“Oh, I still am. It was Gabriel, actually. He was just leaving Manila, and I had to make you stay until he got here. And he said he just arrived.”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
“So,” Kira said, holding up her phone like she was making a big deal of replying to Gabriel’s message. “What should I tell him?”
What indeed. Sari’s heart was beating a little too quickly for her to think properly. But already she wanted so badly to hold him in her arms. To kiss him, and tell him that they were going to be fine.
“I’ll be upstairs,” Sari said, and if pressed to repeat what she had just said, she would find it impossible. She didn’t exactly know what her heart was doing. Beating still, probably, but in an erratic kind of way. In a way that made her palms sweat and her knees weak. “You go ahead.”
She needed to make coffee. Her grandmother always told her gifts made hard conversations just a little easier.
How could she not see it before? Well, because he drank coffee that came in a sachet, that’s why. But she’d figured it out, exactly what he would want. Something a little childish, but deliciously dark and sweet.
“Sari?” Kira asked, reaching over to touch Sari’s wrist. “You sure?”
“Yes,” Sari replied, and her cheeks were already hurting because she was smiling so much. “I’m sure.”
Sari wiped her palms on her apron and left the rest of her cleaning to the staff, practically running upstairs to the lab, floating on air, so excited that she missed a step and banged her knees on the stairs.
“OW.”
“Oh my God, are you okay?” Warm hands touched her, and Sari looked up just in time to see Gabriel’s concerned face, checking for cuts, for bleeding, bruising, anything. He held up three fingers.
“Quick, how many fingers am I holding up?”
“I’m fine.” Sari shrugged him off, but it was a struggle to get up those stairs with a straight face, her knee was on fire. “Ate Nessie told me you were in Manila.”
“Well, I do run a business in Lipa,” he said, closing the door behind him and following her to the counter, where Sari was overcome with the urge to make coffee. She was already firing up her Slayer and grinding her beans, excited because she had figured it out. Gabriel’s favorite. “My family wants to come over to the house for New Year, so I thought I would bake ahead.”
“You went home,” Sari said. “How was it?”
“Rocky as hell at first,” Gabriel admitted. “There were tears. Mostly from me.”
“You’re such a softie.”
“I missed you, Sari,” he said gently. Sari smiled back at him, because she felt like she was in Groundhog Day. She’d lived this moment before, and could live it again over and over, and each time, her heart would skip a beat, and she would completely forget that her knee was throbbing because she was so happy to see him. “But I’m not sorry I pursued the mall deal. Or, well, that Santi pursued the mall deal. He is very good at his job.”
“I agree.” Sari nodded. She walked over to her roasted beans for the day and picked up the darkest of the beans, tiny little things that shone like bits of onyx, until she put them in the grinder for a quick, coarse grind.
“You agree?” Gabriel asked, as if completely confused. “What do you mean?”
“I mean, I’m sorry I tried to stop you from getting what you wanted,” Sari told him, her brows furrowing as her happiness gave way to a bit of guilt. “And that I didn’t properly tell you how I felt about it. I should work on talking about how I feel more.”
“I know, but you did tell me,” Gabriel insisted. “I was the one who didn’t listen, when I should have.”
“I should have trusted that you were going to stay with me if you wanted to. But I really was worried about the Laneways.”
“Don’t be!” Gabriel shook his head, practically jumping out of his seat. “I called Santi yesterday.”
“Oh.”
“I wanted to choose you, Sari. I wanted to show you that I wanted to stay.”
“Oh, Gab, you didn’t...”
“Santi told me about the Lai Group’s plans,” he continued, and Sari could see he was practically thrumming with excitement, before he turned on his heel and walked to the direction of the fire escape, opening the door and propping it up with a chair. A cool breeze swept into the room.
Then he disappeared for a brief moment to open the fire escape door to the bakery, and kept it open too. He retrieved something from his kitchen and walked back to Sari like he’d never been gone in the first place. “City hall was worried about competition between the mall and the Laneways, so they agreed to fund the building of a bridge between the entrance of the Laneways and the mall. As long as the Luzes agree, and I imagine they will, the Laneways and the mall can stay together.”
He placed a white box with bright, gold lettering stamped on it on the counter next to him, a red ribbon wrapped around the box like a gift. Sari was sure she could smell dark brown sugar, walnuts and chocolate. And she was pretty sure it was coming from that box. But Gabriel was saying so many things she could barely focus.
“That’s all well and good, but I still convinced Santi to defer our move for at least two years,” Gabriel said, quickly untying the box like he couldn’t wait to show her what was inside. “I want more time with you, Sari. I want to be here. I’m staying. But not forever.”
She released the coffee from the chamber, and the coarsely ground beans smelled incredible even from where she was standing. Gabriel tilted his head curiously at the coffee as Sari tamped it into the espresso machine.
Sari opened her mouth. Then closed it again. She’d never expected Gabriel would be willing to choose her over his career, the career he worked so hard for. Nor did she want him to. But she realized that what he’d given her was a compromise. A way to choose her, and a way to choose his dreams.
