He examines her, then breaks into a huge smile. “I’m the brother of the new dean of students at the University of Michigan, aren’tI?”
“¡Ya tú sabes!” she says, and now he picks her up and spins her around. “Even a blackout couldn’t stop me from nabbing the gig.”
“I’m so proud of you that I won’t even give you a hard time for not calling me the second you got the offer. Tell me everything—including why Dane knew you’d be in town before I did,” he says as he pulls out a chair for her.
“I promise I will, but first, do you mind if I stay at Dane’s tonight?”
Miguel frowns, but he quickly recovers. “Of course not.”
“I have to return to Ann Arbor to find a place to rent, but I’ll be back in time for the reopening before I fly to Puerto Rico.”
“You told her about the reopening?” Miguel says to Dane.
“I pick up my cellphone when people call,” Miriam says pointedly.
“There’s something else we want to talk to you about, though,” says Dane, looking at Miriam.
“Please tell me this isn’t some sort of intervention.”
“Nope,” says Miriam. She turns to Dane. “You tell him.”
He swallows hard. “So, you know how I bought the building?”
“Yes…” says Miguel nervously.
“Don’t sweat—I’m still all in. But I’m gonna try to spend some time in Ann Arbor, too. Just a couple days a week.”
“With my sister, I take it,” says Miguel, but he doesn’t sound upset.
“We’d like to get to know each other better, see where this thing might go,” Miriam says shyly, and Dane nods.
“Beth’s ready to come back, so you can give her some of my hours, and my shares. ’Cause I’ll need to cut back on my workload—if it’s okay. I want to be there for you.”
Miguel blinks hard. “Like I said, you have been this whole time. It’s okay for you to take care of yourself, too.”
Dane beams. “You’re still my BFF, and I hope you know I’ve got your back for life. It’s just that I’m ready for something a little different. So, sometimes you’re gonna need to pick up the phone when you want to talk ’cause I can’t barge in on you from Ann Arbor.”
Miguel looks back and forth between them; I can tell thatoveractive brain of his is working hard to process all of this. And then he starts to cry.
“Oh no—are you okay?” says Miriam, reaching across the table for his hand. “We didn’t want to upset you. You’ve been through so much, and this probably seems so sudden.”
“No, that’s not it,” says Miguel, wiping his eyes. “Even if it is sudden, Amelia always said that when you know, you know. I’m not upset at all.” He wipes his cheeks with the back of his palm. “I’m…really happy. It just hit me that you’re going to be here—well, notherehere, but only a couple hours away, in the same state as me. I’ll get to see you all the time.” He sniffs, then regards Dane. “Provided this guy doesn’t keep you too occupied.”
Dane tugs at his hair, which looks like Miguel just ran the vacuum over it. “I would never.”
Miriam’s dabbing at her eyes now, too. “The offer was good, but more than anything, I wanted us to be together, Miguelito. We can see each other on the weekends and celebrate birthdays and Thanksgiving at your house. We could even go to Puerto Rico for Christmas and teachgringohere how to makecoquito,” she says, tilting her head toward Dane.
He grimaces. “Is that made of frogs?”
“Dios mío,” Miguel groans. “We’ve got our work cut out for us. So…you two are serious about each other.”
Miriam smiles at Dane. “We’ll see.”
“Yo soy locofor this beautifulborinqueña!” Dane kisses her neck, and she giggles.
“It’s ‘estoy,’querido,” she says, still grinning.
Tears are running down Miguel’s cheeks, but he’s smiling, too. “Two of my favorite people together. I don’t know what could be better than that.”
