Page 41 of Smoke and Fire
“Not yet.” Sione held up a finger. “Mark is getting an RV park put in down the road, so next summer it will be ready for you. Gas doesn’t matter. I’ll figure it out. Family should be together, and since we’re the only ones here, we need to stick it out.”
“My mom said she’d come for Christmas if I’m still here. Will that count?”
“I’ll be gone!”
I laughed. “I probably will be too.”
“Tell me about your new job, then.”
I flipped the laptop open, pulled up a picture of Jess’s books online, and spun it around for him to see. I’d have to be careful. I’d promised Bastian not to reveal his secret but I desperately wanted someone to know my new job. Sione never cared about details. He wouldn’t probe too far into it and I was excited to tell him about the emails.
“I’m working for this author! Her name is Jess. She writes romance novels and needs help with a new book launch. Cool, huh?”
He glanced at the cover, then to me with a dubious expression. “Jess? That’s it? One name?”
“Yeah.” I bristled, vaguely aware that I’d once been dubious of such a thing. Now, it seemed fitting. I just didn’t understand why.
“Why one name?”
“Not sure,” I drawled, and mentally added that to the growing list of questions to mention to Bastian on the video tonight. Sione studied the vague silhouette.
“Am I supposed to know her? I can’t even see her in that picture.”
“No.”
“Oh.”
I spun the computer back around. “Just helping with emails and PR stuff. I like it. It’s kind of fun.”
He quirked an eyebrow, and instant suspicion crawled up my spine. He would only bethatinterested if Mom had been fretting to him over my life choices because she didn’t want a direct approach to question me. Which she always did.
Mom had more deeply mourned the break with Jakob than I had—at least at first. She’d loved us together, as platonic as our relationship had been over the years. In hindsight, I think she loved the idea of grand babies on her hip.
“You wanna do this for a career?” Sione asked.
I shrugged. “I’ll see what happens. The online job thing is cool though, because I could move back to California and do it there, with the family. I’ve never tried that before. Receptionists need an office, you know? This offers more freedom.”
“After the summer.” He put a hand on his chest, as if offended. “Wait for your favorite cousin, speedy!”
Laughing, I said, “Agreed. We’ll move back together.”
His expression softened. “When you’re ready. Of course.”
“Of course,” I echoed with a smile.
He stood up, jostling the RV with his large body. “Gotta go back and make sure my camp isn’t burning to the ground, or that Mark hasn’t made another bad investment.”
“I thought that was Stella’s job.”
“It’s a two-person thing these days. Talk later, cuz.”
He gave me a kiss on the cheek and gracefully disappeared outside, leaving an empty air in his wake. With a little sigh, I checked my phone, saw no message from Bastian, and disappeared back into book six.
If I couldn’t hang out with Bastian, his characters were the next best thing.
12
BASTIAN
