“You call me your sun, but I’m the one orbiting around you, Leticia,” he says. “Always have, always will.”
“How dare you.” Tears prick my eyes as I read the words over and over, as if that will possibly change their meaning. “Tonight was supposed to be aboutmygrand gesture. How dare you one-up me like this.” I try for a dry chuckle, but it comes out wet and choked. His hand cups my cheek as the tears spill over.
“How long have you had this one, Julian?” I meet his gaze, staring into those deep brown eyes swimming in emotion. “How long?”
“After the second time you said it, I think,” he finally says after what feels like a long, agonizing moment of silence. “The day I told your brother I was in love with you for the first time. Not that he knew I was talking about you.” He shakes his head. “I wanted to kill him when he nearly spilled the beans at his birthday party. It would’ve been way too soon for you to know how I felt.”
“You’ve really loved me for that long?” I ask. “I mean, I know now there was never anyone else. It took a while for me to come around to Bella and Elena’s theory, that I’m the one you were telling my brother about all this time. I only started to believe it after our first third date, but—”You have always been my number one, Leticia.“I still can’t wrap my head around it.”
“I’ve been waiting my entire life to love you, Leticia. Or four long years, at the very least.”
“You barely knew me back then.”
“Maybe.” He beams. “But I knew enough to change that for good, didn’t I?”
He did. And even though I fought against him every step of the way at first, now I wouldn’t have it any other way.
“I love you too, Leticia,” he says. “More than you will ever know.”
I’m not so sure of that anymore. Now that I’m no longer oblivious, it’s hard to understand how I couldn’t see what was right in front of me this entire time. Then again, I’m stubborn. I always knew I’d be a hard person to love.
But Julian loves me anyway.
He loves me like it’s easy. Like I’m not hardheaded and stubborn and endlessly frustrating. He’s everything I’ve ever wanted in a partner and more. So much more.
“I know, Julian,” I tell him. “It may have taken me a while to figure it out, but I know.”
And I’m never going back.
EPILOGUE
Leti
Three Months Later
How does one night make up for twelve years of missed birthday celebrations?
Well, if you’re me, it might involve a ten-pound coffee cake, being surrounded by the people you love and the romantic partner you never thought you’d have renting out an abandoned arcade to hold the event. The building is like stepping back in time with its neon star-print carpet and blue lighting.
“Were you surprised?”
Julian knows good and well I wasn’t. I’ve been on to him ever since I overheard him yell at my parents back in November. Still, when I pictured my first birthday party in over a decade, I never could’ve imagined all the stops Julian has pulled to make the day special. We spent the day out on the lake and he gave me my birthday present early. I scared off every bird within a mile radius when I squealed in delight at the first sight of that Wonderstruck logo. He still won’t tell me how much he spent on it.
“Yes and no.”
His arms come around my back, pulling me into the warmth of his body.
“I can’t believe you did all this for me. I’m gonna playPac-Manuntil my eyes bleed.”
“Well, I didn’t do this all on my own,” he says. “You still have no idea how loved you are, do you, Leti?”
I already know I have Julian’s stubborn optimism to thank for my parents’ cooperation in helping plan this party. They didn’t say much when they wished me a happy birthday earlier tonight, but I’d recognize their cooking anywhere. The real coup de grâce was biting into a taco and realizing the tortillas were homemade. I don’t know how Julian did it—I only wish I was there to see the looks on my parents’ faces when he enlisted their (begrudging, no doubt) help.
“You sure you can’t tell me how you convinced my parents to help?” I bat my eyes at him, hoping to charm him into giving me a straight answer.
“It wasn’t that hard.” He shrugs, looking smug. “All it took was a near stranger making them feel guilty for excluding and mistreating their daughter. Boy, they did not like hearing that.”
“So you’re saying you guilted them into catering.” He hums against my hair. “And paying?”
