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Monti tuned out the conversation, wanting to give her sister privacy. The answers were rapid fire and quick. Monti stared at the counter in the back of the shop, and the very beautiful woman standing behind it. She was bubbly and excited to see new customers come in.

But was that her personality or something she simply wore for the job?

Those types of questions always plagued Monti, no matter where she went. She was unable to escape her constant need to dig deeper and discover who every single person was underneath the surface.

“I’m sorry,” Fallon interrupted her thoughts, bringing Monti right back to the table. “Athena needs me back.”

“It’s not a problem. I’ll catch up with you soon.”

“For sure.” Fallon bent down and gave Monti a half hug. “Please don’t be a stranger.”

“I promise,” Monti whispered. And this time, she meant it.

After Fallon left, Monti finished her tea and wandered around downtown a bit more. She couldn’t stop thinking about Fallon at work, however. More importantly, she couldn’t stop wondering about Athena. Just what was it that caused her to become the person Monti had met?

Everyone had a past. Everyone had things in their lives that formed them. Monti’s was tragic. Then again, whose wasn’t? Monti shoved her hands into her pockets as she walked, then smiled to herself. She could do that today. At least for now. Perhaps a run in the park or another round of yoga would do her some good.

She needed to meditate on what it was about Athena that had captured her attention. What was it she wanted to figure out and why? Because Monti had learned early on that those yearnings usually said more about her than anyone else.

Soon enough Monti would be gone, off in her van to her next destination—once she figured out where that would be. And in her wake, she would leave no one worse off without her. And that was the only thing she knew had to happen. The less impact she made, the better off everyone would be when she left.

Then they would all be able to find peace.

four

“Fallon, I need you to set up a meeting with Gwen Fudala for the upcoming week.” Athena said the words quickly as she walked through Fallon’s office to get to hers.

“Uh… sure.” Fallon quickly sat down and started typing, but something in the way she tensed caused Athena to stop.

She knew she was an exacting boss, that she demanded high quality from her employees, but was she being a bit too harsh? With her inability to get proper rest lately, she was left trying to figure out how to control each urge to snap in anger. And Fallon, unfortunately, had borne the brunt of the moments when Athena hadn’t managed to keep herself in check.

When Fallon finally looked up at her again, a small piece of Athena chipped off. She had been too cruel lately. Rubbing her thumb into the center of her palm to try and bring herself back to reality, Athena glanced at Fallon and debated what to say. An apology wouldn’t be enough, that was for sure.

“How was lunch?” There. That was a satisfactory apology without it being an apology. Right?

“Oh. It was all right.”

Fallon rarely asked to leave for a longer lunch, but Athena couldn’t remember off the top of her head why she’d made the request today. She went back through every memory of the conversations leading up to the lunch and couldn’t piece it together. If she’d been sleeping regularly, she would be able to do that. The fact that she couldn’t remember things like she used to was killing her slowly from the inside out. And it made her wonder just exactly how she was going to get through another case and another trial.

“My sister was late,” Fallon added, the frown evident on her lips. “Really late.”

That’s right. She was meeting with Monti. Monti who had touched her. Monti who had come in and given her a few hours of blissful, restful sleep, which had allowed her the mental capacity to finish the injunction she wanted to file. Athena dragged in a deep breath, an easing of the tension in her chest as she blew out the warm air. Why was it that just thinking about Monti and what she’d accomplished did that?

She parted her lips to answer Fallon, but wasn’t quick enough.

Fallon looked Athena over and said, “She’s always late, to be fair, but this time it was worse than normal.”

Athena was glad that Fallon hadn’t inherited that trait. She wouldn’t still be working there if she had.

“She didn’t used to be, but ever since she quit her job and started living on the road, she doesn’t really have to conform to normal society in quite that way like the rest of us.” Fallon twisted a pen between her fingers, a nervous habit that Athena had noticed on more than one occasion.

“She’s a free spirit,” Athena finally added to Fallon’s one-sided conversation. She felt compelled to say something, especially now that she’d met the infamous Monti, but nothing quite came to mind that would soothe Fallon’s obvious distress.

“She’d call herself that.” Fallon winced as if she’d revealed something that she hadn’t meant to.

But what could it possibly be? Athena didn’t understand sibling dynamics at all, since as an only child she grew up in a vacuum. She was raised to be the heir to her family’s fortune and essentially to figure out what to do with all the riches when her parents died. Which they had. And she’d upheld her end of the bargain so far.

“Or at least I think she’d say that’s what she’s aiming for,” Fallon mumbled the last part.