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“What was this guy Peter to you? Was he for better or for worse?”
She snickered quietly. “He was for best.”
That made me sad for her. The best love she’d ever had was in her youth. I couldn’t help but wonder if it was even worth experiencing, with it being so short-lived.
“The emails stopped?” I asked.
“Yes. They did. He became sick and told me he didn’t have much time left. The last one he wrote me, he signed it see you later. I’m holding on to that promise, too. Peter wasn’t one to ever break promises.”
“Teresa, I’m sor—”
“Don’t apologize, nephew,” she warned. “Because I was blessed to know a love like that. Most people don’t get those kinds of opportunities. I had it twice. When I was young, and now in my later years, his emails gave me that feeling again.” She held the key around her neck and took it off. “In his last he told me he left me something. After he passed away, I was delivered this key.”
“To?”
She gestured toward the movie theater. “He said to do with it as I please, and I think I’d like a restaurant there. So maybe other young souls could have their first kisses there, too, and fall in love and get the happily ever after Peter and I missed.”
I chuckled, shaking my head. “Who would’ve ever thought my aunt Teresa was a hopeless romantic.”
“Hopeful,” she corrected. “A hopeful romantic. There’s a difference. Speaking of…” She tapped my leg with her cane. “What is this I hear about your proposal to Catie?”
“Who told you about that?” I asked, knowing who it had been.
“Noah. He called me for our Sunday chat.”
Noah was my best friend and had known Teresa for years. He felt as if she was the grandmother he’d never had growing up. I swore, sometimes they talked to one another more than I spoke to them both, and I lived with the woman. Teresa said I was always too busy swimming in my thoughts to actually communicate with others.
“Of course he told you,” I mumbled, not wanting to get too much into the conversation.
She placed a hand on top of mine, which was resting in my lap. “I’m sorry, Alejandro.”
“I’m fine. It doesn’t matter.”
“It does. And it’s not fair what they did to you.”
They.
As in plural.
“It doesn’t matter,” I repeated.
“It does,” she said once more. “Why didn’t you tell me about what happened? Or why didn’t you tell Noah? He’s your best friend, and he heard about it through Catie’s sister. Why didn’t you mention it to us?”
“Why didn’t I mention that my girlfriend denied my engagement because she was cheating on me?” I huffed; a bit too cold with my words toward Teresa.
“Yes,” she said, not taking insult from my harsh attitude. She had a way of knowing when I didn’t mean harm with my bad mood.
I began picking at my fingernails and shrugged. “Sometimes the worst things in life are the hardest to speak on,” I muttered.
She smiled at me. She then patted my cheek. “Sweet boy.”
I smiled back before it dropped away, and I stared across the street. The streetlamp flickered in and out, affecting our pool of light. “What kind of restaurant are you thinking?” I asked her.
“A fusion of sorts. Maybe Caribbean and Spanish. Peter told me he loved Caribbean food.”
“You think an uppity fusion restaurant could make it in a small town like this?”
“The way I believe in you, I think you could build a restaurant on Mars tomorrow and have a line that wrapped all the way around Jupiter.”
I laughed. My biggest cheerleader. “Well, you know what they say. Whatever Teresa wants…”
Her grin widened as she placed the key into my hand. “Teresa gets. Besides…maybe you, too, will find love within these streets someday.”
“I’m not looking for love, Teresa.”
“Yes,” she agreed. “That’s normally when it decides to show its face.”
I lowered my head. “What did the doctor tell you today? How long did he say we have?”
She smiled. “We can’t worry about the future so much, Alejandro. It spoils today. And today, I’m still here. Besides…” She leaned in and patted my hand. “I’ll never leave you, Alejandro, even after death, because we are family. We are connected by something bigger than life alone. You’ll feel me everywhere you go because your breath is my breath, your heart is my heart, and your love is my love. Therefore, I am always with you. When you can no longer see me with your eyes, then find me within your soul. A donde vayas, yo voy.”
CHAPTER 45
Yara
Present Day
The following morning, I woke in Alex’s arms. It was exactly where I was meant to be.
As I sat up slightly, my phone dinged on the drawer. As I reached over to check it, I noticed a collection of text messages from Tatiana and my sisters.
