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My family was Ramiro, Mia, Elizabeth, and Toni. They followed me here and helped me achieve my dreams. Our dreams of making this place successful.
Damn, if it didn’t hurt hearing the words that she was gone.
“It’s okay, baby girl. I’ve got you,” Ramiro said as he wrapped his arms around me and rocked me back and forth. He’d been my rock for the past ten years after I moved away. The first friend I’d made when I moved to Las Vegas, and he’d followed me when I made this dream my reality without a second thought. They all did.
I pulled myself together somehow and moved to stand with Ramiro right by my side.
“Tell me what you need, Alora, and I’ll help any way I can,” he said without batting an eye. This is what he did. He was always there to lend a helping hand and tried his damnedest to make everything better for everyone around.
“I need to cancel some of my classes. I need to pack and get back to Sunset River to plan her funeral.” I couldn’t believe that I’d said those words without breaking down.
“No need to cancel the classes. We’ll all fill in and cover yours for as long as you need. There’s no more classes tonight. Why don’t we head home, you can tell the girls, and we can get you packed so you can leave tomorrow. I’ll look for flights as soon as we get to the house.”
“Are you sure? That’s a lot to take on. I don’t know how long I’ll need to be gone. I’m sure it’ll be at least a week to get the arrangements sorted, and I’ll have to speak to the lawyers regarding her house and such.”
“Take as long as you need. I’m sure the others will agree with me. There’s no rush. Family comes first. Always.”
My lip started to tremble at the mention of the word family, but I bit down on it to keep myself from falling apart again.
“Thank you. You have no idea what that means to me.”
“Oh, but I do, Alora. We’ve been in each other’s lives for ten years. I know what your grandmother meant to you. I know that you had an inner battle that you went to war with over calling her and visiting her. I also know that she was the only family you had left in this world who you gave a damn about. You made a family with us, and there’s nothing any of us wouldn’t do for you. Hell, it’s because of you that all of us are where we are now in our lives. Don’t ever diminish what you mean to us,” Ramiro confessed.
His words made me want to cry even more now.
Damn these emotions.
I didn’t want to go back to Sunset River. Until recently, I’d never wanted to return at all. But I missed her, and I wanted to make sure she knew she could be proud of what I’d accomplished after all.
Ramiro closed the studio as I followed mindlessly behind him. He grabbed my bag and purse, and we locked up for the night.
Turning around to take in the lit-up sign above the door, I smiled. I ‘dmade this place what it was today with the help of my family. And even if she wouldn’t have been proud of me, I was damn proud of myself.
Now it was time to go say goodbye for the final time.
Chapter 4
Alora
The next morning Ramiro followed me around like a lost puppy making sure I didn’t break down. Honestly, I didn’t mind it. It was how he showed he cared. In the earlier years of our friendship, I didn’t know how to take his touchy-feely ways and constant hovering, but slowly I learned that was just his way. He connected to people through touch, even if it was a brush of his hand on your arm as he talked. Today I was thankful to have his shadow behind me reminding me that I could handle seeing my grandmother for the final time.
“Are you sure you don’t want me to go with you?” he asked for the umpteenth time. We’d never been apart for longer than a day or two tops in ten years. His voice was laced with worry, partly because of my loss and partly because he didn’t like when any of us were away. He worried about kidnappings and someone attacking each of us girls. He watched way too many crime shows than were good for him and his anxious mind.
I turned to look at him and really took him in. I saw things much differently today. Like everything around me had an expiration date.
Ramiro was much taller than my five-foot-six frame. He stood at least six-foot-three. He had muscular arms from the years of dancing, and I knew for a fact that his thighs were just as muscular and that there was an eight pack beneath the shirt he had on. His face was one of his best features, though. No one would’ve ever guessed he was thirty-five. He had a baby face, jet black hair that reached his shoulders, and green eyes that could seduce any woman out of her panties if he used a certain look that he’d mastered. He’d even used those looks on me once. But that was neither here nor there.
“I need you at the studio helping cover my classes. I’ll be okay. I just need to go sign the paperwork for her arrangements and talk with her lawyer. I shouldn’t be gone more than a week.”
I threw the last bit of clothing that I wanted to take into my luggage and zipped it closed.
With a huff, I plopped down onto the bed, mentally going through everything I’d packed to make sure I didn’t forget anything.
“Did you grab your chargers? How about your portable speaker? I know how lost you get when you don’t have an outlet to dance.”
See, this was why I needed him around. He always had my back.
“You’re a lifesaver,” I said as I jumped off the bed and walked over to my dresser to grab the portable speaker.
