Page 94 of Kiss My Glass
“Psst!” It’s Danny.
“What?”
“Hear that?”
I listen. All I can hear is quiet shuffling and snipping. Wait, is that a distant hoot?
“It’s a great horned owl, I’m pretty sure,” says Danny. “Beautiful birds.”
His voice has a hint of awe in it. He genuinely does love our feathered friends. Which is really kind of cool.
Damn it. I don’t care if this is a terrible time. If I don’t say something to him, I’m going to burst like an overripe grape.
“Danny,” I say, veryquietly. “I want to make you and me work so badly, but I don’t know how.”
For a moment, there’s no response. Then I hear, also very quietly, “I can’t shout ‘Yes!’ out loud, can I? Because then everyone will want to know our business.”
“They totally will.”
“And we don’t want anyone to know until we’ve figured this out, right?”
“Definitely.”
“And we willfigure it out because I love you and you love me, right?”
“…”
“Frankie?”
“Yes,” I say. “Yes, Danny, I love you. I love you so, somuch!”
Guess I forgot to be quiet.
“¡Estupendo!” Javi claps his hands and shouts, “Love is in the air for Danny and Frankie, everyone!”
There’s a chorus of cheers and congratulations, until Javi claps again. It echoes like a gunshot, and everyone immediately shuts up.
“¡Ya basta!Enough!”orders Javi. “Back to work!”
A moment later, I hear a quiet voice through the vines. “Love you, too, Frankie. All the way to that big ol’ moon and back.”
And I work the rest of the night in a smiling, rose-tinted, blissful, love-filled daze.
ChapterFifty-Four
DANNY
All I want to do is get Frankie alone, and not for the reason you might expect, given it’s me. I want to hear her say she loves me again, and possibly a hundred more times just to make sure. I want to tell her the same, at least a hundred times, and let her know that I’d do whatever it takes for us to be together. Even give up the TV show, if that’s what she wants. I’m pretty sure she’d never ask that of me, but I’d do it in a heartbeat if it was going to be any kind of barrier. I’d even move to San Diego – it’s not that far from L.A. Three hours’ drive max. And San Diego has the Air and Space Museum. Who doesn’t love an educational science experience?
I want to tell her all this, and so much more, but we’re surrounded by people, all packed in tight around Shelby and Nate’s big kitchen table. Javi’s wife, Valentina, has put on a post-harvest breakfast spread that would fell an army of elephants, and she’s given us all the clear message that if we don’t eat every bite, we’ll feel her wrath. And I thought Javi was scary.
Despite it only being five thirty in the morning, Nate, Lee, and Ava have all come to join us. And, of course, the whole harvest crew immediately blabs to them about Frankie and me being officiallyenamorado.
Ava’s reaction is, “Amazing. I never thought Danny would fall for a woman with an actual brain.”
“Insult!” I point an accusing finger. “Name in the jar, Ava!”
Before anyone can protest, I fetch it and present it to her along with a slip of paper and a pen.
