Meet Me Under The Ombu Tree Read Online Free PDF

waiting for Santi’s reaction. As she had expected he exploded into exaggerated laughter.
    ‘The Santa Catalina Cup? You can’t be serious!’ he exclaimed in amazement, narrowing his pale green eyes imperiously and pulling a face to show his disbelief.
    ‘I’m very serious,’ she replied challengingly.
    ‘So what was the star for?’ asked Maria, brushing her shoulder where some of the moss had soiled her shirt.
    ‘I want to be a polo star,’ Sofia told them both casually, as if she had just declared she wanted to be a nurse.
    l Mentirosa! Chofi, it’s probably the only thing you can draw - Maria’s the only artist in this family.’ And he lay back on the branch chuckling. l La Copa Santa Catalina. You’re only a child.’
    ‘Only a child, you patronizing oaf?’ she retorted, pretending to be cross. ‘I’ll be sixteen in April. That’s only three months away, then I’ll be a woman.’
    ‘Chofi, you’ll never be a woman because you’ve never been a girl,’ he said, referring to her tomboy nature. ‘Girls are like Maria. No, Chofi, you’re not a girl at all.’
    Sofia watched him flop down over the bough of the tree. His jeans were loose and worn, hanging low on his hips. His T-shirt had ridden up his chest revealing a flat brown tummy and hipbones that stuck out as if he needed feeding. But no one ate more than Santi. He devoured his food with the urgency of someone who hasn’t eaten in a very long time. She wanted to run her fingers over his skin and tickle him. Any excuse to touch him. They mobbed around most of the time and the physical contact excited her. But she hadn’t touched him for an hour or two, so the desire to do so was irresistible.
    ‘Where’s yours then?’ she asked, demanding his attention again.
    ‘Oh, I don’t know and I don’t care - it’s rubbish anyway.’
    ‘No it isn’t,’ insisted the girls in unison.
    ‘Papa used to make us carve our wishes every summer, remember?’ said Sofia wistfully.
    ‘They used to do it as children, too. I’m sure their scars are still here if we look for them,’ added Maria enthusiastically
    ‘They’ll be long gone, Maria. They disappear within a year or two I think,’ said Santi knowledgeably. ‘Anyway, you’d need a lot of magic to make Paco let Sofia play in the Copa Santa Catalina! And he began to laugh again, holding his stomach with his hands to show how ludicrous her ambitions were to him. Sofia jumped lithely from her branch to his and then ran her hand over his lower belly until he shrieked with pleasure and pain combined.
    ‘Chofi, don’t do that up here. We’ll both fall off and be killed!’ he gasped between gales of laughter as her fingers skipped across the line that separated his tan from the secret white skin that hid from the sun beneath his shorts. He
    grabbed her by the wrist and squeezed it so hard she winced. Santi was seventeen years old, two years older than his cousin and sister. It excited Sofia when he used his superior strength to dominate her, but pretending she didn’t like it was all part of the game.
    ‘I don’t see that it’s such a long shot,’ she argued, nursing her wrist against her chest.
    ‘It’s a very long shot, Chofi,’ he replied, smirking at her.
    ‘Why?’
    ‘Because girls don’t play in matches.’
    ‘Well, there’s always a first time,’ she told him defiantly. ‘I think Papa will let me play in the end.’
    ‘Not the Copa Santa Catalina. There’s a lot of pride riding on that match, Chofi-anyhow, Agustin’s the fourth.’
    ‘You know I can play just as well as Agustin.’
    ‘No, I don’t - but if you do end up playing it will have nothing whatsoever to do with magic. Foul play, manipulation - they're more your style. Poor Paco's wrapped around your little finger and he doesn’t even know it.’
    ‘Everyone’s wrapped around Sofia’s little finger, Santi,’ laughed Maria,
    without the slightest hint of envy.
    ‘Except Mama.’
    ‘You’re losing your