Page 27 of Surrender

“Back then, he was a soldier. We were both stationed in Afghanistan. Obviously, this was years before he met his husband.”

“He’s married to Alastair Spencer-Penelegion, isn’t he? The heir to a department store empire in the UK?”

“Right.”

“It’s been a few years, but our friend Roger used to be the head of Alastair’s security detail.”

“I know.”

“And as you pointed out, Alastair is co-founder of this shelter.”

“Yes.”

“I’m trying to see the whole picture here,” he said. “You work at a place his husband founded, and you rent a room from his husband’s former bodyguard. But it didn’t seem like you and Sawyer are close friends, since you didn’t know his dad had moved out of state.”

“Is there a question in there somewhere?”

Ever shrugged. “I guess I’m just trying to figure out how you ended up here.”

“It’s a long story.”

“I have time.”

I plucked the wreath off his head and handed it to him. “No, you don’t. We need to get these decorations done if we want to surprise the residents.”

“I can talk and decorate at the same time.” To illustrate his point, Ever tossed the wreath like a Frisbee, and it landed crookedly on a lampshade. “Come on. Indulge my curiosity.”

“Fine.” As I went to retrieve the wreath, I said, “When I first came to San Francisco, I didn’t know anyone but Sawyer.”

“Did you come here for him?”

I nodded. “This was a few years after Afghanistan. We’d lost touch, but then we bumped into each other by chance. I took itas a sign and came to San Francisco hoping we could start fresh, but I was too late. He’d already met Alastair.”

“But you decided to stay.”

“I had nowhere else to go.”

Ever looked sympathetic. “So, then what happened?”

“After he shot me down, he saw how lost I was and tried to help me. He introduced me to some of his friends, and they brought me into their social circle. He also suggested volunteering here at the shelter. He thought it would be good for me, and he was right.”

“He sounds like a nice guy.”

“He is.”

“I’m still surprised you stuck around,” Ever said. “Wasn’t it hard to see him with his new man?”

“Yeah, it was. It’s part of the reason I left for a while. That’s when I moved to Catalina Island with my friend Gabriel, who I met through Sawyer. We both ended up coming back here eventually, but by then, a lot had changed.”

I leaned against the edge of a table and continued, “Most importantly, I’d finally gotten over Sawyer. And then several things ended up falling into place, which convinced me this was where I belonged. I met Roger through a mutual friend, and he rented me an affordable room in that great apartment. When I came back to the shelter to see if they needed volunteers, they hired me as a program assistant. Also, I started taking classes at the community college and began working toward the goal of becoming a counselor.”

After a pause, Ever asked, “Are you really, truly over him?”

“Yes. Absolutely.”

“Then why did it stir up a strong reaction when you saw him?”

It usually didn’t affect me that much—not anymore. But this time he’d appeared out of the blue, just as Ever and I werehaving a moment. My guard had been down, and the last thing I’d expected was for my past and present to suddenly collide. It threw me off, so no wonder Ever had picked up on it.

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