you.”
“You need me?” Grace asked, the disbelief palpable.
“Well, yeah. I don’t make a habit of sleeping with random people, Grace. I don’t usually move my lovers in, and vice versa. The fact that I spent so much time obsessing about you from the very beginning told me that there was something chemical, something wonderful and perfect, about you that meant I needed to keep paying attention. And now I want to touch you all the time. You went to talk to Gabriel, and I thought, ‘How can he be doing this thing that could hurt him and I’m not there?’”
“’Cause you made me strong enough to do it,” Grace said, so simply Hunter thought it must be true. “I… it was so easy, once I saw he was only a person. You’re such a bigger person than he ever was. I couldn’t be afraid of him anymore.”
Hunter let out a sigh and held him even tighter. “Good.”
“Does it ever hit you?” Grace asked. “That I’m almost ten years younger than you?”
Hunter closed his eyes. “Yes and no. It’s the reason I spent so long keeping my distance. But I can’t imagine you without me or me without you. Not now.”
“Good. It would be a stupid thing if we let it get in the way, especially when most of the time I forget how old I really am. I think that’s why Josh reminds me sometimes. He knows I’m not always aware of time.”
Hunter was going to laugh, but Grace kept on talking. “I think he’ll be relieved.”
“Why?”
“That he’s got help with my care and feeding. I’m pretty sure I’m a challenge.”
And now Hunter really did laugh. “Go to sleep,” he said softly. “We’ve got planning to do in the morning.”
JOSH WASN’T there for breakfast, but then, nobody was there for breakfast. Everybody was in their rooms or jogging or showering or singing opera or whatever it was that theater students and Chuck did when they were trying to formulate a plan.
Even if they were there, they weren’t really there. It wasn’t until Josh missed dinner that Hunter became concerned.
Danny was presiding over the meal, and Julia and Felix were both absent. There was no chatter as they all sat. Instead, everybody looked at Uncle Danny’s strained face and waited for him to say something.
He did, and it was unexpected.
“When Josh first started this little enterprise, back in March, he wanted me to be your Uncle Danny too. He wanted his parents’ house to be your home, and he wanted us to be doing exactly what we’re doing tonight. And that’s why I’m here, when Felix, Julia, and Josh are not. Because this place is your place and always will be. Josh apparently hasn’t been feeling well for a little while, and he needs to take some tests tonight, and when I was all for screaming and running around in a circle and losing my mind, he said, ‘That’s bullshit, Danny. We’re in the middle of something, and you can’t just let it go.’ So here we are, children. We’re still a family, and we still have a job to do, and we all love Josh Salinger, so we’re not going to give up on it. Grace’s friend is counting on us, and her grandfather, and that Lucius Broadstone character, and even, according to Josh, Laslo Hu. So if we’re treating what we do like it’s serious, like we’re professionals, like it’s our job to finish the undertaking and do it right, then we do what we need to do and rally around Josh when he’s here. Do you all follow me?”
Hunter pulled in a breath. He remembered that moment when Paulie went up in flames and his common sense seemed to go with him. That night with Grace in his apartment, Grace had asked him some questions that Hunter should have figured out himself. He hadn’t. He’d let his heart get sad. He’d let his resolve fail.
Part of that was grief, and part of that was weariness, and part of that—he had to admit it now—was that he didn’t see the fucking point. He and Paulie had worked for a sleazebag, and the guys who’d left the bomb and killed the security guard—they’d been motivated by money. Revenge was pointless. There’d been nothing personal in him and Paulie doing their job. There’d been nothing personal in the thieves who’d set the explosive so they could get away. It had felt just like being in the military. Hunter wasn’t stupid. After