"It’s why we’re leaving, tomorrow," he tells me. "I don’t want to sit through this farce. I want something real. And I don’t want to have to pretend anything else for another moment."
He catches my hand and brings it to his lips, plants a kiss against the back of it. Even though I’m smiling, I feel a wash of emotion catch me off-guard, and it’s not until he turns to me and sees the tears in my eyes that he realizes.
"What’s wrong?" he asks, worriedly, stroking my face and brushing away a tear with his thumb. I shake my head.
"Nothing," I murmur. "It’s just... it’s been a long time since someone made a sacrifice like that for me. It means a lot. Especially since..." I trail off. I don’t want to dump this all on him. This trip was meant to be fun. But he cups my face in his hand, and I know that I can tell him the truth.
"Especially since what?"
I take a deep breath. I know that I need to tell him the truth.
"I lost my parents," I confess. "Earlier this year. And God, it feels like it just ripped me apart. Both of them, gone in a car accident, just like that."
"I’m so sorry," he murmurs, and I shake my head.
"It’s why I opened the café," I explain. "Because when I was a kid – well, we never had much money, but my dad would bring home this ridiculous sugary cereal every Saturday morning, and we would all hang out on the couch and watch cartoons together, and it was... it was my happy place, really. I want to keep that alive. It’s why I didn’t want to leave the café, because if I fail at that, I feel like my last connection to them will be gone."
"That’s not true," he tells me at once. "You guys loved each other. Still love each other. You know how precious that is? To just have those moments like that, know that you were cared for by people who really wanted the best for you?”
"I think I’m starting to," I reply, and I kiss the center of his palm. "I can’t imagine how it must have been for you, being stuck with those – with people who just wanted to use you for what they needed."
"And you never will," he replies. "We’re leaving. And you can get back to that café of yours. I want to hear all the stories you have about your parents, all right? Everything you remember from them, everything you don’t want to forget."
"Thank you," I say back. It feels like far too small a sentence for everything that I am trying to say to him, but he understands me, and that is all that matters.
And, as he gazes into my eyes, I know what he is going to say next.
Chapter Nine
Landon
This woman. This woman – the way that she has just opened herself up to me, the way that she talks to me, the way that she lets me in, even when I brought her to a place where everyone treats her like an outsider, I don’t think I will ever have that kind of strength.
But I want to share in hers, if she will let me.
I know that the people back at that party will never understand what I feel for her. My parents never married for love, and my sister won’t, either. But that doesn’t mean that I can’t be honest about the way that I feel about this woman. She has been through so much, and I know she must still be so tender from all that she has experienced. And I want to be there for her as I help her through it. I want to prove to her that she can survive it all.
"I’ve never met anyone like you before, Lucky," I tell her. She smiles, the last tear dripping down her cheek.
"You know why I’m called that?" she asks. I shake my head.
"Because my dad’s favorite cereal was Lucky Charms," she explains. "And that’s what he always called me. His lucky charm..."
I lean towards her, and plant a kiss on her lips, tasting the salt of her tears mixed with the sea air around us. I want to lift this pain from her, but I know that the best I can do is offer to be here for her while she gets through it.
"I love you, Lucky," I murmur to her. “It was love at first sight, if I’m being honest.” The words seem too small to capture everything that I am feeling right now, but they will have to do – they're the closest I can come to the truth, and for now, that is all that I want to share with her.
She leans her head against mine for a moment, the words washing through us like the sound of the waves on the beach. I don’t care if she says it back or not – I know that we both feel it. I just needed to know that she heard it from me. Needed to know that she understands how deep my feelings already run for her. I’ve barely gotten to know her yet, but there is something inside of me telling me that this is it – this is the one.
And I want to break a lifetime of tradition by making sure that I don’t let her slip through my fingers. That I love her the way I want to. She brushes her lips to mine, and I feel the words she speaks back to me before I hear them.
"I know this is crazy, but I love you, too."
And I know that this might be fast, but it’s right.
When something is right, I know it, deep down, to my core. Even though I don’t want to be in this wedding, I want to be wherever she is.
And if she is sitting barefoot on the beach next to the ocean in Maui, then I will spend all night being here right alongside her.
Where I belong.
Epilogue
Lucky
"Could you pass me the filters?" I call to Nina, one of the new staff members that I have hired at the café – she’s still getting used to everything, but she’s made a hell of a difference. She tosses me the coffee filters and I shoot her a thumbs-up, just as Landon comes staggering into the café holding a stack of boxes.
"Oh, shit, let me help you," I tell him at once, diving towards him to grab them before they all fall out of his hands. We manage to maneuver them into the storeroom just before they crash to the floor completely.
Landon has been working with me here for the last three months now, ever since we got back from Maui – he sold off his shares in his family business and invested everything into my place. He told me that he wanted to help me every way that he could to keep the memory of my parents alive, and honestly, with that extra money, I have finally been able to afford some time off. All of which has been spent with him, of course.
He’s been helping out as much as he can, getting used to the grind of customer service, but he’s actually getting pretty good at bantering with our regulars and making the new fancy coffee selection that we’ve introduced. And I love having him around, love having a partner to enjoy all of this with. The success we share here just makes everything feel stronger, and I know that this is what I’ve been waiting for.
"Hey, wait a second," he calls to me, grabbing my hand before I head back out to the café again. I turn to him, raise my eyebrows.
"What’s up?”
"This one comes with a free gift," he tells me, holding out one of the new boxes of cereals that he brought in from the van outside. "Your turn to open it, I think."
I grin. This is a game we’ve had from the start, sharing the toys that come in all the cereal boxes we use here. We have a row of them in the little apartment that we bought together, on the mantel, so I can see them first thing when I get up in the morning.