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“You’re right.” She pulled to a stop in front of the rental office. “Thanks, Romeo.” She really loved her little brother.
It only took a moment to show her ID and grab the key before she was back in the car and heading to the cabin. She was glad she’d talked to her brother, but he hadn’t seen Jaime’s expression.
You’ve got to give me a break here.
Maybe she could do that if she didn’t have to leave in two days.
Then again, that’s not really the point. Instead of leaning on me, he’s shutting me out. I can’t be in a relationship where I’m inside the circle one day and outside the next.
She parked and got out of the car, breathing in the dusty, pine-scented air. Luckily, she didn’t have any memories of this place, or it just might kill her to be back without him. Jaime had left her in town to do some window-shopping while he’d checked them in. He’d been worried they’d give away their cabin if they showed up too late.
She inserted the key in the lock, turned it, and stepped inside.
It took her a minute to make sense of what she was seeing.
Wilted rose petals littered the floor, unlit votive candles rested on every surface, and wood was stacked in the fireplace. Had they given the cabin to someone else? But no, she saw her suitcase on the bed.
He’d done this for her.
Oh, Jaime.
You sweet, romantic man.
God, she loved him. She’d never loved anyone like this before.
And she knew she never would again.
On her way across the room, she grabbed a handful of petals and inhaled their scent. She found two champagne flutes on the kitchen counter, each with a raspberry at the bottom of the glass.
She almost didn’t want to let herself think it, but had he planned onproposing?She could see it so vividly. The fire in the hearth, him getting down on one knee—
Wait, would he do that? Or would he kiss her senselessly and then blurt it out?Marry me, Gracie. Marry me and make me the happiest man alive.
Yes, yes, yes. If he were on a knee, she’d hurl herself at him, knock him back, and scatter kisses all over his face.
But then, her fantasy came crashing down when she remembered the way he’d looked at her when she’d entered the hospital room. He was annoyed to see her.
Could he really go from setting up a romantic proposal to pushing her away in the blink of an eye?
No. She knew him better than that. They werebothoverreacting. All those messages he’d gotten, one after another, building up to what he’d feared the most... He was living his deepest, darkest fear: if he stopped doing penance, if he allowed himself to be happy, something would go terribly wrong.
But it struck her that she might not be all that different.
Look at the guilt you feel for wanting to stay in Calamity.
What about the happiness I’m not allowed to have?
God, it’s so true.She’d never thought about it like that before, but her family culture didn’t encourage personal happiness. It was about survival, and the way to be safe was to stay together, work together. It was insular.
She remembered Uncle Sal. Well, the story of him anyway. She’d never met him. He hated the ocean, hated the sand, and hated the bakery. He wanted to be a rock star, so he’d run off with a tourist to seek his fame and fortune and, after three failed marriages and a career in car sales, wound up dying alone. The only time anyone brought him up was as a cautionary tale.
In the Giordano mindset, if you abandon the family to pursue your own happiness, you’ll perish.
I don’t want to become another Uncle Sal story.
I want my family to still love me, even as I pursue my own dreams.
Maybe if Ian’s parents hadn’t bought a building for her, it would be one thing. But they did, and that would make it impossible to justify staying here and working some random job.
