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“It’s been quiet since you left.No more break-in attempts.”

Colum nodded his thanks, then told Annie and Xavier they could leave their suitcases by the door.They would grab them when they all retired downstairs later.

Climbing the stairs, they fell into what had become their routine, each of them claiming a workspace, unloading their laptops, notebooks, and pens.

“Should I make us some tea?”Colum asked, pointing toward the stairs to the kitchenette.“Not sure there’s anything to eat.”

“Why don’t we unwind for a little while,” Annie suggested, “and then we can decide what to do for dinner.”They’d been served dinner on the flight, but none of them had taken more than a few bites of the dry chicken.

“And what does tea have to do with dinner?”Colum asked, genuinely curious.

Annie smiled softly.“Nothing.You’re right, let’s have a cup.”

Colum walked up to the kitchenette, putting the kettle on to boil, throwing one bag each into Annie’s and Xavier’s cups, and two into his own.It was good to be back in Ireland, back to Barry’s Tea.Once it was a good color, the tea bags went into the compost bin, milk was added, and he placed the cups on a small tray to carry them downstairs.

It was nice to be preparing more than one cup of tea.

Xavier had made the coffee table his makeshift desk, but he hadn’t opened his laptop, instead propping his feet up next to it, his gaze fixed on the ceiling, clearly deep in thought.Knowing him better now, Colum was accustomed to Xavier sometimes falling silent for long periods of time, lost in his own thoughts.He imagined he was mentally composing a poem or thinking about something he’d just read.It was Xavier’s quiet times that called to Colum, made him feel closer, because like the Frenchman, he also had a tendency to spend a great deal of time living inside his own head.

Annie had been scrolling through her phone next to Xavier, but she rose when he returned, gratefully accepting the tea he offered before starting to clear off a small corner of Colum’s desk, opposite where he sat, to set up her own laptop.

Colum stilled when Annie picked up the photograph of Josephine, intent on moving it out of the way.His throat tightened as she looked at it more closely, studying it.It seemed strange to him that after all the three of them had shared over the past week, Xavier and Annie still didn’t know about one of the most important people in his life.

For the first time since she’d died, Colum wanted to talk about Josephine, but he hadn’t managed to get the words out.Initially, he’d been too worried about falling apart in front of them, but as more time passed, he was less afraid of that.Because he trusted them.

“She has your eyes,” Annie pointed out, smiling.“And your thick mass of wild curls.”

Annie was observant, clever.Of course, she’d spotted the family resemblance.Her words moved him, because he’d never really considered the things he and his sister shared, just their differences.

He nodded, forcing words past the lump in his throat.“That was all we had in common,” he admitted sadly.

Xavier, who’d still been staring at the ceiling, lowered his feet from the coffee table, turning to face them as Annie’s smile faded.

They’d both picked up on the past tense.

“Your sister?”she asked, as Xavier crossed the room, looking over her shoulder at the photograph.

Colum swallowed hard, forcing himself to say her name aloud.“Josephine.”

Annie glanced back down at the picture.“Pretty name.Pretty woman.”

“Was she sick?”Xavier asked gently.

Colum sank down into his chair, twisting it away from the desk, resting his elbows on his knees as he waited for the grief that consumed him whenever he thought of his sister to appear.

This time, it didn’t.

Glancing up at them, Colum took in their matching expressions, realizing they weren’t looking at him with pity but rather with concern.It gave him the strength to say the words he’d never uttered aloud.He’d had only himself for counsel for so long, and he was so bloody tired of silently screaming them in his head.“She was murdered.”

Annie gasped, her fingers flying up to her lips, as Xavier circled the desk quickly, his hand landing firmly on Colum’s shoulder, squeezing it.

“Colum,” he said softly, compassionately.He didn’t add anything else.He didn’t need to.

“It’s been a few years now.I don’t talk about it—her—much.Or, er…ever.”Colum ran a hand through his hair.

“I’m so sorry,” Annie whispered, her lashes wet with tears as she looked at the picture again.

Colum reached out for the photo and Annie handed it to him.The edges of his lips tipped up as he looked at her sweet smile, and he ran his finger over her beloved face.“Shewaspretty,” he acknowledged.“Looked just like our nan.Always cursed those red curls of hers, and for one whole summer, she was convinced if she rubbed enough lemon juice on her face, her freckles would fade.”Colum wasn’t sure where the hell that ancient memory had come from but rather than hurting, it made him smile.Only for a moment.