Haunted Hope by Inés Saint (8)

“You can’t just leave me here,” Matt begged, his eyes wild. It was the first time since meeting him that she’d been able to read those eyes so thoroughly. They were imploring her to stay with him at the Gypsy Fortune Café and not leave him alone with the crew waiting inside.

They both peered into the café again. Ruby had the lights off and candlelight was flickering off the crystal ball in the center of the round table where five older women were sitting and holding hands.

“Don’t worry. One of them will give you a ride back to your car when they’re ready,” Hope reassured him.

“Yeah, when they’re ready.”

Hope gave him a mock-sorry look. The original plan had been for her to stay and watch him squirm while the older ladies worked their sorcery on him, but his comment about wanting to kiss her had left her feeling a little wild herself. She hadn’t even been able to answer or to even talk the entire way to the café. She’d been too busy trying to not trip on her heels while walking or to crash into the car in front of her while driving.

The truth was she’d felt like grabbing him by his coat right then and there and planting her lips on his, just to get the wild feelings out of her system. It had taken a lot of self-discipline to pay attention to her brain as it rationalized itself out of that idea. The problem was that the moment the word “kiss” had left his mouth, her body had taken over, and it had anticipated how that kiss would feel. Her brain had gained control, but the feeling of anticipation was hard to get rid of. It was making her feel breathless and tingly. If she stayed in his company and the tingles became stronger than her rational thoughts, she wasn’t sure what she’d do. And that scared her. She needed time to gain complete control over her body again.

“Why won’t you stay with me? What are you so afraid of?” he asked, as if he could read her mind.

“What are you talking about? You’re the one who’s afraid. And of five senior citizens, no less. Now get your butt in there and get ready for some fun.”

“Right. Fun,” he said, sticking his hands into his pockets and making his way to the door. “Fun for you when you hear about it later,” he grumbled. Hope grinned again. He was right.

Before he entered, he gave her one last look. “Are you abandoning me because I told you I’d kiss you if you gave me the chance?”

No. I’m abandoning you because I’m worried that I’d kiss you if I gave myself the chance. “No. I ignored that. And you’re lucky I did. Do you think you’re the first businessman to make a pass at me while discussing business? Normally, my heel would’ve accidentally speared your foot.”

“It wasn’t a pass. You asked for the truth, I warned you, you insisted, and I gave it to you. And now you’re upset and punishing me for it.”

Hard as she tried, she wasn’t able to hold her grin back. He looked like a six-year-old about to go to the dentist. “I’m not upset, and I’m not punishing you.” She lifted a shoulder. “Truth is, all I could think about when you mentioned the kiss was this study that found that beards are as dirty as toilets. The thought kept me quite engrossed the entire way here.”

It was his turn to smile, and it lit up his entire face. “So you thought about kissing me the entire way here?”

She rolled her eyes and turned to her car. “How did me comparing your face to a toilet lead you to that conclusion?” she asked before quickly climbing into her car.

Matt was so caught up in analyzing whether Hope’s face had been flushed because he’d mentioned kissing her again or because she was cold that he didn’t notice the door to the café had opened until he was yanked inside by the front of his coat.

Once inside, he looked down at two small, but surprisingly strong, older women. “Good to keep head cool, but must keep feet warm,” one of them said. The other nodded. “Zakalka come later.” The Russians, he presumed. They were clearly twins, though one was plumper and had chin-length white hair while the other was thin and had shorter, mostly gray, curly hair. Both wore blue velour sweaters with white snowflakes embroidered onto them.

“Zakalka?” he repeated.

“Later,” the curly-haired one said with authority.

“Choose sweet,” her sister ordered, pointing at the lighted dessert display to her right. “Hunger make cold more cold.” Before Matt could glance at the desserts, he caught her winking at someone behind him. He swiveled his head to see Ruby winking back.

When Ruby caught him looking, she swept one arm toward the sister with curly hair and said, “Matt, meet Alex’s great-aunt Helga,” before sweeping her other arm to the other woman. “And his grandmother Hilda.”

