Mae gave me a bored stare. “I don’t want to argue with you because I already did stuff today so you should just live here forever.”
Rami’s snort gave way to full-on laughter, and it coincided with the timed lights on the Christmas tree flickering to life, casting the room in a warm glow that felt like a hug from all of them.
Living here, with Safia and Paddy. Their kids. Charlie. WithRami. Wow. The carnage. The joy.
The love.
Had Christmas come early?
I guessed I was about to find out.
I nodded, my hand reaching for Rami of its own accord as Charlie left Paddy and toddled to the couch to plonk himself in a position that left him draped over Rami and me both.
It seemed kind of fitting.
I had no words but three, and they were all for Rami. “I love you.”
18
Rami
Christmas Eve
It was my last ever call as a probation officer. My notice was scheduled to run for another month, but my boss had put me on gardening leave, gifting me precious time to get my shit together on full pay.
Right now, I didn’t have much to complain about, and it apparently showed on my face.
The Zoom call connected. The last offender in my care took one look at me and rolled his eyes.
He didn’t say anything, but this offender rarely did. He listened more than he spoke, saw more than most people realised, and I was going to miss his penetrating scowl.
I ran through the information he needed to navigate the end of his probation, then I kicked back in my chair, signalling to him that the formalities were over.
His expression didn’t change, but I was used to that. He gave me little, but it was still a thousand times more than he gave anyone else.
He humoured my small talk and I knew I should let him go, but something drove me to keep him on the line.Perhaps you’re not as ready as you thought to leave this job behind.
No. That wasn’t it. I’d ruminated it to death and I was done. Charlie was my priority. Fen. My family. I loved my work, but that was all it was. Work. It didn’t warm my bed at night, or torment me at rowdy family dinners. It was over. I was done.
I opened my mouth to say so, but activity behind me caught my attention. Footsteps on the stairs, the door opening.
Fuck.I sat up, ready to kill the screen, but my agitation died as Fen stepped into the office. Still, I held up a hand to warn him off. Dante Pope had left prison expecting never to see Fen Hawthorne again. I had to honour that, or at least give him the choice.
Fen frowned, keeping his gaze away from my laptop screen. “Shit. Sorry. I thought you’d be done.”
I should’ve been. He’d done exactly as I’d asked and left me in peace until six o’clock, and now here we were, stuck in an awkward-as-fuck situation that I could only fix by hanging up on Dante or kicking Fen out.
Or…
No. I couldn’t do that. Last day or not, it was inappropriate as hell. And serious TMI for an offender who likely gave zero fucks about my private life.
“Hey Fen.”
I snapped my gaze back to my laptop. Dante was still sitting on the same stone steps he had been when he’d taken my call. The same Christmas roses and camellias were behind him—I knew what the blooms were called because he’d told me about them in enough detail to make me grin like a Cheshire cat. His smirk was different, though. Warmer and more open than I’d ever seen him be with anyone but his boyfriend.
“I recognised his voice,” he said to my obvious confusion. “It’s nice that you’re together now.”
“Um—”