Page 58 of Exile and Embrace

She makes a small noise. “It sounds like you two are a married couple already. You know that, right?”

My cheeks warm. I shrug, even though she can’t see it. “I don’t know. I came out here with him as friends—if you could call us that—but I don’t know. It feels like something is changing between the two of us.”

“What kind of change? Good or bad?” Excitement drips from her voice. “You’re going to have to tell me all the details. Please tell me that you got your senses together and are sleeping with that fine man. And don’t you dare lie to me.”

My entire body is an inferno as the sliding door opens behind me, and Finn sticks his head out. “Speak of the devil, and he arrives home.”

Zoe groans. “No. You’re supposed to be telling me all the dirty details. Tell him to go away.”

The corner of Finn’s mouth creeps upward. “Does your sister know I can hear her?”

Zoe bursts out laughing. “You always keep the volume on your phone too loud. Turn it down, Aves, then tell me about the dirty details.”

Finn smirks and takes a step back into the house. “I’ll just let the two of you continue your conversation. Have fun describing the way you milk my cock when you come.”

Zoe gasps for air on the other end of the line. Tears are probably running down her face. “He is funny. I like him.”

“Yeah, well, that makes one of us right now. I’m going to go in there and wring his neck for making this worse.”

“Oh, come on, the man is funny. You have to love a sense of humor.” She sighs. Voices grow louder in the background. “I have to get going. We’re supposed to be heading out for something to eat.”

I grin. “Off the hook for the dirty details.”

“Not for long. Next time we’re on the phone together, I want to know how everything with that part of your life is going.”

“If you say so.”

“I do.” Sadness enters her voice. “I miss you, Aves. I love you.”

“Love you too, Zoe. We’ll talk later. Have a good time out.”

As soon as the call ends, I take my coffee and head back inside.

Finn is sitting at the kitchen island, his head bent over papers in front of him. He looks up with a smile as I make my way into the room.

“You’re in a good mood this morning.” I get onto one of the stools beside him and take a sip of my coffee. “Good night at work?”

“Better than some.” He shoves the papers to the side and twists in his seat. His full attention is on me as he takes the coffee from my hand and drains nearly half of it. “You’re getting better at making a decent cup of coffee.”

“Says the man who spent the last three years of his life incarcerated and drinking shitty coffee.”

His eyes light up with his widening smile. “And yet, I still know how to make a better cup of coffee than you.”

“Fine. I’ll give you that.”

He gives a satisfied nod. “How was the call with your sister?”

“It was good. I miss her a lot, though. It feels weird to be nearly a country apart from her. Even when I was in Virgina, I would go home and visit her every couple weeks.”

“If you want to go visit her, say the word, and I’ll book you a plane ticket.”

I shake my head and take my mug back. As I hold the mug between my hands, guilt curls its cold fingers around my throat again.

Though I miss Zoe, I don’t want to go home.

For the first time in a long time, I feel free. If I go back home now, I know that I’m going to lose that feeling. I’ll start to feel worse for leaving her the second I set foot in Tennessee. I’ll start to wonder if I should stay there and make sure that she is alright.

Finn leans closer to me, twirling a strand of my hair around his finger and giving it a light tug. “Where did you just go in that incredibly intelligent mind of yours?”

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