Page 523 of Lodestar

“I’ve been around when he drops by,” Savannah admitted.

Aoife cut her a look. “Why do you sound awkward?”

“Mostly because it is. Lena tries but Finn’s quiet. Jake’s… I’d say he’s too young to figure out there’s something going on between them.”

Absently, Aoife reached up and rubbed her chest as if something were paining her.

“I can’t get involved for obvious reasons,” I admitted lightly, “but I know a gun-for-hire, Aoife. You almost had her over for dinner…”

“Why do I feel as if you don’t say that to anyone you don’t like?”

I beamed a grin at her. “You’re catching on.”

Ididlike Aoife.

She was a gentle soul who baked brilliant brownies and who, despite all odds, had found her place in the world even though said world was content to toss her under the bus a few dozen times.

“I-I don’t want her dead,” Aoife muttered.

“Who’s the gun-for-hire?”

“I thought you liked your husband,” Savannah teased Aela, who promptly flipped her the bird.

“I do. I was curious.”

“Her name is Dead To Me,” I answered easily. “You know her as Lucinda.”

Aela’s eyes widened. “She’s a sniper? I thought she was a soldier.”

“The two aren’t mutually exclusive,” I drawled.

“I don’t want her dead,” Aoife spat, tone sharper this time.

“Okay, Aoife, calm down,” Inessa soothed. “We didn’t think you did.”

“Finn…” Her jaw worked before she released a breath. “Finn has tried very hard to make up for what he’s done?—”

“How’s that going?” was Camille’s gentle inquiry.

“It’s going well.” She rubbed her brow. “I feel as if there are two discordant parts of my marriage and I hate that.

“I love my husband. I-I’m not ashamed to admit that I don’t want to be without him, no matter the mistakes he’s made in the past, but this feels like…”

“A scab that won’t heal,” I said simply, taking a sip of coffee afterward.

“Yes,” she replied, bobbing her head. “It’s raw and deep and I hate it. I hate that it affects my life. I hate that none of you want to talk about her in front of me, and I hate that my brothers-in-law all tread warily around me. I hate that Finn acts as if he’s dropped a bomb whenever he utters her name.”

When the china cup in her hand cracked, we all jerked in surprise, but I was the one who snagged her hand, peered at it for cuts, and placed a napkin around the small slice in her palm—not a lot of damage considering the act.

“Keep pressure on that,” I instructed.

Dazedly, she nodded. “T-Thank you.”

“You have a lot of unresolved anger,” I muttered. “Trust me. I’d know. I’m the queen of that.”

“She is,” Savannah agreed, but she’d moved around to Aoife’s other side and was kneeling next to her. “What do you want to do, Aoife?”

“I want to go back in time. I want my mom to be alive. I want to not know what Lena did to her. I want to unlearn that Lena was a pawn…” She closed her eyes. “It’s impossible, but it’s holding me back and I hate that. I want to move forward. Onward. I-I want to wipe the slate clean.

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