“I’m sorry I made you feel like you were being abandoned,” he said. “I was only thinking about myself when I told you. And I shouldn’t have done that. But Sari, you have to know. I don’t want to leave you. I’m happy here in Lipa, happy here in the Laneways. But I really want this expansion for Sunday Bakery.”
“And that’s okay,” she said, and she surprised herself with how fast she said that, how sure she was about that answer. Some things the heart just knew it wanted, and Sari wanted Gabriel like she knew she wanted to keep this place running. Like she knew that things were going to work out. “Not that you need my permission. But it will be okay. And you’re sure you want this? To stay here for a little longer, I mean?”
“Yes,” he said, and he sounded half-relieved. “I spent the last four years wandering the world, wanting to find a place of my own, the place where I belonged, so to speak. And that bakery is everything I ever wanted for myself, regardless of what my father thinks, even if he already said he was happy for me...”
“You guys talked, that’s good.” She nodded without looking up from what she was doing. In her peripheral vision, she noted that Gabriel was taking one step toward her, then backing away again.
“The bakery is my work. But I belong with you. I’m here to stay. I want to work this out with you, and make a home here. Finally take the plastic off of my couch. I can’t imagine a morning without bonete and coffee, or hearing church bells when I drive home. But most of all, I can’t imagine being here without you. You’re home to me now.”
“Oh.” Sari stopped mid-movement, in the middle of making a double shot of espresso. Her mind became blank, and she forgot what she was doing. Her heart was beating in her chest, bursting with so much joy that she could barely hold it in.
“The only thing I wished for at Simbang Gabi,” Gabriel continued, chuckling and showing off those damn dimples that made Sari weak in the knees every time she looked at them. “Was to be with you.”
Then he opened the box, just as Sari placed a glass on the counter in fron
t of him.
Gabriel watched as she poured the espresso into the condensed milk, the dark liquid turning a light caramel as she stirred.
“I don’t want to be left behind,” she admitted to him.
“I won’t let that happen,” he said, his fingers briefly touching hers. He was already standing close. “I’m sorry I did that to you.”
“And I really, really like you. Scarily enough, I might even love you.”
“Same.”
“That’s it? I tell you I think I’m in love with you, and all you can say is same?” Sari laughed.
“Same...and these are our cookies.”
They were massive, bigger than Sari would have thought, in uniform size. The grated chocolate had melted, creating a lovely marbling on the cookie, with walnuts and oats occasionally poking out. Would the cookie be crisp? Fudgy? Soft? Sari didn’t know. But she already knew they were going to be absolutely delicious.
Gabriel took his spot back behind the counter. She wished she knew what to tell him, because she didn’t have the words. Was she just supposed to throw herself into his arms and cry, and believe that everything was going to work itself out, because it was Christmas?
There were more words to be said between them, more conversations to have about this. It turned out that they communicated best when they were both being rational adults. But he’d already asked her the important question. She was willing. Oh God, she was so willing. But was she ready?
“Well?” he asked, and she thought she’d imagined the way his voice caught just a little. He’d said it so softly she wondered if she was meant to hear it.
She looked down at the coffee she’d made for him. A bit had spilled over the rim of the glass, so she swiped it with her finger and took a taste.
Sari didn’t know what would happen next, if this was going to be the happily ever after she wanted for herself. In the books she read, happy endings meant marriage and dozens of children. In the movies she watched, the camera pulled close on the two highly paid heads and let them kiss before pulling away like the story had never happened in the first place. What was her happy ending supposed to look like?
She didn’t know. Neither of them could make sure promises of what tomorrow was going to be.
She could, however, make coffee. And she could sit here with him and eat cookies together.
“I’ve been trying to think of what your favorite coffee was,” she said to him finally, sliding the glass in his direction. “I thought all you wanted was something sweet. But you’re a little dark too. So Vietnamese coffee with dark roast robusta beans it is.”
Gabriel’s face grew into the biggest, brightest smile in the world. It was a smile that could make an ice queen’s heart melt, and make any scrooge give in to the spirit of Christmas.
Sari sat next to him and pulled the box of cookies to herself. It was still a little warm. He took a sip of the coffee.
“It’s perfect,” he announced, his eyes never leaving hers.
She took a bite of her cookie. The chocolate was warm and dark, but the rest of the cookie still stood out, bursting into her mouth with sugar and walnut.
“Thank you for staying,” she said finally, smiling. Then, because she was never one to have words, she reached her hand out for his. Gabriel squeezed her fingers, and it felt like home. “I’m glad you’re here.”
“Me too,” he said, putting his coffee aside, and kissing her.
“We’re going to be so bad for each other,” she told him, with zero feeling behind the words. “We’re both stubborn, petty and dedicated to our jobs. I need to see something before I believe it, and you’re famously indecisive.”
“We’re also very loyal, and are willing to put in the work of understanding each other’s emotions, and communicating,” he pointed out. “Kira says Earth signs are really good at making Air signs feel grounded. And might I point out, I’m a Taurus rising, so...”
“And we’re just going to trust the stars on this?”
“Not the stars,” Gabriel said, his dimples now on full display. “Us.”
