Page 107 of Truthfinder’s Promise

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Meredith glared at the porch’s concrete foundation.

“Has the porch offended you in some way?” Val asked.

“I think it’s cursed. Way too many important conversations happen on this porch.” She stabbed a finger at Valkyrie. “It’s your fault.” Valkyrie had come to her months ago needing date-wear advice. Somehow they’d both ended up talking about their parents, and their friendship had had its first tentative rekindling. “You started the trend of important conversations on this porch and now it won’t stop.”

Siren patted her hand. She was looking much better these days. She was indeed carrying a Death child, and given the antithesis between Life and Death, just needed someone else to feed the kid non-Life Aspect on a daily basis. Aunt Ella was over the moon.

Now that she was feeling better, Meredith felt fine about snapping at her over the hand-patting. “If you say, There there, it will all be fine, I’ll wait until you’re no longer pregnant and punch you.”

Valkyrie leaned into Siren and faux-whispered. “No cause for concern. She can’t throw a punch for shit.”

Meredith threw her hands up and tossed out the silencing spell that was now second nature to her. “Is there something I can help the two of you with? In case you haven’t noticed, I have a house full of Shifters who require an alarming amount of catering-to, and a man to divorce.”

Siren and Valkyrie shared a look. “How are you and Jensen?” Siren asked casually.

Meredith narrowed her eyes. “That depends. Why do you ask?”

“I want to offer you the Seclusion Liaison position.”

“Come again?”

“You donated the house to the Shifter/Aspect relations cause. I was hoping you might come with it.”

Meredith chewed on it even as her pulse beat with something that felt suspiciously like excitement. “Why me?” If Siren was only offering it because Meredith was married to a Shifter…

“You’re adept at handling social situations. You know what the right thing to say in most situations is, and you know when and how to say it. We’ll flush out the full details of the position later, but the primary purpose is to give any Shifters visiting this outpost an initial contact with an Aspecter, someone who can bridge any law variations between us, and prove that not all Aspecters are psychopaths.

“The last week has already proved you’re more than capable of doing the job. You’ve been asked some exceptionally bizarre shit and handled it with a level head. You’re calm, able to solve problems as they arise without needing someone to hold your hand, and all of the Shifters who aren’t assholes like you. You haven’t punched any of the ones who are assholes, which is something I’ve had to restrain Val from doing an average of five times a day.”

Gainful employment had never actually sounded interesting before. “You know they only like me because they think Jensen actually married me, right? All of this ‘problem solving’ I’ve been doing is because they think I’m going to be their next Mrs. Protector, and they want to know I won’t be a tyrant.”

“They don’t only like you because of Jensen. If anything, having an outsider thrown into an almost-leadership role should make them like you less. I’ve been listening all week. Every problem and complaint they’ve thrown at you? It’s all the kind of bullshit stuff meant to make you lose your cool and explode so everyone can point and say, ‘Oh my god, a hysterical woman.’ You haven’t exploded. I’d understand if you didn’t want the job—”

“I do,” Meredith said quickly. “I just…want to make sure you’re not offering it to me because I’m your friend.”

“I’m offering it to you because I think you’re the best person for the job.”

Meredith blew out a breath. She could say no. Maybe she should say no. What experience did she have with jobs anyway? Her Truthfinding work for the Council hadn’t exactly been nine-to-five. More like consulting on an as-needed basis if she felt like it.

“Hours? Benefits? Do I get vacation time?”

“We’ll work out hours. Standard Council benefits package. Is that a yes?”

“It’s a probably yes. I want to talk to Jensen and make sure he doesn’t think it’ll be an issue when our divorce goes public. There’s no point in me taking it if all of the Shifters who might come here will hate me because I dumped their werewolf prince.

“Speaking of, I’m going to go find my husband before he manages to skate out of here without divorcing me first. I’ll let you know on the job by tomorrow.”

“Okay,” Siren said. She hesitated, then added, “Listen, about Jensen—if it matters at all, we like him. All of us like him.”

Meredith sighed. “Yeah, I like him too.”

“So are you going to keep him?” Valkyrie asked. “After you divorce him, I mean.”

Oh, what the hell. Visualize what you want and all that, right? “If he’ll have me? Yes, I’m going to keep him.”

Jensen had been staying in the room next to Natalie’s. Meredith found it empty so she tried Hel’s room next, then Dom’s. She didn’t actually expect to find him in Serenity’s room, but she tried it too. Serenity’s clothes were gone, the bed made, and a folded note lay on the bedspread with Meredith’s name on the front.