Page 65 of Exile and Embrace

“Stop wasting time.” The call ends, leaving me alone in the dark night.

If Dad ever finds out that I’m lying to him right now, he will kill me.

The truth is that I’ve been going out on my own for the last few days.

Cillian allows me to be near him without any other members of the mob around. He trusts me.

And I don’t know if I can continue to plot against him, even if it means my own death in the end.

16

AVA

“Are you going to be good with finishing this off?” Brooklyn stirs the sauce bubbling on the stove one last time, the scent of garlic and oregano filling the room.

I chop the sun-dried tomato into small chunks and nod. “I should be. I just have to throw this into the sauce and let it simmer for a few more minutes. They’re not supposed to be here for another half hour.”

“Then I’m going to head out now.” She grabs her purse from the dining table and slings it over her shoulder. “Try not to burn the garlic bread and everything should be fine.”

“Thank you for the help, Brooklyn. I was in a massive panic when I called you.”

She laughs as I put down the knife and toss the tomatoes in the sauce.

I follow her to the door, wishing that she could stay and make dinner with Finn’s boss a little easier.

“I’m glad that I don’t have a fiancé who wants to bring their boss to dinner. That sounds like hell.”

“It does.” I shrug and open the door for her as she slides into her sneakers. “But everything is going to be fine. Finn says that they’re nice people. I’ve just been up most of the last two nights worrying about what to give them.”

“Well, that carrot cake I brought over is always a favorite at the café. As long as you give them a huge slice of that, I’m sure they’ll fall in love with you.”

“I hope so.”

Brooklyn heads out, picking up her bicycle from where she leaned it against the porch railing. “Are we still looking at your father’s yearbooks this weekend?”

“Yeah. My aunt was going to finish digging them out tonight and then she’s going to drop them by here tomorrow night before she heads out of town for the weekend.”

“Are you sure that Finn is going to be alright with that?” Her eyebrow arches. “You know he never seems very impressed when I’m over to look through your dad’s things with you.”

I wave a dismissal hand. “That’s just Finn. He’s got a lot on his plate right now.”

Her eyebrows climb a little higher. “Are you sure? Is everything alright? I hate to be the thing that comes between the two of you when he looks at you like you hung the moon.”

My cheeks warm as I roll my eyes. “That is not how he looks at me. And the relationship is good. He really is just stressed with work. He also thinks that chasing down ghosts is going to upset me.”

“As long as you’re sure.”

“I’m sure. Come over on Sunday, and we’ll go through the yearbooks together. We might be able to find some juicy high school drama.”

She chuckles, her shoulders relaxing as she nods. “Alright. I’ll be over Sunday. There better be drama, though.”

“There will be.”

I’m sure of it. After reading my dad’s journals, I’m sure that there was more going on in his life than I’ve found so far. Aunt Courtney has been able to fill in some of the gaps, but there is a lot that even she doesn’t know.

I want to find it this weekend.

Brooklyn straddles her bike and puts her bag in the basket on the front. “Have a good dinner.”

---