Page 38 of Twenty-Three Years of Longing

“It’s the Henderson jet. Doesn't cost us anything extra to have Joey with them. This way, you won’t have to worry about whether he makes his transfer. You will be able to stay in touch with him the entire way if you want without restrictions.”

“Wow. That would make it so much easier for me. I...I guess if your wife is okay with it, then I’ll take you up on the offer. I just need to speak to Orion first to make sure I will have the house available by then. I’d rather not have Joey at the resort,” I said.

“Orion? I thought Alex and Ziva were helping you find a place,” he asked looking puzzled.

Damn it.

“Yes, they were. But Orion mentioned that he was going to move closer to the office and that his place would be vacant. He took me there yesterday to see it. I think it would be perfect for us. At least for now.” That sounded like a perfectly reasonable explanation, but I could tell Bennett was trying to read me as though I was hiding something. Which I was, but it was none of his business.

“I would’ve thought he would keep his place. Not sure why he wants to be closer to work,” Bennett said.

“Not sure either. It was his decision, so I guess you’d need to ask him,” I said.

“I’m sure he has his reasons,” he replied.

Like giving up his place so that I have one for me and Joey? Yeah, that sounds more like the truth than what he told me.

I could call Orion out on that, but that would mean I’d need to start looking for another place all over again. From what I had seen, there wasn’t anything even close to this. I hated doing it, but I needed to go along with what Orion told me and bring my son here. If he did this for us, then I should just shut my mouth and be grateful.

I didn’t need to understand why, I just knew that he probably was just trying to be nice. Nice was something he was really good at.

The only problem was that independence was something I was good at, and him doing this seemed to take that away from me a little bit.

Time to swallow my pride. This was all about Joey.

CHAPTER 13

Orion

I thought finding a place to live closer to the office would’ve been easier. But I offered mine before I really gave where I was going to stay, any thought. When I gave Raya the keys to my place last night, I let her know that she could start moving in whenever she wanted. I went there early this morning and grabbed what I needed to hold me for a while. Never thought I’d be living out of suitcases. But it was better than telling Raya I needed my house longer than I thought.

“What do you mean, you need to stay with me for a few days? I thought you said that you had a place closer to the office?” Mayson said.

“Yeah. I’m working on that.”

“You can stay with me as long as you need to. I just don’t get why you need to. You have a big house. Why are you not staying there?” he asked.

I sat on his couch and cracked open the cold beer he had tossed at me. “Because I gave the keys to Raya so she can get her stuff in there,” I explained.

“And you can’t stay there with her?” I shot him a warning look and he quickly added, “Got it. No. You can’t. Maybe I misread how close you two are. But I wouldn’t be surprised if you’re more interested in her than you want to admit. Hell, I’d go as far as saying, you’re falling in love with her.”

That was it. He crossed the line. “I am not falling in love,” I said firmly.

He didn’t even flinch. “Right. You give the keys to your house to a woman who you’re not interested in and now you have no place to live yourself. But you’re not in love. Makes perfect sense, doesn’t it? Oh wait. It doesn’t. No one would ever buy the fact that you did all of this just to be nice. I know you’re nice, but not this nice.”

“Do I need to remind you that it is none of your business?” I stated.

“No. But I’m not the one who will be sleeping on the couch. Figured that I would help you think of options. One that would be more...comfortable than my old couch,” he teased.

“Thanks, but I don’t need your help.”

“Right. You just need my couch,” he laughed. He got up and said, “It’s all yours. And don’t worry, I’ll honor your request and not tell anyone that you’re staying here. Trust me, I don’t want anyone knowing either.

“Good.” The last thing I wanted was for the media to show up here. Not that I believed Raya was tracking what was on the news, but I’d rather her not know just yet. I’d tell her, unless I found a place first.

“I’ve got a date and with any luck, I won’t be home until morning. You know how to lock up when you leave.”

Mayson headed out the door and I leaned back against the couch. I wasn’t going anywhere tonight. I had texted Raya earlier letting her know I would see her tomorrow, but we would talk later. She seemed okay with it. Said she had a lot of things to take care of herself. Now I had plenty of time to sit and do...nothing. Nothing but think.

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