I expect Raj to call me before my shift ends, but late afternoon comes, and I’ve heard nothing.

It's okay. I’m not worried about it. I doubt that Raj was exaggerating about needing some time with Noah after the too-long, unintentional silence between them.

I understand what he meant about wanting to stand on solid ground for a moment, too. It feels incredibly good to be surrounded by plants for a bit, to breathe in their natural perfume, to drift my fingers over soft leaves and petals.

Raj still hasn’t hit me up when Destinee arrives to take over at the shop, so I have the rest of the afternoon free. I weigh my options, and decide to go check on Kent. I’m worried about how he’s been holding up since that bad parent-teacher conference.

When I get there, I lift a hand to knock, then hear what sounds like a muffled scream from somewhere inside of Kent’s house.

My heart suddenly pounding, I shove the unlocked door open. The sound is coming from upstairs, and I race up the steps, my breath picking up.

Kent’s bedroom door is open, and I crash to a stop in the doorway just in time to see Ellen quite literally go flying through the air.

She lands on the bed, bounces, and bursts into loud, excited laughter. Then she scrambles to her knees, races across the bed, and stops, panting.

She reaches out her arms, and Kent, who is standing at the edge of the bed, scoops her up. He winds back, and throws her again. Ellen soars through the air with a shriek of delight, lands flat on her back on the bed, and dissolves into wild laughter.

My racing heart slows, and a smile overtakes the concerned look on my face.

“Um - hi?” I say.

Kent turns to look at me, panting just as hard as Ellen.

“Jamie!” Ellen yells, before Kent can say anything. “Do you want a turn? Dad, throw Jamie!”

“No, baby,” Kent chuckles, as she crawls back to him again. “Dad isn’t allowed to hurl his employees across his bedroom.”

“Why not?” Ellen asks, stopping on the bed before him.

“Yeah, Kent, why not?” I pin on, grinning widely.

“Why are you always asking questions I don’t know the answers to?” Kent asks Ellen.

“Why don’t you always know the answers to my questions?” She tips her head to the side, arching a skeptical eyebrow. “Aren’t you a grown-up?”

“Fair enough,” Kent grumbles, catching my eye, and I bite back a laugh.

Ellen tips forward to grab two handfuls of his t-shirt.

“Dad, again!” she says, and Kent runs a hand over his forehead.

“I need a break, baby, my arms are getting tired.” Ellen pouts right away, and Kent adds: “And I’m seeing Gabby later, so I need to make myself look nice.”

This is apparently a much more acceptable reason to Ellen, who sits back to take a look at Kent.

“Don’t wear this,” she tells him, gesturing to his entire outfit.

“What!” Kent laughs. “That’s rude! Come here, you little monster-”

Ellen squeals with excitement as Kent gathers her up off the bed and throws her one more time. She lands on her back again, giggling, then scrambles to her knees.

“Jamie!” She tumbles off the bed and rushes over to me. “I wrote down more about my moon!”

“Oh, yeah?” I ask, dropping to a crouch before her. “Got some updates for me? Did you think of a palace for Queen Gabby to live in?”

“Yes,” Ellen says, and then, in one long breath: “The palace is made out of paper. It folds up until it’s this small.” She holds out two fingers, about an inch apart. “I take it with me everywhere. My moon falcon carries it for me, and at night, she lands and gives it to me, and it unfolds. Then I go inside to see Dad, and Gabby, and you, and Aiden-”

Suddenly embarrassed, Ellen cuts herself off, nibbling her lip.

“Wow.” I give her an impressed nod. “It sounds amazing. I’m gonna need a picture to envision it, though. Can you draw one for me?”

“I would, but Dad and I are busy!”

“We have to stop playing for now, El,” Kent says. “I have to get ready to see Gabby. We just talked about it, remember?”

Ellen turns to look at him, vague confusion on her face.

“I - yeah, I remember,” she says doubtfully, her eyebrows furrowing. She shakes her head, and turns back to me. “Okay, well - I’ll go draw it for you, then!”

She darts out of the bedroom before I can say anything else. Kent watches her go with fond eyes, then takes a look at himself in the mirror above his dresser. He opens a dresser drawer, pulls out a wooden comb and a spray bottle of oil sheen.

“Should I ask why you've once again shown up in my bedroom unannounced?” he asks over his shoulder. “Or should I just have gotten used to it, by now?”

“Both?” I say, getting to my feet. “I actually came by to see how you’re doing, after all that stuff about putting El into remedial classes.”

Kent turns to face me, working the comb through his hair.

“You know, I expected to have a full-on meltdown after that, but I’m actually okay.”

I think I know why.

“Gabby?”

Kent smiles to himself, pushes the comb up through his hair again, and doesn't say anything.

