Chapter 23
chapter twenty-three
jude
“Carmen told me you’re not a fan of surprises, but I did something. So, don’t be mad.”
I smirked as I put my seat belt on. We were sitting in the car at the parking lot of the hospital in Syracuse.
I’d just finished visiting my sister for the third time in three weeks.
Today Jesse brought Faith and Micah over so I could see them while I was there.
They were huge and surprisingly remembered all about me.
Faith was just like Mary, serious and bossy, and Micah was as easygoing and gentle as his dad.
The visit had its hard parts, too. Mary got weaker by the day.
Every week she looked more fragile, but we’d stayed off difficult topics since the first visit and just tried to enjoy the time we had.
Today I’d brought a book of poems by Pádraig ó Tuama, an Irish priest I discovered recently, and read to her from it.
Overall things had gone well, and I was in good spirits.
I heard Nesto clear his throat and looked over at him and laughed. He was always so confident, but right now he was looking adorably unsure. I thought he was actually going to blush. I pulled him over to me and gave him a hard kiss, with lots of tongue.
“You must be joking. Why would I be mad if you did something nice for me? For the record,” I said, holding my finger up, “I love surprises. What I don’t like is Carmen buying me things I’ve told her I don’t need and then trying to force me into keeping them!”
He rolled his eyes. “You two are like an old married couple.” He slipped his hand under my shirt and ran it over my chest. “I’d be jealous if I didn’t know where you’ve been spending most nights.”
I quivered thinking about the last couple of weeks. Even as stressed out as he had been with the truck, Nesto had barely slept at his place. We’d both been so busy, but almost every night we’d gone to bed together.
“So, what did you do?”
He smiled, his confidence back in place. “I booked us a romantic getaway.”
“Whaaat?” I asked in disbelief. “For when? You have a million things going on with the truck, and the mobile library launch is only weeks away. We literally have no time.”
His sexy grin—my favorite—was on full display, and he looked a little too pleased with himself.
“Now, tonight. I got a room at the Aurora Inn. I’ve thought about doing it since the festival. We both need to get away for a bit. Things are about to get busier now that I’m going to start doing dinner at Ergos again.”
I shook my head and smiled at how casually he said that. Ergos had called a couple of weeks ago, begging him to come back. They told him they were sorry they’d ever invited Misty’s son’s truck and desperately wanted him back.
Anyone else would’ve gloated or given them a hard time.
Not Nesto; he thanked them for giving him another opportunity and didn’t waste a single breath on Misty.
That was the kind of man he was, and right now he was looking at me with such genuine affection I had a hard time believing it was all for me.
He leaned closer, totally focused on me. “We’ve been going at full speed for months now, and I wanted some time just the two of us.” He shook his head. “Things are moving so fast, and pretty soon I’m going to have to make some decisions about the future.”
My heart sank when I heard those words. So far we’d avoided discussing the elephant in the room.
He pressed our foreheads together as he spoke. “We haven’t even talked about what it would mean for us.” This time he did blush as he waved his hands between us. “I’m seriously in unknown territory at the moment, so please stop me if I’m acting like a fool right now.”
I shook my head against the niggling feeling that said, “This is too much. You’re being careless. Whatever you let yourself have right now, will make it a hundred times worse if this doesn’t work out.” I almost told him to forget it, that we shouldn’t, that I couldn’t.
Then I pulled back to look at him and he was so solid. I leaned into what I knew, what felt certain. I could trust what I had with Nesto right now.
“You’re definitely not doing that.”
Another blush.
“I asked Carmen if she’d talk to Martha about you taking today and part of tomorrow off.” He put his hands up looking embarrassed. “Was that totally creepy and over the line? Martha said it was fine.”
I kept staring at him with what I knew was a stunned look on my face, unable to talk. I could not believe Nesto managed to pull this off when he’d been working fourteen-hour days for the last two weeks.
He cringed, and the blush was now working itself down his neck. “I also packed us a change of clothes. The bag’s in the trunk.” He looked back like he was expecting the thing to jump out and slap him.
I just sat there grinning at him while he confessed.
“It’s less than an hour from Ithaca, so we can both be back after lunchtime tomorrow.
I took care of the truck, too. Ari and Yin are handling everything without me.