Well, now he knew who Alex had gotten his commanding presence from. “Nice to meet you,” he said to them both, and smiled his most winning smile. They didn’t smile back.

“Hope not be won with smiles.” Hilda raised her finger.

“Hope very intelligent woman.” Helga nodded. “Our favorite. Don’t say to Paige.”

“Choose sweet!” Hilda ordered again.

Matt moseyed on over to the desserts as if he was merely playing along and not intimidated in the least. “Hello, Matt.” Sherry suddenly rose up from behind the counter. “What treat do you crave on this cold winter night?”

Matt met her eyes. Obviously, the women were up to something. Perhaps they were trying to figure him out to see if he posed some sort of threat to Hope. Had they baked something funny into each and every dessert? He remembered then what his friend Marty had told him about the café. The three owners lured people from all over with the promise of fortune-telling through various means, including reading people’s specific dessert cravings. That he could get on board with. It even sounded like fun. “Apple pie,” he said without hesitation, and without looking down.

Sherry raised an eyebrow. “That’s a safe and traditional choice. Ruby?” she called.

Matt turned to see Ruby shaking her head. “Too safe and traditional. And he didn’t even look down or take time to choose. Almost as if going for safe and traditional is a knee-jerk response and not his true choice.” Matt tried not to show how surprised, and frankly impressed, he was with the assessment, knowing all three women would be like cats with a ball of yarn if they realized they’d stumbled onto one end of it.

“Interesting,” Rosa, who was sitting beside Ruby, said, before jutting her chin out toward the desserts. “But no apple pie for you. Choose again. And this time listen to the biology of your body.”

The biology of his body. Matt stifled a sigh and turned to look at the desserts once more, deciding it would be best to obey. It was only dessert, after all. His mouth watered when he got to the one near the center of the case. “I’ll have that one.” He pointed.

“Chocolate soufflé.” Sherry tilted her head. “Not the cheese or the vanilla or the strawberry soufflé, but the chocolate.” She shook her head in wonder. “Even I know what that means. Ruby, may I?” she asked.

“You may,” came Ruby’s grand response. Matt raised both eyebrows.

“The word soufflé comes from the French verb souffler, which means ‘to breathe.’” Sherry pointed to his nose before lowering her finger to point at his chest. “What you crave, Matthew Williams, is to puncture the beaten, puffed-up egg whites of your life so you can breathe freely and dig into the authentic richness you know is to be had.”

Sherry stared at him expectantly. Everyone was quiet. Matt didn’t know what to say. He’d understood less than half of what Sherry had said. But they were serious, and he didn’t want to offend them by breaking out the grin Hope had warned him was annoying. “Egg whites of my life?” he finally repeated, when his brain failed to come up with a response that might please them. He cleared his throat. “What, uh, what are those?” he asked, feigning interest.

This time, Hilda responded. “It is from secretions of hen’s oviduct when passing of the egg.”

Helga scratched her chin. “Oviduct. Maybe he inherit problem from mother.”

Now that had hit close to home. But he wasn’t spooked. They were just making stuff up. “Secretions,” Matt repeated. “Interesting. I suddenly don’t have an appetite.” Everyone except Helga and Hilda laughed. The two sisters merely shrugged and requested soufflé.

* * *

Hope pulled up to Paige’s house and stayed in the car a moment, feeling wistful about the scene unfolding on her sister’s front yard. Paige, her ex-husband Glenn, and their two kids, Riley and Tyler, were building a snowman with Paige’s current boyfriend, Alex, and Gracie and Josh. It had to be awkward as heck for Paige, Alex, and Glenn, but they were going through the motions, for the kids, and Gracie and Josh were probably there as buffers for the awkwardness.

