Chapter 33

THIRTY-THREE

Two weeks later . . .

"So, like, what am I supposed to do?" Angel shifted side to side on his feet, the giant red blooms of the potted plant he held bobbing with the movement. "The last time I was here was for his funeral."

They stood just inside the cemetery where Gabe and Tom were buried, to the side of the walkway so they weren't in the way of others coming and going. Unlike when Aidan usually visited, the cemetery was relatively bustling today, friends and family visiting their late loved ones on Christmas Eve Day. In retrospect, he probably should've brought Angel on a less busy day, but visiting Gabe on this day was his tradition, and he'd wanted to share that with Gabe's namesake. Wanted Angel to also have a chance to reconnect with his father now that some of the anger he'd held toward Tom had dissipated too.

"Do whatever you need to," Aidan said. "Talk to him. Tell him why you haven't been here. And be honest about it. Lord knows I railed at Gabe when I found out the truth. Get it out if you need to, if it'll help you. But then also talk to him about how you're doing. At home, at school, with your friends. Just don't tell him about the high-speed car chase."

Angel backhanded him in the stomach, same as his mother was fond of doing.

"Or just enjoy the peace of this place," Aidan said, gesturing around the small cozy cemetery with its evergreens and giant tangled oaks. This time of year, the grass was green from the cool temperatures and rain, and the wintering birds sang as they hopped around the tree roots and mulch, hunting for food. "Do whatever you need to, Angel."

"And put this on there?" he said, holding up the amaryllis.

"Your mom reminded me it was his favorite this time of year."

Izzy had wanted to come with them today too, but her flight from Paris yesterday had been cancelled. She'd finagled her way onto today's Paris to SFO flight instead, arriving later this afternoon, just in time for the Talley Christmas party. As for the kids, Jamie and Angel had flown the private plane down to pick them up on Friday evening.

"You could also tell Tom about flying on a private plane."

"You know I'm ruined forever now, right?"

"Don't tell your mother that."

"Can you hire her?" he said, not missing a beat. "The English guy on the plane... what was his name?"

"Jeremy?"

"Yeah, him, he mentioned something about retiring soon. So hire Mom. She loves to travel. She loves that part of her job. The passengers, not so much."

"You don't think she'd see it as charity?" Aidan loved the idea, but he didn't want the offer to push Izzy away, not after he'd just gotten her and Angel back.

"Is it?" Angel asked.

"No, it's giving her an opportunity to do what she loves without the shitty passengers." He thought about the stack of pizza boxes from their flight Friday night and amended, "Most of the time." They'd helped Jeremy off-load them, but the cabin would probably smell like meat lovers' pizza for the next month.

Angel chuckled. "Explain it to her that way. And if it gets us back here faster, that's a win, right?"

"You want to move back here?"

"There's not much for us in LA. We could use a fresh start. Or restart, I guess. And Bev and you and Jamie will be here. That's our family now."

The certainty in his voice about Bev, the hope about moving back here to be with family, warmed Aidan's insides on the chilly December day. He looped an arm around Angel's shoulders, giving him a side hug, careful of the plants they both held. "I'll talk to Mel," he said. "If she isn't on it already. Now go. I need to go deliver my present," he said, holding up the poinsettia that was Gabe's favorite.

"Can I come talk to him too?" Angel asked. "After I'm done talking with Dad."

"Of course. You remember where Tom is?"

Angel nodded and set off in that direction while Aidan headed over to the Talley plots beneath one of the cemetery's giant oak trees. He knelt first beside his older brother' s grave, passing a hand over the memorial and sending his love and holiday well wishes to the brother he'd lost too young, then rotated so he was facing Gabe's final resting place. He brushed aside the green lantana branches and nestled the poinsettia at the center of the headstone.

"Happy Christmas Eve, baby," he said. "I brought you your flower."

No Jamie? Gabe teased in his head. I like him better.

"Jamie's at home with our soon-to-be daughter."

He could only imagine the broad smile that would stretch across his late husband's face, the happiness that would shimmer in his eyes and the joy that would infuse his words. Tell me everything about her.

And he did, telling Gabe about the case and about Bev. How she'd helped them solve it, how she'd helped bring Izzy and Angel back into their lives, how her moxie and spirit hadn't withered in that closet in Deidra White's house, how that same moxie and spirit had made him and Jamie laugh every time they'd talked to her over the past two weeks.

He'd just finished telling Gabe about their plans for the house when Angel approached. His eyes were shiny, his cheeks stained with tear tracks, but there was peace about the teenager that Aidan hadn't seen since reconnecting with him. Aidan offered him a hand, and he lowered onto the ground beside him, close to his side.

"I brought you another gift too," he told Gabe. "Though don't blame me for your godson's terrible Spanish."

"Really?" Angel scoffed.

"Just setting expectations."

"Should I tell him which sports teams I root for?"

"Definitely don't do that." He bumped his shoulder against Angel's. "I told him a little about Bev. Why don't you tell him the rest?"

He started in English, but at Aidan's correction continued in Spanish. Aidan imagined Gabe's interest, and as his smile stretched impossibly wider at the man his godson was growing up to be, his own tears began to fall, streaking his cheeks even as he laughed at the stories Angel told.

Without pausing, Angel reached over and clasped his hand, and Aidan felt the pieces of his life—his family—that had been missing click firmly back into place, and with them, the future he'd thought he lost in reach.

With Jamie by his side, with Izzy and Angel in his life again, with Bev painting every day in vivid color, he was ready to take the leap.