Page 9 of Love or Leave

"My heart is fine,” Antonio said. “I want her back."

His mom pulled Maria's hand from hers and started toward the door. "Good," she said, smiling widely. "I'll go get an invitation now and deliver it to her myself," she said.

She'd made it almost to the door when she stopped and turned. "Maria, change the seating plan so Tonio is sitting with his wife for dinner."

Maria's jaw hit the floor as she watched their mother walk out the front door, but Antonio was feeling lighter than air.

His house was only a few doors down from Maria’s and their parents’. Hopefully Fran was home and would be excited to get the invitation—hopefully she would understand this was a way for them to get together and reconcile.

Hopefully she'd accept.

"This is going to be a fucking nightmare."

Antonio rolled his eyes at Maria’s warning as the tightness in his chest eased. This wasn’t going to be a nightmare. This was going to be a new beginning.

Now he'd just have to hope and pray that Fran would give them another chance. They could go to therapy and start being honest with each other about where they went wrong, so he could fix it, and they could move on.

"This is a good thing," he said, standing from the table and squeezing his sister's shoulder. "Be happy for me."

Maria closed her eyes and sighed, then gave him a fake smile.

"That the spirit," Antonio said with a grin, then made his way to the living room to focus on his niece and her birthday party.

But after saying hi to his two younger sisters, their boyfriends, and his brother-in-law, who was on the floor playing a game with Sophie, he fell into introspection again. It was hard not to feel hopeful that Fran would come to the event.

He wanted so badly for this to be the beginning of the end.

three

Cara pulled her knitted sweater tight around her chest as she dashed from her car into Keller's pub. The temperature had dropped that morning, dipping below zero for the first time in the season, and she hadn't yet pulled her winter parka out from the back of her closet.

It nearly killed her to leave her warm bedroom, but she was on a mission now, and it couldn't wait any longer.

She stepped out of the cold, dark wind and into the warmth of Willow's brewery. The moment she entered, Jer looked up and smiled.

Perfect.

He waved her toward him with one hand as he filled a glass with another.

She made her way over and hopped onto one of the tall stools that lined the bar in front of him. "Is Max here?"

He narrowed his eyes and tilted his head to the side. "Not yet, why?"

Cara shoulders relaxed. She was happy she would have time to talk to Jer alone without having to hear her brother's opinion on the matter. "I need a favour."

"Name it," he said, leaning an elbow on the bar toward her.

"I need you to come to a concert with me this Sunday."

Jer waited, then his forehead unwrinkled and he stood up straight. "That's it?"

"Yeah."

"Why don't you want Max to know?" he asked with narrowed eyes.

She rubbed her hands over the tops of her thighs. "It's because of—"

"Cooper."

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