Chapter 13
Thirteen
Whitney tossed and turned that night. She could try to blame the heavy meal for her restlessness, but it was the social media stuff. Now that it had grown into an even bigger deal, what if the story broke on the news before Dad’s big award ceremony?
He’d never forgive me.
Sure, it sounded innocent enough. It’s not like she was breaking a law, but cute and funny was not part of this law firm’s reputation. Their clients weren’t the romantic comedy type, and if there was one thing about lawyers and awards, it was that they got cutthroat about things. Even just a snide comment could cause a big stink at one of those events.
Finally, after watching the clock most of the night, Whitney kicked off the covers and got dressed for work. Tonight, she was going to Williamsburg with Matthew. Not getting a good night’s sleep was not exactly the recipe for being good company, and she hoped she caught a second wind.
Whitney couldn’t concentrate on anything but surfing the internet for viral video updates for the first thirty minutes she was there. She’d even figured out a way to set up an alert in case her name popped up in the news, and that was probably a good thing to have anyway.
She forced herself to refocus and plowed through the folders stacked up on her desk, making a pretty significant dent in them by the time Olivia showed up.
She stood in Whitney’s doorway, holding something. “I see you couldn’t sleep last night either.”
Whitney shook her head. “Nope. Not a wink.”
“Me neither. I’ve been up baking for hours.”
“I came here to work.” Whitney pointed to the goodies in Olivia’s hand. “Did you make one of your famous muffins for me?”
“Your favorite.”
She hooked her finger in her direction. “Hand it over.”
Olivia crossed the room. “I actually brought two for you, just in case it was one of those stress eating days.”
“You know me so well.” Whitney took the still warm muffins and yanked the crusty top from one. Biting into the bright flavor, she moaned. “So good. Thank you. I need something to offset all the caffeine I’ve consumed already this morning.” She swallowed the bite of muffin. “On a positive note, I did some digging, and I think I can shut down any commentary that includes us in this television interview they have coming up.”
“That’s great.”
Whitney ran down the details, then handed Olivia a phone number. “I need you to contact the reporter. Here’s her number. Set up a call for us. I’ll try to steer the conversation in another direction.”
“I’m on it.”
“Wait.” Whitney picked up a stack of papers. “Sorry, but my coming in early means you start the day with a full hopper. I’m caught up. Here’s the last of it.”
Olivia juggled the stack of folders. “Wow. You were here early.”
“Yeah, and no distractions. Now that the rest of the world is open for business, I’m going to shop for a present for my niece’s second birthday.” She got up and grabbed her purse. “Call me if anything comes up.”
“Will do.”
Whitney walked out of the building and across the street to get her car. There was definitely nothing within walking distance of the office that would have what she was looking for. She had no idea what that was, but she’d know it when she saw it.
Last week, she’d perused a high-end children’s boutique. There were adorable outfits, but nothing seemed special enough for this milestone, and Carina had that child dressed to the nines all the time anyway. Chloe probably had a closet as full as her own.
She drove across town to the new toy store that had opened earlier in the year. It was supposed to be more magnificent than the FAO Schwarz in New York City, which was a little hard to believe. They’d been advertising custom bears and dolls that could be specially ordered to favor your child. Whitney could still remember when she got her first American Girl doll with the same color hair and eyes as her own. It was like having a twin sister, but Chloe was probably too young for that just yet. Hopefully, something else would catch her eye.
Aunting is pressure.
Striking out in the toy store, she stopped in the planetarium gift shop. After talking to the lady at the museum, she considered buying the annual subscription of STEM-learning gifts shipped quarterly for a year. The woman had been kind enough to even print out the information for her. With that safely tucked into her purse, at least she had a fallback gift if something more perfect didn’t present itself.
As she drove back to the office, she passed the block where Matthew was painting the mural. She slowed to see if he was there.
High on the third level of the scaffold, he stood wielding a brush, color swishing across the building. His arms were so tan, and the musculature was clear even from here. He wore a light blue, sleeveless lab coat over his clothes. Understanding the reason behind the fashion no-no made it a little less of a jolt.
Matthew’s muscles flexed as he reached high with a fluid sweep of his brush. The simple black line made the other colors pop, giving the image depth.
She parallel parked on the next block and walked across the street to sit on the bench in front of the ice cream shop. From there, she watched the mural come to life.
Matthew moved with skill and speed.
She marveled at his ability to organize and complete the design, despite working on small sections of a larger-than-life picture. Moving from one end of the scaffold to the other, he added depth here and there, making it look so easy.
Her own fear of heights made her a little queasy just watching him move back and forth that high.
And then there it was. The idea she’d been hungering for. The most personal and perfect gift for Chloe.
I’ll hire Matthew to do a mural in Chloe’s playroom!
The idea danced in her heart. It was perfect. Something memorable. It could include all her favorite things and have interactive features like a chalkboard and height marker to mark how quickly she was growing.
She got up and ran inside the ice cream shop to order two sherbet freezes, one lime and one orange. He had to like at least one of those flavors. Who didn’t love a sherbet freeze?
With both cups in her hands, she waited at the crosswalk and then ran across the street toward where Matthew had dropped down a level on the ladder system.
“Hey,” she yelled as she got closer. “Mural Guy?”
He spun around, his white smile broad. “Fixie Chick. Good to see you!” He climbed down and landed on the parking lot pavement just as she got there.
“Real funny. You’re lucky I don’t pour this on you for that.”
“You’re right. Sorry, I couldn’t resist.”
“I brought you something cool to drink,” she said. “Orange or lime?”
“Lime, definitely.”
She handed him the lime, but he hesitated. “Unless this is the one you wanted. I’m cool with orange too.”
“I like them both. It was a safe bet,” she admitted.
