“See ya tomorrow.” She smiled, then turned on her heels.
AJ. Yep, he was just what the doctor ordered.
4
Packing for AJ was a ritual.It was the same every time. Despite the bag being totally empty because he always unpacked immediately upon returning home, he inspected each pocket and pouch of his battered carry-on, slid his hand along the lining, and ran his palm over the faded canvas to check for lint, thread, or any errant object. Once he’d done that and it passed inspection, he placed each item in the order he had long since established as optimal: chargers and cables coiled into a clear organization container, and razor, toothbrush, shampoo, conditioner, cologne, and deodorant all packed in a toiletry cube, which he placed in the mesh zippered pocket. Socks rolled and tucked around the toiletry cube. His sweats, boxer-briefs, T-shirts, and jeans were folded in thirds, others in half, depending on thickness, then pressed flat until they could have been mistaken for blueprints. Dress shoes and tennis shoes lined the sides. Everything fit with a geometry that soothed him.
Once every item was accounted for on his checklist, he closed the suitcase but then opened it again, half-convinced he’d forgotten something vital. The recurring sensation that he wasleaving behind a critical item gave him a tight feeling in his chest.
He scanned his list, the contents, the garment bag hung on the door with his suit for the ceremony, the extra set of running shoes. He closed and reopened the suitcase one more time, staring at the mesh side pocket as though it might have developed a hole and let some necessary part of his life slip out in the past five seconds.
His added anxiety was caused by the uncertainty hanging like a dark cloud over him. He needed to figure out what he wanted to do with his life, if he was going to re-enlist or not. His head felt full. Since laying eyes on the brunette, he hadn’t been able to get her out of his head. She was like a song that just kept playing over and over. A question that he couldn’t answer. That was the level of obsession he felt about her.
She’d even quieted the number six. It was still an echo, but it was muted, a whisper. Now every time he closed his eyes, he saw her.
He’d wanted so badly to find out everything he could about the woman. With his skills, that would be easy. Within minutes he could know her blood type, credit score, how many cavities she’d had, her grades in elementary school, anything and everything that had a digital footprint, but all he’d done was look at her public social media. Even though his intentions would be good, it would be wrong to investigate further, so all he learned was that she was Liam’s half-sister and she worked at Pine Ridge with him. It had taken an unbelievable amount of self-control not to do a deep dive when the answers he wanted, no,needed, just to feel peace, were a few keystrokes away.
AJ’s phone vibrated on the charger, and he picked it up to see his brother’s name on the screen.
“Hey,” AJ answered.
“Bro, can you believe Mom is marrying Dr. Sterling?!” Niko’s voice, loud and booming with frat boy energy, came through before the first full ring finished.
It boggled AJ’s mind that they could share such similar DNA markers and yet be so wildly opposite.
“Yes,” AJ stated plainly.
“You can?!”
“Yes, they are two heterosexual adults who lived in very close proximity for ten years alone after experiencing the shared trauma of losing a spouse as well as the shared experience of raising five children in the same household. They have domestic familiarity and trust with one another. Each possesses attributes the other would find attractive or necessary in a mate. Mom is nurturing, emotionally available, and a caregiver. Dr. Sterling is intelligent, successful, and financially secure. They are similar in attractiveness based on a matching hypothesis,” he repeated the reasons he’d explained to his mom and Dr. Sterling.
“Sorry I asked,” Niko mumbled. “Where are you flying into?”
“Sacramento.”
“Change it,” Niko demanded instead of suggested. “I booked a charter from LAX to Reno-Tahoe. The guy owes me from the fundraiser last year. It’s a Citation, super quick, and we can pre-game at the lounge.”
AJ’s shoulders tensed. The thought of LAX—just the acronym made his scalp prickle. But he could hear the tenacity in his brother’s voice, the way he’d already architected the logistics in his head. Arguing would be a waste of both their time.
“I’ll consider it.” AJ’s neutral response would buy him time. He heard the twitch of a grin at the other end.
“I’ll send the flight details.” Niko then lowered his voice, which was Costas-code for the conversation taking a serious turn. “You talked to Frankie lately?”
AJ knew that Niko would ask what they had spoken about, and he was not prepared to answer that, so he let the question hang before answering. “Yes.”
“And?”
“She’s fine.” He wasn’t going to tell Niko that Frankie had asked about Liam, who was her fiancé Tristan’s estranged older brother. Or that Liam had changed his name and that Dr. Sterling wasn’t Liam’s father. That was a can of worms AJ had no intention of opening.
“She’snotfine,” Niko countered. “Tristan’s been calling me three times a day, and Mom says she’s hiding out in Hope Falls with Yaya. Sheneverjust visits Yaya.”
AJ knew his sister, she could be a walking contradiction, the kind of person who’d donate a kidney to a complete stranger and never tell her family about it but get upset with him if he didn’t mention he’d had a cavity filled. What was one rule for her was different for everyone else. He respected it. He envied it, even. If she said she was fine, until she said otherwise, he would take her word for it.
Niko pressed, “Do you know what’s going on with her?”
AJ didn’t have an answer for that, not a real one, but she and Tristan had lived together for seven years in New York. If she’d gone to California without him and was not answering his calls, it didn’t take a genius to figure out what was going on.
AJ selected his next words like a bomb tech cutting wires. “She hasn’t told me, but I trust her.”
