If She Says Yes

by Tasha L. Harrison

  The patio door slid open behind me, drawing everyone’s attention to Tomika, who was hanging on the door jamb. “So I really hate to be that guest, but a bitch is hungry. Is that deep-fried turkey ready or nah?”

  Jared rolled his eyes and lifted the lid to check the temp on the turkey. “Tell my lovely wife that we can serve dinner in thirty minutes.”

  Brandi had really gone all out with the decorations. The dining room was festooned with cornucopias, decorative corn, fake fall leaves, and little turkey nameplates. She’d seated me next to Tomika. The leggy young doctor flirted shamelessly throughout the whole meal. I wasn’t a man who was unaccustomed to this sort of attention, but I felt weird about it since Darcy. Like I was cheating or inviting attention that would make someone think I was single, which was ridiculous. I was single. No promises were made between the two of us that night, but I still felt like I was hers.

  “Ahem!” Brandi stood up after clearing her throat and tapped her fork against her wine glass. “Can I have everyone’s attention? I’d like to say a few words.”

  I set down my fork, wiped my mouth, and gave my attention to the hostess.

  “First, I want to thank all of you for coming to our first ever Friendsgiving. I’m super grateful to call of you my friends, and I hope this is the first of many holidays we get to spend together.”

  “Thanks for having us, and compliments to the cook! You did your thing, Bran!” Tomika said, raising her wine glass.

  Everyone at the table echoed Tomika’s sentiment and raised their glasses to Brandi, who smiled and got a little teary-eyed as we all took a drink.

  “Also,” she continued. “This Friendsgiving is a going-away party for our dearest friend, Tomás. He’s heading to Costa Rica tomorrow morning, and…” she paused and bit her lip. “And I know you’re Jay’s best friend, but in the year or so that we’ve been dating, you’ve sorta become my best friend, too.”

  “Bran—”

  “No, stay there. I’m fine. I promise! I just want you to know that we love you, and we will miss your meticulous ability to plan and manage every project, to always see the bright side of the worst situations, and help me keep this one in line.” She hooked her thumb at Jared, who rolled his eyes. “We love you, Tomás.” Brandi came around the table, and I stood so that she could give me one of her hearty hugs.

  “Aw, look at you,” Jared said, coming to join the two of us. “Both of y’all have always been huge saps. Just soft as marshmallows,” Jared said, then pulled me into a hug that ended with both of us crying a few thug tears.

  “A’ight, that’s enough of that shit,” I said, shoving him away to get a hold of myself.

  “Agreed. And enough of this wine,” Jared agreed. “Let’s open that bottle of Marrow Bone Creek mom sent.”

  The bottle was opened. More food was served, and I polished off two slices of sweet potato pie that tasted like they were made using Minerva’s recipe. The whiskey and reminiscing didn’t help my mood, though. By the time we had to say our goodbyes, we were all emotional. Jared was barely holding it together. I wasn’t doing a great job of it, either. Brandi was inconsolable.

  “Remember to wear long sleeves and pants whenever you’re outside. Dengue fever is still a thing down there. Also, make sure you send me your address when you’re settled so I can send you bug repellant,” she ordered between sobs.

  “Bran, I’m sure they have places to buy repellant there—”

  “Assume nothing, Tomás! Promise me, you’ll send me your address.”

  “Okay, I promise,” I said, giving her one last squeeze. She let me go, and I turned to face Jared.

  “Make sure you call us as soon as you land,” he said, pulling me into one last hug. “As a matter of fact, I expect to hear from you often. Chicago and Costa Rica are in the same time zone, so no excuses.”

  “You checked the time zones?” I asked with a surprised laugh.

  “Of course, I did,” he said as if it was normal for him to be this thoughtful, but then I had to check myself on that. Jared had grown up a lot in the last few years. He wasn’t nearly as shallow and self-centered as he used to be, and he deserved credit for that.

  “I’ll call you when I land, and at least twice a week while I’m away,” I promised, pounding him on the back. “How else am I supposed to keep you up to date on how my wife search is going?”

