I’d had a plan but it was fucking stupid and selfish. I came here with the intention to talk her into coming back to New York where we could go back to the balls-to-the-wall, unending grind of our demanding careers. I thought what I wanted was a woman who could keep up with the grueling pace of my life. Whose own life was perhaps more demanding than mine, and yet she thrived.

But now I knew how wrong I had gotten all of it. How high a price Alba paid to keep up with the life and obligations she had in New York. Now I knew what she needed was a man who could see that what she carried on her shoulders would eventually break her. The plan I got here with was no good at all, for her or for me, and I needed to make a new one, before I lost her.

“All right, but I need help,” I finally said, standing up as Alba’s best friend stared at me suspiciously. “What I had to give her was no good; I need to come up with something better.”

“That’s what I’m talking about.” Julia rubbed her hands and Rocco grinned at me. “You’re going to have to think fast though, because she’s planning to go back to the city soon.” I winced at that, but already could see some of the pieces of the plan coming together.

“I’m going to need a real estate broker,” I told my new allies. If Alba needed tangible evidence I was in it for the long haul here in Dallas, I would give it to her. Julia winked and threw her arm around my shoulder.

“Don’t worry, with your liquidity and my skills, we’ll have the grovel of the century squared away in no time.”

Alba

“Hey, hon,” Julia said in that “very careful” tone she’d been using with me since I’d shown up at her apartment after the fight with Theo. “There’s someone here to see you.” I turned around too fast, my heart giving a sad little flutter of hope. But Julia’s eyes darkened, as though she’d realized her mistake. “It’s not him, babe,” she said regretfully but then I saw my mom’s face pop up next to her.

“Mami! What are you doing here?” I screamed as my mother walked into the bedroom and Julia slipped out, closing the door behind her.

“I came to see you,” my mother told me as she pulled me into a tight hug. She was shorter than me and felt more fragile every year. But I knew better than to underestimate the strength in those small bones. “When your daughter moves to a new city you go see her.” She lifted her face to me and ran her fingers over my brow, my cheeks, as I tried not to cry.