Page 90 of Havoc's Fox
Chapter 20
Analise walked into the living room and sat down across from Emmalyn, who was gorging on canned chili and corn chips. “That stuff will kill you.”
“Hey, it’s not bad if you don’t want to cook. It’s a Frito pie, what could be bad?”
“The fact that it’s from a can.”
Emmalyn looked down at her impromptu snack. “It’s got cheese on it. What else do you want?”
“Give me a bite,” Analise said, taking Emmalyn’s fork out of her hand and shoveling a big bite into her mouth. “Mm, mmmm, mmhmm, it is good,” she mumbled around another bite of canned chili, corn chips and cheddar cheese.
“Give me my fork back! What do you want?” Emmalyn asked, turning her crisscrossed legs halfway away from Analise to keep her from eating more of her food.
“I’m leaving.”
Emmalyn immediately turned back to her. “You’re what?”
“I’ve been on the phone with my boss and my colleagues all day. The artifacts are coming in from Malta and some have been broken during shipment. I need to help identify the pieces and repair them as much as I can.”
“Can’t they do that?”
“I packed them. I don’t know if I packed them incorrectly or what the problem is.”
“You didn’t. You’d never do that. Something had to happen to the crate on its way to Boston.”
“I don’t know. I was excited and nervous about coming home. Maybe I didn’t pay enough attention. I’ve been scatter-brained since I got here.”
“Maybe, but not before. You’re very, very good at what you do.”
“Thanks for the vote of confidence.”
“You’re welcome. What are you going to do about Havoc and Harley?”
“Just go back to the way it was, I guess. There’s not a lot to be done. I have my boundaries and he has his.”
“Is that what you want?” Emmalyn asked.
“Doesn’t matter what I want. It’s the way things have to be.”
“I don’t believe that.”
“Why would you even say that?”
“Because you’re sitting here with tears streaming down your face just talking about it. You haven’t even done it yet and you’re just short of sobbing.”
Analise lifted her hand to her face and smeared the tears there with her fingertips, taking a moment to look at her tears on her fingers. “I didn’t even notice.”
“I vote you let him in. Let go of what happened. You don’t have to forget, but kind of just set it aside and see if you can find your way back to the way things would have been had you just met each other this year.”
“I wish we had. I wish all that happened before had never happened. I wish he was an estranged son of Maverik’s from long ago and he just showed up and we met and got swept away.”
“Then make it that way.”
“Wishing and reality are two different things. You can’t forget you know someone and all that passed before.”
“You can if you decide to.”
“You’re not helping, Emmalyn.”