Jude was having his weekly FaceTime chat with Brandon, who was updating him on all the music stuff he'd been doing at Idyllwild. "Competition is so intense here," B. was saying. "There are a lot of other really good piano players. It's really forcing me to level up my game."
"Sounds great," Jude said. "I mean, that was the whole point of this right? To get way better at playing?"
Brandon nodded. "How's it going with Connor?"
"Great," Jude said. "We've been hanging out a lot. Hey, do you think you'll play with Someone's Little Sister again anytime soon?"
Brandon gave him a quizzical look. "Yeah, at Ronnoc. Taylor didn't tell you?"
Jude's eyes grew big. "Someone's Little Sister is going to play at Ronnoc? Wow."
"I thought you'd know that, since this whole thing was your idea."
"Well, I just told Taylor to run with it and I haven't kept up with all the details. It's evidently going to be more elaborate than I thought."
Brandon smiled. "Well, isn't that the whole point? To have it be really special?"
"Yeah. And thanks for participating, it's cool that you and Mariana are both gonna help make it that way."
"Hey, I'm your big brother, and I've missed seeing you. It'll be great."
"Yeah. Love you, B."
"Love you too, Jude."
***
Stef was working on reports at her desk when Mike walked up. "Roberts wants to see you. And the Fed guy Turner is here."
She shot him a look of concern. "Really? Why would he be here?"
"Your guess is a good as mine. Hopefully it's not something to do with that warehouse business."
"I thought the investigation was closed, didn't the FBI wrap it up a couple of weeks ago?"
"Yeah, maybe something came up. Anyway, I guess I should let you get in there."
Stef nodded and walked into Chief Roberts' office and closed the door. Turner was sitting at the Chief's desk, his right leg draped over his left. "Hello again, Agent Turner," Stef said, shaking his hand. She sat in the chair next to him. "What's up?"
Chief Roberts spoke. "It's time for us to do our annual re-evaluation of our partnership with the FBI under the Joint Terrorism Task Force, and Turner here thinks you would be an excellent candidate for the position that's open this year. We put you in for a background check and everything looks good, if you want to accept the assignment the next step will be for you to have some interviews over at the FBI."
Stef smiled. "Sounds like an amazing opportunity."
Roberts smiled. "Great, we'll be taking you off normal patrol duty so you can start learning about the current investigations. Turner and his men will direct your assignments, I'll have some minimal oversight but for the most part you report to him. If you get selected, you'll start having weekly meetings with his team."
"I'll be in touch to set up the interviews," Turner said. "I'm really pleased to be working with you on this, Officer Adams-Foster. You're just what we're looking for."
She smiled at him.
***
Connor and his dad were jogging on the treadmills at the gym. Connor looked at his dad. "So is Ella more than just your boss? All these 'client dinners' you've been having?"
Adam grinned. "You figured that out, eh? You've always been a perceptive kid."
"Is that legit though? Dating your boss?"
"Our company's relationship policy is limited to executives, which neither one of us is. However, you are right that there may be some ethical considerations and it's something we are keeping in mind. If it gets to be a problem she'll reassign me."
Connor frowned. "That wouldn't be bad, would it?"
Adam shook his head. "No, I would just be reporting to someone else."
Connor nodded. "She is really pretty. And TBH I don't mind that you want me out of the house so you can be with her, it gives me more time with Jude."
"So I guessed." Adam said. "You've been doing a great job of taking care of the house when I've been gone. Is Jude helping you?"
"Yeah, he helps with all the chores, goes a lot faster with both of us working on them."
"And Stef and Lena are okay with you spending all this time over at their place?"
Connor shrugged. "They seem to be. We do quite a bit of chores stuff there, too. They just didn't want me to stay over as much while Jude was grounded, but he's off that now."
Adam's phone beeped. He stopped and tapped out a text.
"Ella?" Connor asked.
Adam nodded. "Well, why don't you ask her out? I'll see if I can stay at Jude's tonight, okay?"
***
Jude came in the front door and went into the living room. Callie was using Jude's laptop to browse the web. "Hey," he said to her.
"Hi," she said to him. "Come here and look at this, I just found something kind of weird online."
