Kynan laughs. “Joslyn has eyes and has seen the way you two are acting. And Bebe told me that Jess had a meltdown yesterday about the plan. I’d say things between you are different.”
“Which is why it’s so important we get Borovsky off the streets so I can start my life with her and Thea.”
A frown flickers across Kynan’s face. “Should I prepare to lose you as an employee?”
“I don’t know,” I reply truthfully. “I know I want to be with Jess and Thea. I just don’t know where it will be.”
“So I’m basically putting all my agents at risk, using expensive resources, letting you potentially get kidnapped, tortured, and maybe even killed, and then you might leave Jameson.”
He’s teasing, of course. I chuckle. “I don’t want to leave. I’m hoping I can talk Jess into coming up north and living here. But she’s got strong ties to Florida.”
“Maybe you could work part time remotely from down there, part time here?”
“Maybe,” I reply noncommittally. For all I know, Jess might want to move to Aruba, and I want her to be happy. We have a lot to discuss and plan, but now is not the time.
We have to be sure we actually have a tomorrow.
“What about you and Joslyn?” I ask curiously, since he brought up Thea. “You two going to have children?”
He shakes his head. “It’s not something we really want. We love just being together and doting on all the Jameson kids. But I’ve learned to never say never.”
“Funny, but I never saw kids in my future either. I guess because I had Thea, and I never wanted anyone but Jess. I figured I’d always be Uncle Dozer, and that would be enough.”
Kynan laughs as he rises from his chair, and I follow suit. He claps me on the shoulder. “I’m going to make a prediction that you and Jess will be giving Thea more than one sibling in the future.”
“Not sure I can handle more than two or three, but if it doesn’t happen, Thea is really all I need. We’ll leave that in God’s hands.”
There’s a sobering pause before Kynan says, “I’ll pray God has his hands on you through the next few days. We’re going to need all the help we can get.”
“Amen,” I reply.
Amen.
?
I wasn’t expecting Jess to get so emotional as we make our goodbyes to Claire and Thea. I know she fully supports the idea of them leaving for safety, but she’s never been away from Thea like this, and it’s hard on her.
We’re down in the parking garage. Their luggage is already in the back of a Suburban with dark, tinted windows. Kellen stands by the back passenger door, ready to open it for Thea and Claire. He’ll be taking them to the airport where they have commercial tickets to fly west.
While Jess goes down to her knees, hugging Thea hard, I move over to Kellen and hold out my hand. “I appreciate you doing this. It’s taking a lot of worry off me.”
“I’m glad to help,” he says as we shake. “Stay safe, brother.”
“You too,” I reply as we release hands.
I move to Claire and give her a tight hug. She kisses my cheek and pulls her head back. “You better come out of this okay. I’m going to be very angry with you if you don’t.”
“Don’t you worry about me, Claire.” I smile encouragingly. “We’ve got this under control. It’ll be fine. We’ll take Borovsky down.”
She can’t help the doubt in her eyes any more than I can help the tightening of my gut when I think of the million things that could go wrong. But she kisses my cheek again and moves to her daughter.
Touching Jess on the shoulder, she says, “We need to get going, honey.”
Jess pulls Thea into her again and buries her face in her daughter’s neck. When she pulls back, she keeps the tears to a sheer mist in her eyes, but there’s a slight quaver to her voice. “You’re going to have the grandest adventure in California. I want you and Gigi to take lots of pictures and videos for me, okay?”
“Okay, Mommy.” She glances over to Kellen and then back to Jess. “And Kellen is going to introduce us to Bubba.”
Jess laughs and nods. “That will be so much fun. I’ll see you soon, okay?”
One more hug, and Jess has to tear herself away. She falls into her mom’s arms and quietly weeps on her shoulder. To distract Thea, as well as get my own hug goodbye, I take her arm and lead her a few feet away. Turning her so her mother is to her back, I squat in front of her.
“I got you a little present,” I say mischievously.
“You did?” she asks, eyes glowing with excitement, her little toothless grin beaming.