Chapter 3
CHAPTER 3
LAUREL
L eaves swirled around my legs as I walked with Doodle. A brisk wind swept down the street, sending a shiver cascading down my spine, but it wasn’t icy cold yet. Soon, winter would be here and that would change, but for now, it was still pleasant enough that I could enjoy the fall foliage without freezing my tits off.
“I can’t believe she’s actually gone,” Gemma said through my headset. “Can you believe it? She really packed up and moved to Idaho . I just spoke to her and she’s getting settled as we speak. It’s just so not her.”
“I know, but we did say that if we weren’t exactly where we thought we would be by our ten-year reunion, we would actively change our lives,” I said. “That’s what she’s doing. It’s pretty brave, actually, but that’s why I thought I’d call you to check in. See how you’re doing running the business by yourself for the first time.”
“I’m okay,” she replied after a brief moment of hesitation. “It’s weird, being in our offices all by myself while she’s at some ski resort. Especially a rich, bougie place like that.”
“It is beautiful there too,” I pointed out. “I kind of get why she chose it. Last night, I took a virtual tour of the resort and it’s incredible. Seeing it made me wonder if I should try to get out there over the holidays.”
Gemma groaned. “Not you too! Don’t go, Laurel. That place will suck you in if you’re not careful. It’s already stolen one of my best friends. I won’t let it take another.”
I laughed. “She’s hardly disappeared into some kind of void. You’ll see her again soon and you said you just spoke to her.”
“I know, and I’m excited for her. I really am. I’m excited for me too. I’m also just worried about being a little bit lonely and a little bit out of my depth with all our work.”
“You’ll hit your stride soon enough,” I assured her. “You’re good at what you do, Gem. One of the best. This is just new now, but as soon as you’ve figured out how you want to do things going forward, it’ll get easier.”
“Maybe, but you should be prepared for a lot more phone calls from me,” she said, amusement lacing her tone. “Mariam’s already warned me that she might not be able to talk on the phone as often as we all used to, so you’re going to have to pick up her slack.”
“Get a dog. That’ll help for the loneliness.”
“Uh, how about no?” she said without even taking a second to think about it. “Not a chance.”
“Mariam is out on a grand adventure. I figured you might be ready to mix things up too.”
“I am mixing things up,” she said. “With the list that we designed for that particular purpose. I don’t need a dog chewing my shoes at home while I’m out almost getting arrested.”
“What?” I slammed to a sudden stop, but Doodle kept walking for another beat before she drew up short too, turning to give me a quizzical look. I stroked my fingers into her hair when she trotted back to me, but my mind was suddenly spinning out of control. “You almost got arrested because of the list? That sounds like you, but still. Are you okay?”
Gemma laughed. “Yep. I’m all good. My first task is done and it was epic. I’ll send pictures.”
“But you almost got arrested doing it?”
“I already said yes to that,” she teased. “The operative word there being almost . I’m fine, Laurel. I promise.”
“Are you absolutely sure?” I finally started walking again. “That’s insane. I’m so glad you’re okay, but maybe we should draw the line at following through on tasks that could land us in jail. I’m not sure we understood the implications of criminal activity when we were fourteen.”
“Forget it.” She chuckled. “You’re not getting out of any of yours that easily. We’ll just be careful.”
I sighed, running my hands over my face as I wondered if I would’ve had the guts to go through with something that might’ve gotten me arrested. I didn’t think I would, but I supposed that was part of the point, seeing how far we’d go to do things we never even would have considered before.
I would definitely have to think about it, though. There was no way I was ending up behind bars because of something we’d cooked up when we were teenagers.
Deciding to cross that bridge when I got there, I spoke into my headset again. “How do you think Mariam is doing with hers? Did you ask her about it?”
“Not yet. I wanted to give her a chance to settle in before I start putting pressure on her to get it done. She’s probably going to have the hardest time with it, though, being new to Sun Valley and all. Or maybe that’s the easiest. I’m not really sure.”
“She’ll figure it out,” I said confidently. “She always does. We just need to give her time to get organized over there.”
“How about you ?” Gemma asked. “Have you kissed an old flame yet?”
