“Sorry,” Luca added, biting his lip and darting a look at Dahlia and then London. “Didn’t mean to interrupt the interview.”
“No, it’s okay!” Dahlia assured him. “We can always edit later if we need to. Go on.”
“Well.” Luca swallowed, casting another uncertain glance at London’s filming phone, seeming surprised that it was now directed at him, even though he was one who’d spoken up. Emerson wanted to kiss him so badly that he had to bite the inside of his cheek to keep himself focused. “My family owns and operates Yaeger Seafoods. We’re based here, out of Greyfin Bay, but we practice sustainable fishing all along the Pacific coast, mostly salmon. Some steelhead sometimes from coastal rivers. Our main customer base are local restaurants.”
Luca’s gaze switched to Emerson.
“I’m sure we could connect you with some of the restaurants we work with, see what they might be able to offer.”
“That,” Dahlia said, swinging her focus from Luca to Emerson, “is awesome.”
“Yeah.” Emerson tried to take a deep breath. He didn’t know why he hadn’t thought to look deeper into Luca’s family’s business before, hadn’t fully contemplated all the ways his mission and their mission were the same. Hope was scratchingat his airways again, more persistent this time. Even if he knew it was easy to talk about these things, to throw ideas around like confetti, that so often things swirled into the gutter when it came to actual implementation. But still. Still. “That is awesome,” he agreed.
He turned to look into London’s phone directly, trying to rally all the charm he could muster.
“So keep your eyes open for that, Greyfin Bay.”
Fifteen minutes later, Dahlia was hugging him, exuding her thanks.
“This was so special, getting some alone time here with you guys to cap off the weekend. This wholeweekendwas so special.” She squeezed her hands together as she stepped back, as if she just couldn’t stand it. “Thank you again for your time.”
“Thankyou,” Emerson said. “It was special to me, too.”
London and Dahlia’s rental car had barely passed the line of trees at the edge of Emerson’s property when Luca turned to him and said, with feeling, “Let me help.”
Emerson gave him a wry look.
“Luca, it would be amazing if your family could help me make some connections with restaurants, but I don’t actually know if I’m ready to?—”
“No, I mean—yes, I’ll do that, whenever you’re ready for it. But I mean with the mail order stuff, so people could order your shelf-stable products online. My sister Dagny, she’s a senior in college and she’s majoring in graphic design; she’s already overhauled Yaeger Seafoods’ website and made it so much better. She could help me work on the farm’s so we could get ordering all set up, and I could figure out all the administrative parts of shipping. I could be in charge of the whole thing, so it wouldn’t take up any of your time.”
Color had risen in Luca’s cheeks as he’d talked, almost likehe was…nervous, at the same time that his eyes were intensely serious.
Before Emerson could respond, Luca kept talking.
“And I’d like to help bring more events here. Maybe not as big as this wedding was, but it was…nice. Seeing people have an important moment here, you know? Getting to be part of that. I could use my mom’s Greyfin Bay gossip tree to spread the word, let people know they can rent out the old barn, the wildflower field. I know it’d be a learning curve, probably; I don’t have experience in event planning but I could do my best. I could…ask Jayden for advice, maybe. But you’ve already put so much work into these spaces and—more people should see them. But you wouldn’t have to stress over it; I could take it on. I’d…like to try.”
When Luca finally stopped, taking a deep breath, Emerson was at a loss for words.
“Okay,” he eventually managed.
“Yeah?” Luca asked, eyes brightening.
“Yeah.” Emerson laughed then, the hope crawling out of his lungs, hanging onto all of his internal organs like barnacles. “To all of it. You can help all you fucking want, Luca.”
And then Emerson kissed him, because he could, because the wedding was over, the interview was over; it was allover.He was free now to do only this.
Luca pulled back, color still high in his cheeks.
“Oh shit,” he said, slightly breathless. “Speaking of the Yaegers. I was supposed to invite you to family dinner.”
Emerson’s eyebrows rose.
“Like, tonight?”
“Yeah.” Luca checked the time on his phone. “In, um. Like, forty-five minutes? But I can tell my mom you can’t; I know you’ve had a long day, and?—”
“Do not”—Emerson kissed him—“say no to Leah on my behalf.” Another kiss. “Ever.”
