He raised his brows and smiled, “It didn’t occur to me to share.”
“It’s okay.I never asked either, so…” Sal shrugged, giving an awkward smile and sipped her tea after.
Aveline gave her a discerning look and put down her teacup, but before she could say anything Rafa interjected.
“That meeting took longer than expected,” he said as his mother joined them.“Sal and I have to get back to the cats.We’ll catch up again soon.Thanks, Ma, for the misua, I missed you.”
“Of course,” Aveline responded.His mother nodded, and they said their warmest goodbyes, promising to return soon.
The car ride on the way back was mostly silent.Rafa’s eyes were on the road, but his mind was elsewhere.After a while, he asked, “Can we listen to music, love?”
“Sure…” Sal responded, and she put on their favorite Spotify tracks.The silence between them continued until she asked, “So how was the meeting with the auditor?”The sound of Rafa’s hands gripping the wheel tightly made her turn to him.He stared pensively at the road, but Sal kept her gaze on him, as though urging him to respond.
Rafa’s jaw flexed.“It’s pretty serious…” he said in a low voice.“I’ll need to put all my focus on the business for now and mitigate the damage before I meet my partners.”
Sal looked away.“Does this mean I’ll see less of you at Autumn Town?”she asked, wondering if she should bring it up, and then asked, “or the art show?”
“Yes.But I promise to be at the art show,” he responded.“I also have to review all the payments Colette was handling.She was remitting the monthly payments to support Autumn Town, and I don’t know if she touched that too.”
She wondered what that meant for Autumn Town.They’d planned the art show because they needed more sustaining capital.The investment using Claire’s inheritance, Sal’s savings, and Rafa’s capital helped build Autumn Town, but the day-to-day expenses and investment needed to improve it required some buffer.Organizing the art show during the autumn equinox was meant to raise that buffer, and even if the art show didn’t sell as much as they’d hoped it would, Rafa’s financial support gave them a cushion — but now he couldn’t give her the same assurance.The art show has to go well, Sal thought, and her breathing became shallow.Autumn Town’s funds would deplete if it didn’t go well, and she’d be in the red.Everything she worked hard for to build this new life would be at risk.But what was life without a little risk?Sal thought.Her spirit would not be broken.She had tried so hard to live differently from her life in New York; maybe this was just a test, and she would meet it.
Rafa’s warm, firm hand gripped hers.His touch pulled her from her thoughts, and she instinctively laced her fingers in his.“I’ll be there, I promise, and everything will be fine,” he said, sounding unsure despite his words.It wasn’t like Rafa to sound doubtful about things.
Sal knew that when they got home, they’d talk through their schedules and plan everything out.She had grown used to that rhythm in St.Stephenshire—the cats, the calm, the quiet, the scheduled visits to Medina, running things at Autumn Town with Rafa.Those were the parts she looked forward to.They felt manageable.Predictable.But the parts that demanded something heavier of her—the financial strain of their art center, the looming wedding she had no energy to plan, the unspoken expectations that came with being Rafa’s future wife—those lingered beneath her skin.They surfaced in sudden waves of anxiety, only to be brushed aside and buried again.
He always said everything would be all right, and most of the time she let herself believe him.It was easier that way.Yet something serious hung in the air about their situation with his family business, something that required more than reassurance.Will it all really be okay?She wondered.This time, no steady voice rose to comfort her—only the weight of knowing she might have to step fully into a role she wasn’t sure she wanted.
1.Achiis an endearment or honorific in hokkien referring to the eldest sister in a brood of children.It is used by the younger siblings or younger cousins to show warmth and familiarity.
Chapter Two
Ramen and Dessert
SAL
The Next Morning
Salpromisedherselfwhenshe built her new life in St.Stephenshire that she’d stop trying to please everyone.Admittedly, the constant struggle to unlearn ingrained habits from her upbringing and her days as a surgeon in a hyper-competitive field was taxing.If it weren’t for moving to St.Stephenshire, Sal would have recoiled into the emptiness of her former life.This small, enchanting town, nestled on the outskirts of Cottage Grove, had healed her.
Sal took a sip of her favorite cup of coffee in her favorite café and peered out the window.The light from outside offered a faint amber haze throughout the entire coffee shop.
Each year, the town celebrated a most sacred day: the Autumn Equinox, a time when part of the world officially transitioned into the autumn season.With the equinox tomorrow, the shop owners and the mayor dedicated themselves during this peak season to their businesses.
Sal felt her knees buckle at the knowledge that she was going to launch one of the biggest events the town had ever seen tomorrow.The compulsion to make it a success was difficult to put into perspective.So much for trying to live outside of people’s expectations.
“Sal?”said a familiar voice.
“Hmm?”She blinked through her curtain bangs.Ted, her old friend and barista, was peering at her from behind the espresso counter.
“You were spacing out again.Everything all right?”he asked, sounding worried.
“Thanks, Ted, but I’m fine,” she said, looking down at her bag filled with pastries from Willow’s Web.“I’m just stress shopping for food,” she pulled a croissant out and took a bite.The buttery smoothness of the pastry offered her comfort.“Willow makes the best croissants, though,” she said with her mouth half full as she sipped her coffee.Maybe that was why she bought so many.
“It’s good stress, I hope?”Ted ventured as he folded his sleeves up and worked at the espresso machine.Sal gave a weak grin and shrugged.
Ted cocked a bushy brow.“Ah, it’s no use if it isn’t any fun.Both doing life and loving others come with drawbacks.In both cases, you just have to decide if it’s worth your time.”
“Not complaining, but sometimes I just wish things didn’t have to be so stressful, you know?”she said.
