8

Once we got home, things became calmer, which was good after the many plot twists of today. I’d promised our mothers to finalize a guest list today, since we were quickly approaching our wedding, and they needed a head count for the venue. After we ate dinner, I sat down with my list, Jon sat down with his, and we had our legs overlapping on the couch as we silently worked.

The cats sensed not only people but paper, so they were all over this job. I had one tucked under my arm as I tried to write. Which, let me tell you, was cute but not helpful.

Jon blew out a stressed sounding breath. I glanced up, not sure what that was about.

“What?” I prodded him.

“Huh?” He looked up, baby blues blinking, then he shook his head. “No, sorry, lost focus for a second. I was thinking about Dwayne’s case.”

“Ohhh, for a second there I thought you were stressing about the list. Okay, which part of the case?”

“The bond, truthfully. Dwayne’s adamant that he can’t feel his sister, the bond’s dormant. I can even visually confirm as much. But if Grant’s right, then Tylesia is still alive. So how in the hell did their bond go dead?”

“It’s really a puzzle.” I certainly didn’t have an answer for it, either. “Like one of those catch-22 situations.”

“That’s exactly what it feels like to me. How can a psychic not know if their anchor is alive or not?”

“For that matter, how can Grant not lock onto a person’s location? Surely he’d know if they were merely out of range. Like, in Mexico or something.”

“Oh, I’m sure. He was quite confident on that part.” Jon rubbed his nose and left an ink stain behind on the side of it, which was beyond cute. “There’s something majorly wonky about this situation. I have a feeling it’s going to keep me up all night until we figure out the answer.”

“Curiosity getting to you?”

“Partially, yeah. Plus I feel so bad for them both. If she’s really alive, then she’s been in captivity away from her psychic for a year, which just sounds hellish.”

I tried to imagine that—being away from Jon for months on end, unable to escape a prison not of my making—and shuddered. I’d go insane. Climb-the-walls insane. Jon was pretty empathic to people most of the time; I wasn’t surprised this bothered him so much. There wasn’t a lot we could do about it, either.

“All we can do is try and find her. Dead or alive. We’ll figure out the method as we go.”

“Yeah. You’re likely right.” Jon rubbed his nose again. “Shit. Solomon needs to pay for this regardless. He put a woman in danger and threw an innocent man in jail. Surely this time we can get him fired.”

“At the very least. Having Judge McClain out for his blood also weighs heavily in our favor.” I caught his free hand, giving it a squeeze. “Try not to focus on only one thing. You don’t want tunnel vision.”

“Crap. Good point. Tunnel vision on this case is what landed Dwayne behind bars to begin with.” Jon squeezed back, nose wrinkling. “What did I do before I had you?”

“I ask myself that question a lot, and frankly, the answer usually scares me.”

Jon laughed, eyes sparkling, the sound of his laughter rich and warm. No denial over there, I noted. Seriously. Jon was immensely determined, so I knew he’d been mostly okay on his own pre-me, but at the same time, it was amazing how much he’d had to struggle on a daily basis just to exist. I never wanted him to be alone again.

We couldn’t move without disturbing cats. And frankly, Shazam felt like the weight of a thousand suns on my thigh, so I lifted Jon’s fingertips to give them a kiss before letting go.

Back to lists. I had all the family I was close to, friends, and such on my list. I looked it over, couldn’t think of anyone else, then realized I was an idiot.

“Uh…babe, whose list should have Psy people on it? I want our colleagues there too.”

“I already have them on mine.”

“Ah, good, then they’re taken care of. Oh, did you remember to get our FBI—” I cut myself off when my phone rang in my pocket. It was a tricky thing, levering up to one side so I could ease it out without disturbing a cat, but Shazam clearly wasn’t willing to move anytime soon. He simply went with the flow. I almost dropped the phone once it was out of the case, though. Simin was calling me. I’d saved Simin’s phone number but hadn’t used it yet. I was…honestly rattled to have her call out of the blue.

“Babe?” Jon sounded alarmed.

“It’s Simin.” I sucked in a breath and manned up. Well, I tried. Nerves were still tangling like a bad acrobatics act, to be honest. I answered anyway. “Simin?”

There was a delighted cry, like an aborted squeal. “ Donovan ! Finally, I reach you. How are you ?”

The obvious happiness in her voice relaxed my taut nerves like nothing else could. I matched her energy, unable to stop a grin from stretching ear to ear. “I am amazing. How are you, Simin?”

“ Also amazing. Donovan, there’s so much to tell you. I don’t want to do it over a phone, I want to see you. I want to see with my own eyes that you’ve healed. ”

She was the same woman I knew years ago. The same person whom I’d defended—an action I couldn’t ever fully regret. The relief coming in on the heels of such a revelation felt like it would bowl me over. I looked up and met Jon’s eyes, saw him gazing warmly back at me. He could see perfectly well my nervousness had decreased by half.

I answered her as best I could. “I want to see the two of you as well. Where are you living now?”

“ We are in North Carolina. Near the Tennessee border. ”

“Oh! You’re not too far away from me, then. I live in Nashville now.” I ran a hand over my nonexistent hair, thinking of logistics and timelines, and had no idea how I’d manage to fit in a road trip to go see her. “Simin, to be honest, I’m buried in work and wedding planning. I—”

“ YOU’RE GETTING MARRIED ?!” The accompanying squeal was unearthly. “ Donovan ! I must meet— Wait, her or him ?”

I belatedly remembered confessing to her once, before leaving England, that I was bisexual. She’d taken it very well. It made it easier for me to answer her now. “Him.”

“ I must meet him ! And when is the wedding, I’m coming. Eshaal would be beside herself if we didn’t come .”

“Uh, well, we don’t have a set date yet. We’re thinking September. I’d love for you both to come, though.”

“ We will. And if you’re so busy, we’ll come to you. ”

I didn’t expect the offer and startled a little. “You sure?”

“ After all you’ve done for us, I think a simple drive isn’t enough to repay you. ” She laughed like I was being silly. “ We’ll come to you. Pull out your calendar, find an evening. I want to have a long dinner with you. ”

She really hadn’t changed. I put the call on speaker so I could pull up my calendar, and we conferred about dates and times, finding an evening that worked for us both. Then we just chatted, talking about everything and anything, and it was nice. So nice, to reconnect with a friend who had changed my whole world. To hear she was doing so much better herself after that disastrous event.

While talking, Jon sneaked my list out of my lap, and I watched as he wrote down “Simin and Eshaal.” For that, I high-fived him and got a grin in return. I might be a bit nervous still about seeing them in person, but right now? Right now, I couldn’t think of ignoring them after Simin had reached out like this. I didn’t want to. If seeing them triggered anything, I’d make sure I had a therapy appointment lined up for the next day.

I wasn’t going to let fear make decisions for me. Fear was a bad advisor. I wanted to reconnect with these two. I wanted to fold them into my life moving forward. And hopefully, after we met in person, that was precisely what would happen.

For now, though, I was going to enjoy talking with a long-lost friend.