Page 49 of Better than Yesterday
Tessa ran a hand over one of the smooth, bleached logs that made up its back before leaning against it and turning to face me, her eyes shining in the twilight. “I can’t believe that actually worked.”
“I can. I knew you could do this.”
“Thank you.”
“You were incredible up there, Tessa. Watching you, listening to you talk about the future of this place...” I shook my head. “I don’t even have the words.”
A brilliant smile lit up her face. “You don’t have to. We did it, Braden.” She reached out, her hand finding my arm and squeezing. “This wasn’t just me. I heard all kinds of people raving over your Reef Saver IPA. You brought your entire family into this. None of this would have happened without you.”
“We make a pretty good team, don’t we?”
“Yeah,” she breathed, her gaze sweeping back toward the distant lights of the party. “We do.”
We stood in comfortable silence for a moment, letting the reality sink in.
“They’d be proud if they saw this,” I said quietly.
Tessa knew exactly who I meant. Her shoulders tensed just a fraction. “My parents get in next week.”
“Are you ready?”
“I hope so.” Her voice was quiet. “I hope they see what I see. What we’ve built here.”
“And us?” The question slipped out before I could stop it. “Do they know?”
She shook her head. “Not yet. I thought it might be better to keep it simple. Let them see the project first, and then... I don’t know. Maybe we can figure out the rest later.”
I didn’t like the idea of hiding what we had, but I understood her reasoning. The Donovans had never thought I was good enough for their daughter, and the idea of facing them again made my stomach twist. But if they could see what Tessa and I had built—what I had built—maybe they’d finally understand.
Maybe they’d see I wasn’t the kid they’d written off twelve years ago.
“Okay,” I said. “We’ll keep it low-key. Colleagues working on a project. For now.”
She smiled, but there was something fragile in it. “Thank you. Just until they get settled in on their visit.”
I cupped her face in my hands, my thumbs brushing over her cheekbones. “I just want them to see you the way I do.”
“How’s that?”
“Like you’re the most brilliant, passionate, stubborn woman I’ve ever known. Like you could change the world if you wanted to.”
Her smile remained. “Braden...”
I tilted her head back, my hand sliding from her jaw to cradle the back of her neck, my thumb stroking the soft skin there. She melted into me, her lips parting in a soft invitation that I met with a groan. It was in the slide of our tongues, the warmth of our lips. This wasn’t a kiss of memory. It was a kiss of right now. It was deep and certain,a long, savoring truth that had settled deep in my bones over the course of the day. It tasted of a promise, of three simple words, I was too afraid to speak out loud yet.
But I wanted to. God, I wanted to.
Later, as we walked back toward her townhouse, the giddy energy of the event still buzzing between us, Tessa kept laughing, recounting little moments from the day—Finn’s excitement over the touchscreen reef, Gus Davis’s approval, the way the town council president had actually used the phrasecivic gold mineto describe her work.
“I never thought I’d hear Sandra Martinez call me a civic gold mine,” Tessa said, shaking her head. “That woman terrified me in high school.”
“She still terrifies most people. You should take it as a compliment.”
She grinned up at me, and the sight of it hit me square in the gut.
This. This was what I wanted.
Her laughter. Her passion. Her presence beside me as we built something that mattered.