  He laughed and pushed me away. “Get out of here before I break your legs or something to keep you in the country.”

  My Uber pulled up to the curb, and I stumbled down the steps, apparently a little more drunk than I realized. Opening the rear passenger door, I turned to where they stood and waved one last time. The goodbyes had gone on long enough. If I lingered much longer, I would never leave.

  My five a.m. alarm woke me long before I was ready to get out of bed. I’d spent the rest of the night drinking with Juana, who had already moved most of her things in, while flipping through a photo album she’d dug out of the closet in my spare room. There were quite a few pictures of me and Darcy in there. I wanted to call her, but I never worked up the nerve, though. It was probably for the best. I did, however, stay up all night reminiscing about those eighteen hours we spent together, which left me groggy and grouchy for my early morning flight.

  Anxious to get to sleep as quickly as possible, I found my seat in business class and began to stow my bags.

  “Excuse me, Mr. Martinez?”

  “Yeah?” I answered, still trying to maneuver my bag into the overhead compartment.

  “It’s your lucky day, sir! You’ve been bumped up to first class.”

  Frowning, I turned to look at her, one hand still holding my unsecured bag in place. “What?”

  “You’ve been upgraded to a first-class seat! If you just grab your things, I can escort you—”

  “What? Why? Is this some sort of promotional sky miles credit card thing?”

  “No, sir,” she said, smiling awkwardly. “You’ve been gifted this first-class seat by another passenger.”

  Okay, that was just odd. “I’ve never heard of this before. Is this something you do often?”

  “Not often, but it does happen on occasion. Could you just grab your things and follow me?”

  “Honestly, I’m fine here in business class. Can’t you just go back to the customer and tell them to give it to someone else?” Because now I was envisioning an hours-long plane ride next to someone I didn’t know, who wanted to chat instead of letting me sleep.

  “No, Mr. Martinez. This passenger gifted the seat to you specifically.”

  I narrowed my eyes at the flight attendant. There was no good explanation for why this person chose me, but there was a line queueing up behind us, and it wasn’t worth holding everyone up.

  “Fine,” I said while collecting my carry-on and laptop bags. “After you.”

  The flight attendant beamed as she escorted me from the very last business-class seat up to the curtain that separated it from the first-class section.

  “So what happens to my seat?” I asked as she pulled back the curtain. I knew it was disrespectful to react this way to a gift, but I couldn’t help feeling irritated.

  “You can be refunded, or you can pay it forward by gifting it to another passenger.”

  “Paying it forward seems like the right thing to do.”

  “That’s very generous of you, sir.”

  “And you can’t tell me how I was chosen or why?” I asked, following her into the quiet spacious cabin filled with just four rows of wide, comfortable seats.

  “Well,” she said, stopping next to a row near the middle. “You’ll just have to ask her yourself.” She gestured in the direction of my seatmate. It was a woman, but I could only see the back of her head. Then she stood and turned to face me, and all the air left my lungs.

  Copper brown eyes, that nose she’d given to her son, lips and a smile that I’d fallen asleep dreaming about more nights than I could count. “Darcy?” I croaked in disbelief.


  “Hey, Tommy,” she said with a shrug and a nervous smile. “Surprise?”

  I blinked and then blinked again because this had to be a dream, right? I was already asleep back in business class, and I was dreaming about her pulling this stunt because this couldn’t be real life.

  “I know this is unexpected and kind of reckless. Hell, maybe you’re still upset with me, and you don’t want this—”

  “Wait,” I said, holding up my hand to stop her nervous rambling. “Want what? What is even going on?”

  “I’m coming with you.”

  “You’re coming with me?” I parroted. Did that mean what I thought it meant? My heart was pounding so loudly that I could barely hear her or make sense of my own thoughts.

  Darcy took my hand, and that skin-to-skin contact made me aware of her in a way that the shock had dampened. That scent of hers — the expensive perfume that was like roses or magnolias — filled the space between our bodies.

