Chapter Twenty-Seven
David
Portugal,August, a year later
Only I would choose to propose to the love of my life on the hottest day of the year. On the beach, with not a square inch of shade nearby, I was hot, sweaty, and nervous as all hell.
The memory of the day we finally declared our love for each other still made my heart skip a beat. I still couldn’t believe that my life had changed so much in less than twelve hours—if you exclude the out-of-this-world lovemaking.
Joel and I had spent three days holed up in my apartment. And no, it wasn’t because we were making out like rabbits. We’d actually talked. A lot.
I’d recounted how my aunt and uncle came to the apartment to check up on me and how, at nearly my breaking point, I told them I was gay. The parts about Vítor were a little harder to remember, so once we rejoined the outside world, we’d gone to see my uncle so he could tell us about his brother.
It was an emotional conversation since it brought back a lot of painful memories for my uncle. He blamed himself for not being there for his brother. For the first time in my life, I’d also heard more about their desire to have a child. I’d fulfilled that role when my mom died, but I could see they still wanted someone who was truly theirs.
When we talked about the family, I asked them about my dad. They’d said my mom had never told them who it was. They’d used almost the same words Avó Violeta had used. They didn’t know if she’d been in a relationship, but Vítor might know because they were best friends. That had been the end of it.
During those three days, we also tried to figure out how we were going to make our relationship work. I didn’t want to leave my aunt and uncle when we’d just started rebuilding our relationship, and Joel didn’t want to stop teaching.
We’d ended up having our first fight as a couple. We’d sulked, each in our own corner of the apartment, but neither of us left, and when we’d realized how ridiculous we both were, we tested how good our make-up sex was.
I’d declared we were going to have to fight at least once a week. Joel grabbed my recipe notebook and started making notes about fighting topics. The first one was that he must never, ever touch my recipe notebook.
In reality, it was a slow process, which we took a day at a time.
Joel took a leave of absence from teaching, initially with the premise that he was going to research how he could set up a student exchange program. He missed teaching, but once word got out, a lot of the English Language students at the university came to him for tutoring.
I’d kept in touch with two of the young guys from Isaac’s center. They’d attended a few of my classes, so when I’d asked if they’d like a job at my café, they jumped at the chance.
My aunt and uncle worked too much and deserved a little break. I hadn’t noticed how much they worked because I was doing the same, but when I took a step back, I realized how much of our lives we’d devoted to the café. We’d built a successful business, but it was time to reap the rewards.
It took me two months to train one of the new guys to take over the production of my custard tarts full time. I’d had to threaten the life out of him to make sure he wouldn’t share my recipe, but I’d seen how much he enjoyed the work, and he seemed loyal. He also didn’t want to face the wrath of my aunt when she was angry.
After those two months, I took Joel to New York. He'd missed Max like mad, and he was moping so much I’d surprised him with tickets. That earned me a lot of naked sexy time.
We stayed in New York for another two months during which I took a few courses and expanded my blog to include world foods. Joel’s grandmother’s Hamptons house had the most amazing kitchen, so I used it for the food production filming.
I’d also become closer to Max. He still wouldn’t tell me what had happened between him and Isaac, but he’d asked us if he could rent Joel’s apartment for a few months. He said he was feeling burned out from work and had decided to take a sabbatical. I had a feeling there was a different reason for Max wanting to return to Portugal.
By the time we came back home, Joel’s exchange program was in its earlier stages where they were getting students on either side of the pond through the application process to find the best candidates.
Things slowed down a bit for Joel after that, which meant a lot of quality time for us, especially as I didn’t need to be at the café as much. He became very restless. I could see he was happy, but there was something missing.
One day when I saw a notepad on the floor on his side of the bed, I asked him about it, and he told me he’d been writing lots of notes and thoughts since our trip around the country with our moms’ journal.
I asked if he could turn it into a novel. He laughed and dismissed it, but a week later, I woke up in the middle of the night to find him with his nose in his laptop on the love seat in the living room, typing furiously. I made him a cup of coffee, kissed him, and went back to bed.
Two months later, he had the first draft. He shared it with a few college friends who helped him with editing and suggestions for a cover.
We’d been to the Sanctuary a few times, both to feel closer to his parents and because it was the best place to watch the sunset. I took a photo of the beach at the bottom of the cliff and asked if it could be part of the cover since it was such a special place.
Joel loved the idea and then decided to add a photo of our car too. We’d decided we’d eventually need a more reliable car, but the Citroen hadn’t let us down since that night in Évora, and it was our precious link to both our moms, so we weren’t in any rush.
The cover had turned out perfect, andMade In Portugalwas only a few weeks from being released. Joel was already working on a second novel, and I couldn’t be more proud of him.
Which was the reason why I decided to propose. We’d been together just over a year, and as far as I could see, there was no reason to delay it.
We hadn’t exactly talked about marriage, but I knew it was an important step for Joel whenever he’d talked about his parents. My mom never got married, so I wanted to make her proud, and the thought of having Joel as my husband made me feel all kinds of happy inside.
