CEREAL DATER (The Way To A Man's Heart)

"I’ve never met anyone like you before, Lucky," I tell her. She smiles, the last tear dripping down her cheek.

"You know why I’m called that?" she asks. I shake my head.

"Because my dad’s favorite cereal was Lucky Charms," she explains. "And that’s what he always called me. His lucky charm..."

I lean towards her, and plant a kiss on her lips, tasting the salt of her tears mixed with the sea air around us. I want to lift this pain from her, but I know that the best I can do is offer to be here for her while she gets through it.

"I love you, Lucky," I murmur to her. “It was love at first sight, if I’m being honest.” The words seem too small to capture everything that I am feeling right now, but they will have to do – they're the closest I can come to the truth, and for now, that is all that I want to share with her.

She leans her head against mine for a moment, the words washing through us like the sound of the waves on the beach. I don’t care if she says it back or not – I know that we both feel it. I just needed to know that she heard it from me. Needed to know that she understands how deep my feelings already run for her. I’ve barely gotten to know her yet, but there is something inside of me telling me that this is it – this is the one.

And I want to break a lifetime of tradition by making sure that I don’t let her slip through my fingers. That I love her the way I want to. She brushes her lips to mine, and I feel the words she speaks back to me before I hear them.

"I know this is crazy, but I love you, too."

And I know that this might be fast, but it’s right.

When something is right, I know it, deep down, to my core. Even though I don’t want to be in this wedding, I want to be wherever she is.

And if she is sitting barefoot on the beach next to the ocean in Maui, then I will spend all night being here right alongside her.

Where I belong.

Epilogue

Lucky

"Could you pass me the filters?" I call to Nina, one of the new staff members that I have hired at the café – she’s still getting used to everything, but she’s made a hell of a difference. She tosses me the coffee filters and I shoot her a thumbs-up, just as Landon comes staggering into the café holding a stack of boxes.

"Oh, shit, let me help you," I tell him at once, diving towards him to grab them before they all fall out of his hands. We manage to maneuver them into the storeroom just before they crash to the floor completely.

Landon has been working with me here for the last three months now, ever since we got back from Maui – he sold off his shares in his family business and invested everything into my place. He told me that he wanted to help me every way that he could to keep the memory of my parents alive, and honestly, with that extra money, I have finally been able to afford some time off. All of which has been spent with him, of course.

He’s been helping out as much as he can, getting used to the grind of customer service, but he’s actually getting pretty good at bantering with our regulars and making the new fancy coffee selection that we’ve introduced. And I love having him around, love having a partner to enjoy all of this with. The success we share here just makes everything feel stronger, and I know that this is what I’ve been waiting for.

"Hey, wait a second," he calls to me, grabbing my hand before I head back out to the café again. I turn to him, raise my eyebrows.

"What’s up?”

"This one comes with a free gift," he tells me, holding out one of the new boxes of cereals that he brought in from the van outside. "Your turn to open it, I think."

I grin. This is a game we’ve had from the start, sharing the toys that come in all the cereal boxes we use here. We have a row of them in the little apartment that we bought together, on the mantel, so I can see them first thing when I get up in the morning.

He opens the box for me, and I use a nearby serving spoon to feel around the puffed corn until the spoon hits something.

It doesn’t feel like a normal gift. No, it’s heavier than the usual cheap plastic we get in these things. I furrow my brow and pull it out – and my jaw drops when I see what it is.