Page 121 of Overdue I Love You's
“Rude,” I fake-gasp. “But it’s the truth. My mom was six months pregnant with me when he was arrested. She was depressed when she gave birth to me, then postpartum took over and she wasn’t herself. The first ten years of my life, I called my oldest sister my mom because I only ever saw her. When my dad was released,” another deep breath. “That was when I first met him. He acted like he knew and loved me because of the letters my sisters would send, but he was a stranger.Even now, I’m not close to him or my mom like they want us to be.”
“But they try?”
“All the time,” doesn’t come out as a complaint, but close to it. “I love them the way a child superficially loves their parents. But I don’t know them. Things got worse afterAtegot married. They tried getting closer to me, but I was extremely sad.Atehas always been my lighthouse and without her, I became numb.”
“You should be proud of yourself for getting through that rough time, Nova.” He surprises me by saying. “Not many children experience what you have and come out smiling.”
A bright, blooming sensation inflates in my chest. “Thank you,” I say. “But enough of this serious talk. My stomach's growling and I smell bread.” That, and there’s a whole truckload of emotions crawling up my spine that I need to swallow before it stampedes over this day.
CHAPTER 24
“Happy now?” Dean rips a piece of bread and hands it to me. We got two but I ate mine in approximately thirty seconds.
“Ecstatic.” I push my head forward, opening my mouth.
He doesn’t hide his smile when he feeds me the bread.
My hand rests in the crook of his arm. “Who would’ve thought you and I would be here like this?” I’m still in the haze of before. We trust each other. Confessed. This is basically dating, right?
Dean doesn’t respond right away. He chews then swallows. “It’s unbelievable.”
My lips purse into an uncontainable smile. “Well, believe it. You and me, Dean. Us. It’s real.”
We’re past sunset. Streetlights fall over the streets. Dean takes us back to the train station and I’m instantly saddened by this being our end. Even though my feelings are new, and it’ll take me a while to understand them, I’m glad that they’ve surfaced for Dean.
Dean buys the tickets. I finish his bread.
We walk towards the train, but it isn’t the one we came on. It’s on the outside.
“Where are we going?” I ask him. Rationality says we should head back to Lucerne and Dean is usually the king of that.
“We have to make this trip worth it,” he offers me a hand into the cabin. “For you, especially.”
My cheeks redden. “I’m happy being with you. I don’t need more.”
When we sit down, Dean takes his phone out. “Is your airdrop on?”
“Uh,” I ask, mirroring his action and checking my phone. “Yeah, why?”
It pings.
Ogre would like to share photos with you.
Sound stills around us.
A total of two hundred pictures. Some from today, others from previous days. Me, me with Lottie, me in front of a view, my back, aesthetic pictures of me looking away from the camera, a wobbly food picture I giggle at.
“When did you take these?” There’s a thick lump in my throat. No one has ever taken pictures of me without asking. “Is that me cooking?” I’m stunned speechless.
“You like taking pictures,” Dean blushes. “I wanted you to have some of yourself.”
“Be honest with me,” a shaky breath. “When did you start liking me?”
Dean links our fingers. The architecture of us together becomes historical, a picture worth analyzing when thousands of centuries pass. We’re a mausoleum.
“There was no start to liking you, Nova. I can’t recall the exact moment of when it happened, just that—you know that feeling when you finally solve that one math problem, or watching a thriller where everything starts piecing together? Liking you made sense. Itcompletes whatever puzzle my life is.”
I exhale shakily. That’s not what I expected him to say.
