“We see eye to eye on that.One of the many reasons I like you, Alicia.”
“I’m not very likable.”
He laughed.“I’ve liked you since the moment you hit me with a pen.You’re a good friend.”
“Grace is, too, which leads me to ask again, what put that look on your face?”
He honestly didn’t know.They had lived in a bubble, just as Vivian had said, and he was heartbroken that it was over.“Real life called, and I don’t know where that leaves us.”
“Did you ask her?”
“Well… no.”
She rolled her eyes.“You’re an idiot.”
“What was I supposed to ask?I said everything I needed to say.She knows it.”
“You know what she’s been hiding from, and now, the world is her oyster.What comes next?What’s she seeking?What does she want?”
“I don’t know.”
Alicia snorted.“That’s bullshit.”
“She’s back with her family, figuring out what life should look like.I mean, come on, coming back from the dead isn’t easy.”
“That’s not all she wants, and you know it.She’s one of the strongest, most creative people I’ve ever met.Dominic stole her life from her.I didn’t know her before, but I can imagine it.”
“I’ve always known her, and… yeah.She is.”He threaded his fingers through his hair and rested his head in his hands, elbows on his knees, and lost himself.He was grieving.He’d had and then lost the woman he’d always wanted.“She needs to be home.”
“No.She needs to reconnect with her family.In a way, similar to how she reconnected with you.”
He gave her a look.Maybe Alicia had missed exactly how he and Grace had reconnected.
“No, not like that, you weirdo.I mean, she needs to be around them.Be with them.And then…”
He waited for whatever wisdom Alicia would throw his way.
Instead, she threw a pillow.“And then?Come on, Callum.And then what?”
“I don’t know.”
Alicia tossed her hands in the air.“God, you are dense.Think it through.What does she need now?”
“Her family.”
“Brother,you are her family.Not in the same way as her blood.But you have to understand that.Whatever happened between the fire in my living room and today when you trounced back in here, there was a transformation that surpasses whatever game of footsie you two had been playing in my kitchen.Can you see that?”
He could feel it for damn sure.“She needs time.”
“For what?”
Callum tipped his head back and stared at the ceiling.It had been repainted.He couldn’t find the lines on it that he’d fallen asleep staring at, knowing that Grace was sleeping directly above him.“To learn how to stay in one place.”
“Not a bad answer,” Alicia muttered.
He snickered and straightened to look at her.“I know what she wants.But I don’t know how to get it for her.”
“That’s the tricky part.You don’t.Dominic got her everything on earth.But he stole her magic, her power.You’re what she wants.Staying in one place is what she wants.Not panicking about how to hide is what she wants.You are her solace.The place she goes to settle down.”Alicia cocked her head.“My question for you is: can you handle that?”
