Bonding

Havermouth, Present Time

Aislen heard Rhett burst into laughter, joined a moment later by Cameron. The two men were painting the front of the house, including the floorboards, railing and door, and their labor was accompanied by a constant stream of teasing jokes, innuendos and flirtation. She envied them just as much now, she thought, as she had five years before, for the relationship that they had, that certainty they possessed in each other, that comfortable solidness of their love.

What was she doing? She asked herself. Not only had she let them back in, but she had involved Talen… Or he’d involved himself, she corrected, and with absolute dominance and magnificence.

She couldn’t bring herself to forgive the Triquetra, however, for those terrifying three days, or their bullying manipulations of the past. She understood more than she had at the time, however, and… F-k, she smothered her groan.

Where did she think this was going to go? She tried another tact. Was she going to move b