“Gray flowers?” Edith said, walking up behind me, and chewing on a protein bar. “Did someone die?”
“No,” I defended. “It’s unique and classic.” And the color of Jack’s room. Not wanting to go into more detail about how incredible this actually was, I kept that last fact to myself. There was a small box next to the vase, and a card with my name on it.
“Ooooh! Who’s it from?” Edith asked, all but clawing to get to the card.
“Can I have a moment please?”
She frowned and turned to go back to her desk, mumbling, “Fine, be that way.”
I opened the card, and it was a single note that read:
Light within the storm.
~Jack
My breath caught. Four simple words that summed up last night and how he saw it. Light? He’d referred to me being naïve and innocent, but light? It made my heart beat heavier and happiness flooded me.
I tucked the card in my purse, then opened the box. There was a small tube of Ibuprofen, and thigh-high white stockings with lace trim. A small note said that the medicine was for the discomfort, and the stockings were for our next meeting. A surge of glee raced as I took the pills, but kept the stockings in the box, and stuffed it in my purse as well.
He cared about my comfort?
Not only that, but there would be a next time. I just didn’t know when.
I’d never had a secret boyfriend-lover before. But what happened between us last night was intense. It wasn’t lost on me that Jack had sidestepped an entire conversation about Cal and what was said, but that was something I couldn’t push. Not now. Not after agreeing to move forward.
Whatever was said between the two men was done now. And he knew where I stood with my job and keeping our affair low-key, since the staff finding out and being the center of gossip was not my idea of fun.
My cell rang, and I dug it out of my purse, smiling again when my fingers brushed the small glossy box that encased the stockings.
“Hey, Harper,” I answered.
“I feel like we keep missing each other.”
“I feel the same.”
“Well, I’m coming into Denver this afternoon, wanna grab lunch?”
“That would be great.” Since I had to talk to her and get some perspective.
“Okay, see you around noon.”
“Bye.”
With that, I put my phone back in my purse, pulled up my chair, and went to work. A hard task, since I kept stealing glances at the flowers on my desk and thinking of the storm that was Jack Powell.
A storm I couldn’t help but think I’d awakened. Or maybe it was the storm he awakened in me.
~
“So, you’re dating a shark?” Harper said with a smile, and took a bite of her pasta.
The little Italian place we met at was our favorite, and right down the street from my building.
I frowned, dipping my bread in olive oil. “What?”
“Your neck, girlfriend. Got a little bite mark right below your ear.”
My hand flew to my neck, then I pulled all my hair over my shoulders, adjusting so it’d cover my neck.