“You have to talk to him about this.”

“I know, but I don’t want to stress him out. He’s dealing with his own stuff.”

“If this is going to work, you guys are going to have to work through everything together. It can’t be his stuff and yours. If you want this to be what I assume you want it to be, then it’s y’all’s stuff, and you gotta figure it out together.” Avery paused for a second. “Wouldn’t you want him to come to you and talk about whatever he is feeling about the Skylar thing?”

“Of course.”

“Then why can’t you go to him about his family or yours? He is a really great listener, Mekena, and he is very understanding and helpful. I’m sure you guys can work out any of your insecurities because, the thing is, you guys won’t make it if you’re not confident in y’all—outside of that bedroom.”

Biting into her lip, Mekena sucked in a deep breath, knowing Avery was completely right. “Did I rush into this?”

Avery laughed. “Yeah, but it’s meant to be.”

“It is?”

“Yeah, and y’all are gonna be fine. It’s all gonna work out.”

“It will?”

“It will,” Avery said once more. “Because it’s time for some good for you two. After everything Skylar did, and then the two years of hell you two put yourselves through, it’s time. Things will work out, and you’ll live happily ever after.”

“You think so?”

“I know so,” she said confidently and then she laughed. “Don’t you think so?”

Mekena’s lips curved as she thought of his smile and how she couldn’t think of a day going by without it. Even if it was over a phone, she needed it. “Yeah, I think so.”

“Good, it will all work out. We will all be happy! Or at least that’s what I gotta tell myself because I’m pretty sure Jace is on his way out, and I can’t blame him. This terror of a child makes me crazy, and I’m crazy on him.”

Mekena rolled her eyes. “Jace isn’t going anywhere.”

“I know. But when I say it, it scares me a bit and makes me appreciate him even more.”

Mekena laughed. “That’s weird.”

“Yeah, I’m not exactly sane.”

“Is anyone?”

“Nope,” Avery decided, and then another screech came through the line.

“Jesus, she is mad.”

“I tried to give her a banana.”

“She doesn’t want it. Jeez, Mom!”

“She asked for it, and when I peeled it, she freaked.”

“Oh. Well, she takes after her mother.”

“Thank you, Captain Obvious.”

Snickering, Mekena felt better. “Thanks for being there, Avery.”

“Anytime,” Avery said, a smile in her voice. “I want you to be happy.”

“Me too, and he does it for me. We’ve been great the last couple days. The hotel is okay, but as soon as I know if I have the job, we’re going to look at some apartments and then we’ll move in.”

“See? You’ve got a plan! You’re just an overthinker, and Lord knows you don’t rush into anything, so I’m sure this is all a little much. But it’s gonna be fine. It has to be.”

Mekena nodded, feeling ten times better. “You’re right. Thanks.”

“Anytime. Now go get ’em, killer!”

Mekena laughed. “Okay, don’t feed Ashlyn any more bananas.”

Avery stopped laughing. “She’s eating it right now, Mekena, I’m not even fucking with you.”

Holding in her laughter, she glanced at the time to see that Elli would be out to get her any second. “Eh, I’m sorry? But I gotta go.”

“Okay, I’ll just be here, confused about the psychotic two-foot human who is taking over my household.”

Laughing out loud now, Mekena said, “Good luck.”

“Yeah, I need it.”

Hanging up, she went to turn off her phone, a grin on her face when she noticed she had a text message. Opening it, she saw it was from Markus. It was a picture of him with his thumbs up, along with the rest of the team behind him, all with their thumbs up and cheering on the ice. Under the picture, it read:

Markus: Good luck babe! The team is rooting for ya! Love you.

Her grin grew as she giggled softly.

He was just amazing.

“Mekena.”

Looking up, she found Elli Adler in the doorway, and for the first time, Elli wasn’t wearing a flashy outfit. Instead, she wore tight black slacks with a sheer white dress shirt that was tucked in with a thick black scarf. But then Mekena’s eyes fell to her sky-high leopard print pumps, and she smiled. Leave it to Elli Adler to find some way to be eye-catching. “Let’s get you in here, talk through some paperwork, and get you on the team! You have a passport, right?”

“I do,” Mekena said, standing and smiling really hard. Maybe too hard. Relaxing a bit, she heard Avery’s words again and smiled for real.

“Let’s do this.”

As Elli flashed her signature grin, Mekena started for her, her portfolio in her hands and her heart pounding in her chest.

Because this was the start of all her dreams.

And she just prayed so damn hard that they would all include Markus.

Wren Lemiere looked up from her notes to Markus, and he drew in a quick intake of breath. While he had rehashed everything that happened with Skylar many times before with his friends, with the team’s therapist, it was different. She didn’t know him, and a part of him worried she would tell the Assassins and they’d cut him again.

“You can’t tell anyone about this, right?” he asked, his heart pounding, and she shook her head, smiling lightly. She was a pretty woman. Long brown hair that went down her back to her waist and a pixie-like face with dark green eyes. She was short too, all in a petite package. If he weren’t already head over heels in love with Mekena, he would have found Wren very attractive, but he was, though he did think the doctor was pretty.

“No, Markus, I can’t.”

“So I can’t get fired?”

She laughed, though not in a condescending way, almost like she thought he was joking. “No.”

He let out a sigh of relief. “Okay, cool. So do your stuff. Shrink me.”