Epilogue
Alma raced through the door of Mezcalifornia, carrying a big box.
Jaime rushed over to her to take it out of her hands. “Let me grab that.”
She shook her head. “Not a chance.” She pulled a switchblade from the key chain in her back pocket and sliced open the box.
In the cardboard case were twelve bottles of one of the world’s finest tequilas. Mezcalifornia’s small batch of anejo.
On the top of the box was the promotional package, complete with a cheesy picture of Jaime mugging for the camera with an impish grin on his face.
Damn. He was such a tool.
But at least this time his modeling was for his own brand of tequila. A Mexican-American-owned brand, not one making some non-Hispanic celebrity rich.
And even better, he had done this full thing without the help of his family. He had believed in himself. But there was one person he couldn’t have done any of this without.
Alma.
His girlfriend.
Their relationship had aged as long as this anejo.
After he had committed to her without hesitation, his first order of business was to enroll in some intensive therapy.
He hated it, at first. Hell, what was he saying?
He still hated it. It was excruciating. All the talk about his past, his family, all his fuckups, how he had hurt people in his life…
But somewhere along the way, he realized that he’d needed to do this work. He could never heal from his childhood trauma, and he would never have a successful relationship without spending the time healing himself.
He then spent a month alone at a Spanish-language school in Cuernavaca, Mexico. He lived with a host family and forced himself to immerse in the language. His Spanish was still not great, but he was committed to working on his fluency every day.
The best thing was, he wasn’t even doing this for Alma—he was doing this for himself.
They had done a few months of long-distance, which completely sucked, and then Jaime finally moved to Marin. Alma wasn’t ready to move in with him yet. She loved her space, and he was fine with that, so he moved in with Santi, who welcomed the company.
And living in Bolinas, Jaime could still pursue one of his other loves: surfing. Though the water was cold as fuck in Marin and he always had to wear a wet suit. He missed San Diego’s warmer weather but escaped to Mexico or Hawai’i to catch some waves whenever he could.
But he didn’t go alone. He went with Alma. She was always by his side now.
She raced behind the bar and grabbed two glasses. It was still early afternoon, and they were doing prep work before she opened for the night, cutting limes and preparing the spice mixtures for the glass rims. So she only poured a small sip in each.
“Salud!”
Jaime clinked his glass with hers.
They inhaled the spirit and then drank.
Wow. This tequila was actually good. Great even. Pride beamed in his chest.
A big smile took over Alma’s face. “It’s wonderful, Jaime! That’s my professional opinion. And think of what we’re doing. We’re helping a full community out. And I love that we have only female jimadoras.”
Yes, they did. Jaime and Alma had asked Gabriela to be their first. They had returned shortly after they had gotten back together last year and created a contract with her.
She had been the main jimadora and they’d encouraged her to find and train other women to work with her in this traditionally male-dominated industry.
Alma unpacked all the bottles and placed them behind the bar amongst their new friends. They lined up like little toy soldiers on the shelves.
Jaime couldn’t believe it. A little more than a year ago, he had been asked to be a tequila influencer and had hatched this crazy, half-baked idea after a couple of bad tequila shots in his La Jolla home. It had been a stupid idea to use his ex for his benefit.
And here he was, with a committed girlfriend whom he loved, living five hundred miles away from his family, and the owner of a top tequila brand and a soccer academy. Granted, Jaime was still taking modeling jobs but only for companies he believed in. And he was proud to rep his own.
He planted a soft kiss on Alma’s lips—he could taste the shot of tequila she had just taken. “Babe, we did it!”
She kissed him back. “Yes, we did. But you did it. I only had a bar. I had a desire to start my own line but it seemed impossible. I didn’t have the capital for it.”
“Well, I couldn’t have done it without you. I knew nothing about tequila.”
She playfully punched his shoulder. “True, you didn’t know your joven from your reposado.”
“I didn’t have a clue. But I had a great teacher.”
They kissed again. He cupped her face and slowly, gently took her lips in his.
“I didn’t just teach you about tequila. You could’ve learned that from any book. I taught you to believe in yourself.”
Jaime exhaled. It was true. She had taught him so much. About love. About not being scared of the future.
“I don’t know if I ever believed in myself. I was more afraid of never seeing you again.”
“But Jaime, don’t you see? You’re such a wonderful man. You’ve always been such a wonderful man. You were so codependent on your family. You just needed some space. They are all great people, but you had to make your own way.”
Jaime looked at his beautiful woman, his heart swelling with devotion.
Their path to this point had not been easy at all.
From callously dumping her in college, to him showing up to pump her for information, pushing her away, then to their grueling breakup.
And then starting a business in a foreign country.
Even though they were both Mexican-American, they were not Mexican nationals and had to gain the trust of the people of Jalisco who were suspicious of yet another American-owned company.
But every challenge they had, they met head-on, and they’d worked through the issues together.
The ultimate outcome of their own liquor brand tasted doubly sweet.
Or maybe that was the vanilla notes.
Damn, he was sounding like Alma now.
Alma stroked the bar. “Remember the first time we shared a shot here?”
Jaime grinned. “Don’t tempt me, babe. I’ll have you spread eagle in a second.”
