This was one of the reasons she loved Sterling. He would let her go on like this for hours. "I really don't know." She took another sip. "Six months ago, I'd have loved that pub to function without me. And I wouldn't have given a damn about Tara and her love life."
"And now?"
"I can't wait to see my name on that stupid sign." She waved to Silas and Jack as they drove by in Silas' skiff. "I put my name on that place as a cover. Everything about it was supposed to be a prop. I felt guilty when the sign went up, because I always believed I’d be leaving. But everyone said my name like I'd always been there."
"You've become a part of this community whether you meant to or not."
"I made one of the biggest mistakes an undercover agent could make." She set her glass on the table. "I went and got attached to my own cover story. There's a name for that in the manual. It's not flattering."
"There are worse things," he said. "And you could keep using the name Juniper."
"I'm going to." She shifted her gaze and smiled. "That's the easy one."
"What's the hard one?"
"I'm angry about how I got here."
He took her hand. "I don't understand."
"I thought Juniper's wasn't mine. I believed that when this was all over, I'd have to transition it to someone else. Or worse, watch it die."
He ran his thumb over her hand. "No one in this town is going to let that happen. Hell, I'll figure out how to buy it if it comes to that."
"You're a sweet man." She palmed his cheek. "But Koda more than pressured Bea to put me in this position. He made it happen, in ways that now seem insane. Even the NSD is trying to figure out how this happened."
"You've lost me."
"Bea sat next to me when the brass wanted to put me out to pasture, and she told me to take some time. To take a vacation. And since I trusted her, I took two weeks and went to Hawaii. I hated every second of it. But when I came back, Bea said she had a job for me. And I took it without even coming into the office."
"What are you saying?"
"While I was sitting on a beach sipping fruity drinks, Bea orchestrated my resignation."
"She did what now?" Sterling's glass slipped. He caught it before it dropped to the floor.
"The entire time I've been here, I haven't actually been undercover at all. And Shrike, or Koda, or whoever, has been making those payments to me that supposedly come from the government when you're undercover."
"So, who owns Juniper's Pub?"
"Might actually be me." She pointed to herself. "It's still unclear, but that's the part that still needs to be sorted."
Sterling took a long slow sip. "So, let me get this straight. You don't work for the FBI, and if you choose, you don't have to go back."
"I'm not going back," she said. "Bea might have held me together after Mark died, but she also helped kill him. Shrikeput Pike on that raid, and Pike made sure Mark didn't come out breathing." She squeezed Sterling's hand. "I want to pull beer for people who tell me boring stories," she said. "And I want you."
He cupped her face. "You and me and this swamp."
"On one condition."
"Name it."
"The gators stay off the porch," she said.
"I'll have a word with them."
"You do that." She leaned into his shoulder. "I love you."
"I love you right back." He kissed her, and she knew she'd found home.
