Page 65 of All I Want Is Love
“It’s not because of Hector,” she says, making me blush. She probably gets that question asked a lot, and most people probably believe she moved here because she married. “I loved the job at first, but it’s stressful and draining.” She pauses. “Then my mom died, and I just wanted to change things.”
“Then you met Hector?” I ask.
“No,” she grins. “I worked on a cruise ship for a while, then on a naval ship that researched rare coral species. Because of bad weather, we had to stop at a shark-infested coast in Australia. That’s where I met Hector.”
“And then you moved here?”
“Not immediately. Hector and I did long distance first. Eventually, I met his family. That’s when I wanted to settle down.” She chuckles. “His mom is the sweetest, and she was so welcoming of me. She told me she thought her son would never find a woman.”
I snort. “No way.”
“Yeah, said, while we were long distance, she thought he made me up.” She shakes her head. “Hector is funny, smart and emotionally available. When you have gone through a toxic relationship once, you really know what you truly value in a partner, and he had it all.”
“And West Sunhaven is surprisingly fun for a small town,” I add.
“Right?” she exclaims. “And when it does feel too small at times, I will just travel and visit my family. But I like it here.”
“Me too,” I admit.
“You were a city boy?”
“Yeah, big city boy,” I say. “But I figured it wasn’t really for me.”
“What happened?” she asks.
For a moment, I waver, then I swallow thickly, deciding to go for half the truth. “I guess I landed myself in a severe burnout.”
“Marketing?”
“Yeah, with a focus on graphic design.”
“Project managers and marketing department,” she muses. “They really burnt through those colleagues in my old company. I never want to return.”
I think of my old job, of the suits and coffees, and the small talk, of the office I shared with four colleagues. I think of the dinner parties, the deadlines, the secret hookups… and the accusations. My issue wasn’t truly with the job or even with my boss, but with everything else. “Me neither,” I say. “I guess part of me changed.”
It’s when I say it that I figure it’s true. 'Old‘ Leo loved the corporate world and the parties, the projects and even the stress, and that’s fine. It’s okay that I liked it, and that it was part of my world once, but it’s also okay that I needed a change and found something new for me.
“So, you are not here temporarily?”
“I want to stay,” I say, surprising myself by how confident I sound. “I want to stay here,” I repeat, my chest feeling warm all of a sudden. I have friends here, people who accept me, Aspen is here, Soren is here, and I might have found a way back to my creativity.
“I guess a certain dark-haired vet will be happy about that.”
My cheeks heat up in embarrassment. “Well… I… what?”
“Soren and you are a thing. We all know.” She laughs. “The whole town is talking.”
“Of course they are!”
“We all like Soren,” she says. “And we like you. We are happy for both of you.”
Obviously, they all know. It’s a fucking small town, and Soren and I weren’t exactly subtle. Fortunately, Barkley saves me from my embarrassment. He finds a humongous stick, deciding to carry it around and almost knocking over two passersby and three Christmas trees.
Five hours later, Valentina and I are back in town with a van full of Christmas trees. Hector, Soren and Aspen come to help unload and set everything up, while Robin provides us with hot chocolate and cookies.
“Should I put it here?” Aspen asks me while handling one of the mid-sized trees.
“No, that one needs to be next to the fountain,” I say.