“No, we can’t. That was different. It was at night. It’s daytime now. We can’t just fuck on the counter. Plus I don’t have the time or energy to clean up after.”
Jaime scooped her up in his arms and took her into her office, where he positioned her on her sofa.
The first time they had sex in the bar, it had just been physical.
But now, everything was so different. Jaime wanted to show Alma how much he loved her, he cared for her, he worshipped her, he appreciated her.
He was in love with her and didn’t care who knew.
He could see forever with her.
Before he could rip the clothes off of her perfect body, Alma had stripped down to a lacy green bra that barely covered her breasts and matching panties.
He kissed her full lips as her hand rubbed his cock. Her hair was wild, and she tasted sweet. Wild and sweet. That was his girl.
Jaime undid her bra and sucked on her nipples. Her perfectly pert breasts felt like heaven. His cock was aching for her. Alma began to bite her lips, holding back her moans, and her muffled sounds were like music to his ears.
Alma undid his pants and grabbed his cock at the base. She deep-throated him, bobbing up and down. Her hot mouth felt so fucking incredible wrapped around his length. They were in perfect sync, sexually.
He could’ve come in her mouth, but he held back.
He just wanted to worship her.
He flipped her under him and kissed down her belly until he hit the hem of her panties. Jaime pulled her panties off and kissed her delicate flesh. She moaned again and grabbed his hair as he licked her. She writhed under his mouth.
Jaime wanted to lick her forever, but she pulled him up to face her.
He kissed her as he slowly entered her, his woman. She felt like happiness and heaven, all wrapped in one. Their fingers interlaced as they made love, every thrust bringing them closer to each other.
Ever since their initial college breakup, he had drowned himself in meaningless sex. But it felt empty. Sex between two people who truly cared for each other, who weren’t just trying to get off, but were genuinely devoted to each other, was the most incredible high in the world.
He and Alma were endgame. After the connection that they shared, Jaime couldn’t imagine being with anyone else.
Alma was close, her breath quickening. Jaime placed his hand under her ass and guided her movements.
They stared into each other’s eyes as they came together in complete bliss.
Then, they heard the doorbell ring. Oh damn.
They quickly cleaned up and got dressed and saw Carlos standing at the door with a woman who Jaime didn’t recognize. The girl was a bit younger than Carlos, with short wavy hair and a pretty smile.
Jaime let them in.
“Hey, bro, what’s up? We just got our new tequila.”
“Really, that’s so cool.”
“Pull up a chair and join us for a shot. Your friend is welcome too.”
Carlos grinned and took the woman’s hand. “She’s not my friend, actually. She’s my girlfriend. This is Cristina. Cristina, that’s my sister, Alma, and my soon-to-be brother-in-law, Jaime.”
Alma punched her older brother in the arm. “Smart-ass, we are not engaged.”
“Yet,” Carlos retorted.
Jaime walked over and hugged Cristina. “Nice to meet you. I’ll give you the rundown on the full family. Basics are Tío Gustavo tells tall tales and Tía Cecilia is a chismosa.”
Alma hugged Cristina, then hugged Carlos. “I’m so glad to meet you. So tell me, how long have you been dating? Where did you meet?”
Jaime shook his head. “Oh, Alma is a chismosa also.”
She swatted him with an embroidered cloth napkin. “I am not!”
“Yes, you are.”
Carlos answered Alma’s question. “Actually, she’s the mom of one of my students. We just hit it off.”
“Ah, that’s so cute.” Alma poured them both shots of the new liquor. “To all of us! To love and laughter and authenticity.”
They all clinked their glasses together. The liquid glided down Jaime’s throat. He felt warm throughout his body, and it wasn’t only from the anejo. It was from the love in the room.
Tequila wasn’t just a business anymore, or a tool to get wasted. It was a connection to their culture, to their shared backgrounds, to the past, and to their futures.
“So, what’s next?” Alma asked Jaime.
“What do you mean? I’m happy now.”
“Don’t panic. But I mean now what? I have a bar. We have a liquor line. What else can we do?”
Jaime knew exactly what he wanted.
Forever with her.
And he was finally ready to tell her.
“Alma, I was thinking we should move in together. We can find a new place or if you want to keep your condo, that’s fine. But I want to be with you forever.”
Her face contorted. “Is this some weird way of proposing? Not that romantic.”
“No, Alma. Of course not. If—I mean, when I propose, you’ll know it. But I want to live with you. I know you love your space, but I think we could be really happy.”
She clasped her hands around Jaime’s neck. “That sounds fabulous. And Tequila would love a stay-at-home dog dad.”
Ha. “I do work, you know.”
“I know. I kid. But you work from home, and I think it will be good for her.”
“Fine, pug dad it is.” He was getting used to that snorty dog of hers who shed everywhere and couldn’t walk more than a few blocks without overheating. “Is that a yes?”
“Yes, it is.”
Alma shed a tear that Jaime was certain was one of joy.
He didn’t feel the need to run away from her.
He didn’t feel the need to create some problem that didn’t exist.
He just felt peace. And that was the best feeling of all.
They poured another shot.
And in her bar filled with spicy tequila and sweet agave, two couples toasted to their future, family, and forever.