HOLD MY HEART · santiago garcia

01 | breakfast with the heat.

Santiago didn't planned on getting out of the bed that morning. He wasn't really a morning person but due to his...condition he just prefered to lay there and try his best to get some sleep which never actually happened anyways.

Then he would usually sit up on the edge of the bed and stare at the floor, blinking the tiredness away before standing up and going to the bathroom. He looked at his reflection and couldn't help but feel disgust everytime. He took a quick shower, brushed his teeth and skipped breakfast, relying only on his black coffee.

After that he would grab his phone and car keys to leave for a quick ride around the town. To see, if he could do anything or just stay at home and pretend that it was normal to feel this way. His Ford smoothly strolled through the empty streets as he lazily watched the road in front of him. That's when he stopped at the next red light and suddenly felt the urge to go to the market. It pushed him, gnawing at his mind like an annoying fly. He didn't know why but he just had to be there. Now.

He left the car fifty meters away, deciding to cut the rest of the distance on his own. He unzipped his black leather jacket and took a deep breath, inhaling the fresh and frisky air that filled his lungs.

Suprisingly there were a few people that scathered around. Most of them unfamiliar to him. They were talking in hushed voices but he could still hear the spanish accent. He put his hands into the pockets of his jeans and stopped by the vegetable stand.

That's when he heard it -- the sweetest voice that brought him back to that night only few days before. He looked to his right, then to his left and his shoulders dropped at the sight of her in the company of an old cowboy he knew all to well.

She was laughing at something and it made his heart clench in the way he could not explain. Warm spread through his body like a bolt when he caught himself smiling for something as stupid and as beautiful as this.

In the morning light she looked even prettier than he remembered. He finally could see her brown locks, falling over her shoulders and that tiny, curved waist that was just asking for his hands to linger there. To grab her and never let go.
And her face? Sharp jawline, big, brown, doe-eyes hidden under her dark curtain of lashes and finally her small, adorable nose -- things that made him even more interested in her. Especially when she was wearing that short, summer dress that perfectly hugged her petite silhouette.

Santi watched as she started to walk away, holding the basket full of fresh fruits and even some bread. She looked so peaceful and content. He wondered if she was always like this. He wanted to remember her like that. Her smile, her beauty, just her.

After buying some snacks he received a call from Carmen. She asked him to come over for some work at the ranch and of course the dinner. Santi gladly accepted the offer, missing their little talks over the table. Her husband hired him to help around the house and share some duties like fixing the fence or taking care of the garden. They were an old married couple, unfortuantely left with no kids of their own. But that didn't stop them from being open to people. The Fuentes couple was helplessly in love with eachother after 47 years of spending their lives together, on this Mexican soil. He could say he was jealous. They knew eachother for so long, now being in their 70's while he was close to 40's and still didn't have a wife.

Carmen's husband always liked to tell him the story of how he and Carmen met. Just to give him a beautiful but long lecture about love and that everything takes time.