Chapter 8 Nate
NATE
Before I even settled into my office for the day, I knew things had shifted.
All weekend, I'd been dreading my return to work because of the way Ember reacted to the tabloids.
Clearly, something in her past had really shaken her and it had to do with rumors and gossip.
And after seeing a few posts on local Facebook groups about the festival and images of Ember and me shared in those groups, I knew people were talking.
The comments were rude and inconsiderate and there was nothing I could do to stop people's ugly judgment.
I passed through the outer office of senior administration and past Ember's desk which was vacant at the time.
Whispers seemed to follow me, though perhaps I was too worried about it and my mind was playing tricks on me, but I swore I heard someone snickering over the phrase "Who's your daddy?"
All of it was a bit much for me to try to process in light of the new information I had about Ember's past.
I sank into my chair and pulled my phone out of my pocket, laying it on my desk, and turned on my computer.
What I needed was to focus on the day and my work and put all of that behind me, but in a cluttered stack on the corner of my desk lay the festival schedule, which only pushed those thoughts back to the front of my mind.
I had promised Ember to get her out of this tradition and I hadn't even attempted it yet.
Now after learning how sensitive this sort of thing was for her, I knew I should try to.
Surely, there were a slew of other women I could call upon who would love the chance at such an honor.
So rather than logging in to my email and getting down to business, I opted for the web browser where I could sift through a few profiles on social media to determine who might be a good fit.
The problem was, the instant I signed in, I saw a dozen notifications all from the Beacon Hill community group where I'd been tagged in a picture.
I tried really hard not to pay attention to it, but after looking over just two women's profiles, I couldn’t resist the curiosity and temptation.
I clicked on the notification only to see the image snapped of us outside the hospital gala had been posted here too.
And worse than that, people were asking questions like "Hearthkeeper or heartbreaker?" with rude replies on every instance.
Ember never asked for negative attention from this.
In fact, she never wanted to be a part of this at all.
She didn't like cameras or media attention, and I was the one who dragged her in against her will without knowing anything about her.
These people were heartless, the very sort of crowd I hoped would've gotten the message of light and love, and they were showing how hateful and dark humanity could be.
Something fierce rose up inside me at the idea of Ember being hurt by this and all I wanted to do was stop the madness and protect her.
I pinched the bridge of my nose and took a deep breath to relax away the tension forming between my shoulder blades, but my phone rang, interrupting my moment of silence.
I didn't recognize the number on caller ID immediately or I would never have answered it, but as it was, my job required me to converse with people by phone regularly.
So I slid my thumb across the screen to answer and held the phone to my ear.
"Nathan Bradley, how can I help you?"
The voice on the other end greeted me warmly, but I knew there was a reason for his call and it wasn't to be pleasant.
"Nate, it's Tom Reed, how are you this morning?"
I scowled as I checked the time on my computer screen.
I'd successfully made it fifteen minutes at work without an incident, but that time was fast approaching.
"I'm good, Mr. Reed. What can I help you with?" I hated the question.
It stuck in the back of my throat and almost had to be forced out.
With the way that photographer made it look like Ember and I were being overly personal in that image and not just sharing a friendly joke between colleagues, I knew it was only a matter of time before the untoward things people were saying got back to the committee chairman.
"Good, good… Well, I'm afraid I have a rather distasteful topic to discuss with you." He cleared his throat for emphasis, but I already knew what he was going to say.
"It appears there's been a bit of a stir around town this weekend regarding the nature of your relationship with Ms. Harrison and whether she should be the Hearthkeeper for this year’s festivities."
He paused again, and it was like he was waiting for me to respond to him without having any more input.
Ember and I followed the traditions and because we worked together, it meant being seen in public for other reasons too that had nothing to do with my responsibilities as Lightkeeper.
Yes, we'd had sex, but no one knew about that except for us, and they had no reason to think anything was going on between us outside of a few bad apples saying rude things about images taken out of context.
So I said nothing, putting the onus on him to continue.
"What I'm trying to say, Nathan, is that we've never had a Hearthkeeper who was so young for a reason. And Ms. Harrison… well—"
"What about her?" I demanded in an almost too-aggressive tone.
