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Alice stood on the other side, looking pissed.
She pushed her way through, and Dragan sighed as he closed the door.
“What, Alice?”
“I want to talk to you.” She looked around the living room and kitchen before sitting on the couch. “Nice digs. Come take a seat.” She patted the cushion next to her, and he grudgingly sat down. She turned to face him.
“Mom told me. Everything. The app, the house, how Cas accidentally let slip to dad about it and then dad tore up your apartment. And I’m really sorry, Dragan.” Alice lifted a handing, hesitating before resting it on his shoulder. “But also, huge congrats, and thank you for helping us all these years. I know it hasn’t been easy, but I hope you feel it’s worth it.”
Dragan listened to her. This was unusual, but certainly appreciated. He ate that there was a piece inside him that doubted her kind notions, like there was another reason why she was actually here.
“And I also heard through the grapevine about June.”
There it was.
Dragan opened his mouth to protest, but she raised her hand to silence him.
“Let me just say, I want you to be happy. Whether that’s with June or not, I just want you to be happy. You’re my big brother, and I… I love you. So I want you to know that one of the times I chatted with June, she basically admitted to being in love with you her whole life. And I know you feel the same. So whatever the fuck happened, I hope you guys can fix it,” she said.
She watched him for a minute, but he didn’t know what to say.
So all those years, when he could’ve sworn that’s what lay within her deep forest eyes, he was right.
“I’m working on fixing it, as we speak.”
“It better be good.”
“It’s great.”
Alice smiled and stood. “Well, that’s all I’ve got. Oh, mom misses you. She’s talking about making one of your favorite dinners soon, so give her a call.Tak?” She teased him with the Polish word for yes, one habit his mother never dropped after moving here.
He used to hate when she’d slip those words into conversations with the other moms, or his teachers, or at the stores in town.
But now it made him smile.
Wherever he came from, he had his family.
Whatever people wanted to think, let them. He had carried that weight around for so long. It had dragged him down, kept him from the things he loved most. It had kept him from enjoying his life to the fullest. It had taken him this long to come to a place where he just accepted those aspects of himself, instead of fighting against it and letting what others thought about him influence how he lived.
And he was done with that shit.
He knew what he deserved, and he was going to win her back.
56
June handed a stack of books to Anna to shelve before going to the back office, where Ruby was looking over the romance calendar competition outline June had devised.
“Is there anyway to open a window in here?” Ruby looked up. “I feel like these flowers are trying to kill me.”
June looked around the room, still littered with an absurd number of sunflowers. When she had first walked into the office yesterday, there hadn’t been room to stand. She had removed some to the apartment upstairs, to friends, donating them to office around town.
But she knew who they were from, and she wasn’t ready to throw the rest out.
He’d been sending her presents, expensive and thoughtful presents. But what she wanted wasn’t about that, and she needed to know he knew that.
“Sorry, the window is open,” she said, walking over to Ruby.
Ruby groaned and passed off one of the outlines, marked with red pen. “I love saying anyone can enter, and the teams. I think we’ll get great follow-through from the police and fire departments, and other businesses like Dougherty’s Construction and maybe even groups of friends look to have fun.”
