When Sparks Fly

“Then we don’t have to worry about the weather.” London nods. “I love this already. Oh! Remember when we went to the Dominican Republic back when we were in college for winter break and they had that blow-up slide thing? That would be fun and safe, wouldn’t it?”

“Yes! That’s exactly what I was thinking.” I tap my temple and grin at London, who already looks infinitely less stressed-out. “And this bride loves basketball, right?”

“She does. Total fanatic,” Harley says.

“Okay, so we can make that part of the whole water setup. And we can use beach balls instead of basketballs, that way no one ends up with a black eye.” If I could clap my hands, I totally would. “It’ll be fun and easy and virtually impossible for anyone to get hurt.”

“That is a fantastic idea!” Harley does the clapping for me.

I grab my iPad and use the speech-to-text function to search for inflatable slides. “It looks like we’re in luck! Since it’s the end of the season, they have a twenty-five percent off sale.” I pass the device to Harley, who passes it to London.

“Oh! This is perfect. And it keeps the party under budget without cutting into profit, which is great because I was starting to worry we were going to end up way over, and I’d have to pull from the fountain budget to cover things while we wait for the balance of the payment, but it looks like we’ll be fine.”

“What about the alumni association? That contract should help balance things out, right?”

London’s smile drops, and she waves a hand around in the air. “Oh, it’ll be fine, especially now that we have a new plan, and this is a much cheaper option than anything else they’ve proposed. Besides, you know me, I always try to stay under budget. Anyway, have I mentioned how glad we are you’re not all drugged up on painkillers anymore? We really needed your brain for this one.” London melts back into her chair. “Honestly, I had no idea how much work went into the customer relations side of things. I have a new appreciation for how much time you spend fielding phone calls.”

“Just start passing things over to me. I’ll make phone calls, that way you can focus on the other stuff. And soon I’ll be able to come back at least part-time. Maybe when I see the doctor this week, I can ask about coming in a couple of days a week?”

“I’m not going to lie, it would be great to have you around, especially to deal with client requests and issues.” London bites her nail, looking cautiously optimistic.

“I’ll ask my doctor what’s reasonable, and we can go from there.” I shift around on the couch, adjusting my leg on the stack of pillows.

“Do you want us to take you to your next appointment?” London asks.

“It’s okay, Declan and I already have things set up. Besides, the back of his SUV has way more room than your Mini.” Since the accident, she’s been incredibly protective. I think it comes from a place of fear, but I haven’t broached it with her, aware she’s under more pressure than usual with Spark House.

“Okay, well, let us know if anything changes.”

“I will.” I roll my head on my shoulders, stretching my neck. The hardest part about having broken limbs is how unbalanced my body is. You never really know how hard it is to be down an arm and a leg until you can’t use the ones you have. “Honestly, at this point the boredom is really the biggest obstacle, so being able to come back to Spark House, even if it’s only once a week, would be great.”

“Well, if you feel up to it, maybe you could start documenting your recovery more regularly?” Harley suggests. “The posts you’ve put up over the past couple of weeks have gotten great traction.”

London nods her agreement. “We’ve had a lot of people asking about you. I bet they’d love more regular updates.”

“Do you really think people want to know what shows I’ve been binging while my bones are healing, or the challenge of washing my hair with one hand?” I’m half joking, but at the same time, it doesn’t actually sound like a bad idea.

“Honestly? Yup.” Harley’s eyes dart around, and she taps on the arm of the chair. “People love the personal posts, and they love it when they see people overcome adversity. Those physical therapy videos you posted last week had more than three thousand views.”

“That’s because I videoed Declan doing shirtless push-ups.” And not the regular kind. The ones where he pushes up, claps, and then alternates one arm and then the other. It was impressive.

“Declan’s push-ups aside, I think it would be a really great way to show our followers that you’re doing well. And it’ll help keep you occupied while you’re recovering and give us extra content for our social media.”