Total pages in book: 110
Estimated words: 107204 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 536(@200wpm)___ 429(@250wpm)___ 357(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 107204 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 536(@200wpm)___ 429(@250wpm)___ 357(@300wpm)
I wasn’t complaining, though. The way the townspeople rallied around me and helped repair the restaurant and make it excel was shocking. Even the jerk teenagers who did the damage were now running all the social media accounts. Some people said I should’ve pressed charges, but I figured that with the views they were getting me and the promises they made to stop being total dicks, we were even.
As far as Cole, though, he was off doing some time for the hole he dug for himself. It turned out that I wasn’t the only case he’d pushed to the side. He’d been doing a few shady things under the table, and time had caught up with him. I couldn’t say I was sad for him. Truthfully, I hoped he rotted for a good amount of time.
Yara probably wouldn’t have thought the same because she was a bit better than me in that way. We didn’t really talk about him a lot, though. Once that door was shut, we bolt-locked it to keep that guy out forever.
After the ribbon cutting for the restaurant and the festival, I took Yara to Teresa’s home one last time. I’d finally gotten back to Todd to tell him it was time. One last visit felt right before moving on to my new chapter.
“So this is goodbye?” Yara asked as we walked into Teresa’s house. It was mostly empty. The only things that remained were everything in the kitchen. I figured I should cook one last meal on that stove.
Over the past few months, I had all the furniture removed along with all the artwork on the walls. Everything was bare, yet the room didn’t feel as hollow as when Teresa passed away. It felt cleansed.
“Yeah, this is it.” I crossed my arms over my chest. “I told my real estate agent to list it last night. I figured it was about time to let it go. She wouldn’t want me holding on to this anymore. Besides, my home is in Honey Creek now. I can leave this chapter behind.”
Yara walked through the hallways, taking it all in. “I can only imagine the memories you’ve made here.”
“The best ones.” I held a hand toward her. “Let me show you something.”
She followed me into one of the bedrooms, where a picnic blanket was laid out with a basket sitting on top of it. Candles surrounded said display, and I raised an eyebrow.
“What’s this?” she asked, seemingly surprised.
“We never finished our picnic on Hillstack. So I figured I’d make us a basket as a redo.”
“My sweet, romantic black cat.”
I gestured for her to take a seat, and she did. I sat down beside her and began to open the basket. It wasn’t Ritz crackers, but it turned out to be a thing that made Yara’s eyes fill with tears.
“Alejandro, what are you doing?” she breathed out as I laid down the spread.
A few peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, barbecue chips, apple juice, and orange slices. The same items that her mother had in the basket many moons ago when she first met Yara and her father. The basket that began her family. The basket that gave her sisters.
Oh yeah, I pulled out a ring box, too.
I opened the ring box and held it toward her. “I could do a long speech, but I figured I’d stumble over my words and sound like an idiot, so I’ll keep it short and sweet. Yara Kingsley—my life was dark until you came in. You reminded me how to feel again. You showed me what love looks like when it stays. So marry me and stay a little longer. Stay until we’re old and gray. Stay until we meet Teresa and Peter and get to yell at them for playing the role of Cupid. Just…stay and say yes.”
Her hands fell on my forearms, and she pulled me closer and brushed her lips against mine. “Yes.”
We stayed in the house for hours. After the picnic basket meal wore off, I cooked her a late meal in Teresa’s kitchen. I used my great-aunt’s pots and pans. Yara helped me chop the vegetables. We moved our picnic blanket to the balcony around three in the morning, spilling wine and laughing nonstop. Yara smiled at me as we sat on the blanket, her fingers wrapped around the stem of her wineglass.
“Okay, next question. What was the best day of your life?” I asked.
She paused and looked at me. Her lips turned up. She didn’t say a word but instead looked back out at the darkened sky. She didn’t say the words, but I knew her answer because it was the same as mine.
Here. This.
Us. Now.
We sat out there in the house that raised me, wrapped around one another, completely and wholeheartedly full. I might’ve lost some salt in my lifetime, but Yara was certain to bring me more. She was my forever, and I knew it to be true because latidos del corazón.