“You are the most beautiful omega.”
The pleasure his words bring I can feel all the way down to my toes.
“You kids better get moving.”
Kids? I wince but smile at Harry as he walks past us to talk to my mum.
“Who wants to go first?”
“I will,” Elijah says.
He leads us to my father’s restaurant just one street away and then behind it in the car park.
“This is where I slept for a couple of days when I first moved back to Sunshine. All I had was my car and some clothes and a bag that had some important things.”
Elijah looks at me and smiles.
“Your pops found me one morning, dragged me inside, cooked this meal that I couldn’t even manage to put a dent in, then offered me a job. I’d never been homeless before, and I certainly had never had to live it rough, but I was still a year off being able to access my inheritance. There was no way I was going home. So, I said yes, and he calmly and patiently taught me what it is to love cooking.” He laughs. “I still remember the day he told me he was your father. He knew who I was, but I hadn’t put two and two together yet. I almost passed out.”
He reaches out and takes my hand.
“I came back because of the memory of one night, but your pops made this place my home.”
“Eli,” I don’t know what else to say to him to convey all the feels that are crushing me, but he somehow seems to know.
Mack pulls Devon in around us, holds up his phone, and says, “To second chances.”
I murmur the words as Elijah pulls me back into his arms, hugging me from behind.
“You have an amazing family.”
“I know.”
My pops saved Elijah, and I wonder if he did it because he knew or suspected this would be the outcome.
“Oh, my turn,” Devon says. He takes us to the pub and stares at it. “I know you’ve been wondering about the difference between Seb and I. Why it’s a bit more strained?”
“I had, yes,” I say cautiously.
“This is where I told him that I had feelings for you, that those feelings hadn’t changed in four years, that they won’t change, and whether he likes it or not, if I ever got my chance with you, I was going to take it.”
I wince. “How did that go?”
“He hit me,” Devon laughs. “We tussled, and then I think he set it in the back of his mind, and we just started doing less together, still best friends, just with our own lives.”
“Didn’t that hurt your feelings?”
“No, because if I had been with Seb, I never would have sat down next to Elijah, who was having a drink, and we wouldn’t have met Mack, who was working behind the bar at the time.”
Devon cups my cheek. “So, this is my vulnerable place. Where I finally told my best friend how I felt, knowing it would change things. Knowing that my life would forever be different. I was scared I would lose him, your family, and you, but I couldn’t keep it in any longer.”
“I’m sorry.”
Devon smiles. “I’m not.”
“Okay, happy snaps,” Mack says.
We lean in and smile, though I want to cry for them.
