Page 128 of After All The Wreckage

“That’s exactly why you should do it. Exactly why we need you to. It’s something good, Rory-girl. Everyone in your life could use a bit of good right now.”

Later that night, when I sat across the bar from Gage and told him what my dad had said, he looked at me for a long time and then said, “He’s right.”

I scowled, and he smiled at me. He leaned across the bar and kissed me. Long and slow. My entire body ignited from that single kiss, and I almost gave in.

When Nan added her vote to Dad’s and Gage’s, I did give up.

Which was how I ended up walking on stage to accept a fake diploma the Friday before Christmas with the people I loved sitting in the bleachers, screaming my name. Unexpectedly, it brought me to tears. When had I gone from being completely okay on my own to needing this large group of people like I needed air?

Afterward, we celebrated at the bar once again. This time, there wasn’t a crowd of Mom’s friends. There was just Shay and her dad and my family—Gage’s family. I wasn’t sure whose smile was larger, my dad’s or Gage’s… or mine.

As I watched everyone laughing at a huge table set up where the dance floor normally was, I knew my family had been right. We’d needed this. I’d needed this. It was a moment of joy after months of barely living. Maybe it would allow me to turn a corner. Maybe we’d all turn it together, finding our way out of the rain into the sunshine.

By the time Dad decided to leave, most of my friends and family had taken off, leaving the crowd in the bar the normal Saturday mix of college students and locals.

Dad hugged me and then stepped back to hand me an envelope.

“What’s this?” I asked. When he didn’t respond, I opened it and gasped at the amount on the check inside. “What the hell is this?”

“Hallie had a life insurance policy. She must never have gotten around to taking my name off it as the beneficiary, but it doesn’t belong to me. She would have wanted you to have it.”

“Dad…” It was a serious amount of money.

He looked over to where Gage was talking with River and Audrey. They were staffing the bar so Gage could celebrate with me.

“From what I’ve been hearing… and what I’ve seen over the last couple of weeks”—his lips twitched as he glanced at Gage and then at me—“I’m guessing you need somewhere bigger to live.”

It took several seconds before I realized what he was suggesting. That Gage and I move in together. I’d be lying if I hadn’t been thinking about what it would be like to make a home with Gage—to truly be a family.

I wanted all of it. I wanted to wake up next to him every morning and tuck Ivy into bed with him at night. I wanted pancake mornings and lazy Sundays sprawled together on a couch. For nearly a decade, if not longer, I’d never seen anything in my future but a job. The FBI.

Now I wanted a complete life. Not just a one-sided one.

I wanted his family to be mine, and I wasn’t sure what that meant for my old FBI dreams. But keeping Marlowe & Co. running had also lost some of its appeal. That had been Mom’s dream way more than it had been mine.

ZeoTech, one of the companies I’d applied for when I’d thought I needed money for Shady Lane, had called me back and offered me an interview. I had one set up for the first week in January. But the thought of working for them in a cubicle every day also made me feel like I couldn’t breathe.

I was a mess of indecision. Something I was unaccustomed to and didn’t like.

Dad pulled me into a hug, kissed me on the top of my head, and then stepped back. “I’m really proud of you, Rory-girl. I’d offer you a place at Bishop Investigations, but I don’t see that future for you.”

“No?” I said, my throat clogging.

“No, I really don’t.” He glanced behind me, and I was surprised to see G sitting at a table in the corner. I hadn’t seen her since the last debriefing in D.C. days ago. He started to walk away and shot back, “Tell me what your plans are for Christmas. I’d like to be around at some point.”

“Okay,” I croaked out, watching as he and Gage shook hands, and then he left the bar.

I made my way over to G. She was spinning the glass in front of her, making the amber liquid twirl.

“Hey,” I said.

“Congratulations,” she said, head tilting toward the banner with my name and grad year that Monte had hung on the back wall.

“Thanks.”

“What are your plans now?” she asked.

The hundred-dollar question. “I’m not exactly sure yet.”