Chapter 14 Luca #2
I mostly work in the back of the bakery while Archie and Susan help customers, but Dulcie and I often go out in the evenings, and gradually, I start to shift the way I think. I go from dreading it to focusing entirely on Dulcie and the delight she draws simply from being with me.
She spins around and wheels in front of me, preventing me from walking any further.
She tears a piece of pastry off and holds it up.
I let her feed it to me, licking her fingers after.
She visibly shivers, shaking her head and tsking with her tongue at me.
“Behave. We still have rides to get through. Actual rides. Not you.”
Soft pink creeps into her cheeks. She tucks one of the strands of hair she left down behind her ear, smearing powdered sugar over it.
“I wanted to ask you something,” she suddenly says.
My pulse picks up at the way she licks her bottom lip nervously, but her eyes never stray from mine. “Sure.” I try to sound casual, but it comes out more as a croak.
The crowd parts around us, but there’s lots of space out here. I barely see anyone or anything other than Dulcie anyway. I’m entirely focused on her.
“I talked to my parents about moving to New York.” She swallows hard. “They didn’t try to talk me out of it, but they did present me with a different option.”
Her mom and dad have really come around to the idea of us being together.
It’s nothing I did, really. It has everything to do with the fact that they know their daughter.
If I’ve learned anything about Dulcie, it’s that she’s a hard worker, kind and compassionate, and loyal to the very center of her being.
Once she decides something, she goes for it.
She’d set her heart and soul on me, and that was it.
When Archie and Susan saw that it was real and not just some wild and crazy storm of lust that would blow over eventually, they softened.
I was able to give Archie a proper apology a few weeks ago. He listened, and then he gave one right back.
Tonight, them giving us their blessing to go out and have fun together was them saying so much more than just have a great time.
“They’d like me to spend this year working at the bakery,” Dulcie continues. “They want to put it up for sale, seeing as they’re already planning their retirement.”
Disappointment hovers on the periphery, but it never sinks in. I know she wouldn’t be asking me this if she didn’t have a plan in mind.
“I know you have to go back to New York for surgeries, your parents, and your house. It’s a lot to ask, but I thought maybe we could split our time between here and there.
You could find a house to rent here. Nothing crazy or anything, but it would get you out of the hotel.
We could help with the bakery, not because we’re obligated to, but because we love it, and it’s not going to be around forever.
Or at least, my parents won’t be running it forever.
” She balances her plate in one hand and reaches for my hand, linking our fingers.
“I know you don’t want me there for your surgeries and your recovery time, but I’d really like you to change your mind.
Maybe not right away, but hopefully after.
I’m always going to love you, Luca. At your best and at your worst. There’s no limit on it. ”
Fuck.
My eyes are hot, and my throat aches.
“Okay. If you want to spend some time in New York when I have to be there, I’d… appreciate it.” Shit. I am not going to cry. I am not going to cry in the middle of a freaking fair. I’m not.
Dulcie draws herself in and hugs me, wrapping both arms around me and nearly splattering that elephant ear all over my back. For her, I’d gladly wear it. Just saying.
I want Dulcie in the best and worst too. In mine. In hers.
I’d like her to meet my parents. To birdwatch with me.
To take the canoe out on the lake in the evenings and swim with me in the early mornings.
I’d like to cook together, dance together, and hang out with Adam together.
He’s not mad that I’m out here. He didn’t want to take money for work he wasn’t doing, but I insisted he babysit the house for me and keep feeding the birds, and if he were going to do that, then he’d have to take his regular salary.
When Dulcie sees the worst, she turns it around into something that isn’t ugly at all.
“After my mom and dad sell the bakery, I’m not sure what their plans are.
Honestly, I can’t believe they’re actually doing this.
I’d like to move to New York full-time then, unless you have some very specific and wild dreams about buying a bakery and living a small city life with a small town girl. ”
“If that’s what you want, I’ll do it in a second,” I say without hesitation.
