Chapter 12
They flew home on a Tuesday.
Jyn’s security team had spent two weeks making the arrangements — reinforced fence between the properties, upgraded cameras, a full sweep of both houses for any surveillance devices the Chong family might have left, and a very quiet conversation with the local police precinct that resulted in something Nia was fairly certain was extralegal but chose not to investigate.
The neighborhood looked exactly the same. Small and slightly battered and full of the particular warmth of a place that had been lived in by people who actually lived in it. Mrs. Torres from three doors down was watering her front steps and waved when she saw them. The kids from the apartment complex on the corner were doing something with a basketball that involved more arguing than basketball.
Gigi went directly to her own house and immediately began the process of returning to her ordinary life, which she accomplished by calling three friends and inviting them for dinner and making the peppermint tea that smelled like her and only her and setting the pink taser on the side table beside the Bible because that was where it lived and it had been gone for two months and it was time to come home.
Marcus went back to his security job with the satisfied air of a man who had seen some things and was returning to ordinary duty with a broader professional context than he’d had before. He had also, Nia suspected, been offered something by Jyn’s security team, because the conversation they’d had in the car on the way from the airport had been suspiciously brief and professional for two people who had just spent two months in close quarters.
Zoe, who had stayed an additional week for reasons she described as “cultural enrichment and recipe research,” had returned the previous Friday and was currently at Nia’s kitchen table when they arrived, drinking the good olive oil in a vinaigrette she had apparently made to celebrate.
“You’re back,” Zoe said, with the tone of someone who had been waiting to say something for weeks.
“We are,” Nia agreed.
Zoe looked at Jyn. Looked at Leo in his carrier. Looked at Thor, who had already begun a systematic inspection of the backyard.
“You fixed the fence,” Zoe said.
“Yes,” Jyn said.
“No more toy theft.”
“No more toy theft,” he agreed.
Zoe looked at Nia. “The ring,” she said.
“Not yet,” Nia said.
“But eventually.”
“Zoe.”
“I’m just confirming a timeline.”
“Go home.”
Zoe stood, taking her vinaigrette. She looked at Jyn one more time, with the particular evaluative attention of a woman who has spent two months watching a person from close range and has arrived at a conclusion about them. “You should know,” she said, “that I have been prepared to be deeply suspicious of you. I watched the footage of your dog saving Leo approximately one hundred and fifty times. I have read everything publicly available about you, which is not much. I have spent thirty-seven days in your compound trying to decide if you are the right kind of person.”
“And?” Jyn said.
“Thor likes you,” Zoe said. “And Thor has better judgment than most people I know.” She looked at Nia. “Call me later.”
