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“You have excellent taste in flowers. I’ve been enjoying them all morning, but why did you send them?”
“I thought you needed some cheering up after what happened last night.”
“Ah, that’s very kind of you, but how did you know I worked here?”
“I’d say it was fate, Brooke.”
“And how’s that?” I couldn’t tell if she was getting ready to tell me to get lost or not, so I figured I had nothing to lose by telling her the honest-to-God truth.
“I saw you yesterday morning getting coffee at Starbucks, and then
you walked into the offices next door. When you showed up at the cocktail party serving, your boots reminded me that I’d seen you just that morning. I had to take a call and stepped under the eaves of your offices to be out of the way of sidewalk traffic, and I could see you through the front glass.”
“That was you?” A shot of something hit me painfully right between the chest, and I had to bring a hand up to rub it.
“Uh-huh, it was me. Why do I get the feeling you saw me as well, Brooke?”
“You were wearing sunglasses on account of the blow to your head?” Yep, she saw me.
“Yes. I was devastated by it, remember?”
She laughed and I wished I could see her. “Oh yes, I remember very well just how devastated you were, Caleb. You had absolutely no recollection of what a meatball was.”
“Right. I think my memory was slightly damaged from the devastating blow to my head, but thankfully you were there to clear up my confusion. I was lucky.”
“How is your injury today?” The fact that she asked was nice.
“Looks worse, but it doesn’t hurt a bit.”
“Well, I am happy to hear that, but Caleb, how did you know my name was Brooke?”
“I heard your boss call after you when you left the room.”
“You’re quite the Sherlock Holmes, aren’t you?”
“Not really, but my hearing is pretty good. For example, I heard you tell your cab driver to take you to the Blackstone Island Ferry Company, so using my superior powers of deduction, plus the fact you said you were going home, I am guessing you live on the island.”
“Are you stalking me, Caleb?”
Yes. “Not at all, Brooke, just being observant and taking note of some things we have in common.”
“Such as?”
“Blackstone Island, of course. My family has a home there near the West Light, and my brother lives there, too, but he has his own place a few miles down the western shore. It’s a great house with a private beach—perfect for a weekend away from the city.” Okay, that was a lie. I’d never been to Lucas’s place on the island because I hadn’t set foot on the island in nearly a decade. I only knew of it because he’d sent me the realtor link when he bought the property two years ago.
“Your brother’s home sounds lovely, but I can assure you we don’t have much in common as far as the island goes.”
Was that sarcasm in her voice?
“What do you mean?” I sensed displeasure, and doubt had started to creep in to kill the happy buzz I’d had when we first started this conversation.
“Not everyone who lives on the island has a mansion with a private beach, Caleb. In fact, most of the permanent residents struggle to find work that will keep them housed and fed year-round. The tourist trade is seasonal, and it’s a very different reality for the rest of us who don’t live on the western shores.”
“Oh . . . where do you live?” I asked hesitantly.
“In my grandmother’s cottage on the hill above Fairchild Light, where there are no private beaches and no estates. And no job for a woman who gave thirty-five years of her life working for one of those fine west-side mansions before they closed it down and dismissed everyone.”
“That’s a terrible thing to do. Was that your grandmother who worked for them?”
