Page 102 of The Fallen Man

There was a chorus of agreement around the room.

“Well, did it sound like Devonte and the guys were actually doing anything?” asked Aiden.

“Yes, but I wouldn’t have described his tone as hopeful,” said Evan

“Well, that sucks,” said Max.

“I feel so bad,” said Ella. “Is there something… He’s going to hate it if we do something, isn’t he?”

“Yes, but do we think that should stop us?” asked Evan.

“Not particularly,” said Aiden.

“One hundred percent,” said Dominique and held up her hand for a fist bump from Aiden.

“Yes, but what are we actually going to do?” asked Ella.

“Well,” said Olivia, “I thought maybe Dominique could go and talk to her.”

The assembled family members turned to look at Olivia. She was sitting cross-legged on the couch and had her hair up in a bun. She was also wearing her favorite Star Wars t-shirt. She made Evan smile just by existing, but currently she was frowning as she looked at the puzzled expressions around the room.

“What? When Evan tried to do our stupid break-up Jackson came over and we figured out what the problem was and then I ended up threatening my grandfather. I’ve lost the thread on that sentence, but the point is that we solved the problem. So why can’t we do the same thing for Jackson and this girl? I feel like sending one of the boys over to a strange woman’s house might seem sort of intimidating. But I thought Dominique might have a better chance. If Jackson really did screw up somehow then maybe we can figure out how to fix it for him.”

“I think she’s right,” said Dominique. “And I’m happy to do it.”

“Well, I did get her address when we looked at his phone,” said Evan. “So… is that the plan?”

He looked around the room.

“I haven’t got anything better,” said Max.

“I might if you gave me a week and let me use the Zhao security team,” said Ella.

“Pretty sure he’d hate that even more than this plan,” said Aiden and Ella nodded her agreement.

“All right,” said Dominique. “Well, the mission is clear. I go, I meet Miss Mindblowingly Nice, the model who likes coffee, and I see what could have possessed her to break up with Jackson.”

“And then you get her to issue a retraction,” said Aiden.

“I don’t think that’s how break ups work,” said Ella.

“I don’t see why not. When a statement gets issued in error, you… retract it.”

Dominique laughed. “OK, well, I’ll give that a whirl and see how far I get. And if nothing else, then I’ll be able to get a feel for her and what the issue is. I don’t want him to be heartbroken, but if some relationships are meant to be, then so are some break-ups.”

“Use your best judgement,” said Evan. “But let’s see if we can’t pull this out for him. We owe him.”

Caitlin

Work Day

Caitlin made her way down the stairs to answer the door. She felt a hundred years old. She’d stopped crying awhile ago, mostly because she was dehydrated and didn’t have any more tears. Jackson had stopped calling before she’d stopped crying. She knew she looked a red-eyed mess, but she no longer cared.

Caitlin opened the door and eyed the blonde in the doorway.

“Hi?” asked Caitlin suspiciously. The woman was wearing low-key designer everything. The outfit was probably more than Caitlin’s rent, but she had managed the feat of looking gorgeous, but only alittleexpensive.

“Whatever he did, he will apologize for it,” said the blonde.