Page 98 of Only Love

A cool shower called to him. He washed away the grime of a three-day drive and a double round of reunion sex. Then he set about unpacking. Dirty clothes found their way to the hamper and toiletries to the bathroom. When he was done, there were two items left: his cell phone and a sealed envelope.

He picked up the envelope and frowned. Max had handed over the letters Glenn had given him a few days after he’d come home from the hospital. Endearingly, Max had been worried he’d lose them. Most of them had found their way to the fire at one time or other, considered obsolete. There was no need to tell Dan he was sorry he’d left him, or Belle he wished he’d known her, because those wishes had been fulfilled. But one letter remained: a letter Jed could hardly remember writing, but couldn’t seem to destroy.

He picked up his cell phone and pressed a speed dial he’d never used. Nick’s voice mail kicked in a moment later. Jed left a message, telling him that he was back in town, and hung up without asking Nick to call back.

With a heavy sigh, he shoved the envelope in the bottom drawer of his nightstand. His relationship with Nick was bitterly flawed, and probably always would be, but if the past year and his repeated clashes with mortality had taught him anything, it was that the way he felt now perhaps wouldn’t last forever. Nick was deeply entangled in a recovery of his own. Maybe one day they’d meet in the middle.

Jed’s cell phone buzzed in his hand. He stared at the overseas code and pressed the call button. Who the fuck did he know in Stuttgart?

“Hello to you too,” Glenn countered. “Miss me already?”

Jed rolled his eyes. He’d just spent the best part of a month with Glenn on their old military base in Colorado, tying up loose ends. The trip had been an ordeal, and though he loved Glenn like a brother, he wasn’t ready to miss him yet. “Give it another year.”

“Olivia okay?”

Jed suppressed a sigh. He’d gone to Phoenix after he and Glenn had finished their work. It had been easier last time, with Max to distract him, but facing Olivia’s grief alone this time around was as heartbreaking as it had ever been. “Seems to be.”

Glenn let it go. Jed suspected he knew the reason for the call, and he wasn’t surprised when Glenn cut straight to the point. “I did that digging you asked me about.”

Jed sat on the edge of his bed. “And?”

“And I don’t think you have anything to worry about. The case is closed. Lamumba Moore is dead. There’s even a damn grave.”

Jed let out a long breath. It had felt like a betrayal to divulge Max’s secret to Glenn, but he’d seen too much horrible shit to let it go. He had to know if Max and Kim were at risk. Glenn had worked in Northern Ireland in the eighties, and he still had contacts there. It made sense to ask him to reach out. “What about the hit itself? Where did it come from?”

“Now that I don’t know… which is good news. From what I can tell, no one had Daniel Moore on their radar. Yeah, he pissed a lot of people off with his do-gooder shit, but not enough to warrant what happened.”

“So whatdidhappen?”

“I think it was racial, and opportunistic. The hit wasn’t a clean job, and it was botched from the start. I don’t think they expected the kid to be there, much less put himself between his mother and an iron poker.”

Jed felt sick, and for once it wasn’t born of a physical defect. “Do you trust your source?”

“With my life.”

Jed nodded, though Glenn couldn’t see him. Despite the grave context, coming from Glenn, those three simple words were enough. “So when are you heading to the Med?”

“My plane leaves in an hour.”

Jed nodded again, feeling a distinct wave of sadness creep over him. Glenn had taken a job at a rehab facility in Cyprus. The dude was a soldier through and through, and he had chronic itchy feet. Jed missed him more than he cared to admit, but he’d known from the start that Glenn’s presence in his day-to-day life was temporary.

He owed Glenn a lot. Without him, he’d have spent many, many more nights in the hospital. Glenn had nursed him, bullied him, held his hand and spent long days sitting by his side on the bathroom floor—all the things Jed couldn’t bear to let Max do, least not as often as the need arose.

“So I guess I’ll see you….”

“Soon, dude. Soon. Take care of your people, and let them take care of you.”

Glenn hung up before Jed could respond. He stared at the phone for a moment, caught between the life he’d left behind and the one awaiting him until the sound of Max’s laughter called to him like a siren.

He followed the sound outside to the yard. The sight before him made him smile. At the water’s edge, Dan stood with Tess on his shoulders. Raffi was beside him, teaching Belle to walk on her hands. Carla and Luke sat to one side with Saja and Carla’s elderly lab at their feet. All around them, Flo and Desta played chase, tearing in and out of the water, and right at the end of the jetty stood Max, shirtless, his shorts soaked.

Jed took a moment to drink in the scene. It often amazed him that the many facets of his life fit so well together. For the longest time, he’d thought such a thing impossible.

Desta spied him lurking and barked, giving away his presence. The spaniel bounded away from Flo and across the yard, preparing to hit him with a flying leap of wet dog. Jed stopped him with a stern word. Desta skidded to a stop and whined, but for once did as he was told. Tess wasn’t quite so patient. Somehow, Jed had missed her ditching Dan and darting across the yard.

She jumped up into his arms as Max laughed again.

Jed met his gaze and stared, feeling another fissure in his battered heart heal. He wondered if it would always be this way. For him, Max was the early morning sun, a cool springtime breeze, and a blanket of fresh white snow. His warm eyes were a guiding light in the dark, and the love they held was the only thing Jed would ever need.