She snorts. “Sometimes we do the wrong things for the right reasons.”
Daisy’s been calling me on my bullshit since we were kids.
“Is that a quote from Kung Fu Panda?” I evade.
“Kai’s very impressed with Master Oogway. Now, come on, Dom, spill.”
“Can’t, Daisy, you know that.”
“Give me the non-classified highlights,” she insists.
I huff out something close to a laugh. “There’s someone.”
Silence. Then an excited gasp. “A woman someone?”
And just thinking about Enya makes me smile, despite myself. “Yeah.”
“Oh my God. Who is she? Is she nice? Does she know who you are?”
“She’s…was a target. She’s very nice. She knows what I do now, but she doesn’t even know my real name.”
I didn’t even get to say goodbye. I didn’t get to kiss her, or hold her, or love her long enough to stockpile small, ordinary moments that I can cling to when the years turn cold.
Daisy groans. “That’s a clusterfuck if there was one.”
I grimace. “It’s…complicated.”
“Everything about your life is complicated.”
The last uncomplicated thing I did was teach Kai how to snowboard in Aspen. I want to do that again. See his adorable smile.
What would my baby with Enya look like?
Whoa! Where did that come from?
“At least tell me her name,” Daisy pleads.
“Can’t.” If I give her the name, Enya, which isn’t a common one, she’ll google shit, and put two and two together. I’m in D.C. and Ambassador Cahill just had a scandal involving treason, and he has two daughters, Margaret and Enya. My sister is bright; she’ll know. My job doesn’t allow that.
“Dom,” she protests.
A ghost of a smile tugs at my mouth. “In any case, it doesn’t matter.”
“What…why?”
“I lied to her in bed and out…for six months.”
“Dom.” Her voice softens. “Did you fall in love?”
“Yes.”
She exhales sharply. “I’m shocked.”
A dry, cutting chuckle slips past my lips. “Imagine how I feel.”
I hear sounds on the other end for a moment. “So, you had to get close to a target, and you fell for her. Right?”
“Yeah, but it wasn’t right, Daisy, it was very, very wrong.”
