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That thought made her sadder than she'd felt before. She'd leave Glen Hollow. And Henry. She liked him. He was solid and sure and strong. Mostly, she enjoyed talking to him. He knew what he wanted and that felt like a security she'd never known. Her entire life was about packing and moving to the next place. Not really knowing what she wanted, but doing what she had to.
What did she want? That was the golden question, that to this day had eluded her.
Her phone chimed and she picked it off the table and saw a text from her sister, Marina.
"What are you doing? Can you talk?"
Her fingers flew across the keyboard on her phone screen. "Yes, I can talk."
"Calling you right now."
She took a couple of deep breaths and waited for Marina to call her. Her phone rang and she answered it before the first ring stopped.
"Hey. How are you?"
Her sister's singsong voice laughed. "Wow, you had your phone in your hand."
"Well, you did just text me."
"Right. Okay, so we have news."
"Okay. I can't wait to hear it."
"You're going to be an aunty."
Her heartbeat increased as if she'd just run a mile. "Really? Oh, my god. Oh, my god. I can't believe it. Congratulations."
Marina laughed. "I'm so excited. I want you to be here when he or she is born. Do you think you'll be able to manage that?"
"I'll do my absolute best. I promise."
"I'm going to hold you to it. I called Mom and Dad and they barely said congratulations. Dad started in about how much work kids are and Mom said, 'I hope it's just like you.' I don't even know if that's good or bad."
"Aww, well, from my point of view, it's good. So, so good."
"Thank you, Ev. I miss you like crazy."
And then, tears fell. "I miss you too." And they fell harder.
"What's going on? Are you alright?"
She sniffed, then reached over to the tissue box and pulled a tissue from it and dabbed at her eyes. "I guess I'm feeling lonely."
"Oh, honey. Come here. You can stay with us. Come here to me."
"I'm in the middle of a job right now. And, I met someone."
"Oh. I need to hear."
Everleigh swallowed. "He's actually my bodyguard. Sort of. I have protection for this job because one of the parties is unpredictable. He's so damned handsome Mar. He's awesome. He's got the biggest heart. He has a great family. He's smart. He's stable, solid, and knows what he wants. He's..."
Marina laughed. "He's the bomb! Send me a picture."
"I don't have one. I'll take one though. I only met him this morning. But we've spent the entire day together. He just bought a farm and he took me there and showed me. His parents came to see it. We had dinner. We talked. Oh, Marina, he's so..."
"Ev? Are you ready to settle down?"
"Oh my god. Mar, I only met him today. Hardly planning on settling down."
