Page 52 of Along Came Amor
Maybe not seamlessly. Roman remembered Mikayla at ten, a know-it-all who thought all adults were idiots. As if on cue, Yadiel came out then, wearing only tighty whities and flip-flops.
Ashton and Jasmine sighed in unison.
“When are we eating?” the boy asked.
“Soon.” Ashton released Jasmine and hustled Yadiel back into the house. “Get dressed. You don’t want Tío to think you were raised in a cave.”
Yadiel chortled at that, but he let Ashton bring him inside.
“He talks about you a lot, you know.” Smiling, Jasmine joined Roman at the grill.
“Ashton?”
“Yadi.”
“Does he?”
“He remembers every gift you’ve ever given him, and he asks when we’re going to see you again.”
Warmth suffused Roman’s chest, and it wasn’t from the grill. “That so?”
Ashton came back out alone. “I promised we’d all play Mario Kart after dinner if he put on pants.”
Jasmine groaned. “I always lose.”
While Ashton monitored the grill, they sat on the patio, enjoying the cool breeze as they chatted. Roman filled them in on the latest developments with Casa Donato—his ideas for expansion, the connections he was making, and the upgrades in the distillery.
In the back of Roman’s mind, he was hoping to bring Ashton on as a celebrity spokesperson, or maybe even as a partner. But he didn’t want to come on too strong.
Eventually, they also discussed the wedding.
“Are you going to use an event planner?” Roman asked. “Bellísima has an excellent wedding planner attached to the resort.”
Jasmine pursed her lips. “Probably. But I still want to be involved, you know?”
Ashton raised his eyebrows but didn’t look up from the grill. “It’s a lot of work,” he said in a mild tone that made Roman think they’d covered this topic before.
“Turning all the decisions over to a planner makes it impersonal.” Jasmine shifted like the idea alone made her uncomfortable. “I want it to feel like an intimate family gathering, not a flashy celebrity wedding.”
“An intimate gathering with two hundred and fifty people,” Ashton muttered under his breath.
“And that’s just my immediate family,” she said with a laugh.
When Ashton declared the food was done, Roman was surprised by the way they all leapt into action as a unit, each of them working together and fulfilling their roles without debate. Yadiel set the table with barely any prodding, even going so far as to fold the paper napkins beneath the utensils, and Ashton piled food from the grill onto the serving dishes Jasmine brought him. While she filled a pitcher with filtered water and opened a bottle of seltzer, Ashton and Roman carried the food into the dining room and set it out on trivets.
Seeing the three of them together was fascinating. They didn’t have a normal life, by any means. Jasmine and Ashton were famous actors who worked long hours, and Yadi traveled with them, studying with a team of tutors in person or online. But despite the unusual structure, they’d formed a family.
The boy’s bond with Jasmine was undeniable. And when Roman looked at Ashton, he didn’t see the party guy he’d once known. There was a steadiness about his friend that hadn’t been there before, as if Jasmine balanced his ambition with her compassion. From the way Ashton focused all his attention on hisfiancée and his son, he looked like a man who had everything he’d ever wanted.
An uneasy feeling spread in Roman’s gut as he wondered if maybe, in his quest to have it all, there was something important he’d missed along the way.
Chapter 15
Damaris appeared in the doorway of Ava’s classroom. “Ready?”
Ava opened her desk drawer and grabbed her purse, her jacket, and a small yellow and white polka dot umbrella. “Let’s go. I’m starving.”
The two women left the small brick building that housed Alliance Arts and Science Charter School and hustled to the shawarma place two blocks away, determined to make the most of their lunch break. After collecting the dishes Damaris had ordered in advance, they sat at one of the cafe tables in the small restaurant and dug in.
