“Hmm” was all I could manage, trying to suppress the hurt.
“Demi, I don’t know what happened. All I know is that whatever took him away from you and your mother, it had to have been significantly consequential. I’d never known a happier couple than your parents.”
I had no idea what would be so important that would make him have to leave my mother and me. But I had to know . . . “Was my mom truly happy with him? Did she love him?”
I knew my dad said she’d unlocked his heart, but I wanted an unbiased eyewitness account. I needed to know that my mom’s stories were true—that my parents truly loved each other.
Melissa didn’t hesitate. “Very much so.”
“Don’t be sad, Demi. You’re going to be so happy,” Junie said, so self-assured. “I’ve seen it all in my dreams.”
Roman cleared his throat, obviously uncomfortable with the direction this was going. It seemed he didn’t want me to know what Junie was dreaming about.
And honestly?
I wasn’t sure I wanted to know. Especially if that meant being more involved with Roman’s family. That possibility not only confused me but scared me. To be close to the familyof the man not only my goddess had pegged as hers, but the man I’d locked my heart because of . . . It was a Greek tragedy in the making. And I’d already had one of those. Or maybe I was still in the middle of it.
“I hope you’re right, Junie,” I responded, squeezing her little hand.
But I had to wonder . . . Was her goddess a liar like mine?
Chapter XV
Roman
“Areyouserious?”Demigroaned as she stepped out of her cabin, wearing a pair of tiny dark athletic shorts that showed off the best pair of legs I’d ever seen. Legs that were no longer scraped or bruised. Cassie had clearly worked her healing magic.
Believe me, running with her hadn’t been on my to-do list for the day either.
Her golden eagle had dive-bombed my balcony before sunrise, screeching like a mythical alarm clock. Message received:Run with Demi.
“You can blame Lady Goldy,” I muttered. More like Zeus. Seriously—what was his deal?
As if summoned by name, Demi’s annoying pet swooped in and landed on my shoulder. I startled. Not my finest moment.
Demi jogged down the porch steps, eyes narrowed at the bird. “Traitor,” she muttered. “I don’t need a bodyguard.”
“I don’t think that’s what this is about.”
I thought back to the last couple of days—Junie’s dreams, her fascination with Demi, my on-camera confession, the tree incident. It was clearsomething—someone—was pulling us together. For what, I wasn’t sure. But I’d been around the block enough to know: you don’t win against a god. You just try not to lose too badly.
Demi tilted her head, and I did my best not to drown in her eyes.
I’d already gotten lost in them last night—watching her laugh with my mom and read to Junie. She’d been soft in ways I hadn’t expected.
I’d seen glimpses of the girl I used to imagine when I was a teenager. The one I’d fantasized about.
But even that softer side felt . . . incomplete. Like something essential was missing. Maybe locking her heart had consequences that went beyond love.
Maybe it kept her from being herself.
“What else would it be?” she asked.
I let out a long, slow breath into the cool morning air, contemplating what to say. Eros’s words kept coming to me—Get to know her.
Lady Goldy nudged my cheek with her beak, impatient.Spit it out,she seemed to say.
“I think we need to get to know each other.”
