Page 20 of Broken Strings

Mina

"Hey." Riley pokes her head into my office, her gray eyes searching my face as soon as they land on me. "Can we talk?"

I sigh, pushing away from my desk. "If you're here to talk about what I want to do with this company, I still haven't decided."

"No," she says quickly, coming in and closing the door behind her. "I'm actually here about Priest."

"Who?"

"Oh, right. I keep forgetting…" She grimaces, sliding into a chair across from my desk. "Grayson."

I flinch as soon as she says his name. Ever since he left my office yesterday, I've felt wispy and insubstantial again. Like he's haunting me. I'm pretty sure he was sitting outside my house last night when I slipped out of Brinley's room. And again this morning when we left for school.

"You called him Priest?" I ask quietly, my hands clutched together in my lap.

Riley nods, hesitation written all over her face. "The hospital gave him the name since he didn't know his."

"You believe his story about not having any memories?" I ask, genuinely curious what she thinks about all of this. She knows him. It'd be nice to hear what someone else thinks for once. I thought about calling Theia, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. I didn't even know where I'd start.

"I think the important question is whether you believe him," she says gently. "Because it's your life that fell apart when he went missing, not mine. Yours and his."

"How is he?"

She hesitates, clearly reluctant to answer that question.

"Please," I whisper. "I know you don't owe me an answer. I just…I spent every damn day afraid he was dead, Riley. It destroyed me. Then he shows up out of the blue, and my whole world feels like it's imploding all over again. I'm terrified he's lying to me. I'm terrified I'm going to end up broken all over again. And still, all I can think about is whether or not he's okay."

"You still love him."

"I never stopped." I glance down at my hands, laughing ruefully. "I'm such a mess. I'm so damn mad that I've been herealone, raising our daughter alone, but I'm the one who chose it, you know? I never even tried to move on. I refused to accept that he was gone. I just…couldn't. So I never dated. I never even considered it. I've always been stuck on him. And now, the one thing I wanted more than anything is literally happening. He's back, and I'm screwing it all up."

Guilt pricks at me, tears welling in my eyes. That's the part that's really messing with my head. I've dreamed about this exact thing so many times. But I guess I never really let myself believe it could happen. Now that it has…I feel like I don't know how trust it. I don't know how to trust myself or him or anything. When miracles don't happen in your life and suddenly one does…how are you supposed to just accept it?

"You're not a mess," she whispers fiercely. "You're surviving, Mina. There is no rulebook for this. There is no right way because it's not something that happens every day or every other day. You're in an impossible situation. Your husband died for all intents and purposes. For six years, he was dead. You grieved him. You raised your daughter on your own. And thenhe came back." She stares at me with wide eyes. "Anyone who tells you that they'd handle this any better is full of crap. They'd be just as confused and overwhelmed and messed up as you guys are right now."

I smile, the first genuine smile in days. "Are people talking about us?"

"There are rumors, but nothing has been confirmed yet." She smirks at me. "No one could hear anything at the concert, so no one knows what the heck was going on. We've been tossing out theories online to muddy the waters and keep the press off your doorstep for as long as possible." Her dimples pop out. "Everyone is currently split between whether the two of you have been secretly hooking up for a while or whether he saw you in the crowd and knew you were the one. We weren't really surewhich you guys preferred, but we figured they were probably better than any version of the truth."

"Thank you," I whisper, gratitude welling in my chest. "Seriously, thank you. I don't think I have the mental capacity to deal with the media right now on top of everything else."

She winks at me. "It's what we do for our friends. And you and Priest—Grayson—are friends."

I sit back in my chair, exhaling a breath.

"I really want to meddle right now," she admits. "But I promised myself that I was just coming to check in on you after what happened. I figured you could use a friend more than anything."

"I appreciate it," I say, meaning it. "I don't imagine it's easy being caught in the middle."

"You clearly have not been around long," she says with a light laugh. "Around here, I always seem to end up in the middle. Perks of the job, I guess."

"Speaking of the job…" I lick my lips. "I need a favor."

"Name it."

"Can you convince Kasen Alexander to meet my daughter?" I rub my temples, staring at her with pleading eyes. "And before you agree, you should probably know that she asks inappropriate questions, has no filter, and will likely try to convince him to help her do all kinds of shady shit. But I told her about Grayson last night. It ended with me agreeing to try to get her a meeting with Kasen."

Riley covers her hand with her mouth, laughing. "You got swindled, huh?