Page 141 of Prodigal Son

“Oh,” she said, and the bottom dropped out of her stomach. “I always assumed you would.” And the stupid thing was, shehad. He’d been living in Texas for years now, and he’d only come here now for his father. Without Devin, and with bad memories here, she’d known he would return to the States.

So why did she feel like this?

“No, but.” He made a face. Shook his head. “I’m going to Tennessee. Moving there for good. Mercy’s taking Reese back, and then there’s Evan. And…the new one. Someone needs to work with those kids, make sure they turn out halfway normal.” He snorted, like he doubted the possibility.

“I don’t think there’s any hope for Evan,” Eden said. “He’s an idiot.”

A fast, fierce grin.

Sadness moved through her, a slow, relentless wave. She would miss him. She would ache she missed him so badly.

“I talked to Ghost,” he continued. “And he’s really trying to expand the business side of things. He’s always looking for smart, capable people to back. Businesses that can contribute to Knoxville, you know?”

“Yeah,” she murmured, and started to turn away.

He laid a hand on her arm, drew her gaze up to his face. His eyes big, and blue, and…hopeful. Maybe.

“I want you to come with me, is what I’m getting at,” he said.

And oh.

Oh.

“You can run your own PI business there. Or whatever you want to do. But. I’m asking, yeah? You wanna move to Tennessee with me?”

There were men – good men – who would have offered moving love confessions. Promises of comfortable lives, and fine houses, and the kind of stability that would make anybody leap at the chance. But Fox was offering her a spark of hope, and Tennessee, and a career a long way from home.

Eden took a deep breath, and she thought about her years as a cop, as an MI5 agent. The sleepless nights chasing leads; the tension headaches, the scrapes and bruises. Pushing herself to be the best, to be better than her best. The accolades…

The loneliness. The monotony of job, after job, after job, and her mother’s brittle disdain for everything she did.

Then she thought of warm weather, and green fields, and bright sunshine. Of a lazy river, and orange ballcaps, and Southern drawls, and biscuits, and a big loud club full of people, and…

Charlie. Mostly of Charlie. And what might have been.

She thought of all that, and she said, “Yes.”

~*~

Axelle hesitated, hands in her jacket pockets, breath pluming like smoke as she stared up at the carefully hand-crafted sign that read Maude’s, its paint fresh, its edges smoothed down by years of rain. When Eden told her she was moving to Tennessee to start a PI firm there, Axelle had breathed a deep, deep sigh of relief, and imagined she could already smell the wood smoke and leaf mold of home. London had been a wild adventure, but she missed America; missed the mountains and rivers and gorgeous greenery of Tennessee. And now, the thought of going back didn’t fill her with the sharp pain of losing Daddy.

It touched her with melancholy, though. Which was why she’d told Eden that she would take her up on her offer, but that she wanted to check something first. Something most likely pointless.

Eden had offered a small smile so understanding Axelle had been forced to turn away from it, afraid of what the other woman might see in her eyes.

And now here she stood, breathing up at the sign, gathering a kind of courage she’d never thought she’d need.

She opened the door and went in, a bell chiming above her.

Albie sat at his desk, pencil in his hand, slumped over a sketchbook, tumbler of whiskey at his elbow. His black eye had gone truly black now, fading into green and yellow, less swollen, so he could actually see out of it. He moved better, but carried himself stiffly, still sore. The ribs would take a long time to knit back together and stop hurting him. She was struck, in that first moment, by how vulnerable he looked, sitting there alone, surrounded by furniture, shoulders pulled in tight.

His head lifted, and for a moment, his face soft, gaze fuzzy from having stared at his sketches, he looked completely lost.

But then he blinked, and his expression firmed, and he was all buttoned up again.

“Hey,” he said.

“Hey.” She settled onto the stool across from him.

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