Page 77 of Exile and Embrace

Ava tries to hop on the counter twice, but both times she is laughing too hard to hold herself steady while pulling herself up.

Becca laughs with her, and the pair of them seem to send the other into a fit of giggles each time someone gets control.

I grab Ava by the waist and lift her onto the counter as her laughter stops. “At least you don’t have to worry about if the potatoes are soggy or not anymore.”

Ava’s eyes widen, her smile stretching from one side of her face to the other. “I hate roasts.”

Chuckling, I get the broom and sweep up the glass. “I can see that. I didn’t think you hated them to the point of throwing them on the ground.”

Cillian comes over with a rag to start mopping up the spilled pan drippings while Dawson grabs the pizza menu from the fridge.

Becca sits on the counter, her legs dangling. “It’s my fault. I thought that dumping the pan drippings into the gravy would give it the flavor Ava wanted. Then I dropped the pan.”

“Because I nudged her.”

Cillian tosses the dirty rag into the sink and moves to stand between Becca’s legs, his hands drifting up her thighs.

Ava’s gaze cuts to them, her smile faltering slightly. “Pizza is a good dinner too.”

Becca nods and cups Cillian’s face, kissing the tip of his nose. “We’ve never met a pizza that we didn’t like.”

Within a few minutes, Dawson has the pizza and beer ordered and everyone is sitting in the living room with some show about dating in private pods on television. I lean back in the chair, my hand on Ava’s hip as she perches on the arm beside me.

Becca leans into Cillian’s side, her gaze on Ava instead of the show.

I wasn’t sure what to think when I brought Becca and Cillian over for the first time. I certainly hadn’t been expecting it to go as well as it did.

But the women hit it off, spending most of the night talking to each other.

Tonight, they seem to be closer than ever.

Ava leans over, her hip shifting against my hand as she whispers something in Becca’s ear. The pair of them exchange a look before settling back into their seats.

My phone starts ringing, the shrill tone cutting through the sound of the show.

With a sigh, I get up and go outside, pulling the phone from my pocket. The number flashing across the screen sends dread straight to the pit of my stomach.

I slide my thumb across the screen and hold the phone to my ear. “Christian. How did you get this number?”

Christian chuckles. “I have my connections. Thought I would check up on you. Make sure that you’re still out of Tennessee.”

“I am.” I sit down on one of the loungers and look up at the clouds drifting in front of the moon. ‘Things are going well. I’ve been working again. Think I might like to stay where I am for the foreseeable future. No desire to return to Tennessee.”

“Or Virginia?”

“I have zero plans of returning to Virginia.”

Christian hums. “Interesting. I know your family is close. So is mine. I don’t know what I would do if one of them decided that they weren’t coming back home.”

I swallow hard, wondering what it is he thinks he knows to be calling me. Does he know that his sister-in-law is with me? Does he think that I’m going to ruin her life?

I’ve been doing my best to give her everything that she could ever want, but there is a little voice in my mind that tells me it’s still not enough. I'm not enough.

This call could be to warn me away from her. To threaten me to walk away and leave her in Portland before Christian tracks me down.

But from the calls I’ve overheard with her sister, she doesn’t give much information about what’s going on in her personal life.

Her sister knows that she’s here with me, but I don’t think she knows who I am.

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