Redeemed (Dirty Air 4)

Santiago and I have fallen into the best kind of routine together ever since he asked me to move in. While he busies himself with practice rounds at the racetrack with Bandini, I spend my days with Matteo and work on my latest designs for my Etsy shop. I already have a few orders after Maya helped me take photos of the different pieces of clothing I made.

Somehow while searching for my father, I found a man to love and a job that makes me happy to wake up every morning. It’s as if every last piece clicked into place for me.

Well, almost every last piece. I never thought I’d truly find out what would make me happy in life, but it seems like everything I could possibly want has fallen into my lap when I least expected it.

Even Brooke shipped over all my belongings, with Santiago’s help. What once was a house devoid of emotion now bursts with colorful blankets and plants on windowsills. We turned his house into a home, and it’s somewhere I wouldn’t mind spending many years of my life sprucing up.

Santiago preps dinner while I sip wine and stare.

He pauses his chopping to look up at me. “Are you happy?”

“Moi?” I lift a brow.

He smirks. “Yes.”

“Of course! What kind of question is that?”

He shrugs, resuming his cutting of tonight’s vegetables. “Yesterday you were kind of mopey.”

“That’s because I’m on my period, you dufus. I can’t always be the type to throw confetti around wherever I go.”

He frowns. “Is that why you cried while watching Bridesmaids?”

I cringe. Did I really cry during a comedy? Okay, maybe I was a bit emotionally reactive yesterday. “It made me emotional.”

“Because?”

“Because it’s Brooke’s favorite movie and it made me miss her. I haven’t seen her in forever and she’s so far away that even our usual phone calls aren’t enough.”

“I gathered that after you fell asleep with your laptop while video chatting with her last week.”

“I’m not cut out for long-distance relationships. They suck.”

“Thank God for that.” He smirks.

“Are you seriously smiling? You’re evil.”

“Only in the ways that count.” He winks.

I throw my hands up. “What does that even mean?”

Santiago looks over at the clock on the oven. “3…2…1…”

Nothing happens. A bird chirps from outside, adding to the awkward silence between us.

I somehow found someone about as crazy as me. What a feat to accomplish. “Are you feeling okay? That was anticlimactic, to say the least.”

He rolls his eyes. “I expect too much out of people. It seems that being on time is a thing of the past.”

“What are you going off ab—”

The front door bangs open in the distance. “When you told me that you were staying in a castle that had a Transylvania vibe, you were not kidding!”

The sound of Brooke’s voice has me screaming as I run through the halls to meet her.

I hurl myself into her arms, forcing her to drop her luggage on the ground. “Oh my fucking God! You’re here! You’re really here! How did you even get here?!”

She lets out a huff of air. “God you weigh a lot more. What have they been feeding you over here? Cookies for breakfast, lunch, and dinner?”