Ale blushes, a sight that is rare on him. “I’ve passed the test of Phase Two!”
“Oh, heavens, really?” I jump into Ale’s neck and hug him tight to me. “That’s wonderful news.”
And it is. Phase One and Phase Two are the longest and hardest in the Fresh Start traineeship. Nathan designed it this way, so any candidates that get through them are truly motivated and forged for all the challenges that await them. After Phase Two, Alejandro will be able to start college classes in his chosen paths, Finance and Accounting, while integrating into the suitable department at AMEA. Yes, my little brother will be a number freak —who would have thought? He’s already helping me with bookkeeping for my studio, which is great because the earnings are so good, it’s hard to keep track of them.
I blink at Nathan.
My love can’t usually stop raving about his mentoring work, so I’m almost as familiar with what his mentees are doing as with my own dance students. It must’ve cost him a lot of self-discipline to hide Ale’s success. He must have done it so that he could surprise me.
My heart swells, and I snake an arm around Nathan’s waist. “Thank you for organizing this.”
Nathan gives a kiss to the tip of my nose. “You’re so welcome.”
“I’ll go tell everyone we’re ready to eat then,” my brother says and walks to the magnolia tree with hasty steps.
“So what do you think of it all? Power Kids did a good job with the square, right?” Nathan asks.
“A good job? No, it’s absolutely fabulous. As far as I can remember, this park has never been used by the inhabitants of my barrio. And look at it now! It’ll become the center of life, no doubt. Oh, Nathan.” I peer up at him. “Without you and your family, this couldn’t have happened. Thank you.”
Nathan grabs my hand and twirls me around so that I land face to face with him. “Eva, you’re mistaken. It’s you without whom this would never have been possible. You challenged me to become a better version of myself. It might’ve been my transformation that induced this change, but you prompted that in the first place.”
Nathan bends down to kiss me, but just before our lips meet, Murphy’s jovial voice calls out from behind us. “Hey, my two favorite people in the world, how is life going?”
He walks toward us holding hands with a smiling curly-haired woman, who must be Clarissa, his new girlfriend. I haven’t met her yet, so I quickly wiggle out of Nathan’s embrace and greet both of them properly.
While Clarissa and I chat about my dance school—apparently she would love to come and do a try-out course—the brothers speak about the latest police developments with Fernando’s gang.
My ex and his entire band moved to the closest nearby town shortly after Power Kids started with their project. Fernando’s gang was afraid their market would suffer due to the stronger community support and neighborhood surveillance initiatives in San Sebastian. But they didn’t count on the fact that in Lakewill there was already an established group of dealers. Fernando’s suppliers pulled their support from all the small-class criminals to avoid a war, so Fernando and his buddies were forced to steal drugs to sell. They got busted and arrested within a few months.
“Everyone, the burritos will get cold if we wait any longer.” Abuelita’s voice carries over to us and we stop our chatter.
“Let’s move over there before your grandmother gets upset.” Murphy winks. “She’s the kindest lady on earth, but she also takes the temperature of her burritos very seriously.”
Murphy and Clarissa start out, but I pull on Nathan’s hand to stay back.
“What?” His grey irises widen.
“This,” I whisper and lean close to him. “You didn’t think you could escape from it.” I moan when my mouth is on his.
“I would never want to, my love,” he says, closing the distance between us.
Our breaths unite in a delicious kiss that I’d love to prolong as much as I can, but I know Murphy is right. If there’s one thing that can bring my good-tempered grandmother to her limit, it’s when her cooking is served cold.
I saunter hand-in-hand to the table with Nathan.
While everyone gets busy with filling up their plates, I stay a few feet back and observe them.
I let my eyes wander from face to face, and silently thank all the wonderful people who played a direct or indirect role in my happiness with Nathan. As I observe Holly tenderly patting Nathan’s cheek, the realization that my relationship with Nathan is not only the best thing that happened to me, but probably the best thing that ever happened to his family too, makes its way into my mind.
I glance over to Alejandro. He boasts proudly about his future courses to Aunt Marjorie and Murphy, and I can’t suppress a smile. My love with Nathan changed our whole family for the better.
A rustling noise makes me look up.
A little squirrel sprints across a branch above my head. My smile is a full-stretched happy grin now. Perhaps this animal can’t speak, but if it could, I know what it would say. Sometimes a silly bet can have far-reaching consequences for an entire town. If it weren’t for our love story, San Sebastian could have never started on the road of becoming a safe and enticing place, even for the poorer inhabitants.
Suddenly my chest feels like bursting. And that’s when I know that if anyone asked me now what the first law of love should be, I’d instinctively answer my hard-earned but satisfying truth:
Always bet on love…
It doesn’t have to end here…
Do you want to see more of Eva and Nathan ?
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Law #2:
