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“You’ve already helped.” Jesse stood, pocketing his phone. “Thanks, Sareena. And, don’t mention this to Ant, yeah?”
“I’m not going to lie. He’s already stressed about this job you won’t tell him about. I can’tnottell him that you’ve turned up here with—”
“Please,” Jesse said. “I swear I’ll explain everything. I just need to figure some shit out first.”
“Jesse,” Sareena said, sounding tired, “this doesn’t sound good.”
“It is,” Jesse insisted, meaning it. “This is good…good for me.”
Sareena’s brow furrowed again in concern, but then the front door opened and in raced Oliver and another boy.
“Uncle Jesse,” Oliver cried and flung his arms around his waist.
“Hey there, mate,” Jesse said, patting his nephew’s head. “How’s it going?”
“Great,” he said, grinning. “We just had this great big snowball fight in Lee’s backyard. Even his dad jointed in.”
“That sounds great.”
“Hope you’re hungry, boys,” Sareena said, her eyes still on Jesse. “Lunch is ready.”
“I’mstarving,” the other little boy declared and scrambled onto a stool at the counter while Oliver took the one next to him.
“Are you having lunch with us, Uncle Jesse?”
“I can’t, mate. Sorry,” he said, catching Sareena’s eye.
“Ohwhy?” Oliver cried, face falling. “He can stay, can’t he, Mum?”
“Of course,” Sareena said firmly, indicating the table. “Stay, Jesse. Eat with us.”
“I really can’t,” he said, making for the door. “I gotta get back. Another time, though, yeah?”
“Like Christmas Day?” Oliver said hopefully, looking between Jesse and his mother. “He can come for Christmas, right, Mum?”
“I said we’ll see about that, mate,” Jesse said before Sareena could speak. “Enjoy your lunch, guys. See you soon.”
He heard his sister-in-law trying to call him back but hurried out into the snow before guilt made him say anything more that he might regret.
Chapter Ten
“Jesse?”
Jesse jumped and turned. He hadn’t heard Tom come into the security room. He was holding two steaming cups of coffee in his hands. Jesse’s veins sang out at the smell.
“Hey,” he said, eagerly reaching for a cup. “Thanks for this. I need it.”
“You’ve been pulling a lot of hours the last few days,” Tom said with a concerned look, taking his seat. “It’s less than a week until Christmas. You can slow down, you know.”
Jesse sipped his coffee. “The new firewall,” he said. “I’m still not happy.”
“It’s solid,” Tom said with an uncertain smile. “Nothing will get through that any time soon.”
“Still,” Jesse muttered, running his hole-hunting subroutine for the tenth time.
“You worried about anything in particular?” he asked carefully.
“Like what?” Jesse asked, not looking at him.
