Page 109 of Boss Me

“Wait. I’ll get Mamá. It’ll be a family portrait.” I scanned the guests scattered across our lawn. My mother and Mateo leaned on the bridge over the koi pond. Coco sat at their feet. “Mamá! Mateo!” I beckoned them over. I’d invited Mateo to live with us and coordinate security. With Weston’s former spy and Mick Fallon on the loose, I couldn’t be too careful.

I shoved thoughts of my father out of my brain. He had no place in our happy occasion.

When my cousin led my mother to us, Coco yapping and dancing beside them, I said, “Mateo, you take the picture. Mimi, come around here.”

“Careful,” Mimi snapped when Mateo bobbled her phone. Always so smooth and suave, since he’d joined us in the States, he’d become clumsy. Especially around Mimi.

His face went red. “I’ve got it now.”

Ben scooped up Coco. I put my hands on my mother’s shoulders and positioned her in front of me. Ben’s parents flanked us, and Mimi stuck off on the end. Mateo motioned us closer, and I put my arm around Ben and turned toward him.

The shutter clicked, but all I saw was Ben’s handsome face. Now that all the stresses of school were behind him, now that his internship at the foundation had turned into a full-time job just as I’d predicted, he looked relaxed, the lines around his eyes smoothed out. I bent and kissed him, softly. He tasted sharply acidic from the IPA he’d been drinking. Coco squirmed and leaped to the ground.

“Good day so far?” I asked my fiancé as the group started to break apart.

He threw his arms around my neck. “The best.”

“You don’t regret having to share your big day with me?” I’d tried to convince him to have separate parties for his graduation and our engagement. But, ever mindful of finances, he said it’d be more efficient to combine them. And he was right: planning and scheduling one party had been easier than two. I was doing better at work-life balance, but I still traveled a lot for Synergy.

“My graduation is as much your milestone as mine. I wouldn’t be here if not for you.”

“Of course you would. It just would have taken you longer.” I ran a hand down his back just because I could.

“No.” He shook his head. “Having the Cooper Fallon scholarship was one thing. But I’ve always looked up to you. Even before I met you. You’re a fucking inspiration, love.”

I hid my hot face in his shoulder. “Thanks.”

He kissed my cheek and gently pulled away. “Hey, Marlee. Tyler.”

Ben’s parents had walked off with my mother. Mimi and Mateo had disappeared. And standing in front of us were Marlee and Tyler, holding hands.

“Congratulations, Ben. Congrats to you both.” Marlee leaned in and hugged Ben, then me. “Let’s hear it.”

“Hear what?” I asked, shaking Tyler’s hand.

“Your romantic engagement story.”

“I told you about it at work right after we got back. Don’t you remember?”

She rolled her eyes. “I want to hear it from Ben. Your version wasn’t romantic enough.”

I blinked. I thought I’d been very romantic in my proposal. And I’d told her the story and answered most of her questions.

“Besides, Tyler wants to hear it, too. Don’t you, honey?”

After I’d gotten together with Ben, Tyler had finally stopped glaring at me.

“Sure,” he said, grinning. “I’d love to hear it, Ben.”

“Okay, so we went to the island for Thanksgiving. We took Rosa, too, to see the family. So I wasn’t expecting anything, right? I figured if he hadn’t asked by New Year’s Eve, I’d propose to him then.”

“You were going to propose to me?” I interrupted him.

“Didn’t you notice me trying to find out your ring size?”

“I thought that was to replace the larimar ring I cracked.”

He tapped his temple. “Sly as a fox. But you beat me to it. Anyway”—he turned to Tyler, like Tyler cared at all about the story—“Rosa stayed with tía abuela Isobel after dinner one night, and Cooper and I went back to our place alone. He asked me what I wanted to do, and I said walk on the beach. The moon was full that night, and it was so beautiful on the water.”

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