“The Agility project made me realize I was playing small onpurpose, and only hurting myself. I’m going back to the work I love doing, but on my own terms.” She pulled up the website on her phone to show him. “I’m already booked for the next three months.”
“Damn, I was hoping I could hire you to help me get a PT clinic off the ground. Now I’m not even sure I can afford you.”
“MaybeI’ll give you a friends and family discount this time. If you’re good. How do you feel about charcoal gray and light wood for a color scheme?”
He nuzzled her neck, and she found the courage to bring up something that had been on her mind.
“What if... you stay with me?”
He raised his head and narrowed his eyes at her. “Here in your parents’ house?”
She laughed. “No, not this time. I was thinking this before, when I thought you were going to have the gym here. Maybe when you’re in town, you stay in my apartment with me. And since I work from home, maybe I can sometimes go to California with you and stay at your apartment. We could try a sort of bicoastal part-time living situation thing. It’s unconventional, but I think it could work for us. At the very least, we’ll rack up a ton of frequent-flyer miles while we give it a try.”
Gabe grinned at her, and she brushed her fingertip over one of his dimples. “I think an unconventional situation thing sounds perfect for us.”
He leaned in to kiss her again, but she froze at the sound of a creak. Jumping to her feet, Michelle threw the door open.
And saw both of her parents, Monica, Ava, her oldest niece,and Gabe’s mother, all crowded in the hallway with guilty looks on their faces.
“I told you not to step on the creaky floorboard,” Monica scolded Phoebe, her daughter.
“Did he fix it?” Norma asked in a stage whisper. “¿Con el fanfeek?”
Valentina looked scandalized. “¿Qué esun fanfeek?”
She said it like it was some kind of filthy sex act.
“It’s calledfanfiction, Grandma,” Phoebe corrected with an eye roll. She was eleven and absolutely lived for telling adults when they were wrong about things. Michelle adored the little brat.
“Yes, he fixed it,” Michelle informed them. “Now go downstairs. All of you.”
She waited until they headed down the stairs before she closed the door and turned back to Gabe.
He was still sitting on the edge of the bed, covering his face with his hands. His shoulders shook, and when she went over he dropped his hands and roared with laughter. She sat beside him and held him while he laughed. The sound—clear and loud, not holding anything back—reset something inside her.
He was really back this time. Gabe.HerGabe. She hugged him tight.
As his chuckles abated, he shifted her onto his lap and held her, pressing his face into her neck.
“I’ve missed this,” he whispered. “All of it.”
She understood what he meant. He’d missed her, holding her, but he’d also missed being here, being part of a big, messy, meddling family. A family who cared. Maybe they showed it inways that weren’t always clear, or that could feel overbearing, but it was out of love.
“I love you,” she whispered.
He lifted his head and kissed her softly. “I’ve always loved you.”
She smiled. “I know.”
Epilogue
One year later
Gabe stood in front of the Aguilar Clinic on Williamsbridge Road, just a block down from where his father’s stationery store had once lived. This street held a plethora of memories, but they weren’t bad ones, and now, he was here to make new ones.
Beside him, Michelle held his hand and stared up at the sign she’d designed. Gazing at it, Gabe felt more satisfaction than he would have previously thought possible. It was his name, hisfullname, not a bastardization to appeal to a so-called wider clientele.
Not only that, it was his father’s name. The Aguilars were back, and they’d come a long way from where they’d been.
