Page 40 of Semi Sweet
“You speak Russian?”
He chuckled. “I may know a few languages.”
“Good lord, are you bad at anything?”
“That’s yet to be determined,” he answered. “I forgot about the train thing. Blame it on all the other stuff that happened that night.” There was a beat of silence. “You know you could have reminded me. I would have met you at the station and rode with you.”
I heard that little voice in my head, the one that people said was a conscience.Be careful. This could be the beginning of a slippery slope.The beginning was the first cupcake. Or perhaps even meeting Sean.
“While I appreciate your very chivalrous nature, you and I both know that probably isn’t a good idea.” I didn’t want to sound like I wasn’t appreciative though. “But thank you for even offering. And I guess I’m sorry for calling you. I was desperate.”
“Pozhaluysta!” Sean replied with a perfect Russian accent. It was followed by another beat of silence. “I know you are trying to do the right thing and all, but you are with someone who should be concerned about the freaks on the Green line approaching you. Not that I’m not happy you called, but you should be calling him, not me.”
I let out a shaky breath, not liking the truth. “I know.”
“I am happy to help. I just shouldn’t have to, you know?”
“I know.”
“I’m not letting you hang up until you get to your place, though,” Sean assured me. “Now tell me something good.”
I smiled, not usually getting to share moments like this with Evan, either. “It’s not necessarily good, but did I ever tell you how Evan is trying to get me a corporate job?”
Chapter Twenty: Point of No Return
Waitingforyournextsurprise cupcake!
Did you ever find out who was sending them to you?
The person who made those cupcakes must have superior pastry art skills and should be a famous chef, don’t you think?
I’d been scrolling through my now neglectedSemi Sweetsocial media page. Now that Sean’s identity had been revealed and we were talking in person, the account had kind of died. The last comment made me click on the poster’s username.SergeiMiz0912.I’d recognized the name a couple times from previous posts. They were usually very complementary to whoever my mystery man had been. There were aesthetic snowboarding posts, a couple pictures of a German Shepherd sleeping in odd places and the profile of a man's face that I had trouble recognizing because his hair was longer and in his eyes. I gasped as I realizedSergeiMiz0912was Sean. Even though he admitted he had commented on each post, I still couldn’t help but feel duped.
“That dirty little sneak.”
I was doing my somewhat regular ritual of studying before I headed off to class. I’d been in the bakery for nearly a week now and maybe it was the positive work environment or pure coincidence, but it almost felt like I’d always been a part of the department. That being said, I still planned on giving my new supervisor a hard time. I left my belongings at the table and headed towards the display case.
Sean was talking to Beth about something when I approached. I held up my phone, showing both of them the artsy photo. “Busted, Sergei.”
Sean pointed at Beth. “She told me about the page.” Beside me, Beth shrugged.
“Had to see what you thought about my cupcakes,” Sean added.
“Sergei?” I asked.
“It was my birth name. I’m adopted.”
Suddenly his Russian stunt wasn’t that weird. “Really?”
“Why would I lie about that? I lived in Moscow until I was fifteen months old.”
Beth rolled her eyes. “I know you two are in the ‘getting to know you’ phase,” she made air quotes as she continued, “but can’t you do it outside of work? Sean is in such a good mood lately, it’s unnerving.”
“Ungrateful,” Sean said, mock offended before he excused himself to the backroom.
Once he was gone, Beth beamed at me. “As unnerving as it is, I’m still excited to watch it happen. He really, really likes you. It’s cute.”
“And it’s so complicated,” I despaired.
