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Lottie launches into a description of her classes, and friends, and new scientific obsessions. She barely pauses for breath, until I see Josh come in with his uncle, and send him a wave. Lottie follows my gaze. “Who’s that?”
“That’s Josh.” Ivy answers, sending me a smirk.
“He’s the one who helped arrange your ride,” I explain, as he comes over to join us.
“Hey,” he greets me with a smile, and I can’t help but smile back. “You must be Lottie,” he adds, offering her a hand to shake. “Welcome to the madhouse.”
“The jet was amazing, thank you,” she beams. “The seats all went flat, and there were fancy snacks, and we even had advance screeners of the new Forcefield movie.”
“What?” Reeve’s head snaps up. “How? Even I haven’t seen that yet!”
Josh chuckles. “Happy to help.”
“I wish we could travel like that all the time,” Lottie says. “I mean, if it wasn’t for all the pollution, and impending climate doom,” she adds cheerfully, and Josh grins.
“I mean, sure, aside from that.”
“Josh is an environmental lawyer,” I speak up, and Lottie brightens.
“Really? They’re using NASA satellite technology to track deforestation,” she says. “We got to look at the feeds. You can actually see the Florida wetlands disappearing,” she adds, and then the two of them are chatting it up about space technology and climate change, until Larry the concierge discreetly pulls me aside.
“The car is ready for you, ma’am.”
“Thank you.” I turn to Lottie. “Want to come help me run an errand? I have to stop by the butterfly sanctuary to organize things for tomorrow.”
“The famous butterflies?” Josh grins. “I was wondering if they’d make an appearance.”
“Don’t jinx it,” I warn him, only half kidding. “Avery’s got her heart set on a big finale during the ceremony. Those things could flutter off at a moment’s notice, and then I’ll be the one stuck running around with one of those old-fashioned nets.”
“I’d love to see that,” Josh smirks.
Lottie looks over. “Do you want to come, too?” she asks Josh.
“Lottie!” I wince, “I’m sure he has other plans.”
“No plans. I’d love to join you.” Josh says immediately. “If that’s OK?” he adds, searching my gaze.
I pause. I have strict boundaries when it comes to men in my life. I usually wait weeks, if not months, before introducing Lottie to anyone I’m dating. But here they are, already chatting up a storm about carbon cleaning and CO2levels like old friends.
“Sure,” I say faintly. “Why not? The more the merrier.”
We hit the road,driving through the jungle with me behind the wheel, as Lottie quizzes Josh all about his environmental work. “Have you sued any big corporations?” she demands. “Or been arrested? One of the girls at camp got charged with obstruction and trespassing, because she chained herself to the doors outside an oil company meeting, during a big protests. It sounded so cool,” she says reverently.
“Not cool,” I say quickly, before she gets any ideas. “Very, very uncool. In fact, I’m making a new family rule: you have to graduate college before you get an official police record.”
“There’s no time for following the rules. It’s a climate emergency,” Lottie informs me, sounding impatient.
“You’re right about the emergency,” Josh speaks up, sending me a smile from behind his shades. “But there are plenty of ways to fight back without winding up in jail. Big corporations aren’t going to change until their profits get hit. So that’s part of what my colleagues and I do: keep suing them, over and over, until it’s too expensive to keep doing business as usual.”
“Huh. You don’tlooklike an activist,” Lottie says.
“I’ll take that as a compliment,” Josh replies with a chuckle. “I like to think I’m a secret agent, taking the big guns down, one legal memo at a time.”
I smile, focusing on the road ahead as I follow the GPS out to the butterfly sanctuary, but as they keep chatting, and Josh explains all about his current case, battling a firm spilling toxic waste into a fresh-water habitat, I can’t help thinking back to our conversation in the kitchens last night.
Thisis what sent his ex running?
I know all relationships are complicated in their own way, but I’m not sure how working for something meaningful, showing dedication and passion, could be a turn-off. And when you pair it with Josh’s easy charm, and smart wit, and downright God-like skills in the bedroom department…
