Page 32 of Shameless Expectations

“I promise,” she added, locking her gaze on his. “I’ll call him.”

“Good.” Kevin gave her a discerning look before leaving her office.

Plunged back into the quiet, Athena only had one thing on her mind to distract her now.

Monti.

Where the hell was she? Because she could already feel the tension from before sneaking back into her and making it impossible to focus again. It wasn’t awful now, but in another day or two, she would be right back where she’d started.

She gave it another five minutes—at least, she thought it was five—before standing in front of Fallon, arms crossed, and rage in every fiber of her being. “Where is she?”

“I—I don’t know.” Fallon shrugged, glancing from Athena to her cell phone and back again.

“She was supposed to be here an hour ago.”

“Yeah, but the thing about Monti is that she’s a free spirit.”

She was quickly learning to hate that phrase. Athena narrowed her gaze, the muscles along her neck and shoulders tightening intensely. “I don’t care if she’s a free spirit or a dead one. I pay her to be here. Where is she?”

Fallon’s jaw tightened, her lips thinning to the point they were barely even there. She glanced at her phone again, but even Athena could see that there were no messages on it. “Look, I love my sister dearly. She’s my baby sister. I helped raise her. But ever since she’s been on this quest, time and responsibilities are something else to her. She used to be so good at showing up to everything she had to, always ten or fifteen minutes early.”

“Now she’s an hour late.”

“I know,” Fallon pleaded. “And I’ve called and texted, and she’s not answering. What I’m trying to say is that Monti doesn’t really pay attention to time anymore.”

“Who would do that?” Athena gave her a flat look, not understanding any of what Fallon was saying. The words made sense. The actions didn’t. “If you have a job, you show up on time.”

“Yeah. Yeah I’m with you. I understand that. But Monti is often in her own little world, and through most of the day, she doesn’t know what time it is.”

“How does she get anything done?” Athena narrowed her gaze. “How does she not get fired?”

“Well, she doesn’t have a job.”

Athena knew that, but she still didn’t quite understand how it all worked. “How does she afford to live?”

“That’s a complicated answer, but she finds a way to earn cash when she needs to.”

“Like this?” Athena pushed. She wanted to understand Monti better, because this person she was imagining was nothing like the person she’d seen in her bedroom a few nights ago. She was nothing like the woman who had checked in with her after staying awake all night to make sure that she was well enough to be on her own. Her heart raced at that thought. Monti had sacrificed something she needed for the betterment of Athena. At least that was her intention.

“Yeah, like this.” Fallon sighed heavily, again looking at her phone. “I’ll call her again.”

“Don’t bother.” Pursing her lips, Athena walked out of the office. When she reached the door, she called over her shoulder, “Go home, Fallon. Get some rest.”

Without looking back, she left her work for the day.

Athena went to the one place she knew she could find some peace, at least the one place she usually could. The library brought a gentle calm, something that she had complete control over. Except she wasn’t finding that calm.

The library door opened, and Athena turned, expecting to find Kevin. Instead, she came face to face with the one person she wasn’t sure she wanted to see today. Not after everything that had happened.

“I’m so sorry,” Monti started, clearly seeing the anger in Athena’s eyes. “I lost track of time.”

“Fallon assures me that’s a normal problem with you.”

Monti sighed, coming in and shutting the door behind her. Now it was just the two of them and no one else. No one would interrupt them. No one would save either of them by stopping the argument that Athena knew was coming. “It is.”

“I don’t understand you.”

“Not many people do.” Monti shrugged slightly.

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