[ Julian makes a sound that’s as close to laughter as he can make out. That’s a harder question to answer than he wants her to believe. Back when all that was going on, his life had been sucking in a lot of ways. Sofia had been gone, the Imbargo Act had just been passed, and they were about to get their asses kicked in Venezuela. Things had taken a more defined turn for him since then. Sofia had come back, and what had happened in Venezuela had given him a direction he hadn’t felt before. It had made him want to act, to make a difference again. There was a large part of him that thinks that’s an improvement.

But it had been Jenny who’d set him on that track in the first place. She’d made him part of a team again. Would he be so ready to act now, if she hadn’t kicked his ass out of the funk it had been in after he lost his hands?

He doesn’t think so. At length: ]

I wish it had never stopped being like that. I can’t say I’m gonna get all nostalgic about that one time I got so drunk that I woke up in Terry’s tighty whiteys, that’s the kind of shit people get therapy for. But we were good. I’m glad you made me join your stupid team, Jenny. Of fucking course I miss it. Don’t you?