“Nope, but Leif is also going to Austin for Thanksgiving and we’ve made plans to get together. I still think it should count that I kissed him back in May. Does it really matter that we hadn’t started the list yet?”
“Of course, it matters. Besides, you can’t tell me that you aren’t excited about the prospect of kissing him again.”
My heart stuttered. “I am excited. Just not as excited as my mom.”
“You told her about it?” Gemma squealed with laughter. “I would imagine she’d be excited. The boy is a rich accountant who owns his own firm.”
“True. All very true, but she’s also always liked him, so there’s that.”
She giggled. “I still can’t believe you told her about it. I love your mom, though. I also love that she’s excited about this instead of telling you not to follow through on being naughty.”
“Well, I mean, I might not have told her everything. ” I emphasized the word just as Doodle and I turned the final corner to the coffee shop where I’d been headed. “I have to go soon. I need to get some writing done on my new novel and Grace is in charge of the store today so that I can get to it, but she could call at any moment and tell me there’s something that needs my attention over there.”
“A bookstore emergency.” Gemma faked a gasp. “Oh, the horror.”
I laughed. “I don’t know. Does it count as an emergency if a high-school grad is in charge of your billing system and your cash register?”
“Fair enough.” She chuckled. “You’re braver than I am to trust an eighteen-year-old with that sort of thing. Okay, go do your writing. I need to get to work myself. I’ll talk to you later, Laurel. Bye!”
“Talk to you later,” I said before I hung up. Smiling, I opened the door to my current favorite coffee joint.
The barista smiled back at me and waved. She picked up a cup and motioned at her fancy new machine. “Are you in the mood to try something new today, or are you sticking with your usual?”
“My usual,” I said. “Doodle will have a water.”
She nodded. “Coming right up. For both of you. Go grab a seat and I’ll bring it over as soon as it’s done.”
I smiled my thanks, then wound my way through the tables dotting the cozy little space to grab a seat at the bar overlooking the street. Once I reached it, I set my laptop bag down on the stool, took out the charger, and plugged it in. Then I got my computer out and opened it up.
“Sit,” I said to Doodle as I took a seat myself. “We’re going to be here a while, girl. You might as well get comfortable.”
She lay down by my feet, smiling and happy, her tail wagging as the barista brought our drinks. After logging into my computer, I opened the manuscript I’d been working on, but I just couldn’t seem to focus on it.
Having told Gemma about my plans to meet up with Leif, he was back at the fore of my mind. No matter what I tried, I kept drifting off into daydreams about him, imagining what might happen. Ever since the reunion, I’d been thinking about him a lot, but knowing I was going to see him again soon had made it even worse.
I smiled as I thought about all the things we’d gotten up to together back in high school. Some of the memories were sad and some bittersweet, but Leif had always been there for me.
A couple months after our dads had died, he’d taken it upon himself one day to cheer me up. I’d really been struggling at the time and he’d known about it, so he’d put on a Superman outfit under his clothes. While sitting in math class that morning, his phone had rung, so loud in the silence of the room as we worked on an assignment that the sound was nearly ear-piercing.
Our teacher had looked up from his desk with this deep scowl on his face, but Leif just glanced at him and said, “I need to take this.”
While the teacher and the rest of us had all been stunned into silence, Leif had pressed the phone to his ear and said, really loudly, “You’ve reached Clark Kent. What is your emergency?”
He’d paused for a beat. Then he’d shot up and shouted into the phone, “I’ll be right there!”
Tearing off his shirt, he’d revealed the Superman costume underneath, racing out of the classroom and running down the hall. I’d burst out laughing and all the other kids in class had been in stitches too, especially when we’d seen the school cop chasing after him just a moment later.
It had been an extreme stunt, but it’d gotten me laughing harder than I had in months and he’d later told me that had made it worth the week of detention he’d gotten for it. I’d never forgotten what he’d done for me.
Not only that day but on so many others. It was crazy that after all that, I’d barely thought of him in years until the reunion.
Maybe I had been afraid of picking at those old regrets.
Finally accepting that I wasn’t going to get any work done, I pulled up an image of him from his firm’s website, staring into those gorgeous blues on my screen. The boy was many, many things, but handsome was right at the top of the list.