It makes me feel warm inside to see Kent like this. When he and Julia were together, the house felt like a ship caught in an endless storm. No way to find your footing, no way to anticipate when the next wave would hit.

It doesn’t feel like that now. Afternoon sunlight is in the windows, Kent is calm, and I can hear scurrying little footsteps from downstairs. Whatever Ellen is doing, she’s not drawing, but - I saw her face when she left the room, and I know that she’s happy.

It’s like this is a completely different house.

Gabby isn’t here, but she holds some kind of presence, regardless. No wonder Ellen decided that she’d make a good queen.

I match Kent’s smile, leaning my shoulder against the doorway.

“So, was it Gabby’s idea for you to hurl Ellen like a football?”

“No,” Kent says, now getting to work on his beard. “But she did suggest that I start paying more attention to which things help Ellen out. I’ve noticed that sometimes after I throw her like that for a while, she seems more grounded, after.” A crease appears between his eyebrows. “The most random things help. Like - she loves to sit in the car and look out of the window and not say anything. I drove her around for an hour yesterday, and I swear she would have sat there for longer. But then she can’t sit still in a classroom for more than five consecutive seconds. I don’t get it.” He shakes his head. “Anyways, I’m trying to make more time for the little things that help her steady out. I don’t know if it’s going to help her much at school, though. To tell you the truth.”

“Well,” I say slowly, absorbing all that, “If it makes her happy, it’s probably worth making time for. Even if it doesn't help her out at school.”

Kent smiles again. “That’s what Gabby said.”

“Did she show you the drawings?” I ask. “And the list that Ellen made?”

“Goddamnit, yes!’ Kent leaves the comb in his hair and takes off his glasses, frustration darkening his expression. “Didn’t I fucking tell you? She’s brilliant! I keep telling her teachers, too, and it’s like-” He breaks off, aggressively cleaning his glasses on his shirt. “Ugh. I’m sorry. Didn't mean to yell.”

My barely-suppressed laughter escapes me, and Kent looks up, raising a questioning eyebrow.

“Sorry, just - you and Ellen have the exact same scowl when you get mad.” I press my fingers over my mouth, hiding my smile. “It’s very cute.”

Kent puts his glasses back on, then makes a face at me. He retrieves the comb from his hair and gets back to work with it.

“Anyways. Gabby said that you two are gonna meet up to talk about how El’s classes have been going?”

“Yep.” I straighten up in the doorway. “I was thinking of swinging by City Hall after this to see if she had time. I didn’t know that you were gonna go see her, too.”

“I'm going later. It’s a surprise. I want to take her someplace nice, just the two of us. Destinee said that she can handle El and Olivia tonight.”

“Aw!” I clasp my hands under my chin. “Special occasion?”

“Nope,” Kent says. “But who needs one, right?”

“You sound like Gabby,” I tell him. “That’s more or less her policy on fashion.”

Kent lets out an affectionate laugh. “Yeah, I know.”

“Well, I promise not to spoil the surprise when I see her.”

Kent lets out another rumbling laugh.

“Don’t worry about that. Recall that we’re talking about Gabby. She probably already knows about it. Right down to what time the reservation is for, if I had to guess.”

“Okay, that seems a little extreme,” I say, and Kent chuckles.

