Annie is hesitant to head to Sri Lanka. After all of the shit with Ben, she had decided to write off the entire country altogether.
But after getting an encrypted text from a phone that is registered within the CIA, Annie knows that she should at least try to see what is happening.
Mingus has fallen off the grid before, but this is something else. Sri Lanka.
Annie suspects it's Eric Barber who sent the text, but she doesn't want to call him out on it. She isn't exactly sure how to anyway, not off the top of her head, even if she did want to get in contact with him.
She and Ryan both are out of the intelligence business. It's almost surreal, how quickly it all happened. Ryan liquidated what was left of McQuaid Security, paid everyone a hefty severance bonus, and they hightailed it out of Washington.
They had planned to marry on a beach in St. Lucia, but Annie called it off at the last second. She didn't give Ryan a reason, and he only smiled and said, "Take your time" in a tone so gentle and loving that it brought tears to Annie's eyes. Instead, they spent the rest of the week scuba diving and sailing the clear waters before returning to the Capitol.
"Annie," Ryan's voice breaks the silence and Annie drops her phone to the granite counter top in surprise. "Hey, sorry there. What's going on?"
Annie tries not to feel guilty as she deftly lies, "An old friend of mine from my post-grad traveling days suggested a little reunion back in Sri Lanka!"
She almost winces at the amount of false cheer injected into her voice. If Ryan catches on to the lie, he doesn't give any indication. He steps closer and presses his hand against the small of her back, drawing her in against his body.
"Are you going to go?"
"I don't know," Annie pretends to think about it. "What do you think?"
"You should go. I know it's crazy busy here," Ryan breaks into a smile because they only thing they've done is cook elaborate meals in their pajamas and christen every flat surface and some vertical surfaces of his home, "but you should find some time for yourself."
Annie laughs at his sarcasm. The thing that Annie loved - yes, loved - about Ryan was that he always supports her, no arguments, no questions, just unconditional support.
"Well, if you're so insistent on getting me out of your house..."
"Our house," Ryan corrects automatically. Annie pecks his lips and nods. She loves his home because it's beautiful and he's there, but it doesn't feel like her own home. To be honest, nothing has felt like home in a long time.
"Then I guess I should go. I'll book the flight right now." Annie steps towards her purse to get her wallet but Ryan catches her wrist.
"I'll pay."
Annie knows that he means it. He would pay for anything and everything for the rest of her life if only she would let him. She shakes her head, because if she's going to lie to him about her real reason to go to Sri Lanka, she isn't going to make him enough of a fool to pay for it.
"Nope. I've got it. It's my girls' trip and I would like to pay for it." Annie sticks her chin up mock defiantly and Ryan laughs. They do a lot of that together, laughing. They don't have many responsibilities, so it's easy to be carefree. Laughter always comes when it's carefree.
"Whatever you want, dear. Use my airline points to upgrade to first class, at least. It's a long flight to Colombo," Ryan points out. Annie's eyes widen when she realizes she doesn't even know which city Auggie is in. Barber had only sent the country, not a city, or, even more helpful, a neighborhood.
She recovers quickly and shuffles through her credit cards before walking toward her laptop on the dining room table. "I just want to relive my college days."
Ryan raises his eyebrows and follows her. "Really now? You may want to take a shot of cheap vodka off my body, just to help you relive your college days."
Annie lets out a shocked bark of laughter. He never seemed to stop surprising her with his humor. She sets her card down and steps towards him. He meets her halfway and lifts her onto the dark wood table.
You can lie to someone and still love them, Annie repeats in her mind until Ryan makes her lose all coherent thought.