These were the moments she’d miss if she couldn’t solve her sleepwalking problem and had to leave. As was usual when she was feeling sorry for herself, she went through alternative solutions. And, as usual, she ended up rejecting them all. Grandma Sherry often suggested they should live together, framing the idea as mutually beneficial because Hope could help her in “her old age” while Grandma Sherry would make sure Hope didn’t leave the house or do anything dangerous while sleepwalking. But keeping her grandmother from a good night’s sleep was not a solution Hope could ever accept. Her grandmother was seventy-plus years old, and Hope wanted her to be healthy and strong so she could live at least another forty years.

Then there was living with one of her sisters. They’d both offered, but Hope had similar objections. The last thing she wanted was to add stress and worry to anyone’s life. She was doing enough of that with the alarms.

Next on the list was taking on a roommate. That was the solution with the most promise, but it had its problems, too. Hope could have someone live with her rent-free in exchange for hyper-vigilance at night. It was a fair deal. But the snag in that plan was that she’d have to find someone she could trust completely, and she had to be sure the person could stay on for a good long time. An older, retired woman who needed to stretch her retirement income and who wanted companionship would be best. Her whole family had been on the lookout for such a person, but no one fit the bill so far. The trust issue was always the sticking point. Not because they couldn’t find someone of good character, but because they couldn’t find someone they knew would be hyper-vigilant enough. Just one sleepwalking episode would render the living situation unworkable for Hope, but it would be difficult to have to ask an otherwise good person to upend their life and move out over it.

Hope closed her eyes and blew out a breath before opening the door and plowing through the snow toward two kids who had started squealing “Aunt Hope!” the moment they saw her. She caught Riley midair, and when Tyler hugged her, too, the three of them toppled onto the snow. Cold as it was, Hope laughed hard.

“Now that you’re here, we can start a snow fight!” Tyler exclaimed.

“What do you mean, ‘now that I’m here’?”

Riley leaned in with her hand to her cheek so no one could hear. “Mom keeps saying no. I think it’s because she’s afraid Dad and Alex will turn it into a snow war.”

Hope shrugged. “I think it would be good for them. Release some of the tension, you know?”

Tyler’s and Riley’s eyes gleamed and that was all Hope needed. “Cover me,” she instructed as she bent down to pack five good snowballs. When she was done, she said, “Riley, you take two snowballs and go after Paige and Josh. Tyler, you take your dad and Gracie. Leave Alex to me.” She and Alex had a competitive relationship, one they both secretly enjoyed, and she couldn’t wait to take him down.

Hope, Riley, and Tyler unleashed their surprise attack, and everyone was soon screaming and laughing and running around, packing snowballs as they went, and flinging them at whoever happened to be in range. It was cold, wet, messy, and enormously uncomfortable, and more childish fun than any of the adults had had had in ages.

It ended when Glenn got Alex in the eye, and Alex retaliated by stuffing snow down Glenn’s neck. Paige let out a short and loud whistle. “Riley, Tyler, come here,” she called. They each dropped their snowballs and dragged their feet to where Paige was standing with a chagrined-looking Alex on one side, and an annoyed-looking Glenn on the other. “Can you two children explain the sentence for breaking the rules of snowball fight engagement to these two grown men here?”

Two pairs of eyes gleamed. “You have to work together on a project!” Tyler exclaimed.

“Can we choose the project?” Riley turned to her mother, the prospect of more mischief lighting up her entire face.

“You sure can.” Paige patted her head.

The two children conferred as Glenn’s and Alex’s expressions became increasingly sour. “Why are you here, anyway? Aren’t you supposed to be at work?” Glenn grumbled to Alex.

“I was at a stakeout all night, and it ended in two arrests. I earned the day off,” Alex answered, puffing up his chest. Hope rolled her eyes at both of them.

When the children were done whispering, they faced their mom. “We’ve decided they have to build a new snowman together, and he has to be at least six feet tall.”

Both Alex’s and Glenn’s shoulders slumped. “I’ll help,” Josh volunteered. An experienced prosecutor, he surely sensed more trouble ahead.