  “Tommy… I haven’t been right since the day you left.”

  “Me, either,” I mumbled, still staring at our linked hands. I was afraid to actually believe in this moment because if it wasn’t real? There was no place on Earth I could escape the hurt I would feel when I woke up from this daydream.

  “You know, I read somewhere that a quick, hot affair with a younger man was supposed to yield positive results. It was supposed to strip me bare, awaken new passions, new sensations, new ways of being.”

  “I didn’t do that for you?” I asked, finally looking her in the eye.

  “That’s the thing, Tommy. You did. Being with you awakened me to the fact that my life was more than a little dull without you. That just having you in my home and in my bed for one night had changed the light in every room. Everything is different. Sounds don’t even carry the same anymore. I felt like a ghost in my own home.”

  “Hermosa,” I whispered, stroking a finger down her soft cheek. “I didn’t know it would hurt you like that.”

  “Neither did I, but it was the motivation I needed to make me brave enough to make a big change in my life. I sold my brokerage, leased my house, and now I’m here with you because I’m done making myself miserable.”

  Stunned, I dropped my bags in the aisle and sat down. Did I hear her right? Did she just say she blew up her whole life to be with me? I stared at her in disbelief as she sat next to me. Distantly, I was aware that the whole of first class was probably eavesdropping on our conversation, but I couldn’t find it in me to care. I couldn’t care because I was too fucking captivated by this beautiful woman sitting across from me with eyes that caught and held the light.

  “Say something, Tommy,” she begged softly. “Say something, or I’m gonna think you don’t want me and that I’ve made a huge mistake.”

  I frowned. “Don’t be ridiculous, Darcy. Of course, I want you. Come here,” I said, beckoning her to me.

  A sound that was part laugh and part sob spilled out of her as she climbed into my lap and pressed her lips to mine for a shy, hesitant kiss. The first-class cabin erupted in applause — obviously, they’d been waiting for some sort of sign that Darcy had pulled this thing off. I felt the smile on her lips and heard the little kitty growl she made when I gripped her side, pulling her in tighter.

  “I can’t believe you did this,” I muttered, closing my eyes and pressing my forehead to hers.

  “Easiest decision I ever made.”

  “So we go to Costa Rica, and then what?”

  She smiled shyly, and her cheeks flushed a dusky pink.

  “We take our time. We fall in love, and then we decide how to break it to Jared. This way, if you get tired of me, he won’t have to be in the middle of it.”

  “Tired of you? I’ve wanted you since I was nineteen, Darcy. I don’t see that happening.”

  “Good,” she said, her whole face flushing even darker.

  “You make it sound so easy.”

  “I know it won’t be easy, but I also know I want you to be mine. Don’t you want to be mine again?”

  My belly bottomed out like the plane had just taken off, but we hadn’t even pulled away from the gate yet. “Of course I do,” I managed to whisper.

  “Good, because I’m going to Costa Rica with you either way. If I have to follow you to the edge of the earth to make you mine again, I will. I’ve got the money to do it.”

  Too many emotions stirred in me. The last thing I wanted was for her to have to choose between me and her son, but she’d already made that decision. I was afraid that I might lose her and him in the end, but goddamn, the thought of being hers again made me so desperately happy that my heart felt like it might push its way up my throat. “So you’re just gonna stalk me if I say no?” I asked, trying to lighten the mood.

  “To the edge of the earth,” she growled playfully through clenched teeth.

  “In that case, yes,” I whispered, nodding my head. “Fuck, yes. I want to be yours, Darcy.”

  A smile dawned on her beautiful face that nearly undid me. She reached for me with frantic hands, and I met her kiss with the same urgency. I tasted her promises and delighted in the way she grabbed fistfuls of my shirt and squirmed in my lap because she could feel how hard I was for her.

