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Rachel reaches out, touching estures toward the front door “Walk me out, okay?”

“Sure,” I reply softly and trail her out of the kitchen, through the great rooe foyer to the double front doors She picks up her rental car keys and backpack she’d left on a table before giving me her attention “Listen… about what your mom did to you…”

I blink in surprise “Yeah?”

“Don’t leave that unresolved, okay?” she advises “Call her, send her an email… whatever you feel is the best way to communicate with her, but let her know you knohat she did and give her the opportunity to apologize for it”

“My ,” I mutter

“Then at least you know she doesn’t have any ree betrayal to you, and that shit will only fester Trust me, I know a little bit about this sort of stuff”

This takes er inside ofher about it There didn’t seereatest relationship anyway She was so angry with er that she had no qual me out of her life for a few years It wasn’t until she reed her to reach out that we reconciled somewhat I have to ad, but I’d also learned to live with it

I’d learned how to be alone and to depend only on ain In fact, after I get this stuff resolved withto do a serious reevaluation of enuinely consider what I want out of etting worn out froies

Maybe Rachel is right Maybe that’s so I should resolve sooner rather than later so I can have a clean slate when it co that hanging over ood for my soul Besides that, we have worked hard the last few years to put our relationship back in order

I smile “I’ll do that And thanks for the talk”

“Anyti I give her a return squeeze

After she leaves, I lock the door and reset the alarm, which Kynan has pounded into me must be set at all times whether I’m here or not

I edge back into the kitchen Kynan doesn’t bother looking up, although I know he’s heard me come in

“I need to take a trip,” I say, but he still doesn’t give me his attention He merely replies, “Give me about half an hour to finish some stuff up here with Bebe, then I’ll take you wherever you want to go”

“Sounds good,” I reply breezily as I head toward ht, I nonchalantly offer over ham Falls I need to see my mother”

I don’t wait for his response, catching only the briefest glance of his head popping up and his face flooding with shock

I brace for hiue it’s not prudent or a valuable use of our ti whether I’ll need an overnight bag It’s roughly a two-and-a-half-hour direct flight via private jet to Cunningham Falls from Santa Barbara I’ve made the trip several times in the last few years I decide our talk shouldn’t take that long and I’d rather be back in ether I’ll freshen up out until Kynan is ready to leaveCHAPTER 13KynanThis isn’t ha damn time Jameson had been hired by Joslyn’s mother to provide protective services for her Joslyn was headlining a as at the time While she probably wasn’t under any direct threat by fans, it uards Plus, she’d negotiated it into the contract for the casino to pay for our services

I’m not quite sure when I fell in love with Joslyn, but our fate was sealed by the end of the trip to Cunninghaive a charity benefit concert, the proceeds of which were going to a hospital wing named after her late father Madeline had not wanted her to do the trip, but Joslyn had held firht have been the first tin she was going to try to keep some control over her career Perhaps that had actually been the beginning of their business relationship foundation cracking