Page 79 of The Exit Strategy

“We’ve texted.”

Zero surprises there.

“You really didn’t have to come here for me, Nolan. I’m a big girl. This will all die down eventually.”

“It would if Grace would stop making shit up,” Fen grumbles just out of the frame.

Isn’t that the way life works though? Everything would be so much easier if everyone just did exactly what you wanted them to.

“I didn’t only come home for you, Junie. Yes, you were the catalyst to make it happen now, but you’re not the only reason.”

I frown, not liking the ambiguity in that statement.

“It’s time, Junie. Hudson and I—well, mostly Hudson—have built the business up as much as we could with me away. Now it’s time for me to come home permanently so we can continue that growth. Dad is…angling for a piece of the company again too. It’s not fair to place that all on Hud.”

My father is such a piece of shit. Not only did he run a successful generational company into the ground, but now that Nolan and Hudson have pivoted it and managed to turn it around in just a few short years, he wants back in. But just like when my mom died, he’ll find he has no legs to stand on.

“But…what about Japan? Practicing medicine?” I hate that Nolan’s choosing duty over his heart. He’s always wanted to be a doctor.

“What I’ve learned has been…useful for new products,” he says cryptically. “It will all work out. I’ll be in South Carolina in a few days.”

“We all will be. Family reunion,” Fen says, pushing his face next to Nolan’s again so he can see me.

You can’t see Fenway Jones and not smile. It’s just not possible.

“See you soon,” Nolan says, pushing Fen out of his personal space with a palm pressed to his forehead.

“See you soon,” I mumble, then disconnect the call just as Katie enters my office.

Placing my phone face down on the table seems to give Katie permission to speak while also pulling a bottle of rosé out of her bag. “Heard you helped Bea at the clubhouse.”

“It’s a little early for rosé, isn’t it?”

“Early?” She scoffs. “It’s seven at night. I knew you were trying to get out of tonight’s S&S meeting, so I swung by to grab you. Cole’s at the clubhouse, setting up the screen, and said you were still working when he?—”

She glances down at the chair she’s sitting in that’s directly in front of Cole’s work from today. Leaning back in the chair, she confirms it came from his office.

“Well, now. This is an interesting turn of events. No wonder Cole was more broody than normal.”

“It’s nothing,” I lie. “We had to run numbers together. This was easier than shouting across rooms.”

“Mm-hmm. Then how come I saw him ordering a second monitor?”

Surely he’s not planning to make this move permanent.

“I have no idea. Maybe his broke. Maybe he needs two screens. Maybe he just wanted one.”

“Or maybe,” she drawls, “he’s trying to get close to you.”

I hold up my hand to stop her.

It doesn’t work.

“I’ve got theories, you know.”

“I don’t want to hear them,” I grumble.

“We’ll come back to it. But first, you helped Bea.”