Naomi stepped into the room in the middle of a yawn. I did a quick glance at her and then focused back on my computer without a word. There were so many options on where we could go that I was at an impasse.
“Where do you want to live?” I finally asked, looking up as she took a seat on the couch.
“Here.”
“Not an option.”
“Damian...”
“Ted wants us gone before he brings Valerie home,” I cut her off and glanced back at the computer. “And I have no idea where you want to live.” I returned my gaze to her. “New York is not an option,” I added before she fell back on her usual location.
“What do you mean Ted wants us to go?”
I leaned back and kept her stare. I didn’t need to speak, either. It was obvious after today. Anyone close to us would always be in danger and I dropped my gaze to her stomach before looking back at the computer.
My children would always be on the run.
The reality of that statement shot me to my feet and I crossed, slipping outside onto the patio and the chill of the falling evening. I longed for the simplicity of life. The cluelessness of not knowing angels or demons or things much darker existed. I wanted a normal life for my children, not this hide to survive bullshit.
I glanced up at the stars and sighed. Maybe it was time to go home.
Naomi stepped next to me, glancing up at the stars in the twilight sky.
“What about Greece?” I said still scanning the deepening colors of dusk.
The way she sighed pulled my attention to her. She looked between the sky and my face before turning toward me.
“While I’d love to see Greece at some time, this country is my home.”
I knew she’d say that and as much as I longed for the white beaches and azure water of my birthplace, I hadn’t been back and I didn’t know if it would be the same.
“I can’t talk you into some place like Australia or New Zealand?”
She hesitated, studying the colorful sky before she spoke. “Again, those are places I’d like to visit, but I just can’t see living there. And before you ask, the same goes for South America and Africa. I love my country. I don’t want the devil chasing me out of my home.”
“The west coast?”
“California isn’t my style either. I like having the seasons.”
“Tahoe has seasons,” I said, but her head was shaking. “We already did the mountains and while I loved Colorado, I missed home.”
“That leave’s Alaska or Hawaii,” I said, thinking of places as far away from here as possible.
She laughed and met my gaze with a shake of her head.
She wasn’t giving me much of the landscape to work with. “Somehow, I can’t see you in the south either,” I said and gave her a hint of a smile.
Naomi’s dimples made an appearance. “You can’t see me saying y’all?”
“No, no I can’t,” I actually chuckled and pulled her to me. “You definitely are not a mild-mannered southern belle. I can see you as a kick-ass cowgirl, though.”
She wrinkled her nose at me and shook her head. “I’m not interested in the wild west.”
I tilted my chin toward my chest and raised an eyebrow. “Then where?”
She bit her lip. “Have you ever been to...” She paused and glanced up at the stars. “...Maine?”
I followed her gaze. “It’s still too close.”
“Have you ever been there?”
I shook my head. That was one state I hadn’t been to and the idea of still being in New England didn’t sit well with me. Being on this half of the world didn’t sit well, but I knew I’d never get Naomi to agree to raise children on a deserted island in the South Pacific.
Hell, Lilith found us in the mountains of Colorado, so really, there wasn’t any place safe on Earth and we damn well couldn’t populate the moon.
I sighed. “Okay.”
“Really?”
I dropped my gaze to hers. “Really. But I have to make it look like we are leaving the country.” I planted a kiss on her forehead and led us back inside.
“I’m booking us on as many flights to Greece as I can from airports around here and in Michigan.”
“Why Michigan?”
“I own one of the top automobile museums in the country. I’ll send the majority of the car collection to them so they don’t rot here.”
“I didn’t realize you had more than what’s in the garage?”
“There are a lot of things you still don’t know about me.” I sent a grin her way and refocused. “I’m also going to book one flight out of Louisiana.”
“Louisiana?”
“It’s part of the shell game and he’ll assume that’s where we settled.”
“New Orleans?”
I grinned and nodded.
“Isn’t that a bit... cliché?”