Page 134 of After All The Wreckage
I loved pulling together all the pieces of the puzzles that were sent to us, seeing things that others didn’t. I’d been there for two years now and had the opportunity to work on some incredibly rewarding cases, including G’s final takedown of the Lovatos.
The information we’d gathered from Chanel’s computers hadn’t been enough to get an arrest, but it had sent us whirling in a surprising direction. G had uncovered the leader of the Lovatos in a place no one had expected. She should have been awarded a medal for it. But no one outside the intelligence community knew what she’d done except the man attached to her hip ever since.
As I pulled into the driveway of our house in Cherry Bay, I was surprised to see Demi, Monte, and Ivy making their way over to Nan’s Beetle with the kids’ overnight bags. Ivy ran straight for me as I climbed out of the Pathfinder I’d driven that morning because of the rain. February had been a cold and wet month so far.
I swung Ivy up into my arms, squeezing her tight. “Hey, Ives. Where are you all heading? And why wasn’t I invited?”
I tried not to let myself be disappointed. Sunday was my birthday, and I’d been hoping to spend the weekend with all of them. One big messy family including both my dad and Sheila, who’d started dating after everything that had gone down. But instead, my family was leaving.
Ivy giggled. “We’re going to dinner and a movie.” Weeks away from turning six, she’d outgrown her Rs sounding like Ws and I missed it. “And then we’re spending the night with Nan-Nan and Mom.”
I raised my brows in the direction of the adults, but it was the way Monte wouldn’t meet my eyes that had me immediately suspicious.
“We’ll have them home late tomorrow,” Demi said, a glimmer in her eye that only added to the feeling of something being up.
Some days, Gage still had his doubts about his mother—years of pain and abandonment hadn’t simply disappeared. It wasgoing to be a long time before he could fully trust her again, if ever.
But the pain Demi had caused him was also twisted with the guilt he felt knowing she’d left to save his life. He was slowly trying to reconcile these conflicting realities and his relationship with her just like I was trying to reconcile my relationship with my dad and my guilt over Mom.
For more than two years, Demi had respected Gage’s wishes to live in the present and not try to see their future. She’d also given us our space, moving in with Nan instead of staying with us at the Victorian. We’d been taking it a day at a time, rebuilding from the ground up, as the months ticked by.
“We have to go, Ivy, or we’ll miss our dinner reservation,” Nan said, coming over and prying Ivy from me before hugging me tightly. “Demi and I thought it would be nice for you and Gage to have a date night before the wildness of your birthday party.”
I smiled. “You know I hadn’t confirmed there was a party happening, right?”
She laughed and said, “Don’t spoil the secret.”
He’d been acting a bit off over the last week or so, and I’d thought something was up because every time I’d mentioned my birthday, he’d clammed up. Knowing Gage, he had a list of tasks he’d doled out to everyone in the family.
She winked and headed back to the car with Ivy.
I smirked to myself as Monte practically doubled over to try to squeeze his six-foot-two frame into the back of Nan’s Beetle. He still wasn’t done growing. He was going to surpass Gage before he was done, I was sure.
“Hi, Monte. Bye, Monte,” I called.
He stuck his head back out and said, “Love you. See you tomorrow.” Then he disappeared with what I was sure was a blush.
Something was up. More than just the not-so-surprise party.
I waved as they backed out of the driveway before making my way up the front steps.
The house felt oddly quiet with no one inside it. Friday. Gage was already at the bar. I’d have a few hours of alone time before he returned at around ten o’clock. He rarely closed anymore. Instead, he’d hired additional help once we’d moved in together. It made our finances tight some months, but Gage said it was worth it because he could spend more time with me. With our family.
The table in the entryway had once been in the Palmers’ apartment and had the same bowl on it that Gage always dropped his keys into. I hadn’t been able to break him of the habit. He’d laughed and said, “You’ve installed an alarm with a code that would require another secret code in order to break. I don’t think anyone is going to be able to get inside and take my keys.”
The bowl was empty now with Gage at work. I hung my jacket on the coat tree, tossed my boots into the basket full of all our shoes by the door, and hauled my bag down to the study that once had been Gage’s dad’s. I locked my gun and laptop away in the safe, left the rest of my things slung over the cozy armchair sitting in front of the fireplace, and headed for the stairs, determined to take a long, soaking bath and let my brain noodle on the latest round of intelligence we’d received.
When I opened the bedroom door, my feet came to an abrupt halt. The fake candles that I’d used when I’d first bought the Victorian were spread all around the room. The chandelier was off, the fireplace was lit, and the atmosphere was decidedly romantic. At the foot of the bed, on a long, tufted bench, sat a tray of snacks and the same silver bucket I’d used when I’d first surprised Gage with the house. A bottle of champagne was tucked into the ice.
The familiarity of it squeezed my heart almost as much as the romance of it.
I turned around, and instead of the first episode ofVeronica Marson the screen, I saw the final episode. The heart-shattering, you-almost-never-want-to-watch-it-ever-again episode. The one I’d been able to watch only twice before. Gage knew I couldn’t stomach watching the ending, and yet he had it cued up and ready to go.
As I started to make my way toward the bathroom, Gage appeared in the doorway. He wore nothing but a gray towel wrapped around his narrow hips. His muscled torso was on display, still defined and shaped in a way that made my mouth water just looking at it. All my suspicions from the moment I saw everyone getting into Nan’s car came rushing back. But they weren’t accompanied by fear. Instead, a sweet expectation started to hum through me.
A smile spread as I said, “Do we have big plans tonight?”
“You’re early.”