  “Ahem!” The flight attendant snapped our overhead compartment closed. “Please find your way to your seats! We’re just finishing up some last-minute paperwork and should be underway shortly…”

  We looked up at her, and the woman gave us a secret wink but gestured for Darcy to get in her own seat. And she did, but not without a moan of complaint. The moment we were buckled in, her hands were on me again, grabbing shamelessly at the bulge in my jeans and nipping at my lips.

  “How long is this flight again?” she asked.

  “Five and a half hours. Can you make it that long?” I asked with a grin.

  “I guess I’ll have to try,” she said with a sigh. “It’s just as well, though. You look a little tired. You should try to sleep because I plan to use you the moment we touch down.”

  I bit back a smile and settled into my seat. “Yes, Darcy.”

  Yes, always. Yes, forever. Absolutely, yes.

  Acknowledgments

  “These times of woe afford no time to woo.” I think that goes double for times of pestilence — I’m sure Shakespeare and Sir Paris would agree. Either way, it was hard to write this book because I was so homesick for a city not even four hours away and pining for human interaction that I couldn’t have during a pandemic. This manifested in strange ways with Darcy and Tomás. So much longing…even when they were in the same space. Goodness. It was intense. I hope y’all enjoyed it!

  While writing this, I opened a private writer’s group for the #20kin5Days crew called Wordmakers. We’ve been breaking the place in, and I’m so lucky and happy to have them as part of my journey in this here writing life. So shout-out to my coven of writers who always make it easier to get shit done, and the group chat, now lovingly dubbed LLC Twitter, who always motivate me to push beyond my comfort zone.

  Thanks so much for reading and always being excited for my stories!

  EXCERPT

  A Taste of Her Own Medicine

  A Small Town Romance

  Chapter One

  * * *

  Sonja

  The strip of shops, eateries, and galleries in The Village of West Greenville were dark and quiet when I pulled my Subaru into the parking lot a few blocks away from The CoWorking Spot. In the last few years, this part of town had experienced some growth with the arrival of a few restaurants and specialty shops. But that was just a handful of businesses, most of which closed at or around six o’clock, leaving the streets quiet on a late summer evening. I took advantage of this moment of quiet. Closed my eyes and took a few deep breaths to settle the nervous butterflies in my stomach.

  About a month ago, I allowed myself to be convinced to sign up for a six-week entrepreneurship course— something I’d regretted since the day the payment cleared.


  What makes me think I can run my own business?

  The only thing I’d managed in the last ten years was a household, and occasionally, the front desk at my ex-husband’s real estate offices. Those skills didn’t necessarily translate into the sort of hustle one needed to be an entrepreneur. But the night I signed up, my sisters Birdie and Agostina, as well as my friend Estelle, made it seem like a great idea to start a business with the skincare products I made from the herbs and medicinal flowers in my garden. And I agreed. Or maybe the gallon of wine I drank that night agreed because now that I was sitting in my car with my brand new laptop, in my brand new laptop bag, I wondered if I’d temporarily lost my mind.

  The Bluetooth in my car announced that I had an incoming call from Estelle Murphy.

  “Hello?”

  “Get out of the car, Sonja,” she ordered.

  “Why did I let you talk me into this?” I groaned and opened the car door, slightly annoyed that she knew me so well.

  “Because you’re more than ready for it. We’ve gone through this. Get out of the car, and I’ll walk down there with you.”

  “Okay. I’m coming.”

  I’d arrived a good forty minutes early, mostly because I needed to stop by Ink Blue Yoga to get a pep talk from Estelle.

  Ink Blue, Estelle’s yoga studio, was one of my favorite places. The front windows went floor to ceiling, which made the interior look and feel bright and warm. The smooth, shiny hardwood floors were warm in the winter months and cool in the summer. They welcomed bare feet, and I almost wanted to drop my bags, strip down, and get in a few vinyasas. Estelle was good at this business thing and was brilliant at getting her studio seen. If I checked our town’s hashtag on Instagram on any given day, her yoga studio always showed up in the top nine.

  “Hey, Soni,” my friend said and gave me a knowing look as I came in. “Amelia?”

  The woman sweeping at the far end of the studio looked up.