"Felicia's the only sister of mine that insists on writing to me frequently--my others sisters prefer email or phone calls. We all grew up close, but since we've gotten older..." He trailed off, shrugging a little. Even if he didn't talk to his sisters as often as he'd like to, the four Ramírez siblings weren't totally cut off from one another. Shame on them if such a thing ever happened, for their mother had raised them to be better than that.
There was a more somber tone to Nathaniel's voice--barely there, but easy enough to pick up on considering they were the only two people in the lobby. Dominic wouldn't pry into the personal business of someone he'd just met, but he felt it was a safe enough assumption that perhaps there were things amiss in Nathaniel's family, which was unfortunate. He answered the other's question, wanting to get away from the subject of close relatives, should that be the issue at hand.
"Oh, I'm from Fountain Valley, it's...somewhat nearby." He laughed softly, realizing he needed to amend his statement (and secondly, that Nathaniel might not even know where Fountain Valley was located). "Well, Veracruz, really. My mom wanted to move back to the States when I was just a kid." They weren't close enough for Dominic to delve deeper into the subject, namely that he'd only gone back home a couple times since he'd been on his own, work having taken more of a precedence in his life. "You're from England, right?" His question was no doubt obvious--Nathaniel's defining accent and his search for a tea house sang of his heritage--but the smile crinkling at the corners of Dominic's mouth showed that knew it was so, yet was asking regardless in order to make polite conversation.
He had to wonder what would bring Nathaniel all the way out to California. It might as well have been halfway around the world from England.