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“Hi, mi cielito,” she said, kissing his cheek. “I haven’t seen you in a hundred years.”
Dmitri blushed and turned to kiss Sonia on the cheek. “It’s been like two weeks. I’ve been busy.”
“We can see that,” Rose grumbled, then leaned in toward her wife. “He came in with a boy. Holding hands.”
Sonia’s eyes widened behind her glasses. “Isthatso.”
“It’s not,” Dmitri started, then sighed. “It’s new. I don’t know if it’s anything, okay? So please don’t embarrass me?”
Antoine laughed as he gave Dmitri’s shoulder a pat. “Isn’t that their job?”
“Not if they ever want me to meet a decent man and get married like they keep bitching at me to do,” he said, though he wasn’t even sure he meant that. But both his aunts looked properly chastised, and he leaned into Sonia’s arm as it wrapped around his waist.
“Is he nice?”
“I think so,” Dmitri said.
Antoine’s eyes narrowed. “You don’t sound sure.”
“We just met.” Dmitri shifted uncomfortably, feeling oddly defensive, and then his anger rose, because he knew it had to do with what people thought about Paxton. And maybe he’d earned the reputation, and maybe not, but Dmitri had lived under that scrutiny, and he knew what it felt like. “I think I’d like to give it time without people giving me the third degree.”
Antoine took a step back. “You’re right, I’m sorry.”
Dmitri blinked, not expecting the instant apology, but maybe he should have. He’d hit Antoine with his car once. It had been an accident, but it was out of sheer carelessness that it happened. Owen had called him from work, in the middle of a panic attack, and Dmitri just wasn’t thinking. It was the incident that could have ruined him entirely, but Antoine had been kind when Dmitri hadn’t done anything to earn it. Antoine had been forgiving, and he’d only asked that Dmitri do better.
And he had. Or at least, he’d tried.
“I just know what it feels like to be judged,” Dmitri said, and his aunt’s arm tightened around him.
“Oh baby, that’s not what we’re doing.”
And well, he knew that too. He knew it was from a place of love, and he appreciated it more than he could say. “I should go find him. I’ll come say hi and introduce you later, okay?” He kissed his aunts, then moved away and bobbed and weaved through the crowd as he headed for the buffet table.
Wilder’s cupcakes were arranged like a rainbow cascade of frosting and, beside that, all of the sweets he’d ever tried from Adam’s truck and restaurant. He felt a small surge of pride in his own work and stared until he felt a hand touch his elbow.
“You helped with this, didn’t you?”
Dmitri turned and found Noah standing next to him, looking the same as he ever did when he was behind the counter at Bubbe’s, but different too. He’d lost all the tension Dmitri was used to seeing around his eyes, and he had more of a tan from the California sun. He wasn’t dressed nearly as formal as Paxton had been, jeans and a sweater, and he had his usual kippah pinned to the back of his curls.
“I did. It’s good to see you,” Dmitri told him. “Happy birthday.”
Noah grinned shyly, rubbing the back of his neck with one hand and shoving the other into his pocket. Dmitri had never known him well—he was just barely back in town when Bubbe’s was closing down, but his grandmother had always given him and Owen cookies when they were little, and it was one of the kinder memories he’d taken with him when he and his dad left.
“Thanks. This is way more than I wanted, but Adriano got the idea in his head, and he gets all…”
“Stubborn?” Dmitri offered with a small grin. “So that runs in the family?”
Noah chuckled softly. “Seems so.” His gaze drifted across the room, and Dmitri followed it until it settled on Luca who was, of course, talking to Raphael and Rian. Dmitri’s heart gave a huge thump against his ribs, hard and painful. Raphael looked good—but that wasn’t anything out of the ordinary. Except that he was smiling with his eyes, and his posture was relaxed. He was leaning on his crutches, but his shoulder was pressed against Rian’s like he didn’t want to be anywhere else in the world.
Their eyes met after a second, and Raphael let one of his crutch handles go, waving him over as he mouthed, ‘Come here!’
Dmitri held up a finger. “I should…uh…”
Noah waved him off. “Of course. I’m sure I’ll see you around.”
It was sweet, if maybe a lie, because he and Noah weren’t friends. But he appreciated it anyway, and he gave him a handshake before turning on his heel and heading across the floor.
He was halfway to Raphael when Paxton appeared, but his hands were empty, and his cheeks flushed. “Sorry, slight front desk emergency,” he said against Dmitri’s ear. “Did you miss me?”
