Been There Done That (Leffersbee #1) - Hope Ellis Page 0,40
let out a sigh. The flowers were beautiful. And plentiful. I’d never cared about flowers, not really, but I appreciated the gesture for what it was. But it was this, the contents of this medium-sized wicker basket with the blue and white checkered lining, that had made my breath catch when I first spotted it earlier.
Inside was candy. But not just any candy. It was the candy Nick and I had eaten as kids, bought for each other, traded, smuggled into movies, left for each other even as young adults. My favorites: Mike and Ike, Hot Tamales, and Boston Baked Beans were all artfully arranged around a few bags of Flaming Hot Cheetos. The kicker? A rainbow assortment of Now and Laters, already unwrapped in a Ziploc bag and tied with a bow.
“You don’t eat candy.” Leigh’s brow furrowed.
“I haven’t in a while.” My dentist made me choose between sugar and my tooth enamel over ten years ago. I’d chosen to hang onto my sensitive enamel.
“But when you did, these were your favorites. When you were with him?”
“Yep.”
“Are those Starburst? Why are they already unwrapped?”
I couldn’t help the smile that pulled at my lips. “They’re Now and Laters. Those were Nick’s favorites. I liked them well enough, but I always struggled to get the pack open and unwrap them.”
“Huh. We used to call them ‘teeth crackers’ back home. I don’t know how anybody liked those things.”
“I used to say the same thing, but I’d still eat them once Nick got them free of the paper.”
I picked up the plastic bag and gently squeezed a pink taffy square. It was soft. He’d gotten the soft kind.
“Hey, Z?”
“Yeah?”
“Don’t let him mind-fuck you with Flaming Hot Cheetos.”
I groaned. “I’m not.”
“Just be prepared. Remember, as a swoony millionaire, he’s four steps ahead. Has he offered to solve any problems for you yet?”
I considered this. “No. Well, not for me, no.”
Loud pounding sounded from her side. “Details! What are you not telling me!”
“Well, you know my research assistant, Carly?”
“Short, dark haired? Some relation to Attila the Hun?”
“Be nice. She’s . . . stressed a lot. Well, she’s been anxious about her son’s upcoming senior trip. She really wants him to go but I heard from someone else on the staff that the kid’s dad didn’t come up with the half he promised. We were debating taking up a collection to help but—”
“That could backfire.” Leigh winced. “It’s a nice gesture, but she seems super private—”
“Right. So, we were a little unsure of what to do.”
“So what happened?”
I walked back to the balcony railing. “This morning, before I left, she showed up in my office. Euphoric. Seems some anonymous benefactor took care of the trip. But not just for her son. For the entire senior class.”
Silence.
“Anonymous, huh?” Leigh drew out the word anonymous.
“Yep.”
“Does she suspect it’s him?”
“I don’t think so. She doesn’t even know who he is. She mentioned the trip in passing to him, I don’t know how he knew the details, but—”
“You’re in trouble.”
“Stop saying that!” I waved my free hand in the air. “Aren’t you supposed to be reassuring me right now?”
“What he’s doing, that random act of kindness thing, that’s catnip for you.” Leigh clicked her nails against some surface on her side. “If this were me, there would be no question of what I should do. In fact, you would’ve already clubbed me in the head if you sensed I was weakening. I’ve known you forever. You’re not a dummy or a pushover, but I can sense you weakening and you are not the weakening sort.”
“I’m not weakening.”
“You are.”
“You don’t understand.”
“Help me. It’s almost like Nick has some invisible force field around him that makes you not yourself. We’d practiced what you would say when you saw him for your meeting yesterday, remember? But you admitted afterward that you went all the way off-script.”
I closed my eyes, savoring the slight breeze, wanting to forget about my last conversation with Nick. “I tried. I really did. Something just came over me.”
“I’ll say. You were supposed to project, ‘I’m living my best life and haven’t thought about you in years, bitch. I’m so damn happy without you I never gave a thought to where you were.’ And then verbally cap it off with prayer hand emojis. But no. You went all scorched earth. Showed him just how much angst you still have about it all. Which shows how much you still care. Which gives him all the power.”