The Spark by Vi Keeland
CHAPTER 21
Autumn
Six years ago
“God, it feels so good to be out with you guys.” I leaned my head on my friend Anna’s shoulder as we walked from the field to the parking lot. We’d just spent the afternoon watching an outdoor concert with a bunch of friends I hadn’t seen since law school started. I’d been accepted at two of my top three choices, but decided to stay home and go to Yale, my Dad’s alma mater—and also where Braden had gone.
Anna tugged my hair. “You should try doing it more often. We never see you.”
“I’m sorry. Law school has kept me busier than I thought.”
“It’s fine. I’m just teasing. How are things with you and Braden?”
“Good, I guess.”
“Uh-oh. Trouble in paradise.”
“Not really. Nothing I should complain about anyway. He just… I don’t know. He really wants to help me with law school. Braden is smart, so I should probably want all the help he wants to give, but I need to figure it out on my own sometimes. Like, a lot of the people from my cohort study together, and when I’ve mentioned that I think I’m going to the library to join them, he gets weird about it. I think it offends him that I don’t always want his help.”
“That’s because the man is crazy about you.”
I smiled. We’d arrived at the park after the start of the concert, so my car was parked on the grass almost all the way back at the entrance. When I looked around, I spotted a silver car that looked like Braden’s BMW. But the sun was blaring overhead, and I couldn’t see whether anyone was inside. I shielded my eyes, squinting, but I could only get a glimpse of a man’s profile, though it looked like it could be Braden. A few seconds later, the car pulled away. The concert had been packed, and we were in Greenwich, so BMWs were a dime a dozen… Yet something bugged me. It was the second time in the last few days that I’d thought I spotted a car that looked like Braden’s, but each time I’d gotten close enough to take a good look, the car had driven away.
“Earth to Autumn.”
I looked at my friend, who was staring at me expectantly. “I’m sorry. Did you say something?”
“I said, not everyone can have a guy who is crazy about them, but I did meet a guy last weekend who was crazy in bed.”
I’d totally zoned out there for a minute. “Oh wow. Tell me everything.”
Anna dove into a story about a skinny drummer with a mohawk she’d met at a coffee shop last weekend, who had the thickest penis she’d ever seen. She had me laughing, and within a few minutes, I’d forgotten all about the weird feeling I’d had—at least temporarily.
***
“Hey, beautiful.” Braden sat back in his chair and smiled. “I didn’t know you were coming by. This is a nice surprise.”
I walked behind Braden’s desk, set down one of the two bags in my hand, and leaned in to give him a kiss. “My dad’s been working so much lately, I made him a healthy lunch. He forgets to eat when he’s on trial. Figured I’d bring you something, too.”
He wrapped his fingers around my waist and yanked me down onto his lap.
I giggled. “Your door’s open. Anyone can walk by.”
“It’s Sunday. There’re only a few of us here.”
Braden brushed his nose with mine. “I’ve missed you.”
“Me too.” I smiled. “Are we still on for tonight?”
He brushed a lock of my hair from my face. “We’re definitely on. I made a reservation for seven o’clock at that new little Italian place you loved.”
“Oh, yum. Will you be here until then?”
“Probably. I didn’t get as much done as I thought I would yesterday.”
For some reason, the car I’d seen in the parking lot yesterday popped into my head. “How late did you stay last night?”
“I don’t know.” Braden shrugged. “Probably about nine.”
I smiled. “Well, then, I’ll let you go so you can get out of here in time for dinner tonight. Plus, I don’t want my dad’s lunch to get cold. I’m going to run upstairs to his office.”
“Alright. I’ll pick you up around six thirty.”
I kissed him one more time before heading upstairs where my dad had the proverbial corner office.
“Knock, knock,” I said. “Delivery for Mr. Workaholic.”
My father tossed his pen on his desk and smiled. “What are you doing here, pumpkin?”
I held up the bag of food. “I made you some lunch. I know how you get when you’re in the middle of a trial. You either forget to eat or eat crap.”
He smiled warmly. “Your mother used to bring me lunch when I worked on the weekends.”
“I know. But you didn’t work Sundays back then.”
“I still try not to unless it’s absolutely necessary. But I had no choice today. I lost the whole damn afternoon yesterday because of the damn bedbugs.”
My nose scrunched up. “Bedbugs?”
He thumbed toward the ceiling. “The insurance company one floor up found bedbugs in a couch in their lobby, so building maintenance inspected the entire place. We had a few in our lobby, too. They bombed the entire building last night. No one could enter for twelve hours.”
“I thought I heard you leave the house at six o’clock this morning?”
My dad nodded. “I did.”
“What time did they bomb the office yesterday?”
“Five in the evening.”
“Five? So no one could be in the building after five o’clock?”
“Not unless they wanted to grow a third arm.”
“What if someone was here when they set off the bug bombs?”
My dad shook his head. “No one was here. I had security go office by office to make sure the place was empty before we let the fumigation start.”
