Page 47 of Yours, Finally

"Come on." Lina placed her glass on the table. "If we want to give the guys a run for their money with their group chat, we really need to get comfortable with each other."

Eva's eyes shifted from Lina to me and vice versa, until she settled on me and a small smile appeared on her mouth. "All right. I thought there was something going on with you and Jake, that's all."

My heart stopped altogether. I studied Eva for a long second, then turned to Lina.

My voice came out slightly anguished. "Do you thinkeveryonethinks that?"

"So there is something!" Eva exclaimed, excitement lighting up her face. She ran her hand along her shaved temple and into her wild, jaw-length curls. "I've never been so glad to figure something out."

"Glad?" I frowned. "I wasn't lying earlier. We're not together."

"But you wish to be?" Eva insisted.

I pressed my lips together. It seemed futile to deny it, when Lina knew already and was there to see me stumble. Even my silence could be seen as confirmation.

I scrunched up my face and nodded.

"Then he better get his act together and do something about it," Lina said.

"It's complicated." I reached for my glass of water and took several gulps.

"It's always complicated." Lina arched an eyebrow. "I resisted Gabe for a long time, but look at us now."

"I resisted Max, too." Eva snorted and showed us her rings. "See all the good it did me? I am married to him!"

The stones in shades of white and blue glinted in the daylight.

I snorted, then chuckled. "Okay, sure. But Jake and I… you know how long I've liked him for? I was a teenager when I first looked at him that way. That's half of my life with feelings for him! If we haven't figured it out by now, I worry we never will."

"I don't know. I have hope for the two of you." Lina squeezed my forearm across the table.

"The way he looks at you sometimes…" Eva added.

I groaned. "That's what Lina said."

"Well, with the dresses we got, we're certainly going to have them with their jaws on the floor." Lina winked. "Including Jake. I wouldn't be surprised if you end up engaged that night, to be honest. He looks at youthatintensely, you know?"

"Please, don't make a big deal out of this." I finished my white wine. "I don't think I can cope with feeling like Jake and I are under a magnifying glass. There's no hope for us to test the waters sometime if you all screamwe knew it!Or, worse, go right ahead and marry us off. The pressure! What if we don't work well as a couple?"

Both Lina and Eva reassured me, but none of the conversation actually helped. I still didn't have the hope and clarity I needed. At least, if that mint green dress gave me as much confidence as I thought it might, maybe I'd take the chance… and ask Jake to give me an answer.

If only so I could vehemently deny anything existed between us next time someone guessed at how I felt.

Or, if I was lucky, so I could confirm that he and I were finally trying to work it out.

Chapter 16

Jake

"I would like tomake a toast."

Everyone I cared about stood around me, and we all turned to Tío Raúl in unison at his words. Max and Eva, Gabe and Lina, Tía Sonia and Tío Raúl, Javier, Vi, and I; we made a circle at the Construction Cares Gala and ignored everyone else for the time being.

The gala's theme was green construction with a focus on material efficiency, and the organizers had translated that into a beehive theme. Shades of yellow, gold, and brass stood out against organic elements like wood and natural fibers, with metal hexagon shapes throughout the events hall. Little resin bees jumped from large artisanal glass vases, hanging from copper wires among the flowers.

Among partygoers and far from the auction tables, we raised our glasses halfway to listen to Tío Raúl's words.

"I'm so happy to see you all here today. Newer and warmly welcome faces—" he pointed to Eva and Lina— "and faces I know like my own."