BONUS CHAPTER

Cara

“BUT WHY DO you have to decompose that number, sweetie?” I ask Katherine as she walks me through her math problem step by step. This school year has been so hard for our community, but the littles show me every day how resilient they are, so I keep showing up for them.

“Because I can’t subtract seven from five. So if I decompose the two in the ten’s place and give the ten to five, then I have fifteen, and then I can subtract,” she says proudly as she shows me exactly what she means. Afterward, she finishes her subtraction problem and beams with pride when she shows me her work.

“Ah ha! Fantastic work, sweetie girl! Kiss your brain.” She does exactly as I ask, bringing her hand to her lips and kissing them softly before raising them to her forehead. I clean up our space and stand, offering her my hand. When she takes it, we skip, counting by twos as I walk her to her classroom.

“Hi, Ms. Zabana. I’m back!” she shouts to Allie, who’s sitting at her small group table working with other children. I ten out of ten recommend working with your best friend— and living in the same town too. I will never get tired of seeing Allie happy in the same place that makes me happy too.

“Hi, chickadee. Come on in. We’re about to rotate, so go to your desk. We have ten minutes before dismissal.” She smiles at her before giving her small group some instruction I can’t hear over the liveliness of her classroom. We have so many good teachers in Baker, but Allie is exceptional. I’m always in awe of her classroom management and how homey it feels here.

“Ms. Thompson, I have a question for you,” she says, getting up from her white rolling chair and walking up to me. “Hey, are you leaving early today, or can we go have coffee later?”

“I have to leave early today. Manny has meetings all day and Foster has a vet appointment he can’t miss. Facetime and wine tonight with the other girls?” I suggest instead.

“Sounds good! Text later. Love you.”

“Love you too, bye! Bye, class!” I shout as I walk past her classroom door. The empty halls are eerily silent, the teachers engaged in their classrooms and nobody circulating the halls. I don’t have to grab anything because I was running late—per usual—this morning, so I left my bag in the van. I step out of the double staff doors and pull my phone from my back pocket to find a text message from Manny.

Manny: Hey, sunshine. Meet me by the bus.

Meet me by the bus? This man, I swear. I look up to find his car parked next to mine, his hottie self leaning against his door, his ankles crossed, a coffee in hand. My heart skips a beat every time I see him, even after a year together.

“Hey, hotshot. What are you doing here?”

“Left work early to spend the afternoon with you and Foster. Here, cafecito para ti.”

“Thank you! That was so kind. You didn’t have to do that,” I say as I try to walk past him and get my bag from the van.

“Looking for this?” He holds the purse in his other hand, dangling it in front of me. “You need to stop leaving your bus unlocked, Carita. Someone’s going to steal it.”

“Nobody’s going to steal this beauty. And it’s a van, not a bus,” I sass, moving to give him a quick kiss. I can’t manage to keep my hands off him for more than a few minutes, but considering we’re in the school parking lot, I have to keep it PG-13.

“We will never agree on this one. Come on, hop in. Let’s go get our doggy.” He walks behind me as we round the car to the opposite side, his hand on my lower back. He opens the door for me, forever the gentleman, and after I slide in, he closes it, running around to the driver's side.

“Mmm, this is perfect,” I whisper with my eyes closed as I sip from my cup, savoring every bit of the perfect latte. Gifts being his love language has its perks, especially once he learned that expensive shit doesn’t do it for me but my favorite latte or a giant bucket of snacks for my students does. He’s so good at showing me he loves me with more than words, and I will forever be thankful. He’s the true definition of if he wanted to, he would, and I’m here for it.

“I’m glad you approve. Windows up or down?”

“Down, as always.” I fish my sunglasses from my purse and lay my head on Manny’s shoulder. He hands me the phone to choose the music, and after I shuffle Cara’s playlist—one he made for me with my favorite songs a few months ago—I ask, “How was your day?”

“It was fine, but it’s a lot better now. Lots of pointless meetings and getting stuff ready for Lucia going on vacation tomorrow.”

“How are you going to survive without her?”

“There’s only person I can’t survive without, and she’s right next to me.” He kisses the top of my head as he drives toward our house. We don’t live far from the school, so we’ll be there in no time.

“I love you.”

“Not more than I do you, Carita.” He makes a left to turn into our driveaway, and the closer he gets to the front of the house, the clearer it is that Foster, our Double Doodle, is chomping at the bit to come out. Manny, it seems, can’t get out of the car fast enough to see him. I never thought the day would come when Manny Zabana, in his suit and tie and expensive shoes, would be running toward the front porch, opening the door, and letting our dog tackle him to the ground.

I step out of the car and shout, “I told you that was bad manners!”

“I don’t give a fuck about manners if I get to be received like this every time I come home. Right, Foster? Who cares about manners?” he coos in the softest voice he knows how to make, the one he saves just for him.

I shake my head, looking at the goofballs until Foster notices I’m here too and runs to me, lowering his head by my hands so I can pet him. He sure knows which parent likes to be tackled into the ground and which one doesn’t. I let him in the back and slide into my seat, thinking about how lucky I am this is the life I get to live: a slow-paced life with a man who loves me more than I ever thought possible in my dream home with the cutest dog. I get to do exactly the job I want in the town I love, and I don’t think there’s anything else I want in the world than this, right here, right now.

We spend so much time in life wondering what will come next, waiting for the next shoe to drop, trying to achieve the next goal. Sometimes, we forget to be thankful for what we’ve already achieved, to be proud of what we’ve already overcome, and to appreciate the calm between the storms. So, I take a moment and soak it all in.

I must be smiling, because when Manny gets back in the car, he smiles at me and asks, “Why are you smiling?”

“Just because,” I whisper, tilting my head back and smiling wider.

“I’ll never get tired of seeing it.”

“See what?”

“The most beautiful smile I’ve ever seen, Carita.”

“It’s all because of you, Manny,” I reply, bringing my hand to his thigh and squeezing gently.

“Well then, I guess we’re even because you bring all the smiles I have in me.” He winks my way, making me feel warm and fuzzy inside and reminding me I deserve to be loved wholeheartedly and unconditionally. I did learn I don’t have to be full of sunshine all the time and can let all my feelings out, happy or not. With Manny, though, it’s so easy to just feel the first. Happiness. Bliss. Love.

I lay my head back down on his shoulder, and we mumble the lyrics to the Taylor Swift song playing as we drive down the road, both of us at peace.