Page 74 of The Fallen Man

“She’s the one that’s fine,” said Jackson.

“For the life of me, I do not know why Grandma didn’t get us therapy at the time.”

“She says that wasn’t something people did back then. I have actually heard her express regret about that one.”

Evan’s eyebrows went up. “Maybe it was something that Deverauxes didn’t do, but I’m pretty sure that therapists were in existence at the time. Well, this will sound weird, but it makes sense to me that Dominique’s having issues now.”

“What do you mean?” asked Jackson.

“Life is going pretty good right now. She and Max are solid. We’re all doing well. Grandma is playing nicely. This is when the gremlins start being like,hey, remember that thing we’ve been holding down because you didn’t have space before? Well, look at all the space you have now!”

Jackson laughed. “That’s not cool. Someone should tell the gremlins to get back down.”

“Yeah, they don’t listen,” said Evan bitterly. “OK, so… they’re taking the train. Are we taking the train? It seems like if we all take the train, we’re just replicating the problem but in a less fun mode of transportation.”

“That was my thought,” said Jackson. “And now that I’ve successfully passed off train duties to Aiden, I think you and I should stick with flying.”

“Brat moya.This is exactly why I always wanted a brother when I was a kid.” Evan looked so satisfied that Jackson couldn’t help laughing. “Come on, let’s go see if Aiden has managed to patch things up yet.”

He had. It was one of Aiden’s better traits that when he apologized, he meant it, and when he forgave, he meant that too. Dominique and Aiden had now moved on to discussing how much seating they could rent out without being totaldouchebags. Max just looked tired.

“How are you holding up?” asked Evan.

“What do you mean?” asked Max.

“Caretakers have a hard job, too,” said Evan. “Dominique’s dealing with some shit, and you’re trying to hold down law school and keep her from losing it. So, how are you doing?”

“Well, I didn’t punch Aiden, so I’ve got that going for me,” said Max ruefully. “And I’m now able to say the wordmarriagewithout Dominique leaving the room. So, we’re making progress. I just… I want to be able to fix things for her, and I can’t. I knew she was a high-performance kind of person, but I think I underestimated how much pressure she puts on herself.”

“I doubt she knew she was doing it,” said Evan. “After a while, you think that much pressure is normal. I’m glad she has you, but let us know if we can help.”

Max looked like he genuinely appreciated the comment, but Jackson frowned. How much pressure could one person take before they snapped? He didn’t think he’d been under pressure. Katie was the one who seemed like she was holding the weight of the world, but he was the one who had lost his cool. He hadn’t lost it like that in a long time. Katie had every right to want him out of the house, but he thought things had been all right this morning. Everything had been normal except for having to drop the Russian’s gun off at the office. Maybe? He probably ought to check in with Katie.

“Jackson?” Max was looking at him as if expecting a response, but Jackson had no idea what the last comment had been.

“Sorry,” said Jackson. “I need to go pack. I’ll be back down in a bit. Evan, can you call about the plane?”

“Yeah, no problem,” said Evan. Jackson smiled reassuringly in response to Evan’s questioning expression and headed upstairs.

Dominique

The Drawing Room

Dominique waited until she was sure that Jackson was upstairs before interrupting everyone.

“OK, show of hands: who thinks Jackson is seeing someone?”

Max’s hand shot up. “I was trying to bite my tongue. I know he’s anti-girlfriend, but come onnnnnn. I’m not even a Deveraux, and I know that was an evening outfit, not anI got up earlyoutfit.”

“But that doesn’t have to mean anything,” said Aiden. “I love the guy, but he’s kind of a man-ho.”

“I wouldn’t go that far,” said Evan. “It’s not like he doesn’t have standards. I believe he simply prefers his sex to be relationship-free and generally keeps his partners on a rotation so that no one feels used or like they mean more than they do.”

“He said he didn’t want to learn someone else’s birthday,” said Max.

Evan snorted out a laugh of surprise.

“I don’t understand,” said Aiden. “Don’t you just put the birthdays on your calendar? Or, failing that, get an assistant.”