” He lifted his shoulder this time, a very naughty smile on his lips.
“I figured I’d finally pay you back for that massage I promised you. ”
I was having trouble deciding what to do, because there was no way I could crawl onto his lap in the limited space of his Prius.
But I at least would give him a hell of a kiss.
I leaned over, this time running my hand over his crotch while I bit his lower lip.
He let out a surprised yelp when I tightened my hand on his hardening cock.
“Oh shit, okay. So, we’re good then?”
I didn’t answer right away. Instead I spent another moment sucking on his tongue before pulling back.
“We’re more than good. I can’t believe you did all that. How did you even get a room? That place is always booked solid in the summer.”
The tip of his tongue slid over his upper lip and he preened. My man’s swagger back in full force.
“What am I, brand new? I got some tricks up my sleeve. One of the ladies from the market, the one who runs the raw food stand, mentioned she was tight with the manager. I texted her on Sunday and she came through. They had a cancellation on a room with a lake view, so I took it.”
I knew I was looking at him like he just told me he’d climbed Mt. Everest, but I couldn’t help it. No one had ever done anything like this for me.
He waggled his eyebrows. “We better get this car on the road then, because I actually made us a massage appointment.”
More winking.
“Start driving, Ernesto. I’m ready.”
“I don’t think I’ve been this relaxed in well…ever,” I said as I heard Nesto walking onto the balcony in our room.
“I’ve got something to get you even more relaxed.” He stood behind my rocking chair and handed me a flute of champagne. I tipped my head back for a kiss and he lowered his head, lightly pressing our lips together before sitting down on the chair next to mine.
Nesto turned his head and clinked our glasses together. “Salud. Here’s to guerilla getaways.”
“Here’s to lovers with stealth for romance,” I said smiling, and reached out to hold his hand. I leaned back, closing my eyes, and felt a little dizzy from the wine we’d had at dinner, the warm night air, the lull of the rocking chair and this man.
I knew I’d been half in love with him already but today had been like something out of a dream. From the moment we got to the inn everything had been perfect.
Our room was exquisite with an amazing view of the lake and the most delicious bed I’d ever laid on.
After a nap, we’d gotten lunch in the patio restaurant and then went for a couple’s massage.
We took a walk along the lake before going to the dining room for a delicious dinner.
We talked about books, movies we liked, the places we’d been to and others we’d like to visit someday. It was a perfect day.
He was perfect.
I turned around to look at him, and he was staring up at the sky, sipping from his glass. I took a drink from mine and sighed as I squeezed his hand again.
“This is amazing. Thank you, I had no idea how much I needed it. I don’t think it would’ve ever occurred to me to just go away for the day.”
Nesto smiled and dipped his head. “One thing we know well in the islands is that sometimes you just need to drop everything and go to the water. Recharge.” He turned around, his face serious. “We needed this time.”
I nodded, agreeing wholeheartedly, the doubts from earlier today a distant memory. “We did.”
“Are you happy, baby?”
Occasionally Nesto would ask me that out of the blue, at random moments, and I’d say yes automatically, but always thought it was such an odd thing to ask. In this moment, I actually took stock of the question and realized that I was.
“I am actually. I feel happy. Why do you always ask me that?”
He shrugged, as an adorable blush rose in his cheeks. “It’s a Dominican thing I guess. We always ask each other. ?Estas contento? ?Te sientes bien? It’s important to ask, if the person you’re with is happy, if they’re okay. Those things shouldn’t be taken for granted.”
I looked at him again and found dark eyes intent on me. “No, they shouldn’t be.”
“I don’t want to take you for granted Jude.
I—” He stopped talking then, his shoulders tensing like he wasn’t sure how to proceed, and then he held up his finger.
“I’ll be right back.” He put down his glass and went into the room.
Then I heard him looking through his bag.
I was about to go in and ask if he needed anything when he came back with a little Bluetooth speaker and his phone.
He set it up on the arm of his chair, and soon the low notes of a slow merengue filled the balcony. Nesto crouched down and took my hand.
“Baila conmigo.”
I squinted up at him, trying to convey my bemusement. “I don’t think I could keep up with you dancing merengue.”
He took my other hand and pulled me up, then wrapped his arm around my waist, pressing us tightly to each other. “Just move with me, baby.”