He took a long pull from the straw. “Thank you. This is a nice treat. It gets hot up there.”
“I bet it does, and there’s no breeze between these buildings.”
“Not usually, but there was one that night the rain came through. That was a mess.” He pointed to the ground where a washed-out blue still stained the old worn pavement. “Cleaned it up the best we could. Even rented a power washer.”
“Well, let’s hope that doesn’t happen again.”
“Sometimes it’s a messy business.”
“I have to admit that I saw you painting and stopped to watch from that bench for a few minutes.” She kind of wished she hadn’t said it, because as soon as it came out of her mouth, it sounded kind of creepy.
“Really?” He seemed pleased.
“It’s so interesting to see how a single stroke of color enhances and changes the entire picture. You’re really good.”
“Thank you.”
“I’m looking forward to the gallery opening tonight.”
“Me too. Thanks for agreeing to join me.”
She chickened out asking him about the mural for Chloe; on the drive to Williamsburg would be better timing. He was trying to work for crying out loud, and here she was monopolizing his time like a groupie or something. This was not in her nature.
“Um, well, I just saw you so I wanted to say hi. I’ll see you tonight. Five thirty, right?”
“Yes, ma’am. I’m punctual.”
“Oh good. Me too.” One more thing in his favor. “I’ll see you then.” Excitement coursed through her. She could get used to days with breaks, shopping, flirting, and a date at the end of the night.
Something felt off when she walked into the Barron, Winters Wall office building. There was too much commotion in the lobby.
Scanning the room, she noticed two of her paralegals in the reception area with clipboards.
An arm hooked her at the elbow. Olivia said, “Keep walking. I’ll explain.”
They walked straight to Whitney’s office. Carina was already sitting there. Olivia closed the door behind them.
“What is going on out there?” Whitney asked. “When I left, it was perfectly normal.”
“It was, and then, well… it wasn’t. Isn’t.”
“Remember when I mentioned those little upticks in clients for our area specifically in our review before yoga? I think it was a warning for this,” Carina said. “I knew something was wrong.”
“We’re triaging the lobby as low key as possible,” Olivia explained, “but we’ve already escorted a few non-clients out of the building.”
“Then why are they here?”
“One guy point blank said he was looking for his future wife and propositioned me. Didn’t have an appointment. Didn’t want an appointment. Just wanted to hang out.”
“This is not good.”
“I’ve got a plan. So I pulled together a questionnaire. Anyone who doesn’t have an appointment will be politely sent home with this form.” She handed it to Whitney. “It’s a draft. We can change it, but I thought it might ease the lobby activity until this all blows over.”
“It’s the videos.” Whitney shook her head. “Do we know any tech whiz kids who can start a viral video about a wishing well or something? Anything to get them out of here. This is absolutely ridiculous. Why are we even having to deal with it?”
“Because people are social media crazy. They want to believe all that nonsense,” Carina said. “It’s kind of sweet, in a backward sort of way, that people still want to believe in love.”
“Okay, let me go through this questionnaire so you can get them printed and put them into action.”
“Let’s get ‘Operation We’re Not a Dating App’ underway. Give me ten minutes and I’ll have this back to you.”
“I think Olivia’s plan is a good one,” Carina said. “It might have some long-term benefits for first-time clients going forward too. We’re lucky to have her.”
“We are.”
“I was thinking the three of us could grab dinner tonight. William had that meeting in Virginia Beach today. He won’t be home until late.”
“Oh, I can’t.”
“It’s one night. Work will wait.”
“No. I didn’t have a chance to tell you, but I’m going out tonight. Not exactly a date, but sort of. Maybe? I’m not even sure.”
Carina dropped into the chair. “What? With who? Whom? Who. When did this happen?”
“Matthew.”
“The artist?” She nodded with that snide grin she had when she was cooking up a scheme.
“Don’t look at me like that.” Whitney tried to avoid looking her way. “He’s got a gallery opening to go to in Williamsburg. He asked if I’d join him. You know, he didn’t want to go alone. It’s honestly no big deal.”
“Oh, I think it’s more than that.”
“It’s not.”
“What are you going to wear?”
Whitney felt like it was a trick question. “Well, I?—”
“Don’t pretend you haven’t thought about it. Is it casual? Dressy?”
“Black-tie.”
“What?” Carina grabbed her hand. “Let me think. Yes, you have to wear that purple dress you wore to the holiday warm-up last year. It brings out your eyes. I love that dress.”
“I was thinking of that one too.” She kept the part where he suggested purple to herself.
“What time is he picking you up?”
“Five thirty.”
“Girl, you better clear this desk. I’m going to clear mine too. We’re going to be sure he is speechless when he lays eyes on you.”
“It’s kind of cool, right?”
“Kind of? It’s black-tie. It’s his work. A gallery opening. It’s Williamsburg, which is so beautiful at night. Remember the Grand Illumination at Christmas the time we all went? Lighted candles in every window. It was breathtaking.”
“That won’t be happening in May, and I’m not even sure the gallery is in the historic section.”
“But still. It’s exciting.” She gathered her things. “You can’t not tell me these things.”
Whitney felt bad now. “There was so much going on. It wasn’t intentional.”
“I know, and I’m losing sleep too.” Carina paused, her brows pulling together. “William is acting weird. I think he senses something is wrong.”
“Don’t tell him.”
“I won’t. Don’t worry. I got this.” Carina got up and walked to the door. “And I got you. I’ll do your hair. It’ll be like college. Call me when you’re ready to leave. I’ll follow you home. Am I more excited about this than you are?”
Whitney shook her head. Her nose crinkled, and she knew there was no hiding her excitement. “No. I haven’t been this excited since JT asked me to the Ring Dance. My heart is absolutely fluttering.”