Salt and Iron (26 page)
He and Gabe sit silently for a bit, Gabe munching on a piece of apple, James sipping his coffee.
“I guess it’s yours now,” Gabe says after a pause. “The Firm, I mean.”
“No,” James says softly. “No way.”
Gabe turns his head toward him and frowns. “What do you mean?”
“Never wanted it. Still don’t.”
“You really going to walk away? After all this?”
“Yeah,” he says. “Yeah, I’m done with it. If I never step foot in there again it’ll be too soon.”
Gabe frowns at him.
“I know. Generations of tradition down the crapper. I always was the screwup.”
Gabe laughs softly. “Who, then?” he asks.
“What?”
“Who’s going to run it? Who do you trust to take it on? You can’t just walk away. I mean, things have to be different now. Of course they do. It’s not a war anymore. But it’s still important work. You can’t just walk away.”
He laughs. “Sure I can,” he says, but he nods, because Gabe is right. It would be
wrong
to walk away. To leave the Firm in the hands of someone who maybe wouldn’t understand, who maybe would repeat the mistakes of the past, would fight the sidhe instead of work with them. Battles in the streets, blood, turnings. “Rob and Yuko,” he says. “Equal shares.”
“That’d be nice, but they won’t,” Gabe says.
“You don’t know that.”
“They didn’t even want us to know they were dating, let alone had a kid together. No, they’re private people, Jamie. They won’t take it.”
James smiles, watching Gabe speak. Gabe’s head is turned just a little, like a sparrow sussing out the breadcrumb situation at a cafe table.
“What?” Gabe says, a little nervously.
“You,” James says. “Maybe you’d like it.”
Gabe laughs, and when James doesn’t, he sobers. “You’re serious.”
“Think of what you’ve lost,” James says. “Nobody here is going to accuse you of not earning it.”
“James, I’m… I’m sidhe now. Sort of.”
“So were we. Maybe it’ll work better this time. Keep things honest.”
Gabe swallows noisily. “But you said you never wanted to cross the threshold again.”
“Doesn’t mean I won’t be around. I mean, I live there. I was being more, what d’you call it? Metaphorical. I’m done working for the Firm. I’m gonna go be a… a kids’ summer camp instructor or something.”
Gabe laughs. “Sure you are.”
“Maybe a… maybe I’ll be a music teacher or something.”
“But… you’d stay.”
James looks down at his feet. “Just need a reason,” he says.
Gabe raises his head. He meets James’s eyes. “Any chance me having just got a promotion would be a good enough reason?” he asks.
James smiles. “Yeah. That’d do.”
TAM MACNEIL
grew up in the Rocky Mountains and moved out west to go to university, and there she stayed. She has now lived and worked on Vancouver Island for fifteen years and, by some definitions, is even considered a local now.
She still misses the sparkling, snowy winters of the mountains, but living in a temperate rainforest has its perks. In the summer you can find her either camping or hiking. If she’s not out there, try looking at the beach. She might be out there listening to audiobooks, scouring the shore for beach glass, and trying to fill her year’s quota of vitamin D by acting like a lizard whenever the sun comes out.
In the rainy season (substantially longer than the sunny season), she writes, reads, drinks far too much coffee, bakes, and cooks, and works hard to maintain an addiction to pop culture, social media, and cartoons. Tam MacNeil also writes contemporary romance under the name T. Neilson.
Tumblr: tamthewriter.tumblr.com
Twitter: @TamMacNeil
Published by
DREAMSPINNER PRESS
5032 Capital Circle SW, Suite 2, PMB# 279, Tallahassee, FL 32305-7886 USA
www.dreamspinnerpress.com
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of author imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Salt and Iron
© 2016 Tam MacNeil.
Cover Art
© 2016 AngstyG.
www.angstyg.com
Cover content is for illustrative purposes only and any person depicted on the cover is a model.
All rights reserved. This book is licensed to the original purchaser only. Duplication or distribution via any means is illegal and a violation of international copyright law, subject to criminal prosecution and upon conviction, fines, and/or imprisonment. Any eBook format cannot be legally loaned or given to others. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the Publisher, except where permitted by law. To request permission and all other inquiries, contact Dreamspinner Press, 5032 Capital Circle SW, Suite 2, PMB# 279, Tallahassee, FL 32305-7886, USA, or www.dreamspinnerpress.com.
ISBN: 978-1-62380-957-7
Digital ISBN: 978-1-62380-967-6
Library of Congress Control Number: 2015952970
Published March 2016
v. 1.0
Printed in the United States of America
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