And in the background, “Pasko Na, Sinta Ko” played. Such a sad song, but Sari thought it suited the moment. All Sari needed right now was the snow. There were other things they still needed to sort out, apologies she needed to make, deals with him to strike. But they were going to be okay. She was sure of it.
“I wished for you too,” she told him before she finally placed her hands on his cheeks, and kissed him.
Epilogue
December 31, Media Noche
Filipinos choose to end their four-month-long Christmas season with a bang. Therefore, New Year’s Eve was just as an important night as Christmas Eve. On this night, Catholics flocked to church to pray for hope in the upcoming year. Then they retreated to their homes with masses of food, as was custom in any holiday celebration in the Philippines.
But before all of that, there was the entire day the family spent prepping for the occasion. The Caprases did holidays in style, after all, and just because they were celebrating it in Lipa for the first time, didn’t mean they were going to take it down a notch.
The boys had gone grocery shopping. This was mostly to get them out of the house while the girls did the rest of the preparation for Media Noche. While Gabriel was a kitchen whiz, both the twins and Hunter Capras could not be trusted in the kitchen or with grocery shopping, so he joined the group setting out of the house as the voice of reason.
“We’re doomed,” Mindy groaned as Gabriel unlocked his car. “We’ll have chips and cereal for Media Noche and there won’t be any milk.”
“That was one time!” Angelo protested from the backseat.
“Have fun!” Sari said, and Gabriel could see her pressing her lips together so she didn’t laugh out loud. For their first New Year’s Eve together, Gabriel had accidentally left Sari in his house with his six sisters. A fact that he did not realize until after their shopping trip, when he and the twins were loading the groceries in the car.
Gabriel: I’msorryI’msorryI’msososossorry
Sari: Mindy saved a video of you dancing to Justin Bieber on her phone. I’m fine here.
Gabriel: Oh GOD. Let me preface by saying that I was six.
Sari: Six...teen, more like.
Gabriel broke most, if not all driving rules on the way back to his house. His brothers were only too glad to play rollercoaster, while his father gave him a wry look as they took a shortcut.
“In a hurry, son?”
“My sisters are ruining my love life,” he said desperately.
“I don’t think I’ve ever seen you this excited to spend time with the family,” Hunter Capras said, and Gabriel knew that was part teasing, but also partly true. It was a complaint that they used to lodge at him all the time—always too busy, always out, never there, never at home.
But now? Ironically, it took moving to Lipa to make him love the time he had with his family more.
“She must be really special.”
“She is,” Gabriel agreed. “But it’s everything, Dad. I get to bake and make people happy with my food. I get to be close to Sari. And you guys are welcome here anytime.”
“I’ll take you up on your offer. Your mother wants to visit all the churches.”
They got home just in time for Gabriel to still hold on to a tiny scrap of his dignity. Apparently Mindy had saved his Captain Underpants video for last, and therefore Sari never got to see it.
“You say that like I can’t send her the video,” Mindy cackled, holding her phone close to her chest.
“I have the video too!” Ivy chimed.
“Me too!” added Angelo.
“Me too!” Mikael joined in.
“Oh, will you look at that, now I have it too,” Sam, who had arrived with Selene ten minutes before, grinned with nothing but pure evil. Gabriel was
basically screwed.
The Media Noche dinner was a rousing success. The girls had laid out three large rented tables underneath the Narra tree, with place settings for everyone. Their mother ordered the biggest bilao of pancit palabok from Amber’s, and just the sight of the noodles and the shrimp made Gabriel’s mouth water. She also got pork barbecue from the same place, because nothing went better with palabok than barbecue. To complement the savory dishes, the Tomas sisters brought pichi-pichi from their favorite shop in the city, half topped with cheese, the other half with dried coconut, depending on the preference. There was steaming hot tsokolate from Gemini Chocolates, and to top off the meal itself, Gabriel brought out a huge vat of sopas—with extra hot dog slices this time, as requested by his siblings.
For dessert, he made ice cream with the ube jam he’d gotten from a seller in Baguio and served it with Stick-O, which they sometimes used as an ice cream spoon. Then there was a selection of biscuits in lemon, pandan and butter to go with the tarragon tea, tsokolate or barako.
But his favorite part of the meal was the brazo de mercedes—made just because he wanted to, and just because he knew it was Sari’s favorite.
“I’m dead,” Mindy groaned, dropping face-first onto his couch with a biscuit in one hand and pichi-pichi on the other. “I forgot what your baking tastes like and now I hate you.”
“If nobody wants the last slice of brazo...” Sari edged close to the serving plate, fork ready to slice.
“Ew, Ate, why would you eat pichi-pichi with coconut? Cheese is the way to go,” Ivy argued, waving around her own cheese-laden piece.
“Cheese is only good for ice cream and spaghetti. Fact,” Lily announced, sitting ever so regally on the end of the couch near Daisy’s head, still working on her bowl of sopas. Selene, nursing a cup of tarragon tea and a stick of Stick-O, nodded sagely in agreement.
“It can’t be a fact just because you say it is!” Mikael argued, his mouth practically purple with ice cream.
Over by the brazo area, Gabriel stood next to Sari, poking her lightly on her side.
Sweet on You Page 26
