Page 80 of Savage Reckoning

“A thing?”

“Fucking like the proverbial bunnies,” she clarifies. “He’s moved into your cottage.”

“Not moved in, exactly…”

“He slept there the last two nights.”

“Who told you?”

“No one ever tells me anything. They don’t have to.”

I give it up. There’s never any point trying to keep secrets from Casey Savage, and why bother anyway? “We’re… trying to work something out. It’s been complicated, but—”

“But you love him?”

“Love? I didn’t say that. We just—”

“I admit, he’s not hard on the eye. I wouldn’t mind rolling across the mattress with him myself a time or two if he was going begging, but Jed can be quite possessive.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. You’re silly in love with your husband.”

“And the sexy American is silly in love with you, so I guess we’re stuck with them both. Problem with yours is, he’ll be going back to the US when his mission here is done. Will you be going with him? It’s just that, with you being kicked out of the army and deported and all that…”

Casey Savage could never be accused of mincing her words.

“I wasn’t deported. I left.”

“Ah. So, you could go back?”

“Not exactly. I could get past Homeland Security, perhaps, but I’d never be allowed to work as a doctor in the US.”

“That’d be a shame. A fucking waste, if you ask me.”

I don’t answer. What is there to say?

“Maybe you and Gabe could keep in touch,” Casey suggests. “You could get together at holidays. Thanksgiving dinner, that sort of thing.”

“Jed travels a lot. You make it work.” I’m clutching at straws, I know.

“I always know where he is, what he’s doing. I go with him most of the time. Roisin, too. Your babies will hardly ever see their daddy.”

“Babies? You’re getting ahead of yourself, Casey.”

“Thinking it through, that’s all.” She lays her hand on my arm. “Just thinking of you, really. You were good to me when I had no one, and I haven’t forgotten. I’m your friend, or I’d like to be. Sort of.”

“My friend?” Sort of?

“Don’t get carried away. We won’t be swapping lipsticks or sharing fashion tips…”

“Thank God for that.”

“…but if you need someone to talk to, I’m here. Or on the end of a phone. Oh, and for what it’s worth, I think he’s a good guy. A keeper.”

“I can’t keep him, though. That’s the problem, you just said it.”

“I guess that’s up to you. Find a way to make it happen, girl.”

“But I—”

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