Chapter 31
CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
Elizabeth
W alking in dangerous places wasn’t foreign to me. I’d run enough missions in the face of actual peril, I’d become familiar with it.
And yet, this dangerous ground was completely new. The perils were coming at me from all over the place and I hardly knew what to do with myself. These weren’t international terrorist organizations or threats to the US’s security. They weren’t spies trying to infiltrate our intelligence or a crime syndicate gaining power in foreign nations that could influence anti-US sentiment.
These threats came in the form of six women with glasses of champagne and romance novels in their hands.
“Honestly, I would seriously rethink living in a small town where there are stalkers, multiple serial killers, and then some weird doomsday cult where they want the women to literally stay barefoot and pregnant and whether part of their cult or no, is all happening within a year of my moving there.” Nikki, Bruce’s fiancée, looked around for backup.
“I mean, you’re not wrong,” Winnie agreed.
“No, you have a fair point. It would be rather concerning, especially if you knew it was all happening.” Dove, a petite blonde woman I’d interacted with the least thus far, snuggled into her spot on the couch, her robin’s egg blue dress fluffed out over her legs.
“Okay, but we’ve had multiple kidnappings here. I mean literally two of us have been kidnapped. By that logic, shouldn’t we all be running for the hills?” Jo asked, laughing despite being one of the women who’d been kidnapped.
Catherine tilted her head from side to side like she was thinking about it.
“But that’s not Silverton’s fault. There were perfectly logical explanations for each of those instances,” Elise said, holding her wine glass up, toasting us all before drinking deep.
“And those are…” Nikki prompted.
Elise waved a hand. “Men.”
I chuckled and Dove full out snort-laughed while everyone else maintained a little more composure. Jess pressed her hands to her stomach, bracing, even though I could hardly see any belly yet.
“No, I’m serious. Literally men. Like, Bruce’s sister was kidnapped by her busted-ass druggy dad. Winnie was kidnapped by, my sincerest apologies—” Elise dipped her head deferentially to Winnie, who nodded back “—her hair-brained brother’s debt collectors. And Jo was kidnapped by a crazed fan, also a man. Not a uniquely Silverton problem.” She threw her hands up. “This is why we choose the bear. ”
“As someone whose husband is named Beast, I’d like to lightly object to this line of thought.”
Jess had been fairly quiet tonight, but I could tell everyone was glad to have her there. I knew her a bit better than the others since I’d worked with her team in the past when she was still with the EMU.
“Just because you didn’t get kidnapped doesn’t mean it’s not still a pretty glaring issue. Now that I think about it, maybe it is a Silverton thing. I’m about to pack up and get out. ” Elise slumped back in her seat.
There was something going on there, but I didn’t have enough context to know what. There were a few significant looks exchanged, but then Dove jumped in.
“Yes, but it was also men—sometimes with the help of women, of course, but sometimes not—who rescued each of them. You just have to properly vet them.”
Winnie grinned.
Nikki chuckled, but blushed.
Jo smiled widely. “Well, you’re not wrong there.”
Catherine giggled, clearly along for the ride in the whole conversation. She’d said the least, but she seemed fully engaged still and used to watching the show.
“And how do we make sure we get a good one?” This came from Elise.
“I’d highly recommend getting a Saint Security man,” Winnie said quietly.
Nikki laughed and touched glasses with Winnie, then Jo.
Jess held up her glass of iced water. “As a Saint Security woman, I endorse this message.”
We all laughed then, and Dove sighed wistfully.
“Got your eye on someone there, Dove?” Jess patted her shoulder .
Her cheeks pinked prettily, but she rolled her eyes. “You know me. Ever hopeful and yet tragically doomed to a life of not only being single, but not even dating.”
“I think if you wanted, you could probably crook your finger and about ten guys would come running,” Jo said.
“It’s true. You’re adorable,” Elise encouraged.
Dove groaned. “Yes, everyone’s dream is to be adorable. ”
“What about you, Elizabeth?” Winnie asked, her big eyes blinking back with innocence.
Or at least, she sure looked innocent. But, the question felt loaded.
Jo turned slowly—and rather creepily, if we’re being honest—to settle all her attention on me. “Yes. What about you, Lizzy, dearest and darlingest sister of mine.” She clasped her hands under her chin.
“Okay, freaky. That’s enough champagne for you,” I said, genuinely chilled by her.
Everyone laughed then, and Elise said, “Seriously, Jo. That was terrifying.”
“Whatever. I want to know what you did when you left Craic last night.” She raised her brows in the smuggest little so there expression I’d seen this side of her sixteenth birthday.
Dove let out an “Ooohhhh!” and Jess cackled and clapped her hands together while everyone else appeared to be just as interested.
Normally, I wouldn’t entertain this, but after the last few days, I needed to let it out. What had keeping every thought to myself gotten me except isolation, loneliness, and a growing sense that I’d been unnecessarily keeping myself an island next to a continent of people?
“I went to check on Kenny.” My cheeks heated as almost every woman, save Jess who was leaning back and braced fairly specifically in a pose she’d mentioned helped her not feel nauseated, leaned forward with interest.
“And?” Jo prompted, Dove nodding furiously next to her.
“He had a rough day. And it’s not my information to share, but…” I blew out a long breath and felt the words bubbling up despite the futility of sharing them. “I really like him and what I saw last night only made it worse.”
My little sister shrieked. Like borderline glass shatteringly loudly. She shot out of her seat and jogged around the small, cozy space. Dove clapped, Elise, Catherine, Nikki, and Winnie all grinned like maniacs, and I could swear I saw Jess swipe under her eyes.
“This is stupid. I’m not crying, you’re crying,” she said with a watery laugh. “I love this baby but the hormones.” She rolled her eyes.
“I appreciate the enthusiasm, but this means nothing. It’s actually more bad news than good.”
There. I’d said it out loud. Part of what I’d feared all along and what I knew to be true.
Jo stopped her jog and came to sit next to me. “How so? Kenny is a love, and I dare say he’s had a hand in every one of us finding happiness in one way or another.”
Nikki, Winnie, and Jess all agreed with this, while even the women who weren’t paired off with a Saint man nodded.
“I have no doubt that’s true. But I don’t live here. I—my life is overseas.”
Jo’s expression changed at the edges so subtly, I wouldn’t have noticed if body language and human behavior weren’t part of what I used in my professional life. But the slight pull at the corners of her mouth and the shift in her gaze, the large breath she heaved, albeit silently, and the press of her hands together into a knot… these were the hints I was breaking her heart by saying the truth out loud.
“I get that. It’s hard to imagine what your life is like, but I get having feelings for someone here but knowing your life is elsewhere,” Winnie said.
“I guess you found a way to make it work here, though, didn’t you?” It was obvious enough since she lived here and was married to Tristan, happily building a life in this town.
Everyone listened intently when Winnie responded.
“I came here with every intention of going back when it was safe for me to do so. But being here changed me—and not just Tristan. So when the time came to return, leaving was what felt wrong in my gut. I know not everyone’s story will go that way, but I just want to say… I don’t know, maybe it’s trite, but never say never.”
Parts of me longed for the ability to repeat the phrase and mean it. To embrace the idea of a total life change and take a gigantic, romantic leap into the abyss of the unknown so I could live one version of my life here.
But I’d trained myself to choose the practical, useful, obvious path. I’d lived a life forging ahead according to plan. And that was simply how it had to be.
Even if in my heart of hearts, I heard it echo… never say never.