"Well, it's drawing attention to the tradition in a way the committee doesn't care for. They'd like to see her step aside for the good of the community and tradition and for you to appoint someone more…"
"Someone more what?" I snipped. "Holy? Worthy? Righteous? Pure?"
All the words tumbled from my mouth hastily, and I found myself getting very angry at the man and his so-called tradition.
"Nathan, you have to understand."
"Understand what? Ember is a brilliant woman and she stands for everything the tradition demands." I was seething and trying hard not to lose my cool completely.
Here was my perfect opportunity to relieve Ember of the task of Hearthkeeper, but I was finding it hard to yield to his horrible assumptions about her character.
She didn’t deserve that. If I just admitted to Mr. Reed that she didn't want to be Hearthkeeper anyway, it'd be like telling him his judgmental thoughts about her were justified or correct and I'd be letting her down. The tension in my chest knotted up until I was almost shouting.
"I won't let anyone badmouth her and push her out simply because she's younger than previous women who served in this role.
And I'm not making her 'step back for the good of the tradition.' Ember is the embodiment of warmth and family, and I stand behind my decision to honor her with the title."
"Nathan, please. We chose you because you're a man with a spotless reputation.
You're putting yourself on the line for this and it's just not worth it."
Reed was infuriating.
I almost hung up, but not before getting the last word in.
"I'm doing the thing I promised to do—stand for integrity and defend those who need it. That’s what an honorable man does, Mr. Reed.
That's what the Lightkeeper would do. So unless you intend to strip me of the title, I think we've said enough today.
" I hung up and set my phone on my desk with shaking hands, then leaned back in my chair, still reeling.
I didn't understand how a few men's opinions about Ember's age could make the entire committee doubt me and my character.
Besides, what I did behind closed doors was none of their business.
Ember was a consenting adult and it wasn't like we were flaunting things in public.
Heck, I didn't even know if anything would come of this or if it was just a fling.
It didn’t matter to me.
It felt like they were just saying that if a man my age dated a woman her age, there was something ethically wrong with it.
And even though the disparity was great, I wasn't ashamed of it.
"Dr. Bradley?" I heard, and I looked up to see Ember hovering in the doorway with her tablet in hand.
She looked well put together, though I was sure she'd heard some of the same whispers or seen the same gossip on her social media that I'd seen.
"Yeah, come in," I said, gesturing for her to enter.
She pushed the door shut, but it didn’t click into place, and then she walked around to my side of the desk and set her tablet down, leaning over my shoulder.
"I wanted your opinion on this." Her manicured fingernail pointed at the screen where a discrepancy in my calendar showed overlapping meetings with board trustees and department chairs. "I think one of these needs to be moved."
I wanted to focus.
I swear.
I tried so hard, but having her close to me made it impossible.
I was a nervous wreck after that call, hands shaking, breathing still constricted, but I breathed her in and it was like every ounce of tension melted in her presence.
I turned to look up at her but got an eyeful of cleavage and a lungful of her perfume and when our eyes met, she blushed.
"God, you're beautiful," I breathed, as every single thought about how much I wanted to protect and shelter her came flooding back.
"Nate," she said shyly. "We're at work."
I opened my mouth to reply but the door swung open again.
I looked over to see Laura Mitchell, head of HR, standing there with her jaw hanging slack and her eyes high and wide.
She cleared her throat as her face shifted to a guilty grin and said, "Sorry, was I interrupting?"
"Knock, Laura," I grumbled, and she smirked as she looked up at Ember, who was now standing, twisting her hands together.
"Sorry, sir. Just stopping in to talk to you about your new assistant. Wondered how it's going… I can come back later." She backed through the door and shut it, but the look on her face said the damage was done.
As if it wasn't bad enough that everyone was already talking about things they had no business even thinking.
Laura Mitchell would make sure everyone knew that I was looking down Ember's shirt and standing a bit too close to her.
Christ, I felt like things were going to blow up out of control, and I was powerless to stop it.
It made me regret ever saying yes to the Lightkeeper duties.
But it didn't make me regret Ember.