Page 39 of Even Beneath the Stars

Moonlight streams through the Solarium's towering glass panels, casting long shadows across the heated pool below. The space feels like a greenhouse crossed with a luxury resort, all tropical plants and gleaming marble.

"Maggie!" Finn barrels into me, his hair damp and curling at the ends. "Scarlett's been reading comics to me. And she does voices way better than Rita."

"Hey, you." I ruffle his hair. "You must be tired. It's late."

"Nope. Not at all."

Scarlett lounges on one of the ornate chaises, comic book open on her lap. Steam rises from the pool behind her, fogging up the glass walls. "Hey Maggie." She gives me a little wave. "Xavier asked me to hang with this guy for a bit."

"Thanks for watching him."

Scarlett shrugs, her auburn hair catching the moonlight. "No worries. I love me some quality Rockwell brother time." She squeezes Finn around his bony shoulders.

"Depends which Rockwell brother," I mutter under my breath. Not softly enough, because Scarlett laughs.

"Xavier's been that bad, huh?"

"He's fine," I say. I really need to learn to keep my trap shut when I'm on the job.

Scarlett leans in to me, lowering her voice as she glances at Finn, who's now absorbed in another comic. "Look, I get why you think he’s a dick… Xave's got mile-high walls. But you need to believe me that when you're in with Xave—you'rein," she says. "He's the kind of guy who will show up at two a.m. if you need him. No questions, no judgment. When I got dumped in the Fall, he showed up at my house with a mint-chocolate shake from Hooks and made me a playlist he called 'For Dramatic Crying or Keying a Car.' He stayed for three hours, let me rant, never once told me to get over it." She looks over at Finn, stillabsorbed in his comic, then back at me. "I know he makes your job a nightmare, but just—trust me. He's not all bad.

I swallow a lump in my throat. "Yeah, I'm kind of starting to get that about him," I tell her. And I know she's trying to make me feel better, but it does the opposite. Because it's just more infuriating knowing hecanbe like that but then insists on being a total jerk to me. It's not just more infuriating, but more hurtful, too.

Scarlett watches me for a moment. "Xave's got… a lot of baggage."

"Yeah. I got that too."

"Don'ttake any of his bullshit personally," Scarlett says. "Seriously. He's always been a total ass to Finn's nannies.Always."

"Yeah, only I think in my case it's particularly elevated." I trace a pattern on the chair's arm.

Scarlett studies me. "He'll come around."

"Or…kill me in my sleep."

She nods, smiling. "Or that. In a chill, pacifist kind of way."

"Totally." I laugh.

Finn climbs next to me, preparing to open another comic.

"Finn. Dude," I say, gently prying the comic from his hands. "It's way past your bedtime. You've got kindergarten tomorrow. You want to be super awake and ready to learn, right?"

Finn yanks the comic book back, holding it over his face. "Nope. Xavier says I don't have to go to bed until he does. Those are the rules."

Scarlett shoots me an apologetic look. "Rita and I tried getting him to bed earlier. No dice."

"It's fine." I sigh. "Getting him to bed is like scaling Mount Everest unless Xavier's on board."

Finn peeks around the comic. "But I'm nottired."

"Your eyes are all red and puffy."

"That's just… anergies."

"Allergies? In January?"

"YES." His voice rises. "And I want to stay up with Xavier!"

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