Chapter 148: Six Months Later

(Please note locations are fictional..)

Six months had officially passed since April and Angel first started dating. It had been six months of building a brand new life together side by side, and six months of slowly adapting to their fresh environment down in Mexico.

A lot had changed during those six months.

What had once felt like a temporary stay in a strange little town had slowly started feeling like home. They had gotten used to the quiet roads, the friendly faces, the early mornings, and the slower way of life that came with living in Playa Linda.

While Angel was away at her daily work, April was standing inside the cozy bookstore with Katie, who had recently welcomed a healthy baby boy into her family. Four months ago, both of the girls had decided to start a brand new business venture together.

A bookstore.

It was actually the very first bookstore to ever exist in the entire town of Playa Linda.

Playa Linda was a quiet countryside town mostly made up of hard-working farmers, local fishermen, and open-land ranchers.

Because of that unique community, having a bookstore was a naturally slow business for the two young women.

There weren’t many people in town who had the habit of buying books, and most of the locals were usually too busy with their farms, fishing boats, ranches, or families to spend much time inside a bookstore.

They were still putting in constant effort every single day though, handing out paper flyers along the streets and offering special first-time discounts for any new customer who walked through their front door.

Sometimes, April would spend hours behind the counter without seeing a single customer.

Other days were better.

Even if only a few people came in, she always made sure to greet them warmly and help them find whatever they were looking for.

Meanwhile, Angel was busy working hard as a full-time rancher on the land. She was learning all the ropes straight from her Alpha grandmother Paula, who happened to be a very famous rancher throughout the whole town. Aside from the land, she also spent some of her weekdays out at open sea with her other grandmother, Lucinda, who was a seasoned fisherman.

Angel’s life had become much more physical since moving to Playa Linda.

She had learned how to properly take care of different animals, work the land, handle the ranch equipment, and even spend long hours under the hot Mexican sun without constantly complaining about it.

During her first weeks, that Alpha complained alot.

"I really can’t believe you are not going to be inside the store tomorrow..." April murmured, turning her head toward her business partner, who was currently cradling her tiny sleeping baby in her arms.

"I’m so sorry, April, but Carlos and Sabrina have this family thing they really want to do, and I absolutely have to be there with them as their wife," Katie explained gently, trying her best to make her tired friend understand the situation. "Also, their newborn son has to be present too. You already know how incredibly nagging their mother can get if I don’t show up with everyone..."

"I don’t know your mother-in-law at all, and you specifically told me yesterday that you were definitely going to be here taking care of the counter tomorrow..." April countered, her tone dropping slightly.

She was genuinely hoping to finally take a full day off tomorrow. She desperately wanted to spend quality time with her special person and properly celebrate their six-month anniversary together without any work interruptions.

Six months together was something April had been looking forward to celebrating.

It wasn’t some huge anniversary, but to her, it still meant something.

They had gone through plenty of changes together since becoming a couple, and April wanted to spend the day with Angel without having to constantly worry about whether someone would walk through the bookstore door.

Ever since Katie gave birth to her son, April had been the main person managing every single part of the bookstore by herself, and she had not gotten a single day off to rest.

She just really wanted one full day off.

Rethinking the harsh tone of what she had just said to the new mom, April let out a long, quiet sigh.

"You know what? Just don’t even worry about it," April said softly, shaking her head. "I will just stay here and run the store tomorrow. It’s totally fine..."

April turned around, leaving the mother and her baby inside the back relaxation area. She walked over to the front displays and grabbed a cloth to start dusting off the shelves.

She slowly wiped away the thin layer of dust that had gathered along the edges of the shelves, moving from one section to another.

The bookstore was small, but April had grown attached to it.

There were shelves filled with novels, children’s books, old farming guides, romance stories, educational books, and several secondhand books they had managed to collect from nearby towns.

It wasn’t the biggest business in Mexico, but it belonged to them.

Meanwhile, across town, Angel was over at the Del Rosario ranch completing her usual daily routine under the sun.

She wasn’t wearing her loose baggy pants or armless shirts anymore like she used to.

Instead, she wore sturdy denim jeans, a fitted long-sleeved button-down shirt, dark cowboy boots, and a wide cowboy hat resting on her head.

Her favorite folded bandana was tied neatly around her neck to catch the sweat.

Angel had just finished up feeding all the pigs and sheep over on the lower farm section. Right after that, she thoroughly washed and bathed the horses with the active help of her twelve-year-old uncle, Dante.

The ranch was enormous, and there was always something that needed to be done.

On most days, Angel didn’t mind.

She had surprisingly started enjoying the work, especially because it gave her something productive to focus on. She had even gotten better at recognizing the animals and remembering their different habits.

Angel was usually the type of person who took her sweet time completing every single chore on the land, but today she was moving in a serious hurry.

She really wanted to finish up every single task early today so she could ride over to pick up her girlfriend on time for their special night date.

After finishing up all her manual work, she walked over to the final part of her daily routine: checking up on her fur babies and grandkids.

Percy and Coco lived directly on the farm now, which was situated in a completely different area from the cottage where Angel and April stayed.

The two paired cats now had three kittens of their own: May, a white-and-orange female cat; Bird, an energetic orange female cat; and Milo, a calm white male cat.

The cat family lived inside their own customized mini wooden house on the property. Angel made sure to give them their natural space while still making it a priority to drop by and visit them every single afternoon.

The kittens had quickly become one of Angel’s favorite parts of her new routine.

May was usually quiet and stayed close to her mother, while Bird was almost always moving around and getting into places she wasn’t supposed to be. Milo was much calmer than his sisters and preferred sleeping in comfortable corners.

After checking up on the entire cat family and making sure they had enough water, Angel was finally done with all her labor for the day.

She headed back home to her cozy cottage down the dusty road, quickly showered to freshen up, and immediately left the house to go meet her darling girlfriend.