Page 9 of Prodigal

“But I—I need my laptop.” Her tone turned pleading. “Gideon, please. You don’t understand.”

“I do. And tomorrow after you’ve spoken to your father, you’ll contact Samir…” His friend held out a card that Ree snatched from him. “Everything will be fine.”

She pressed her lips together.

“Ree, do this and I’ll make it worth your while. Trust me.”

“I don’t trust you,” she said softly. “And I never will, not after this.” She turned away, marching past the others on her way to the door. “I was happy to learn you weren’t dead, Gideon, but now…” She shook her head. “You’re just like him,” she tossed over her shoulder without looking at him. “Just like my father.”

Not the best comparison, but he’d been called worse, so he didn’t care. He and Ree weren’t friends. They’d known each other as kids and that was it.

Will and Kaleb hurried after her, leaving Gideon and Samir all alone in the office. Gideon dropped into the chair Ree vacated, heaving a sigh.

“It was necessary,” Samir said above his head.

“Of course.” Everything was necessary. Ree wasn’t a kid anymore. She, more than anyone, knew that sometimes you had to do whatever you had to in order to get what you wanted. He wouldn’t apologize for it.

“Marco has an update,” Samir told him, and Gideon shot to his feet.

“I could use some good news.”

“We’ve found Ennis Canto’s secret son.”

“You wouldn’t be sotired if you’d gone to bed like I told you to,” André scolded Juliette, who rolled her eyes at him as they made their way home from the basketball court.

“I’m not tired,” she protested, but the words were weak, as were her playing skills back there. “I just wasn't feeling it.” She shrugged.

He scoffed. “Yeah, okay. But when you get in, don’t let me hear you on the phone. It’s dinner, homework, and then bed. No excuses.” He sounded so much like his mother at that moment that he stopped walking, staring down at Jules with wide eyes.

She’d also stopped on the sidewalk, meeting his gaze with big eyes. “You sound like Mom.”

A pang went through him and he rubbed the back of his neck. “I know.” He glanced around, blowing out a breath. “Sorry.” And he didn’t even know why he was apologizing.Shit.“Come on, let’s go.”

But Jules didn’t move. “Can we have pizza?”

“Jules, we already had pizza twice this week.” And it was only Wednesday.

“I know, but the food you cooked last night wasn’t— I mean…” She glanced away, probably trying to spare his feelings,but he already knew the new recipe he’d tried to cook last night had been a major fail.

“You can say it,” he told her with a chuckle. “It sucked.” He could cook, but his knowledge wasn’t extensive, and trying new things usually included lots of trial and error. Mostly error.

“Well, you did stop making pasta every single day, so you get points for that.”

“Hey.” He gave her a mock stern look as they continued on their way. “Pasta is delicious.”

“Yeah, but every single day?”

“Why not? Look what happened last night when I tried something new.”

She nodded. “Yeah, that’s true.”

“If we have pizza tonight—“ Her eyes brightened but he held up a hand. “If we have pizza tonight, then I’m making pasta tomorrow.” Best he put her on notice now.

“Okay. Fine. Let’s go!” She rolled on ahead of him to the pizza shop and he chuckled, quickening his strides to catch up.

They’d stayed later than they normally did at the basketball courts, but a group of neighborhood kids had joined them and Jules had clearly been having fun despite her obvious tiredness. So they’d stayed. Now, the sun had long gone down as they made their way back. He caught up with her just as she reached the entrance to the pizza place, pulling the door open and keeping his gaze on her to ensure she didn’t have any issues entering. One time, one of the wheels in her chair had gotten stuck in a deep crack near the entrance.

Once she’d entered, he followed behind her. The door slammed shut at his back and he took a step forward, only to almost crash into Jules. He opened his mouth to chastise her for stopping abruptly and damn near swallowed his tongue.

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