"So," Giselle spoke, gaining his attention. She looked a bit out of place, but maybe he was imagining it. "When did you come, Xav?"
"Don't really wanna discuss that. The point is that I'm here, and that's all that matters." He held her hand.
She smiled at him. "I know it must've been hard getting out."
Chris's eyebrows merged.Getting out from where?
"I called you," Xavier said to her, his voice lowering. "You never picked. You never contacted me."
"I tried." She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "I searched for you everywhere. I didn't have your number."
Xavier looked at Chris. "You didn't either?"
He looked at him with a stone expression. "No."
"But I called you the day that..."
"Yeah." Chris shook his head. "No."
Xavier looked back at Giselle, and Chris allowed himself to roll his eyes. He wanted to punch that man. He didn't know why.
"Anyway," said Giselle, "do you have a place here?"
"I'll figure it out," said Xavier.
She smiled. "Oh, that's okay. You can live here." Chris gritted his teeth. "Or," she said, "you can live in our guest house. It's right next to us. Yeah, that'd be better."
"It's all right," he said, leaving her hand, and removed his black jacket. "I'll find a place."
"Nonsense." Giselle took his jacket and put it on the armrest beside her. "You're living in the guest house."
Chris cleared his throat, gaining their attention. "What do you plan to do, Xavier?"
"As in?" Xavier leaned forward, resting his elbows on his knees.
"Life? Work?" Chris leaned back into his sofa. "Planning to continue social work?"
Xavier's eyebrows merged, and his eyes snapped to meet Giselle's. She shook her head a fraction, her eyes wide as if she was intimidated. He turned back to Chris and said, "I wanna shift, I guess."
What was that all about?"Why?"
"Want to experience something different, I guess."
"We'd have something in our firm for him, no?" asked Giselle.
Chris looked at her. "I suppose."
"Great!" She clapped her hands once and turned toward Xavier. "You can train under Chris. It'll be incredible."
Xavier leaned back, stretched his arms, and rested one behind her back. Chris wanted to rip it out of his socket and shove it down his throat. Giselle, however, smiled. He calmed his unreasonable thoughts for her happiness.
"So, what have you guys been up to?" asked Xavier.
"Oh." She tucked another strand behind her ear, eyes down. "We're working with this detective who's helping us find daddy's killer."
Chris hated how small her voice sounded.
"Yeah?" said Xavier. "Good."