Chapter 12
THE LIES WE TELL
SEVEN
Ithought it would take some convincing for Atticus to work his magic so that Aurora could come to visit Julian with us, but after last night, he didn't seem to mind at all. I don't know who got more joy out of that Chick-fil-A order, Ro or him.
He spent two hours in his office this morning getting everything just right without any complaint whatsoever.
To anyone looking, it will appear as though Aurora never left Boone at all.
The records at the ASU library will show that she entered in the morning and didn't depart each day until after lunch.
The traffic cams will show her car stopped at a red light at the intersection near her apartment today even though she'll be with us.
Eli and I told him it was probably overkill, but Atty said he doesn't want to leave any trace whatsoever that she's connected to us, so we didn't push.
"Have you heard from his nurse?" Ro asks Eli in the back seat of Atty's Mercedes SUV.
Eli turns from staring blankly out the window to face her. "Uh, yeah. Yeah, they texted about an hour ago. He's still lucid."
Ro smiles. "Are you nervous?"
Eli drops his gaze.
"When he's lucid, he sometimes remembers what Eli did," I explain to Ro. "How he left and didn't come home for so long."
A knot forms between Ro's brows. "Surely he doesn't blame you for that?"
Eli heaves a sigh. "It's complicated. I did leave. Sometimes he remembers that I left, but not that I came back. Sometimes he sees me, but doesn't know it's me. Or worse, he thinks I'm a ghost."
Ro's lips part in mute surprise at Eli's admission.
"But it's not going to be like that today," I decide. "Watch. I have a feeling. It's going to be a good visit."
No one agrees, but when Aurora winds her fingers through Eli's, some of the tension leaves his shoulders, and I know he hopes I'm right.
Fuck, so do I.
We aren't headed to Flo's gravesite this time. Instead, we're meeting Julian at the pond. It's not far from the old Ashford family home, which is a bit risky, but there are no traffic cams and hardly any houses this way or people to see us down the long, winding road I used to bike down as a kid.
Once we're near the end of the no-exit road, Atticus pulls off into a long driveway that's almost overgrown with shrubbery and vines.
He winces as they sweep over the roof, probably leaving scratches, but it's safer to keep the vehicle out of sight, even if it isn't registered in any of our legal names or known aliases.
Ellie stirs, getting up from her position asleep in Ro's lap to stand on the seat and canter her paws for exit.
When Atticus parks and goes to step out, Aurora stops him. "Wait, isn't this someone's driveway?"
Did she just speak to him outside of Switzerland?
Atticus turns oh-so slowly to face her, like he's afraid he might break some kind of spell.
Eli opens his mouth to answer Ro, but I give him a cutting look, and he takes the hint to shut up and let Atty talk.
"The house has been abandoned since we were kids," Atty explains tentatively, regulating his tone to within an inch of its life. "It's better to keep the vehicle out of sight."
He hesitates another second, like he might say more, but stops himself, exiting the vehicle instead.
Ro follows Eli out his door as Atty opens the one on his side to let Ellie out. She immediately takes off, but she never goes far.
"Stay close, Ellie!" Ro calls after her, and then looks around, lifting a dark brow. "Didn't you say there was a pond?"
She bats a vine from in front of her face, and makes a face when her hand connects with a bit of cobweb.
Eli pushes the vines from her path and guides her toward the road and the guardrail at the end of it.
"It's down here."
He climbs over the metal barrier and reaches for her, but I'm there first, lifting her over with ease. Eli would've killed his hand trying to hold her weight.
She yelps as I set her on the ground and hop the rail with Atticus a step behind me. Ellie launches over behind him like a galloping horse, darting ahead of us all.
We haven't been here in an age, and the trail shows as much. It's almost completely gone, covered over with new growth and fall leaves.
How many times did I sneak away from home to come here? Definitely more times than I can count.
I still remember that first time, though. This was my spot. The place where I came to be alone, throw rocks in the water, and sharpen sticks into spears that I imagined skewering my stepdad with.
Missed opportunity, honestly.
As we traipse down the slope of the hill and the pond comes into view, I see Julian already there. He stands in almost the exact spot I first found Eli, at the water's edge, staring out over the lily pads and mossy heads of large rocks around its edges.
Except Eli had been sitting with his knees bent, a sketchpad propped against them as he hunched over it, scribbling with a pencil, trying to capture the pond in charcoal and graphite.
I smile at the memory, and Julian turns, smiling back as he catches sight of us.
That's a good sign.
Ellie barks, careening to a stop just shy of him to approach cautiously, sniffing around him curiously.
"And who's this?" I can't help noticing he sounds a bit hoarse. The rich timbre I remember from my teen years is muted. Faded almost.
Ellie barks again and goes to investigate the rim of the pond for frogs.
Jules laughs.
"You made it," he says, trailing the edge of the water to meet us.
His nurse doesn't follow, hanging back, perched on a worn stone seat far enough away to provide some privacy. Also, a good sign.
The nurse offers Ellie the back of her hand to sniff and makes an instant friend.
Jules looks a bit better than he did a couple weeks ago. There's more color in his face, but he still looks painfully thin. Atticus notices, too. He won't say it, but I know it kills him to see Julian this way.
