Page 144 of The Problem with Dating

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 stayedin 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 becauselatidos del corazón.

She was in my heartbeats.

EPILOGUE

Yara

One Month Later

“Stop it, Alex! We have to go.” I giggled as he trailed kisses down my neck. We stood in the refrigerator at his restaurant, fumbling around like high school kids under the school bleachers. We’d made out as if we just discovered what kissing was. I felt overpowered with want and need as my body fell against his. His hands roamed over me as a low growl slipped through his lips. I loved that. I loved not only when I could feel his desires, but when he vocalized them, too.

“You smell amazing,” he whispered as he lifted me on one of the empty shelves in the fridge. He inched my dress up slightly, grazing his hand against my inner thigh. “I bet you taste even better.”

A slight whimper escaped me as I almost fell into the trap that was Alex Ramírez. That filthy mouth of his had a way of making me lose all common sense.

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