The Heartbreakers

The first one is pushing a hand truck full of Angels merchandise and the second one is carrying the biggest vase of red roses I’ve ever seen.

“Can someone sign for these?” the first guy asks.

Kiara abandons her perch on the reception desk and approaches him. “Skydiving and ‘BASE jumping?’” she frowns, looking inside the first box. “This is all wrong! Why is BASE all in capitals? It’ll have to be redone.”

I roll my eyes, unable to bite my tongue. “No, that would be right. It has to be spelled in capitals, since it’s an acronym. It stands for Bridges, Antennas, Spans and Earth. I’m surprised you don’t know that, since you begged for a job here on the account that you practically grew up in my house!”

“Butt out, Len!” she snaps, closing the box and taking the phone-like device from the delivery man to accept the delivery. “No one likes a know-it-all!”

I’m about to retort that it’s better to know it all than to be clueless about the business one works at, but the other delivery guy shifts the ridiculous vase of roses in his arms.

“Excuse me, ladies. I have a delivery for—”

Kiara immediately moves closer to him. “Aww, these are so beautiful! I bet Darrius remembered that today is our two-week anniversary!”

The guy shifts the weight of the vase again, obviously struggling with its weight. “Are you Ms. DeLaurent?” he asks.

“Lenley?”

I think I should take offense at Kiara’s tone but the man shakes his head. “No, these are addressed to a Ms. Gina DeLaurent.”

I smirk at Kiara’s sour expression. She’s known Darrius long enough that she should know that sending flowers isn’t his style, but whatever.

“Would you mind taking that to her office?” I ask nicely. “Follow me.” I smile when the delivery man nods.

I walk past the reception desk and down the hallway that leads to all the management offices and the boardroom.

“In here, please,” I say, opening the door to Mom’s office.

“Hey, darling.” Kyle’s voice makes me turn around.

“Hey, Uncle Kyle.”

I hug Darrius’ dad before signing for the flowers and offering a tip to the relieved delivery guy.

“Those are nice,” Kyle says sheepishly as he follows me into the office.

“Yeah they are,” I say, thinking that Mom’s new guy must really be into her if he got a room at the Grand Hotel and sent her what must be four dozen roses.

I reach for the card pinned to the turquoise vase.

These pale in comparison to you. Love, K.

Aww, that’s so roman—the thought gets stuck somewhere at the base of my throat before I can actually say the words out loud.

K?

I meet Kyle’s brown eyes, suddenly feeling very suspicious.

Kyle Penn was my papà’s best friend and teammate. Since his death, he’s been our rock, taking care of me and Mom like his own family. Like Papà would’ve wanted. He’s always treated me like he treats his own kids, which is why Anna hates me so much.

Mom has heavily leaned on him, especially at the beginning when she found herself in the position of having to decide what to do with her shares of the Cove Angels while she was grieving.

Is it possible that their friendship and their close work relationship could’ve turned into something else while I was gone?

I search Kyle’s blank expression, thinking that in a way, it would all make sense.

Kyle has always been our rock and he has been single—at least to my knowledge—since his marriage to Darrius and Anna’s Mom ended a year after Papà’s death.

It would also make sense why Mom is being so cagey about her new man; how she keeps saying that she’ll tell me everything if things work out. Probably she doesn’t want to cause me a disappointment if their romantic relationship didn’t last.

It would also make perfect sense that she didn’t sound ecstatic at the idea of me dating Darrius; maybe it isn’t because she’s afraid of how dangerous his job is. Maybe Mom thinks it would be too complicated if I was dating her boyfriend’s son.

I get distracted from the weird idea that if Mom and Kyle married, Darrius would become my stepbrother, when Kyle clears his throat.

“I was looking for you, Len.”

I smile. “Yeah, sorry, all those deliveries sidetracked me. Did you want to go through the media packet for the museum’s grand opening?”

Kyle nods. “Yeah, that and there’s also something else I need to show you,” he says, looking at the thick brown folder in his hands.

“Sure,” I agree. “Do you want to go to your office or the boardroom?”

“Good morning guys!” Mom steps into her office with a huge smile on her face. Her eyes are bright and her cheeks slightly flushed. She looks at me and Kyle. “Am I late for something? I don’t remember us having a meeting.”

She’s obviously wondering why we’re in her office.

“No, Mom. I had a meeting with Kyle. We’re in here because someone just sent you flowers and we were showing the delivery man where to put them.”

She walks to her desk, picking up the card after inhaling deeply from the dark red roses. “Oh.” She smiles, her blushing deepening as she looks at me and Kyle.

Yup, very, very suspicious. I think when Kyle’s expression remains impassive. “Do you want to go to your office, Uncle Kyle, or to the boardroom?” I say out loud, spying Kyle’s reaction.

His gaze is fixed on Mom and the plot definitely thickens, because I don’t know what to make of the way he’s looking at Mom.

Is he hoping to spy her reaction to the beautiful flowers he sent? Maybe hoping to get lucky later—ew?

Is he trying to figure out who sent those flowers in case he isn’t Mom’s new boyfriend?

If he hasn’t sent those flowers, is he looking at his late bestie’s wife and seeing her under a new light?

I don’t know, I mean, Kyle is a very attractive man so I don’t know how it’s possible that he hasn’t really dated—to my knowledge—since his divorce nine years ago.

I always thought that he was too busy with work, but now I’m rethinking this.