Chapter 35
Raffi
Raffi did make it to Marin Headlands before Ani. She got stuck in bridge traffic. When she called to tell him, they stayed on the phone this time.
“I’m parked,” he said as he got out of the car.
“Be there in a minute,” came Ani’s beautiful voice that he absolutely knew he’d never tire of hearing.
What a day to be here. The fog had cleared so there was a full view of the Golden Gate Bridge, the Presidio, the Marina, and downtown San Francisco. There had been an unexpected rain shower a few days before, so the hillside was blanketed with greenery.
He breathed in and out, the ocean breeze layered with the warm fall day. Ani wanted to see him. She was rushing to see him. It would be okay. He was ready to grovel anyway.
After the last couple of days he’d had, he should have been tired, but instead, he was energized.
He’d had a group FaceTime with MBD Book Club and spilled all the details—okay, not all the details—and Lana suggested in her quiet monotone voice the very answer to what he could do to mend things with Ani.
Her car pulled in next to his, and the second the engine was off, he hardly had a chance to take her in, his love, because Ani jumped out of the car and sprinted into his arms. Oh my God. He was holding her now. He hadn’t expected—
It took him a moment to breathe her in. Her soft curves pressed against him, her arms found their way inside his jacket, and her cheek buried against his chest. He held her tightly.
He couldn’t believe she was here, they were touching, she was happy to see him.
Four days ago he thought he’d lost her for good.
“Ani,” he said. “I’m so sorry. I’ve missed you so much. I shouldn’t have said what I said. I will always come back to you, as long as you want me. I’ll be here for you. Always. I am never letting you down again. You have my word.”
She was shaking her head. “No, no. I’m the one who’s sorry. Everything was going great, and I let my insecurities get to me—”
He wouldn’t hear of it. He hadn’t been sure he’d ever see her again, and an apology was the last thing he’d ask for. He didn’t need it; he understood where she had been coming from.
“That article was horrible, I don’t blame you—”
“No, I still should have trusted you. Trusted myself.”
He looked down at her, held her face in his hands. She stared up at him with so much adoration. “I want to make damn sure. You’re telling me you want to be together?”
“Yes, Raffi, yes. I love you.” She laughed, then said it again. “I can’t be without you. I love you.”
Raffi held her so tight and kissed the top of her head. “I’ve been wanting to tell you the same thing for a long time, Ani jan. I love you in a way that I can barely control. No one has made me feel this way in my life. No one. It’s you. Since I met you, Ani, it’s always been you.”
Tears slid down her cheeks, and Raffi wiped them away with his thumbs. She did the same for him. He kissed her cheeks, her eyelashes, then her mouth.
The kiss deepened, Raffi pressed against his car and Ani melted into him. They didn’t stop until a tourist family full of children brought him back down to earth. He heard a toddler boy say, “They doing kissing?” and he and Ani pulled away and started laughing.
“But Raffi,” she said. “Why was your phone off, or whatever? I thought you blocked me and never wanted to talk to me again.”
He nuzzled her head, hoping the gesture could take away her past pain. “I’m so sorry that you ever thought that. Fuck. I never wanted to make you feel like that. I was on a plane.”
“Plane?”
“I’ve been out of the country.”
Ani appeared puzzled, rightfully. Raffi dug into his inner coat pocket and pulled out a check, then handed it to his girlfriend.
She read it. “Sixty thousand…? What is this? I thought I told you I didn’t need—”
“Look at the name,” Raffi said.
The check was from the Avedissians. Those fuckers who scammed the love of his life.
“You…” Ani began, but was at a loss for words.
“Went to Bali,” Raffi finished. At Lana’s suggestion: “Why don’t you just go to Bali and find them yourself? You’ve got connections.” “I found them. And made them pay. As you can see, that’s a cashier’s check, so this one isn’t going to bounce. Fifty thousand plus interest.”
Ani gaped at him, open-mouthed. “How did you get them to pay—?”
“Good question. And by the way, we have to go back there. I hardly got to see it, but truth be told, I didn’t want to experience it without you.” Raffi took out his phone. “Here’s how I did it.”
He showed Ani a video of his dad, Moushegh, sitting in front of a roaring fireplace, gripping a cane with both hands, glowering at the camera. Dad did look incredibly intimidating. Raffi dragged the player forward a bit. “There’s a little intro, then we get here,” he said.
In Armenian, his dad roared, “And if you do not pay, the entire force of the Armenian mob will rain down on your sorry asses, sending you back to hell, where you belong.”
Ani let out a choked laugh. “What? Oh my God, he is in the mob?”
Raffi smiled. “No, he’s not. But if everyone thinks he is, why not a little threat to help out a woman in need? I’m sorry I told him about the debt; I know it’s a tough subject. I hope that’s okay. He really likes you. Was happy to make this video if it meant lending you a hand.”
Ani stared at the screen, her eyes wide and unblinking, as if she couldn’t quite believe what she was seeing. A laugh bubbled up in her throat, equal parts disbelief and joy. “He’s really convincing. So this actually worked?”
He nodded. “It actually worked. And they gave me an apology full of excuses, but I won’t sully your brain by repeating them. Suffice it to say, they’re sorry now.”
Ani shook her head and looked at the check, her smile growing brighter. “Wow. Wow. Thank you. Seriously.”
Raffi shrugged. “It’s not exactly a grand romantic gesture, but it was the best I could do.”
Ani stared up at him, a huge smile on her face. “It is incredibly romantic.”
She stood on her tiptoes and kissed him.
He pulled back and groaned. “We live too far away. I can’t be away from you.”
“I know…” she said.
Raffi had a plan, though. “But I’ve figured it out. I’ll move back to the city. I’ll hire more people at ?. I can commute.”
In truth, he loved living in Napa, but he loved Ani more. So if he had to head back to the city to be close to her, he’d get a new place tomorrow.
He continued, “I’ll go anywhere you need me to be. You feel more like home than home ever did.”
Ani gave a particularly adoring smile, her cheeks pinkened. But then she shook her head. “I don’t know, almost all the wedding requests I’ve been getting are for Napa and Sonoma County. I might be the one who has to move.”
Raffi froze. She would move to Napa? That would be…that would be beyond amazing. He could still be near his father in case he needed him. He’d still be able to run the winery daily and would get that mental peace from living in the country.
“You’d really do that?…With me?”
Ani hesitated, her fingers twisting the edge of her sleeve as she looked down, then back up at him. “I’ve been thinking about it…I want to, but I can’t move in with you.”
Raffi stared down at her, trying to read her face. She was smirking, though. “Why, baby? Too soon? I get that. I don’t want to push.”
She shook her head. “No, it’s not too soon.”
Encouraged by that, he continued, “You know I would make my home yours in a second. You can decorate it any way you like. Even if you wanted to turn my place into a pink coquette paradise, I’d be down.”
She smiled. “I’m more of a minimalist, so you don’t have to worry about bows and ruffles.
But no, decor isn’t the issue. My very strict parents would absolutely kill me if I lived with a man before I was, uh, engaged.
” She blushed hard at that word. “I sort of made the promise to myself, too. I mean, I’m not asking anything—besides, I still have two months left on my lease, and I could always find a little apartment in downtown Napa—”
Now Raffi laughed as he held this perfect woman in his arms. The woman who had changed everything for him. She thought he wouldn’t want to marry her today? Oh, he did—only she deserved a real planned proposal. “Ani, Ani, Ani. Don’t worry about that. I’ve got a plan.”
Raffi kissed her again, feeling the waves of excitement for the future flow through him. He knew that they were creating a foundation upon which they would be building a life together, a brand-new one with him and her at the helm.