“Trust me. Somehow, she already knows.”

~~~~

“Hi, Jamie,” Gabby says brightly, when I catch her in the hallway. Without breaking her stride, she checks her watch, then nudges my elbow. “Let’s walk and talk. I need to be done with work on time today. Kent and I have a dinner reservation at 7:00.”

“Are you kidding me?” I sputter, falling into step by her side. “What the hell?”

Her dark eyebrows lift. “Um. Okay. That's - a reaction."

“Just - it was supposed to be a surprise!”

“Was it?” Gabby asks breezily. “Could’ve fooled me.”

I honestly don’t understand how she can move so fast in four-inch heels, especially while weaving around other people in the hallway, especially while speedily responding to an email on her phone. I’m a little out of breath, trying to keep up with her.

“Okay, well, your Gabby voodoo aside-”

“Gabby voodoo?” she laughs.

“I wanted to see if you had time to talk about Ellen today?”

Gabby sends the email she was working on and pulls up her calendar. She’s walking too quickly for me to read it, but I can see things scheduled for almost every hour of the workday.

“Oh. Looks like no, huh?”

Gabby winces, then slips her phone into her pocket.

“I’m sorry. My day is packed.” She opens the door into the waiting area, crosses to her office, and steps back to let me in. “I have wall-to-wall meetings, and I’m behind on something from this morning.”

“Oh, no.” I close the door after us, make a sympathetic face at her. “Anything I can help out with?”

“No, no.” Gabby waves a hand at me, her silver bangles jingling. “It’s just this.”

She taps an open folder on her desk.

I come over to look, and freeze.

It’s the file on the vandal who defaced the tree-cutting site. It’s filled with pictures of the trees, the altered codes, the artwork. There’s a stack of papers beneath the photos - what look like statements taken from the members of the cutting crew.

It’s the file on Ripley.

I do my best to sound calm. “Um - what about this?”

“Well, the trees have come down, and the vandal has been quiet. I have to decide whether we should consider the matter closed.” Gabby’s gaze lingers on the photos. “But something tells me that the vandal isn’t finished just yet.”

I look at Gabby, trying to identify what exactly I’m hearing in her voice.

It takes me a second, but I get there. It’s pride. She sounds proud.

“Oh, my god.” I drop my voice to a whisper. “Gabby - you know, don’t you?”

Her eyes flit up to me immediately, and narrow. “Know what?”

We size each other up for a moment, and then I blurt out: “That - Ripley-”

Gabby gasps, and smacks my arm.

“Jamie! You knew it was him and you didn’t say anything?”

“You knew it was him, and you didn’t say anything!” I stare at her, stunned. “You knew this whole time? You never said a word, while everyone at City Hall was trying to figure out who it was?”

“What, you thought that just because I’m the City Manager, I’m a narc?”

“Um - yeah? I guess I did?”

“Please!” Gabby scoffs at me, offended. “Like we all haven’t done an illegal thing or two in high school.”

My already wide eyes grow wider. “What - you?”

“Yes, me.” Gabby leans her hip against the desk, then taps the folder. “Nothing of this scale, though. My illegal activities were mostly confined to shoplifting.”

“Shoplifting? I can't picture you doing that.”

“Well, for obvious reasons, I couldn't exactly ask my parents to buy me lipstick, or eyeshadow, or a skirt.” Gabby shrugs, tossing her ponytail over her shoulder. “I wasn’t out to anyone in high school, but... sometimes I’d stay home ‘sick’ from school when I knew my parents would be at work. I’d put on some makeup and a dress, and just feel like myself for a bit. Those moments of peace and honesty were so comforting, so important to me. Worth the risk.” She nods at the folder on the desk. “Ripley decided that this was important enough to be worth the risk, and… I respect that.”

“Oh.” I stare at her, my heart twisting. “I’m sorry, Gabby. That - you had to-”

“It’s fine,” she says quickly. “Just an example.”

I stand kneading my palm, still anxious. “So - you’re really not going to report it?”

“Report what? That I have a hunch about the vandal’s identity? That’s hardly conclusive. I don’t have a shred of evidence to back it up.” Gabby winks at me, then drops to sit behind her desk. “Hardly worth bothering the police with such a thin theory.”

Relief floods through me, and I sag a little against the desk.

“Jesus, okay. I’m fine. Let me just remember how to breathe, real quick.”

Gabby laughs, then scoops up her phone.

“Take your time. I just got a voicemail, anyways. Oh - it’s from Kent! He knows that you're here, right? Maybe it’s for both of us.”

She puts it on speaker, sets it down on her desk, and bends to get something out of her purse.

“What’s up, beautiful?” Kent’s voice is a low, intimate purr. “You’ve probably already figured it out by now, but I’m taking you out tonight. Should I even bother telling you what time? Nah, you know. I know you know.” He lets out a rumbling laugh. “Can’t wait to see you. I’m feelin’ you, I’ve been feelin’ you, I love you-”

Gabby snaps upright and scrambles for her phone, her cheeks turning scarlet.

“Swear to god, I’ve got myself the most gorgeous woman in the world,” Kent continues. “Fuck being humble, I’m saying it, I don’t care-”

Gabby hits a button and cuts him off.

“Okay, so I guess that was just for me,” she giggles, clasping a hand over her mouth.

“Really?” I ask, grinning from ear to ear. “I don’t know, I enjoyed it.”

We both break down and burst into laughter.

“Does anyone else know?” Gabby asks, when we get our breaths back.

“That Kent is crazy about you? Yeah, I think pretty much everyone knows.”

“I mean does anyone else know about Ripley, obviously! If you know, I’m going to guess that Aiden does, too?”

“We figured it out together,” I admit. “But we won't say a word to anyone.”

Gabby nods slowly, lets out a long breath.

“Good.” She sits back in her chair, adjusting her sleek black work dress. “I’m glad to hear that Ripley’s friends are looking out for him.”

“I’m glad to hear that his boss is, too,” I answer.

Gabby smirks at me, then shrugs, examining her French manicure.

“I’m sure I don’t know what you’re talking about, Jamie,” she says.

When I close the door of Gabby’s office after myself, I pause outside, overhearing something. It’s the voicemail from Kent. Gabby started it over, then took it off speaker.

I peek through the office window and see Gabby curled up in her desk chair, her phone against her ear. She’s kicked off her heels, and her legs are tucked beneath her.

She closes her eyes as she listens, a smile playing around her lips.