Chapter 35

INDIE

Scarlet was so adorable! Indie laughed as the little girl hid behind the hippo-shaped cushion and roared like a lion. Indie lifted an elephant and quacked, making the little girl giggle.

It was the day after Christmas, and they were relaxing at her apartment before Indie had to get some work done.

She was reluctant to leave them because she hadn’t seen them in so long. And after meeting her niece, she wanted to make up for all the time she had not been with her.

Sending gifts and messages halfway around the world just wasn’t the same.

“Auntie silly, Momma!” Scarlet squealed.

“Yes, she is,” Maggie agreed.

Her family had spent Christmas with Indie, Grace, and Faith. Sarah and Amelia had joined them while Seth worked.

Thinking of Seth had her remembering their conversation in Sarah’s bedroom, and she felt the tears threatening when she thought about the losses that he had suffered.

He had texted her earlier in the day, saying that he had a plan with Tereza, and asked her to be patient with him. And then he repeated those beautiful words: ~I love you~…

“Hey, is Seth distracting you again?” Maggie’s voice interrupted her thoughts, and Indie felt herself blush.

“No…yes…” She sighed. She got up from the floor and joined her sister on the sofa, and Leith took her place to play with Scarlet.

“I was just thinking about his situation. I’m worried about him, Maggie.”

Maggie wrapped her arm around Indie’s shoulder. “I’m glad you’ve finally found someone you want to worry about, Inds. I just wish I met him before you started worrying about him.”

Indie laughed. “He’s a great guy who worries too much about everyone else and not enough about himself.”

“And does he worry about you?”

Indie smiled. “Yes, he does.”

They were interrupted by Indie’s phone, and her heart skipped a beat as Seth’s name blinked on the screen. “Hey. Did you just wake up?”

“Hey.” His voice was sleep-heavy, gravelly, and making Indie’s underwear damp.

“Yeah. I need to help with the New Year’s Day parade’s preparations this afternoon.”

“Sounds exciting,” Indie teased and laughed at his groan.

“Anyway, I’ve got a meeting with Fatima—Doctor Abrahams—and Tereza.”

“Is this the plan you told me about yesterday?”

“Yes.”

“Okay. Be careful.”

“Will you meet me for breakfast tomorrow morning?”

“Can we go somewhere close to the shop? I still have my orders to finish.”

“Our place?”

“Eight-thirty?”

“Now my shift is going to seem never-ending!”

“Good luck with Ter—”

“Don’t say her name!” he protested. “She’s like Voldemortin the Harry Potter movies!”

Indie laughed. “I’ll see you in the morning.”

“Something to look forward to.”

Indie blushed when Maggie bumped her shoulder and wiggled her eyebrows as she hung up.

SETH

“Hi, honey.” Seth felt his jaw lock at the high-pitched voice with which Terry greeted him. Fatima raised her eyebrows as Terry joined them at the table in the small diner.

Seth could see Tereza fake a smile as she shook Fatima’s hand when they were introduced. Her brown eyes assessed Fatima, and he wondered what was going through her mind.

They ordered coffee, and Seth shook his head as he watched her interact.

If she had forgotten that they were divorced, and more specifically, about Ranya, then wouldn’t she have gone back to her drink of choice ~before~ she went to prison?

Fatima started chatting to Tereza, the conversation light and annoyingly superficial to Seth, but he played along.

The plan was to have Terry meet Fatima as a friend of Seth’s so that she wasn’t able to create any pretenses.

He admired Fatima’s patient manner of speaking to Tereza, never questioning the inconsistencies in her answers when Seth was eager to challenge her on them.

It was hard for him to stick to the one rule Fatima had given him—~leave the talking to me~…

“My youngest daughter, Amorè, has this habit of sitting with her dad, and then distracting him to get the TV remote, then she’ll change the channel before he realizes it.”

Terry laughed again, reminding Seth of one of the witches in ~The Witches of Eastwick~. “Ranya used to steal my phone to call her dad.”

“How old is Ranya?” Fatima asked, taking a sip of coffee, her demeanor so casual that Seth wanted to scream.

“She’s two.” Tereza took a sip of her coffee, before looking at Fatima again. “How come I haven’t met you before?”

Fatima smiled at Terry. “We’ve just recently started working together.”

“Oh, okay,” Terry said. Seth could read the speculation in her eyes as she looked at Fatima before she turned to Seth. “What about ~Indie~?”

Seth could feel his heart thundering at the tone in which she said Indie’s name.

Fatima put her cup into her saucer with a loud clang, bringing Seth’s attention back to her as she answered Terry. “I think Indie is sweet and complements Seth completely.”

Terry didn’t like Fatima’s answer, and Seth could see it in the way her eyes narrowed, her breathing became erratic, and her cheeks became a darker shade of red.

“Seth has always been a bit difficult.”

“Isn’t there always that one person that makes you act badly?” Fatima retorted.

Tereza’s phone rang, and she answered it at the table, then gathered her bag and jacket before she finished the call. “I have to go. Fatima, it was nice chatting with you.”

They watched her leave the diner without looking back.

“Wow…,” Seth breathed. “And people call me dramatic.”

Fatima spluttered into her coffee as she laughed at Seth. “First, I don’t believe that you’re dramatic.”

“Never have a conversation with my sister or boss then.”

“I won’t believe them!” she defended. “Second, you have excellent instincts, Deputy. You should trust them more often.”

“So I’m not being paranoid?”

“No. She knows exactly what’s going on.”

Seth sighed in relief at the knowledge that he wasn’t letting his history with Terry influence his perception of the person she was now.

He hadn’t mistaken the attempt at manipulation or her love of sowing chaos. She was still the same person Seth knew twenty years before. Nothing had changed.

“Thank you, Fatima. I owe you major for this one.”

“I’ll call you when I need a babysitter.”

“Just hide the remotes from Amorè.”