Chapter 24 Sebastian
“Thanks for doing this, Jo.” Sebastian had accompanied her down to the kitchen, where she was gathering some essentials onto
a tray for Orly.
“Happy to,” she responded. “I’d be lying, though, if I didn’t admit I’m a little surprised.”
“Why? You can’t blame her for still needing to get out there. The clock is ticking.” He snatched one of the saltines from
the pack she had just set down and took a bite.
“Not her, Seb. You.” Jo slapped his hand as he reached to steal more of Orly’s crackers. “You were as good as off the hook.
You’re the fish that reeled the fisherman back in.”
Oh. That. Yeah, he’d been sort of surprised by that himself. Not just that he was willing to make a little extra effort to
help her not lose the day, but that he’d been disappointed to be let off the hook. Disappointed? Yes. Disappointed. Not because he wanted to spend the day with her. It wasn’t that. Well, it was that, but only because he still had a few too many unanswered questions bouncing around in his head.
He’d watched the three old friends all evening. The way they’d snuck over to each other for hugs at random moments, and the
way their smiles were bigger and their laughs were louder, and their happy tears always seemed to be just under the surface,
ready to appear. The way Brynn had no longer appeared conflicted or tortured or whatever you wanted to call it. From the time
she was with Cole on the patio to the time the three of them drove off in Cole’s Wrangler together after Sebastian offered
to close up, she seemed like the weight of the world was off her shoulders.
He needed the time with her today. And as sorry as he was that Orly was sick, maybe it was for the best that he wouldn’t be
there. He’d gotten politicians to acknowledge affairs and dictators to acknowledge missile tests they’d spent months denying.
If Brynn Cornell’s change of heart was a ruse, he’d get it out of her.
“The sooner she can get her footage, the sooner she’ll head back to New York and we can move on with our lives,” he finally
said in response to Jo.
Jo helped herself to the package of crackers Sebastian’s hand had just been slapped away from and began nibbling on the corner
of a saltine. “Pretty sure Steve said the plane is taking off Friday morning regardless of how much footage she’s shot, but
you tell yourself what you need to.”
“What’s that supposed to—”
“Sorry I took so long.”
Sebastian turned his head at Brynn’s voice and the sound of her bounding down the steps and then had to swallow hard at the sight of her.
Her hair was in a neat—but not slick or perfect—braid down her back, and it bounced behind her as she hurried toward them.
She was still wearing those impractical boots—the ones clearly not meant to ever get wet—but today they covered leggings or yoga pants or whatever they were called.
And she wore a long gray sweatshirt. About the same length as the sweater she had worn yesterday, but so much more casual and flattering.
Well, it was flattering on her in that it wasn’t designed to be flattering at all.
It was formless and bulky, with the yellow Sunup logo embroidered on the front.
Her hands were stuffed into pockets that appeared to have tears in the stitching.
“It’s... That’s... Yeah, it’s no big thing.” His ears were ringing. Why were his ears ringing? “We’re cool.”
“Lord, have mercy,” Jo muttered under her breath as she turned away and pulled the orange juice from the refrigerator.
Brynn reached the bottom of the steps and quirked an inquisitive eyebrow at him. “Cool.”
In fairness, never once—not a single time—had Omar al-Bashir or Raul Castro or even Justin Trudeau shown up for an interview
looking almost exactly as he had fantasized about them just twelve or so hours earlier. He just needed a moment to recalibrate.
“Thanks again for keeping an eye on Orly, Mrs. Stoddard.” Brynn reached for the memo pad and a pen on the counter and wrote
down some numbers. “This is my cell. Would you please call me if he gets worse or anything?”
“I’m sure he’ll just sleep.”
Brynn nodded and then looked up at Sebastian. “Shall we?”
He grabbed the little bit of Orly’s equipment he had decided they needed and headed to the door, scurrying to get past Brynn
so he could open it for her. She was almost there when she spun on her heel, ran to the kitchen, and grabbed two of the raspberry
scones. She flashed her pearly whites at Jo.
“Thank you, Mrs. Stoddard!” She hurried back to the door and gave Sebastian one of the scones before shuffling through.
“Lord, have mercy,” Jo repeated, causing Sebastian to shush her before he took a bite of the scone and shut the door behind
him.