“I promise…I ain’t done…I’ll pay that tax, honest.”
“What tax?”
“Income. I know I had three letters, and I will pay it, soon as, okay.” He tried to shake Mitch off but to no avail. “Bar work doesn’t exactly pay much.”
“This isn’t about bloody tax,” Mitch said by his ear.
“It isn’t?” Jeremy opened his eyes. They were unseeing. He was scared and confused.
“No.” Mitch loosened his grip on him. “You gonna run again if I let you go?”
“No.”
“Sure?”
“Yeah, yeah.”
Mitch looked at me.
I nodded. I was ready.
“Good,” Mitch said. “’Cause there is someone here who wants to talk to you, and God help me, if you don’t talk to her, if I have to chase you down again, it won’t go well for you.”
“What? Who?”
Mitch released him, and Jeremy spun around in an instant, his back to the fence as though needing it for support. He glanced around, clearly assessing escape routes, and then his attention landed on me. His mouth fell open, and his eyes widened.
“Hi, Jeremy,” I said, emotion tightening my throat. “Been a while.”
“Amy!” He rubbed his right eye as if checking his sight wasn’t playing tricks on him. “I…what are you…?” He shook his head. “Who is…?”
“This is Mitch.” I gestured to Mitch who was still looming large next to Jeremy as though that alone would warn him not to try any funny business. “My…my boyfriend.”
“A cop…” Jeremy stepped closer to me.
“Does that matter?” I asked.
“No. Not at all.” His movements were quick, sharp, and then he was hugging me, holding me close and burying his face in my neck.
We were exactly the same height, always had been. I clung to him, his body familiar yet not, and breathed in the scent of cheap tangy body spray.
“Fuck,” he muttered. “I tried to find you, honestly I did.” He pulled back and gripped my shoulders. “It was the first thing I did, when I left, but I didn’t know where you’d gone or what name you were using and I…”
“You couldn’t have found me. I’d made sure I was invisible.”
He frowned and shook his head. “No, but I didn’t give up hope.” His eyes were sparkling with emotion. “And now you’ve found me.”
I dashed at a tear sliding down my own cheek. “It took a while for me to reach the point I wanted to. I’m sorry.”
“Don’t apologize.” He paused. “Nigel is dead, you know.”
“Yes, I do know, and I’m glad.”
“Me, too. He was a lunatic, and a hater, and his soul was twisted and warped.”
I nodded. That sounded about right.
“It got better, after he died, but it still wasn’t living, not for me at least.”
