Page 21 of Yours, Finally

"Consideration?" I offered. "Heed? Friendship, perhaps?"

He rolled his eyes and guided me up the stairs with a hand behind my back, and a small smile tilting his mouth.

"We can settle on friendship, I think. Unless you get too smart about teasing me."

"Oh, don't disappoint me like that. Since when is being smart a bad thing? Don't tell me you can't take it? I thought you liked a challenge."

"Your smart mouth could get us in trouble, that's all."

We reached the top level, the open balcony overlooking the gardens and flanked by gorgeous, carefully designed flower arrangements.

I laughed. "There's no trouble my mouth could get me in, that I couldn't successfully litigate in my favor."

He echoed me with a deep chortle. "Don't try too hard, or that mouth is going to get you in the kind of trouble you can't lawyer away."

"I can't foresee any such circumstance—" I tried, a wide grin on my face.

"Aw, a bantering pair!" A stylish femme approached us from the building, and greeted us with soft, cool handshakes. "In my many years in the business, I always get a good feeling when a couple is comfortable enough to tease and quip with each other. I've developed an intuition, if you will, and I can already see how well you fit together."

"Excuse me?" The surprise chilled my smile by a few degrees.

"So glad to welcome you to Remington Estate. My name is Claire and I'll be glad to help you create a magical event, if you choose to book with us. Do you have a wedding date yet? We will do our best to work with you to help you have the reception of your dreams."

"It's not— we're not together." Jake took his hand away from my back. "We're not here for our wedding. Orawedding."

"Oh, no!" I let out a nervous chuckle. "I'm so sorry. I must have clicked the wrong option. I chose the closest thing to a wedding anniversary I could find— Bridal and Related Events?"

"The party is for her parents," Jake added.

"I see!" She laughed like the mishap was of no consequence. "It's all good. Come with me, and I'll show you how we can make the event special for them."

Claire led us inside, and I did my best to ignore the brief flutter of excitement I'd felt, when she thought Jake and I were there to plan our forever.

Chapter 8

Vi

Lina and I hadgotten in the habit of going out for coffee, just the two of us, a couple of times per month. I waited for her in our favorite café, scrolling on my phone, and procrastinating on sending Jake a link to the karaoke place.

I went as far as to paste it to a text message draft, but my thumb hovered over the send button. Our text conversation was sparse; no more than a few texts every several months for a perfectly practical reason or another. Nothing personal.

Sending him the link to the karaoke place felt personal, especially after our chat in the car.

I lifted my eyes to the coffee shop. No sign of Lina yet, but it was okay; I had arrived early. My eyes gazed among the crowd; the café was popular with office folk and people stopped by afterwork hours just like Lina and I. We were close to the Sotomayor offices, and I recognized a few people.

It was a newer place, cosmopolitan but unique enough to draw in their target market. I sat by the big window that overlooked the street; behind me, a brick wall and a small shelf full of coffee grounds, branded mugs, and other coffee accessories. Plants occupied strategic places and, while the rest of the walls were white, the furniture was charcoal gray. All the fixtures were bronze, including the food display. The baristas moved fast to fill out orders. I knew Lina's already and had gotten drinks for us; we wouldn't have to waste time in line.

I sighed. It had been two days since Claire had thought we wanted to rent the Remington Estate for our wedding, and Jake and I would have to text about the other venue options soon. A personal text would get lost in the chaos of planning the party, if I sent it now.

Lina entered the café. I sent the text before I could change my mind again.

Lina gave me a kiss on the cheek and sat in front of me. "I know we have the rule that we don't talk about work, but let me vent for a second?"

"Only for one second." I smiled and gave her her coffee.

"Tío Miguel. He's an ass." She frowned, then laughed. "I guess I'm done. That's all I needed to say."

I laughed with her as well. "Good to know! I know he's always contradicting you and making things harder than they need to be."