Page 63 of Unraveling Fate

And he’d sworn to build himself an extraordinary life with no unraveling shirt cuffs. But his brand of extraordinary didn’t tempt Cadenza, and now her desire was changing. He would lose her.

Vasilios’s words taunted him.Be the cog or be the hand that turns the wheel.

Canon’s gift wasn’t enough anymore. He needed to up his game.

He yanked out his phone and dialed his other employer. “I need to talk to you.”

The sun shimmeredlike a gong through the mellow tune of warm pine needles as Cadenza stepped out of the car. The residential street turned to gravel and dirt, crossed a trickle of a stream, and led to a cluster of tucked-away cabins. But to the left of the trail hulked a steep incline of granite.

On the phone Cadenza had been so stressed she didn’t really think about Reyna’s suggestion that they meet at Twain Harte Rock for a picnic lunch, but now that she was here, with the sunand the pine trees and the quartz in the granite tinkling steel drums in the afternoon light, she thought it was genius.

Although,she thought as she trekked up the granite slope, Drostan staying close to keep watch, but far enough not to intrude,rock is a woefully inadequate word. More like half a mountain.

A lake lay at the top of the trek. The Rock acted as a natural dam, allowing just a trickle of water to spill over, forming the creek at the bottom. Reyna, however, waited not at the top, but just below, where the incline leveled out enough to sit down.

“The best spot for the view,” Cadenza said as she sat next to her.

“You know it.” Reyna handed her a bottled water.

“Thanks. I haven’t been up here in so long I forgot I’d need that.” She took a long drink.

“I figured.” Reyna chuckled. “But we all come home eventually, don’t we?”

Afternoon light played over her silky, brown skin, the sun’s beats a softer version of the smith’s hammer on the anvil. Reyna raised her face to the warmth, eyes closed, seeming at peace with right where she was.

Cadenza’s heart ached, not knowing what that peace felt like. What life felt like without the constant push to hurry up and get somewhere, be someone. “What brought you home?” she asked. “I mean, back to Sonora?”

Reyna shrugged. “I never really left. When I was going to school, I’d commute so I could still work the iron in Columbia. Then when I bought the smithy, it was kind of a done deal that I’d stay.”

“Wow, you’ve never wanted to get out and go see things?” Cadenza pulled a sandwich out of her bag, then froze, realizing what she just said. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it to sound so bad.There’s nothing wrong with staying in one place if you’re happy there.”

“No worries. Believe me, there were plenty of days I wanted out. Mostly in school when certain other kids wouldn’t let me forget that the point five percent of Sonora’s Black population was pretty much allmyfamily.”

“Idiots.”

“Completely.” Reyna took a bite of her pasta salad and gazed out over the valley. “One time in high school, they had a talent show in the evening. My friends and I wandered for a bit during the show, just hanging out. We walked around the band building, you know where that dirt road went up to the aggie classes?”

Cadenza nodded, remembering the layout of her high school.

“Anyways, the aggie kids were back there, drunk off their cans.”

“There’s a surprise.” Cadenza snorted.

“Right?” Reyna shook her head. “They tried to pick a fight with one of my friends. Pulled a knife. We managed to get away without any violence, and when we went back to the talent show, I told the grade level coordinator that there were studentsdrunkonhiscampus. Do you know what he said?” She paused, disbelief still in her voice, years after the incident. “He said, and I quote, ‘Well then, don’t go back there.’”

Cadenza’s mouth dropped in outrage, but not surprise.SoTuolumne County.

“But,” Reyna said. “I had my reasons for staying.” She didn’t elaborate, and Cadenza didn’t want to push.

“So,” Reyna’s tone lightened. “Tell me what’s stressing you out so bad.”

“Oh,” Cadenza hedged. She needed this time. Friend time. But Taran’s secrets weren’t hers to share, and if she told Reyna about the car bomb, it would lead to questions about whowanted her dead. What was safe to share? “I’m stressing about getting the money for my plane ticket in time. And I don’t know what to do about Canon. He doesn’t seem to understand the word ‘no.’”

Reyna frowned. “I thought Canon was fixing the plane ticket problem.”

“Why do you think that?” Cadenza asked, confused. She was sure she hadn’t told Reyna about Canon’s proposal.

“He didn’t call you?” Reyna looked at her, equally confused. “I got a call from him yesterday. He’s having a fundraiser—apparently he’s running for the State Legislature.” She shrugged as if there was no understanding some people. “But he said it was a formal event, and he wanted really classy entertainment. That’s you and me.” She laughed and pretended to buff her fingernails on her shirt.