It sounded like something that should be easy to do, but it wasn’t. I’d spent so many years believing I wasn’t good enough that my heart and brain rebelled at the idea of changing the narrative.
We are the stories we tell ourselves.
Wasn’t that why I enjoyed hearing other people’s stories? Because it wasn’t listening to what other people said that told you the most about someone. It was listening to what they said about themselves.
We are the stories we tell ourselves.
Now I just had to tell myself a new story. The story where I wasn’t ‘too much’ or ‘not enough.’ The story where yes, people liked me for who I was and if they didn’t, then it didn’t matter. The story where it was okay for me to fall in love with a man who was opposite to me. The story where we had a happily ever after.
I just had to choose that story and then go after it with all my heart.
Chapter 26
Lucas
“No,” I said.
The room went quiet. I hadn’t yelled or raged or anything of the sort, I simply said no and it was enough of a shock to everyone that it shut them all up.
Effie smirked. “No?”
“No,” I repeated, and then sighed. “The distillery and the compound have sat abandoned for twelve years. If I hadn’t gone back there, they would have continued to sit there abandoned.”
“But—”
“No,” I said yet again. Who knew it was this easy—or fun—to say no to people? Not that my anxiety wasn’t rioting through my body. It was, I was just ignoring it for now.
Effie huffed, but she was smiling too and that was something I didn’t get to see very often.
“The compound has been in the family for generations and the distillery is company property,” Father said. “You can’t expect me to just give them up.”
I sat forward in my chair and directed my gaze at him. He looked old, older than I’d ever noticed before.
“Here’s the thing, Father. You already gave them up. The moment you fled the country and left them to their fate—and I’m not just talking about the buildings, but the staff as well—the moment you did that, you gave up all rights to them. Besides, where the compound is concerned, that is actually the property of the crown and has always been so. The crown gifted it to the markissios—the title, not the man. Whoever holds the title, gets the estate.”
“This is an outrage—”
“Stop, Father,” Effie said, barely even looking at him. No, she was looking at me and there was something in her eyes I’d never seen before. Respect. “I knew going to Kalopsia would be good for you,” she said. “You’ve changed, Lucas. And I like it. A lot.”
“Euphemia,” Mother said, “don’t encourage him. He can’t just take it all away from us.”
Effie sighed. “He’s not taking anything away from us. Lucas is right. We abandoned everything back in Kalopsia and before he received the summons from the king, neither one of you had given Kalopsia another thought. We had no plans to go back there, and the company had no plans of resurrecting the distillery. Besides, Andino Raïda does not need another production plant and we don’t have the time or the resources to waste trying to rebuild the old one.”
“So you’re just going to give it to him?” Father yelled.
“I’m not giving him anything. Lucas earned this. He claimed it for himself and he is including us in this new venture. We have the international distribution rights and that’s all we need. We are getting the benefits of the new business with none of the cost outlay. As far as I’m concerned, it’s a good business decision.”
I smiled at Effie and mouthed ‘thank you’ while our father continued to complain and bluster. She winked in return. The two of us had already met and discussed all of this prior to informing Mother and Father. I was just going to let her handle breaking the news, but she insisted I be there and I’m glad I was. This was a cathartic experience for me and a way to test my new and improved self in one of the most stressful situations I could find. Look at me, facing my fears and standing my ground! Frankie wouldn’t believe it even if she was witnessing it in person.
Ugh. Frankie. I’d determined not to think about her today—or at all—but I couldn’t help it. She was always there in the back of my mind. I glanced at the screen of my phone, but there was no notification, just as there hadn’t been all day. In my heart of hearts I didn’t believe she would call me, but there was always hope…at least until I left tomorrow. Once I flew out of Boston, I knew there was no hope left of Frankie ever being mine. It was tempting to prolong my time here, but I couldn’t. I had a lot of people waiting for me back home—
Home.
When had that happened? When had Kalopsia suddenly become home?
I thought about the island and the village and all the people I’d met and the friends I’d made. It felt more like home than Boston ever had. I’d already started renovations on the compound and as soon as they were finished I would move out of the palace and into the estate. I’d hoped to bring Frankie with me, but with or without her, my future was on Kalopsia and I was looking forward to it.
“Lucas are you even listening to me?” my father asked with a growl.
“Actually, no,” I said, pushing up from the conference table. “There is nothing for you to say. The compound is entailed to the person holding the title—which is now me—and Effie has already signed the distillery over to the co-op. There is nothing you can say to change any of it and I refuse to be cowed by you and Mother for a moment longer. This is happening and there’s nothing you can do to change it. Now, if you don’t mind, I need to pack. I have an early flight in the morning.”
I walked out of the conference room without looking back. I was getting good at that. I shook my hands out to rid myself of the excess adrenaline that buzzed through my body. That had gone surprisingly well. Now I just needed Frankie and my life would be complete.
It was a long flight home, and I hadn’t heard from Frankie. That meant it was over, I supposed, even if my stubborn heart still clung to the hope of a Hail Mary pass.
Frankie and I had been together for so long and through so much that I didn’t have a single adult memory that didn’t have her in it. Our lives and been entwined for years and I had no desire to unravel them. If I had my way, I would have kept her in my life, but that was now in the hands of Frankie. I needed to let her go…wasn’t there an old saying about that?
Ugh, I’d become a cliché.
I’d let the memories of us run through my head like an old movie reel for the entire flight and my heart ached. I missed my friend. I missed my person—the one person who just seems to get me. I knew I was awkward and weird and shy, but none of that bothered Frankie. She’d liked me just as I was and there was something liberating about being around someone who saw through all the mess to the person I was beneath.
I owed Frankie a lot. I owed her so much I didn’t think I could ever repay her, even if I spent the rest of my life trying. And I would, I would absolutely spend the rest of my life trying to show her how much her friendship meant to me if only she’d give me a chance.