Total pages in book: 39
Estimated words: 36122 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 181(@200wpm)___ 144(@250wpm)___ 120(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 36122 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 181(@200wpm)___ 144(@250wpm)___ 120(@300wpm)
In Esteban’s family, New Year’s Eve was always a raucous affair with neighbors and family and food with music and dancing until the wee hours. Then New Year’s Day meant a big brunch to stave off the inevitable hangover.
He was okay with skipping Maria’s party, but no way was the family letting him get out of two gatherings in a row. And she hadn’t even had to insist too hard about him bringing Russ. He was eager to introduce Russ to the family, see him around the kids, show him off a little. And maybe next year, they’d go to his big family party too, a thought that warmed him more than it terrified him. He was still working on believing that this thing between them would last, but with each day that passed, trusting in a future together got easier and easier.
“We almost forgot the cupcakes!” Russ raced back to the dining table where they’d boxed up half the double-chocolate cupcakes for tonight and half for the next day, covering both gatherings with a single round of baking. They’d had fun that morning making and icing the cupcakes, although cleaning up the flour and powdered sugar mess had somehow led to another round of sex. Which was, honestly, about as perfect a day as Esteban could remember.
“Do you think Connie will finally announce the promotion tonight?” Esteban asked as they got into the car. She’d had Russ shadowing one of the other designers in the few days of work between Christmas and New Year’s and seemed poised to make the move, but still hadn’t made anything official.
Russ took a minute to back out of the parking spot before replying.
“You know…as much as I wanted the job back on Thanksgiving, enough to do the whole fake relationship thing, it’s funny. I’m okay if I don’t get it. I got what I really want—you.”
“But you want out of being a supply clerk,” Esteban protested. He liked the compliment, but Russ was ready to spread his wings.
“Eh. I’m a good supply clerk.” Russ shrugged while waiting for a red light. “If the job thing isn’t meant to be, something else will be. You’ve given me the courage to go after the things in life I really want. I think designing kitchens could be fun, but so could going back to school, maybe trying for something completely different.”
“Well, I think you’d be fabulous at the kitchen thing. I really do. I like Connie a lot, but she’d be a fool not to promote you.”
“Yeah. That’s been weighing on me too, though. She’s a decent person, and I don’t like lying. I’m not sure I want to get the promotion under false pretenses.”
“It’s not false anymore! We’re the real deal now, remember?”
“I know.” Russ’s expression was more guarded than Esteban liked seeing. “But like…I’m planning to keep you around a long time. A very long time. I don’t want the story we tell the kids for the next fifty years about how we met to be a total lie.”
“Kids? Fifty years?” Esteban made a rather undignified squeaking sound.
“Calm down.” Thoroughly unruffled, Russ’s voice was steady. “I meant more the nieces and nephews, but feel free to chime in at some point if you’ve got other thoughts in that area. And fifty sounds like a good start. A goal.”
“It’s not a terrible goal.”
It was scary as hell, but Esteban was done trying to talk Russ out of a future together. If he believed they could go the distance, then so would Esteban. Because honestly, that kind of partnership was exactly what he’d wanted all along too.
“And if we’re going to be hanging out with Benny and Benny’s little sister when she comes along, and all your siblings’ kids too, I want to tell them the real story. About how you rescued me. First, Thanksgiving dinner, then my holidays, then the rest of my life too. It’s a good story.”
“Yeah.” Esteban’s throat was strangely thick. “It is. But you have it all wrong. I didn’t rescue you. You rescued me.”
“How so?” Russ’s eyebrows drew together even as he kept his eyes on the busy traffic around them.
“I like to think I’m an optimist and I’ve always been extroverted, but since Mami died, I’d been…going through the motions. In hibernation really.”
“I thought I was the bear in this thing.” Russ laughed and Esteban couldn’t help joining in.
“I’m serious. You gave me a reason to put myself out there again, open myself up to feelings I’d tried to forget. And you make me see things in a fresh light, like cooking, reminding me about why I find joy there. So don’t think it’s all about what I do for you—you do an awful lot for me too.”
“Maybe we saved each other, then. I like that.” Russ smiled, then turned back to serious. “But my point still stands. I don’t want to start on a lie. I’d like to tell them some of the truth tonight. Maybe not everything, but you know what I mean.”