Which is probably why he doesn't come with us every time.
In the years before everything went to shit, it was the Atty and Jules show.
They'd spend hours, sometimes entire days together in the library, Atticus eager to soak up every drop of knowledge Julian imparted to him about heist planning, reading blueprints, and being ready for every scenario.
I haven't heard Atty laugh like he did from behind those closed library doors since, and I still don't know if I ever will again.
The Atticus I know today isn't the same as the one who emancipated himself at sixteen and came to share a room with me at Flo and Jules's. But he's still my brother.
"You're all here," Julian adds, staring at Atticus over my shoulder as I stoop to hug him and try not to want to murder his nurse when I feel how frail he is in my arms. I know there's only so much they can do to force him to eat.
Ro waits off to one side, fiddling with her hair and the hem of her shirt as Julian embraces Atticus next, and then his son.
When Jules pulls away, he doesn't release Eli straight away, he keeps hold of his shoulder and leans in conspiratorially, his sepia eyes flitting to Ro. "Is this the girl?"
Eli nods, and I'm still unsure which version of Jules we're getting today, but so far, it feels promising.
He's recognized each of us, and he still remembers me mentioning that Elijah was seeing someone.
Julian straightens, fixing his brown suede jacket and pushing his thinning salt-and-pepper hair back as he approaches Ro and extends a hand to her. "You must be the reason my son is smiling again."
Ro blushes furiously at the compliment and scoffs, taking his hand. "Um, I'm not so sure about that."
"I am," Eli corrects, and if it's possible, her face gets even more red.
It's funny…make her an accomplice to grand larceny or hand her a gun in a Parisian cabaret and she's cool as a cucumber. But meeting our dad?
Her throat bobs, nervous as hell.
Jules covers their clasped hands with his other one and squeezes. "It's such a pleasure to meet you…"
"Aurora," she supplies for him.
He nods. "Aurora? What a pretty name."
Julian releases her and glances around the pond as if he expects company. "Where's Flo? I know she'll want to meet you, too."
My chest tightens, but I'm quick to act, ignoring the sensation.
"She had an appointment." I clap a hand to his shoulder and squeeze. "She'll meet Ro next time."
"An appointment?"
"Mmm."
"Oh yes. I must've forgotten."
I shake my head. "She'll be back later."
It isn't a lie. Not exactly. He still sees her in the old house where they spent all the years of their marriage, where I spent some of the best years of my life. He'll see her when his nurse takes him home.
Julian nods, and I know the situation's been defused, if only a little longer.
Eagerly, he returns his attention to Ro. "So, tell me about yourself, Aurora. How did you meet my son?"
She winces, and I cough to cover a laugh. I can tell she doesn't know what to say, if she should lie, but this is real. And I want Julian to know that.
"She hit me with her car," I admit, and Julian looks at me like I've grown a second head and then snaps his gaze back to Aurora.
"Surely not?"
She grimaces. "Well…"
Julian places a hand on her elbow and guides her to the flat crop of stone where we used to lie back on and look up at the stars.
"Tell me everything," he says as they sit, and Ro finds the carvings made by younger versions of us in the stone.
She looks so innocent sitting there with Eli's father—with our father.
Like any girl who might want to gain the approval of her boyfriend's dad. We've already told her not to mention anything tied to Ambrose or what we're planning, so the version she tells isn't entirely accurate, but it's as close as we can allow.
For his own peace and safety.
If he knew the meeting date was set and all Aurora's flights and travel were booked, courtesy of Ambrose's new assistant, he'd flip.
Julian laughs when she tells him about Ellie, how she didn't want to accept our offer to stay with us until she noticed that her dog seemed to trust us.
"Animals know these things," Julian agrees. "But I'm surprised at you, Atticus," he adds, shifting to face Atty. "You allowed a dog in the house?"
He shrugs. "Ellie's a good pup. And she's very well-trained."
Julian appears dubious, and I can tell he knows there's something we aren't telling him. I think he might even know what it is.
When he shifts back to face Ro, he looks over her a little more appraisingly and then to me, to Eli, back to Atticus, and then finally, back to Ro. He leans in. "They all have a little thing for you, don't they?"
She bites her lower lip, and he pats her on the thigh.
"Then you're a lucky girl," he tells her. "They're good men. Loyal men. Maybe a little rough around the edges…"
He winks at me, and I smirk.
"But there's no one better," he finishes, and there's something soft in his eyes that sparks at a memory.
Then his eyes are up again, scanning the tree line and the footpath opposite the one we took, the one that leads back to the house.
"Where's Flo?"
Aurora places a delicate hand on Jules's arm, drawing his attention back to her, and something cracks in my chest.
"She had an appointment," Ro says in a soft tone. "Remember?"
Aurora doesn’t flinch from his confusion. She doesn’t redirect with clinical detachment like the nurses do. She’s meeting him where he is, in the fog someplace between memory and forgetting, and she’s just staying there with him.
Like it’s the easiest thing in the world. And I can tell he feels that.
Jules blinks, and then releases a hollow laugh. "Oh yes. I remember."