“It’s not my prized trophy. It always meant more to my dad than me. Take a closer look.”
She held it up and read the engraved plaque at the base. Instead of saying Leonides Leonardo Castorini, Valedictorian, it said, Tessa Montgomery Castorini, Number One in My Heart.
That ridiculous trophy made her cry. And not because she’d been desperate to win it so long ago. “You had it engraved?”
Leo shrugged. “Tony at the jewelry store did it really fast for me.”
“Okay, there’s more.” He pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket and started to read. “We’ve always competed with each other, but that’s because we’re equals. Family is always the most important thing—to both of us. We’ve agreed to help each other achieve our dreams. And…and somewhere along the way, we fell in love with each other.”
Now she was full-out bawling. “I was going to say that’s the most beautiful thing I’ve ever heard, but…those words sound really familiar.”
“It’s what you told our families at our wedding. It sounded like the perfect vows.”
He took her in his arms. “I love you, Tessa,” he said. “I always will. I screwed up because I didn’t tell you that. Actually, I’ve never told anyone that besides my family. But now, I swear, I’ll tell you every single day if you will just forgive me and give me a chance to show you I can do better.”
“I did a terrible thing by not trusting you.” She clutched his hands tightly. “I know you always believed in me. Because you’ve done nothing but support my dreams and make me think anything is possible. That’s been a great gift, because…I’ve come to believe it. And I love you, too.”
“I think that together we can accomplish just about anything.” He bent to kiss her, looking tenderly into her eyes. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him back, getting lost in the feel of his lips on hers, his big arms surrounding her tightly.
And that kiss…it was right. It was everything a kiss should be. Just like Leo was the right man for her.
“I forgot the most important thing,” he said a minute later.
“What’s that?”
“The space for your new patisserie.” He waved to the pile of dirt. “If you want it. I mean, after you go and become a famous pastry chef.”
“That’s the space for your restaurant expansion. I don’t want to take your—”
“No, Tessa. Listen—my dad was right. I don’t want the restaurant to be huge. I want to keep it friendly, quaint, and…and I’m going to be doing more delivery things, so I really don’t want the hassle of a bigger space. Plus we have the patio for tourist season. So—I like it just as it is.”
He pulled a menu out of his pocket.
“It’s a blank page.”
“Yeah. Well, I thought we could showcase your pastries.”
“In your menu?”
“Why not? Our customers can eat dessert and then go next door to get some more to take home.”
“You’re…” She was going to say ridiculous. Sweet. “Thank you, Leo.”
He looked a little hesitant. “Maybe you don’t see yourself ever coming back to Blossom Glen after your program is done…”
“Leo, I was stuck here, but it wasn’t because I was here. I was stuck in my mind. Stuck doing something that wasn’t my dream and not having any choice. But I love our town. And I love you. There’s nothing I want more than to come back and open my own pastry shop.” She clutched her heart. “Thank you. For—knowing me. For letting me be me. I—love you.”
“I love you too, Countess.”
Then right there in the parking lot, right alongside the backhoe, their lips met.
Leo picked up the giant trophy and raised it high, tossing her one of his magnificent smiles that couldn’t help but make her heart race and her knees go weak. “We’ll both be here waiting.”
Epilogue
December, one year later
It was nearly dark when Leo finally pulled off the expressway with the small rental van he’d used to help move Tessa’s stuff back from Chicago. She must’ve been exhausted from her week of finals, graduation, and the move, because she’d been sleeping most of the way home. He figured she needed it, so he let her snooze while he drove.
He was ecstatic that she’d graduated. She’d loved every single minute of pastry school. And he’d loved every minute of all those long Saturday-night drives after closing the restaurant that he’d driven to be with her, plus the other weekends that she managed to drive back to see him. One positive from all that time on the road: he’d taught her how to drive a stick shift. It was fine with him that she loved his ’vette—as long as she loved him more.
The restaurant was getting quite a reputation with its expanded, farm-fresh menu and carry-out dinner experiences. He guessed he’d learned a few things himself.
But finally, he was thrilled to be bringing Tessa back home so that their life together could finally begin.
And he had a few surprises in store for her.
She woke up when he turned off the highway onto the road that led them into town, yawning and glancing out the window. “We haven’t put our tree up yet, and it’s already December twenty-first,” she said as she rubbed her eyes. The flat Indiana fields were darkening, and farmhouses set off from the highway were dotted with Christmas lights. A fine sprinkling of snow covered the ground to make the holiday scenery even more perfect.
Leo looked over at her and smiled. “It’s not too late to get a tree.”
She smiled back. “It feels great to be almost home,” she said, suppressing another yawn.
He held Tessa’s hand across the seat as she watched the fields and soft hills roll by. “It feels great to have you home for good, sweetheart.” He stole a glance at her. She looked tired and, now that he was thinking about it, a little pale. “You okay?”
“Fantastic, now that I’m with you.”
That about summed it up for Leo, too, who continued to hold her hand as he drove. “I’ve been looking at the empty side of the bed for five months, and it’s been…lonely.”
“I really loved my time in Chicago,” she said, “but whenever I saw something or did something, I was always missing you being there to see or do it with me.”
“Our weekends together were pretty great.” He made a turn. They were close to town now, which made his pulse accelerate a little. “And we had some really good Sunday-morning goodbye sessions.”