.”

“Okay, bye, Brash.”

“Bye, Sweetie.”

**

“I swear to God Brash! If you dress me up like Britney Spears or Christina Aguilera, especially Christina Aguilera…. Ugh that girl has no taste in clothing! Have you seen her hair lately? I mean first she’s some white girl genie then she’s caliente latino with falsas esperanzas or whatever and now her hair looks like a black girls’ braid extensions science experiment with koolaid gone horribly wrong…” When she finally shut up and realized how silly she sounded to me, she just shook her head like I was the one who was one braid short of Beyoncee’s hair.

“First of all, yuck, second of all, no. Okay there will be no dressing like any of the following people while you are inhabiting the De La Cruz apartment. The list goes as follows: Britney, Christina, Mandy, Jessica, Willa… especially not Willa. Now, I know you brought about four suitcases with you so let’s see what you have that will suit you for today.” She was looking at me suspiciously.

“Have you been watching MTV behind my back lately?”

“Oh just get over it already!” I rolled my eyes as we made our way to her makeshift bedroom and small, overfilled closet. Upon opening it I realized how much of her I had missed since coming to Florida. Her wardrobe was straight out of a pop music video. She reached for a pair of pants.

“I think these will be perfect! Chanel has the best super skinny pant leg this season! The Gap has a great imitation but mom was so into her Ikea shopping that she never noticed the purchase.”

“Who are you? The editor-in-chief of Vogue Magazine?”

Sass looked at me incredulously. “Oh please! I saw the Manolo Blahniks in your closet. That’s when I realized that we wear the same shoe size. You know if I had known this before you moved I would have had so much more fun raiding your closet while you were out on dates.”

My eye twitched. But I wasn’t going to get angry because I knew too darn well that if the roles were reversed I would have done the same thing. “Fine. You wear your super skinny size negative twenty Chanel black pants while I go slip into different clothes. Be dressed and made up by the time I’m at the door or I’m leaving without you.”

She scoffed at me and turned back to her fashion endeavors. I smiled as I exited her temporary room. My sister was the greatest. Plus if I ever needed fashion advice, a rare occasion I might add, I could always go to her, seeing as she is the fashion bible, animated and non-stop. A jaunt upstairs, a quick change and touch-up was all I needed to get ready. I headed down the stairs and grabbed the keys from the coffee table top just as Sass reappeared in her impressionable ensemble. The black Chanel, super skinny pants were topped with a one-shoulder top, white, with shocking red, glossy streaks of graffiti, and a pair of low heeled mules, black. She looked like she just came off a fashion runway in New York or Paris. “Are you going to be comfortable in those shoes?” I asked, observing the structured phenomenons. “And aren’t you maybe just the slightest bit overdressed?”

Sass looked down at her outfit, confused. “These are my normal clothes. I’ve worn this to school even.”

I nodded my head. “Okay then, let’s get going.”

“I’m just going to grab some water and munchies for the car,” and that she did. Sometimes I’m amazed at the food she snacks on. When she finished her grocery shopping we headed out the door and into my beautiful car.

She didn’t say much for most of the entire ride to the car. She just sat in quiet thought, drinking her water and munching on God knows what. When she did finally speak up I nearly swerved the car into the oncoming traffic lane.

“What?!” I asked in shock. I needed to hear her say it again so I know I wasn’t imagining things.

“Do you love Nick?”

“Sass, where is this coming from?”

She shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know. I’m just curious, I guess.”

“Well don’t be. Why, did he say something to you?”

“No. I’m just asking for my own information.”

I pulled into the parking lot of our destination and turned off the ignition. “We’re here.”