“I don’t know, Luca. It’s a big change. When my parents dropped that bombshell on me about this not being all they wanted to do with their lives, it totally threw me.
I understood, but the bakery was basically pie-level sacred because it was a family thing.
I’ve never thought about it not being run by my family, even though they tried to prepare me for that exact eventuality.
It’s a wild thing to realize my parents have unfulfilled dreams. I should have seen it before.
I feel quite silly and willfully blind. Out of touch. Tone deaf. All the bad terms.”
“You’re not willfully blind. You just grew up in a place where this was your life.”
“And I loved it.”
“If you want to stay, we can stay. I’d be more than happy to run this place with you. Doing anything with you would be a dream.”
Her face pinches, her nose wrinkling, and her lips pursing. She looks like this when she’s lost in thought.
People continue to pour around us. It’s loud out here, with fair music and the shouts and laughter from the rides.
“I think what I’d like most in the world is for my parents to be able to do the things they haven’t been able to do yet, especially after working so hard.
My dad’s been left with a heartbreaking choice.
Chase his dreams or betray his heritage.
I know I could take it over, but they don’t want me to have to do it.
I think the best solution is to keep it in the family.
I’m sure I could convince them to find someone to take over the business on a short-term lease, or even a longer lease, but the building would remain theirs.
That way, they could live their dreams, we could live ours, and one day, if we want to take over the bakery and run it, we could. ”
Dulcie is so smart. I don’t know when her parents had this conversation with her, but it must have been recently. She wasn’t trying to keep the information from me. She was trying to find a way for everyone to be truly happy.
She could have asked me for money. I would have gladly given it to her, or lent it to her parents, but she didn’t.
She’s never wanted me for what I can give her materially.
She’s more than strong enough to stand on her own.
I know that in time, when we make the decision to move in together, I’ll be able to convince her to share assets.
I don’t want her to feel like I’m taking care of her, because she’d hate that.
When people get married, or after a while, they share finances, bank accounts, and jointly own property and possessions.
She’s extra cautious now because we’re still so new, and I get that. She’s trying to keep me protected.
“That’s an incredible idea, and a suggestion that would benefit everyone.”
She tips her face and looks up at me so eagerly. “I know it’s an impossible hope, that everyone can be happy, but I’m still out here, just putting it into the universe with my whole heart.”
I know we haven’t known each other for very long, and I don’t want to scare Dulcie, or scare myself, but I have to say it. “I’m also putting things into the universe with my whole heart.”
Our gazes are locked. She doesn’t get scared, and I don’t get scared.
Love isn’t a concept that scares either of us. Growth, change, staying constant, hard decisions, wild spontaneity, bad days, great days, and all the stuff in the middle. We’re both here for it, for our families, friends, and for each other.
She draws a heart on my shirt right over my real one, then presses her hand against it. “I love you so much, Luca. I’m so happy you’re here and that we could share this together. I still don’t believe in curses, but if there ever was one, it’s been broken.”
“By your courage to come and find me, to bring me back here, and to help us all heal,” I say.
“And by your courage to forgive me and come with me.”
“I love you, Dulcie Piecroft.” We’re in public, and I’m sort of shy about PDA, but I graze her lips. She sighs, cupping my cheek with the same tenderness she’s always shown me. I treasure even the smallest touch from her. So freaking much.
“Let’s finish eating and then do the Ferris wheel, just so we can tell my parents that we did at least one ride.
Then we can talk about the shared experience, and after that, we can go back to the hotel.
I’m exhausted.” She winks at me. I think that translates to all that stuff about different kinds of rides.
“I’m sure I can make it through another few minutes without dying, even though my need to have you is so great.”
She laughs, leans in, and steals a bite of my caramel apple. “I promise to kiss you at the top of the Ferris wheel as a consolation prize.”
You know what? That’s not a consolation prize at all.
THE END.
***
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