Gauging next steps if my boss can’t keep his promise

I’m a graphic designer (33F) who was at a pre-press job that was life draining. For those that don’t know- pre-press design can be VERY repetitive work, sometimes fun, but its like grunt work. But it paid the bills.

My bf, being thoughtful as he is, made a position for me at his current job. I met with his(and now our current) boss; everything went great. He told me, although he can’t currently meet what I was getting paid at my previous employer, he can, get me back up to that wage in a couple years, and as the business grows he promised dollar raises. GREAT! 🥳

Well I just had my two year review, and it was a 75 cent raise… 25 cents short of my previous employer two years ago. I’m still slightly taken-aback. We’re hitting and exceeding our stretch goals for the quarter, custom jobs have increased. I’m baffled.

Because he’s difficult to get ahold of I texted him(he never checks his emails):

“Hey Boss, I wasn’t expecting HR to give my two year review, (which went great!) I’m wondering what you need from me to stay on track for that $20/hr <previous job>’s wage match that we agreed upon, or if you had other plans? Let me know so I can plan and compensate another income accordingly 🙂‍↕️🙏🏼💪”

Something that concerns me, is our business is doing so well; our boss hasn’t stopped by the shop for almost 6 months. As a side note: Our boss mentioned a couple times he wants to retire, and sell the business to us. So it’s kind of an awkward position to be in. I’m curious on thoughts, and how much time we should allow before moving on? I start to overthink things, so another perspective would be nice! I can make soo much money elsewhere, but I was looking forward to growing with this business, we’re both overworked.