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“Jack?” I ask.
“Luca?” Her eyes widen and flash with hope, at least that’s how it seems.
The man who was waiting beside me takes his opportunity to jump into the cab. As it takes off, I pull Jack further away from traffic.
“What are you doing here?” I ask, taking in the sight of her. She’s beautiful. Sunglasses on top of her head, a light coat and jeans. Ankle boots. And the biggest, brownest eyes I’ve ever seen.
“Me?” She laughs. “What are you doing here?”
“Well, there’s this girl that lives here. In San Francisco. And there are a few things that I wanted to tell her.”
Jack’s face distorts, as if she’s concluding I’m going back to Sonja. She reaches up with one hand and slowly moves her sunglasses from her head to cover her eyes.
“Jack.” I chuckle. How could she believe otherwise? “You’rethe girl.”
Jack
Luca’s here.
Luca. Is. Here. In San Francisco. And he just said—
No way! “You came here for me?”
He chuckles again. “Yeah, I did,” he says, and his smile is brighter than the morning sun in a clear-blue New Mexico sky, and I read so many emotions across his face. Then, his brow furrows. “But you must be, um, going on a business trip.” His entire posture falls.
My eyes prickle and happy tears fall. “No.” I grin. “No. I was on my way to New Mexico.”
His arms come tentatively to my sides, and there’s a question forming on his lips.
I dip my chin, tucking my hair behind one ear with one hand and removing my glasses with the other. I can’t have a barrier between us anymore. “You see, Luca, there’s this guy that lives there.”
He drops his backpack on the ground and draws me closer to him. His hands rest on the small of my back.
I let my shoulder bag slide down to join his pack at our feet, and slide my hands up his arms until they reach the back of his neck. “And he has this amazing horse.”
“Go on,” he says, arms tightening around me.
Some random couple walks by. The guy whistles and the girl says, “Kiss her already.”
I ignore them, because I’m lost in this amazing man in my arms. “And the two of them, this man and horse...”
Luca presses his forehead to mine, and I’m so close now I can feel his heart pounding in his chest.
“Well...” I shrug. “They kept something of mine when I came back to California a couple of weeks ago.”
He tilts his head, eyes narrowing. “I didn’t find any—”
I put two fingers across his lips; mine are almost to his now. “My heart, Luca. They kept my heart.”
Fireworks flash in Luca’s dark eyes, and he crashes his lips to mine.
Epilogue
Three months later
Luca
When I pictured my ranchhome finished, this is pretty much exactly my version. A mixture masculinity infused with feminine touches. Jack’s décor surprises me. It’s not too girly, but instead, simple elegance. There are candles that smell like her on the fireplace mantle. An aged picture of kids holding hands and standing around a tree in our den—a replica of her favorite photo from her nana’s childhood album, Jack told me when she hung it between the two photos that defined the two big parts of my life. Now, the trio is complete. San Francisco Bay, the view of the desert, and Jack’s family in between.
