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But when we left the room, I scanned the office space, and the desk at which she’d sat was empty.
As we walked down the stairs, him looking pleased with himself and me feeling like I might wake up from a dream, I knew this was lucky, but it felt like something else. It didn’t feel like I was getting on the path to moving on from it all. Letting it go. It felt more like revenge. And Gandhi said it best, “An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind.” The only thing making me want to stab Jay’s out was the fact that he hadn’t just hurt me, he’d hurt Reckless Integrity, and by extension, Maeve and her family, her father’s legacy.
Light poured in from the side of the building. Outside the enormous glass wall was a courtyard where a few employees milled about over steaming cups of coffee like it was winter in Sweden, when it was really only sixty degrees. At a table, a woman worked in a black furry coat more appropriate for Wisconsin than Los Angeles.
Wait.
I knew that sleek black bob anywhere. And the way she sat. Now, she tucked some hair behind her ear. Fuck. It was Maeve.
Hunter and I took two more steps to the ground floor. I smacked the back of my hand on Hunter’s arm. “Grab me a sandwich or something. I’ll be right back.”
“They have sushi. Surely you’d prefer…”
I didn’t shift my eyes off Maeve. “Yeah. Whatever you’re getting. Just get two.”
Hunter must have seen what I’d seen in that moment, but I didn’t know because I hadn’t been able to take my gaze off Maeve. “Ah… you sure you’re gonna be back, Drake-o?”
It was a fair question. And if it were up to me alone, the answer would have been no. But I knew Maeve. This would be brief. Powerful. Magnetic. But brief.
Almost as if she smelled me on the winter air, as soon as I opened the door to the courtyard, her eyes rose from her paperwork. Her head turned as if in slow motion, and she caught me coming toward her. If I hadn’t felt a pang of nervous energy myself, I might have laughed at the obvious flight response in her big brown eyes. Damn, I missed those eyes and the way they made me feel like dying right now would do.
She put her bag on top of her paperwork so it wouldn’t blow away and stood, adjusting the hem of her fuzzy jacket. “Hey.”
“Hey to you, too.” I went in for the hug. She smelled of some sort of flowers. Something different from her signature scent but still nice, because it was her that made perfume smell good. Not the other way around.
The hug didn’t last as long as I would have liked, but when we pulled away, sparks flickered between us, a static energy. I could still feel her against my chest even though we no longer touched.
“You work outside now?” I pointed to the mountain of work.
She pushed a fallen lock back around her cute pixie ear. “Yeah. Not usually, but I just needed some fresh air and quiet. Open-plan offices. You know. It can be hard to concentrate with all the noise.”
She’d lied. I knew it. I didn’t know why she was out here, but she’d lied.
I nodded.
Her gaze dropped to the ground. “No. That’s not why I’m here. Actually, the truth is, I… I wasn’t really sure what it would be like to see you, and you know how I am.”
I lifted her chin and her gaze back to my eyes. A crooked smile ready to charm her. “I know how you are.”
She let out a half sigh, half laugh, an exhale of nervous energy. “But I’m really glad I’m seeing you now. I wanted it to happen just… I’m not the best at this kind of stuff. I mean, I knew we had to talk eventually. In person.”
Wow. This was forward for Maeve. I smiled broader. She gave me one in return then she rocked back and forth on her feet.
“Do you want to sit down for a minute?” she asked.
“Yeah, definitely. I’m supposed to be having lunch with Hunter…”
“Oh, if you’re busy…”
“… but I’d rather this. Just, you know, explaining why I’m here in the cafeteria.”
We both sat. This might be the first step of miles of mountain before me, but Lord, it felt good to be next to Maeve again.
“I already knew why you were here. How’s the case going?”
She bit her lip and furrowed her brow.
I thought back to the conversation with Hunter and Jacinta. It wasn’t at all the case that had been originally presented to me. “It’s just about deciding who gets buried… I’m more interested in how you’re doing.”
