Tiburón was such a great dude.
A little over two hours later, Enrique exited from the freeway. The gravel road to the farm tore up his tires, but he didn’t care.
He pulled into the driveway. Two men walked over to their door. Enrique jumped out and embraced one.
Tío Jorge held his nephew tight. “I’m so glad you came to see me.”
Enrique finally pulled away and studied his uncle. His face was hardened by the sun and his full head of hair was now gray. “I just apologize for not doing it sooner. My brothers couldn’t make it but plan to come up together later in the month.”
“I can’t wait.”
Tiburón and his tío Tomás walked toward the house.
As it turned out, both of their uncles were friends and had even worked on a farm together for years. Unfortunately, Tiburón’s uncle had some pretty severe health problems. Enrique offered to fundraise for his health care and so did Julieta, even though he wasn’t her uncle—he was Tiburón’s father’s brother. But Tiburón insisted on doing it on his own and had raised enough funds and scheduled him appointments at Stanford Hospital. They ran a bunch of tests, put him on new medications, and he was doing great.
Tío Jorge grabbed four bottles of Pacifico Clara beer and handed them to his friend, Enrique, and Tiburón.
They sat on the wraparound porch in front of Tío Jorge’s house.
He raised his bottle. “¡Salud! To family.”
“Salud,” they said in unison. They clinked all the necks of the bottles, and the four men drank the night away under the sunset.
Chapter Thirty-Four
Shortly after leaving San Diego, Carolina had returned to Santa Mariaand had found a small place in town to live while she figured out her next steps. She had spent the last few months working on herself. She’d found a therapist and had been going to weekly sessions, dealing with her relationship with her father. After he still refused to talk to her, Carolina had made the difficult decision to cut emotional ties with him—for now. She held hope he would one day come around. The good news was his health was stable. She had ultimately decided it was in everyone’s best interests to deed the farm to her father but had first refinanced it and received a hefty sum.
And she was at peace with that decision.
She was still talking to Blanca and Adela on the sly and hoped to reunite with her other sisters soon. Blanca was still dating Tiburón, though it was a long-distance relationship. Blanca hoped that he was going to propose, but Carolina urged her sister to take the relationship slow.
“And Downward Dog,” the instructor on the Zoom video said.
Carolina placed her hands on the floor. Instantly, her aunt’s dog Siete licked her face.
“Ugh!” She collapsed on the floor in a heap. Yoga was definitely still not for her.
She closed the Zoom chat when one new email notification popped up and she opened it and—yes.
An email from the real estate agent.
The strawberry farm in Carlsbad was officially hers.
She clicked through to look at the photos of the property one more time. There was a tiny cottage among the fields of strawberries. Sun-hatted tourists were dotted along the rows, picking lush red berries to take home. And beyond that, acres and acres of space, where Carolina planned to plant tejocotes in the future.
She already loved all her new employees, and they were excited for the changes she planned to make to the farm. They would be using organic pesticides, and she would provide health care for all the workers. And they were all getting substantial raises.
Things would be perfect.
Well, almost perfect.
Her heart twinged as she closed her laptop. There was still the matter of Enrique to sort out.
She had never given him a chance. She had used him as an excuse to blow up her life.
But after the gift of time, she was certain that even though their timing was terrible, the emotions she felt for him were unforgettable. He was a wonderful man.
Carolina loved him. She was sure of it.