Jude sat down on the couch next to her. "What is it?"
"I was going to check the help wanted ads to see if there was anything interesting and I saw this article about Jefferson Selfridge. You heard about him?"
Jude thought about it. "Isn't he like a rich guy or something?"
"Billionaire," Callie said. "Mostly investments."
"So what's so special about an old rich guy?" Jude asked.
"Well, it's this picture. Look at who's behind him."
Jude turned the laptop so he could see it clearly. "Taylor?"
Callie's brow furrowed. "Why would she be doing anything with him? Do you think it's related to Ronnoc?"
Jude eyed her quizzically. "You know about that?"
"Well, yeah, Taylor has me signed up to help with the catering."
"There's gonna be catering?" Jude asked. Ronnoc was sounding more and more intricate every time he learned something new about it!
"It would be kind of weird if there wasn't, don't you think? I wondered where Taylor was getting all the money for this from. It must be from him."
Jude frowned. "Selfridge?" He thought for a moment. "Oh yeah, she did say something about getting a patron."
"Well, if he's the patron it's pretty ironic, don't you think?"
Jude didn't know what she was talking about. "Why?"
She gestured at the screen. "Read the article."
He did so, his eyes darting over the words. He slowed down when he got to a certain paragraph. Yes, ironic was the right word for it!
***
Jude walked into his room and sat on the bed. He pulled out his phone and called Kyle.
"Hey, Jude."
"Hi Kyle. Everything okay?"
"Yeah, it's okay. What's up?"
"Is Parker Selfridge the patron for Ronnoc?"
There was a silence at the other end for a moment. "I really can't say anything, Jude. Ask Taylor."
"How are things going with her, anyway? Are you guys going to start a ship?"
"Nah, she was just curious and wanted to mess around a little. And so did I. I'm kinda glad actually, not really ready for a ship right now. How's Connor?"
"He's good. He's at the gym with his dad."
"Cool. Well if you want to hang out again let me know."
"Yeah, I will. Bye." Jude hung up. He was feeling kind of funky after mowing the lawn and was about to head into the shower to clean up when his phone rang again. It was Connor this time. "Hey babe."
"Hey, can you ask moms if it's okay if I stay over? My dad has one of those 'client dinners' again tonight."
"Sure, I'll ask. Did you find out if the 'client' is Ella?"
"Yeah, it is. That's why he keeps wanting me to be out of the house."
"Well I can see why. Probably have something going on like we do. Kinda gross to think about that, isn't it?"
"Yeah, and what's worse...all our parents did it around the same time. It was like the birth orgy of our class."
"That's a visual I can live without," Jude said, making a grossed out face.
Connor laughed. "You ready for some inside time?"
"Yeah, I think I've had enough of the world outside for today. And I still haven't caught up. If you're up to the challenge."
"Oh, I am, cakes, I am. Let me know what moms say."
"Okay. Love you forever."
Connor said the words Jude loved most to hear. "I love you too."
***
The family had gathered for dinner, Connor and Jude were on one side of the table with Callie next to them, Mariana and Stef and Lena were on the other.
"I have some news," Stef said. "Agent Turner has nominated me to work on the Joint Terrorism Task Force here in San Diego. I have an interview the day after tomorrow at the field office, and one with Washington later in the week. If they like what they see, I'll be working with Turner most of the time, doing groundwork on the investigations they have open."
Lena reacted happily and kissed her. "Wow, that is great."
"Yes, it should be more interesting than patrol work and probably safer, too. And it's good visibility and probably a way to step up higher in the ranks."
"Wow," Jude said. "Congratulations." He grasped her hand and squeezed it, and Connor did the same.
***
Jude and Connor were sitting on the swing holding hands, Connor was telling him a story.
Jude yawned. "Sorry, you're not boring, I'm just feeling sleepy I guess."
"Maybe we should turn in, then," Connor said. "That bed of yours isn't going to get pheromone soaked by itself."
Jude laughed. "No, it won't."
Connor raised his eyebrows. "And then there's that certain time of the night, you know, B o'clock."
"Always my favorite time of the day," Jude said, and kissed him. He held Connor's hand and they went inside.