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I grinned at him, feeling a surge of confidence. “I love you.”
He chuckled, a low and soothing sound that resonated in the small office. “This is a better fit, I agree.”
My hands found his hair, nails digging into his scalp and scratching lightly. He groaned, the sound so familiar to me.
“I want to be with you,” he said, his voice sincere but tinged with a hint of uncertainty. I placed my palm over his heart, the pitter-patter vibrating against my skin. “I come with baggage. My family, especially.”
“I know,” I whispered. “I’m so sorry about what happened.”
I cupped his face in my hands, my thumbs gently brushing away the worries etched on his forehead. He leaned into my touch, his eyes searching mine for reassurance. “And what do you want?”
“This,” I said. “Baggage and all.”
A warmth spread through his features, evident even in the dim room, the darkness no longer an issue. He pulled me against his body, and we stood there, wrapped in each other’s arms until the world outside faded away.
And in the end, the things that we had were the things we needed the most.
An “I love you” said at the right time.
The silly, made-up excuses to see each other again.
Lasting silences that were not uncomfortable.
That smell that took you back to before.
The first kiss that said it all.
EPILOGUE
FRANCISCO
THREE YEARS LATER
“Hi, baby,”I rasped at her ear and squeezed her bicep, that one silent signal we’d been using for years.
“Oh fuck,” she said, placing her palm over her heart. “You scared me.”
I chuckled. Her hair was down today, the blonde shining with the daylight streaming in through the big hospital windows. “You knew I was coming to get you.” I smiled into her neck, placing a small kiss where it met her shoulder, right over her new bright white coat. She shivered at the contact, squeezing her eyes shut.
“What’s wrong?” I asked immediately, my voice cracking towards the end of the question.
“Nothing.” She sighed. “It was a long shift.”
She was on the verge of finishing her fellowship.She had spent the past three years roaming the hallways of this hospital, treating all sorts of patients. She was exhausted. But happy. Like I’d never seen her before, even back then, before Jazmín.
“Ready?” I asked, the small package crinkling in my hands behind my back. We were standing in the hallway, Lucía looking at a screen on a rolling cart, probably adding the last few things to her patients’ charts before we took off for vacation.
She turned on her heel and eyed me suspiciously, the noise making her peek her head around my shoulder and straight to my hands. “Yeah.” Lucía logged off her computer and opened the cabinet under the machine, grabbing her purse out and beaming at me. “Ready.”
The familiar sights of Tres Fuegos passed by the car windows as we drove into town, heading directly to the big house. The sun dipped lower in the sky, casting a warm golden hue over the quaint houses and tree-lined streets. The comfort of familiarity clashed with the nervous anticipation building within me.
We hadn’t been back to visit her family since the year before, instead opting to host her brothers and parents back in the city for the holidays. As we approached the familiar driveway, memories flooded back—of those rowdy family gatherings that had once made me feel so lonely, of theshared laughter and camaraderie between her siblings, of the strong smell of the flowers that wafted through the air. The big house stood tall, its windows gleaming against the setting sun.
Lucía’s hand found its way to mine, fingers intertwining in a comforting gesture. I glanced at her, a mixture of excitement and nervousness on her face.
“Wait,” I said, stopping halfway up the driveway. She turned to face me, a big smile on her face. She could read me perfectly, and I couldn’t help but chuckle.
“Did you forget to give me something?” she asked, her lips flattening in amusement. She was biting her cheeks to hold in her laughter, but her eyes screamed joy. She took a step towards me and draped her arms around my shoulders, scratching the back of my neck. “I already told you those things are disposable,” she whispered in my ear.
