He arched a brow. “Does your family know about us?”
“They know you exist. And that you’re not from here. Mom thinks you’re exotic. Her word, not mine.”
I quickly texted her back a tentative yes. It was easier to confirm and back out later. Luka didn’t say anything—just kept his eyes fixed ahead as we walked.
My eyes snagged on a three-day-old text message from Denise, the HR rep who had unceremoniously ushered me out the company door.
Call James at Burrows and Sampson. He can help. But you didn’t hear anything from me.
Linked was an attorney’s office specializing in wrongful termination lawsuits.
Luka glanced over my shoulder at the screen. “Are you going to call the lawyer? Sue for your job back?”
I pocketed my phone. “No.” The answer came before my brain caught up. I stopped walking and looked up. Thecrystalline blue sky wrapped around us like a giant marble. “Wow, I hadn’t actually made the final decision yet—consciously anyway. But there it is.”
He stopped next to me, squinting against the sun. “Why not?”
I shrugged. “Because I’m done with it all. I don’t want to hash everything over and over again for what—a payout that may never come?”
“Then what do you want?”
“If it doesn’t sound too cliché…” I tucked my hands into my pockets to keep them from betraying me. “You.”
He stepped closer, his hand landing on the back of my neck, thumb pressed into my hairline. “You already have me.”
He let the words hang, waiting for the catch, the fine print, the next condition I might name. But I didn’t hedge or negotiate. I just held his gaze and let myself want exactly what I wanted, without apology.
Luka’s eyes flicked over my face, reading the micro-expressions like barcodes. “What else do you want?” he pressed.
“I want to do something that isn’t bullshit,” I said. “I want to build something that matters, even if it’s small and stupid. I want to get up in the morning and not have my first thought be about who’s out to knife me before lunch.”
He let go and stepped back. “What does that look like?”
“I don’t know.” I said it too quickly. “Okay, that’s a lie. I do know. I think I’ve always known.” The words tumbled out, faster as I went. “I want to start something on my own. Not a marketing agency in the traditional sense, but something more nimble. Something that helps the people who actually need help. The indie stores, the mom-and-pops, the weirdos who actually care about what they’re making.”
I could feel Luka’s gaze on me, as if he could see all the way through to the blueprint of my new ambition. “What’s stopping you?”
The answer should have been long and complicated, but the truth buzzed at the front of my brain, simple and shaming. “Nothing. I guess.” My voice cracked on the last word.
“Then do it.”
He said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world, as if inertia were a switch you could flick off, as if all it took was permission. The thought made me want to laugh and scream at the same time. “Where would I even start?”
“With the first step,mila.” The endearment landed like a balm. “Or with a beer, if the first step is too much for you right now.”
I smiled despite myself and kept walking, my brain rearranging the loose pieces of my life into something that almost made a picture. “I don’t even know where I’d set up shop. Atlanta? London?” I hesitated, then shot him a look. “What about you?”
“What about me?” He matched his steps to mine, both hands in his jacket pockets.
“You live in London. I don’t think I can just…go work in London. I mean, isn’t there, like, a visa thing?”
“For regular employment, yes.” He scuffed his boot along the gravel path. “But you can stay six months. Just like I can stay here for three.”
“And after that?”
He shrugged, the gesture loose and full of hidden energy. “Strictly speaking, I can work from anywhere. So can you, if you start your own company. Most of what you do is marketing and digital, yes? No one cares if you’re in Atlanta or Zagreb or…Tbilisi.”
I laughed, the sound sharp and surprised. “First of all, I don’t even know where that is. And you make it sound so easy. I thought only influencers could pull off the digital nomad thing.”