“And you two have been out here long enough. You’re all soggy. It’s time to go inside and warm up with some hot cocoa,” Paige said to the kids. At the mention of hot cocoa, they ran toward the house. “You have to take off all your wet layers and put some dry clothes on first!” she called after them.

Hope’s feet were freezing in her stockinged heels and she began carefully making her way out of the snowy lawn. Gracie and Paige flanked her and began helping her, but before they could make it to the walkway, two different ringtones went off. She waited as Gracie fished her phone out from an inner pocket in her coat and Paige struggled to dig hers out from the back pocket of her purple snow pants. Hope had left her own phone in her purse inside the car, but they knew from experience that simultaneous ringtones going off could mean a family emergency.

“We’ve got like ten group texts from Grandma Sherry.” Gracie frowned.

“Is she okay?” Paige immediately began scrolling down her own screen.

Seconds later, both her sisters looked up and said, “He’s escaped!”

It was Hope’s turn to frown. “Who’s escaped?”

“Matt,” Gracie answered, and started to giggle. “Apparently, Ruby saw flames in the crystal ball and Helga and Hilda told him it meant he would burn in hell.” Hope bit her lip. She could just imagine the women delivering the news in their uniquely unfiltered, matter-of-fact fashion. Gracie kept scrolling. “After that, they read his tea leaves, and Ruby again saw a flame. Rosa said the flames in the crystal ball were a reflection of the candles, and that seeing the flame in the tea leaves was merely Ruby’s subconscious suggesting fire because she was now thinking of hell.”

“Then,” Paige, who had been following along on her phone, continued, “Hilda and Helga wanted to give Matt a banya—” she paused to look over at Alex who had been listening along with Glenn and Josh. “What’s a banya?” she asked.

Alex’s eyes took on a haunted look. “It’s supposed to like a sauna of sorts, but Aunt Helga and Grandma Hilda’s version of it is… more intense than that sounds. He was right to escape.”

“Come on, you know you have to tell us what their version of it is,” Glenn prodded.

“They strip you and stick you in an infernally hot steam room where they start thwacking you with twigs they’ve dipped into freezing-cold water.”

All but Josh remained silent at that. “Whatever for?” he asked, eyes wide.

Alex looked off into the distance. “For everything, man. They say it helps with everything from communication, to ridding you of illness, to cleansing your soul…”

“Doesn’t sound like it did you much good,” Glenn said.

“How about I have them come over and give you a banya right here and now. I’m sure they’re raring for a new soul to cleanse now that Matt got away.”

Before Glenn could answer, Paige cut in. “Anyway, Rosa also thought it was too much, an argument broke out, and that’s when Matt escaped.”

“Oh, well. That’s that,” Hope said, her teeth chattering. Her wool coat reached her knees, but her pants and stockings were wet. “Let’s go in and get some of that hot cocoa, now, ok-k-kay?”

Paige and Gracie took one look at her and immediately sprang into action. “Oh my gosh! You’re the only one of us not dressed to be out in the snow!” Paige cried as she put an arm around her shoulder. Gracie did the same and together they continued their trek up the house.

But the moment her right heel clicked on the walkway, a snowball smacked her right in the middle of her back. She swiveled so fast she nearly lost her balance. Her eyes narrowed when she saw Matt standing on the sidewalk, a defiant expression on his face… and two more snowballs in his fists. “What are you doing here?” she demanded, no longer shivering. In fact, she felt hot all over.

He raised an eyebrow and smiled a slow, insolent smile that made her armpits itch and her insides twist. “I don’t allow just anyone to strip me, bathe me, and thwack me with twigs.”

Bursts of ill-suppressed laughter reached her from every direction. Hope folded her arms. “You were afraid five little old ladies could do all that?”

Glenn, Alex, and Josh all snorted at that. Matt’s answer was a snowball to the left side of her chest, followed by a curved snowball, arching in the air, and heading straight to her head. Surprised by the first fast hit—and then distracted by the graceful pitch of the second—Hope stupidly looked up, and it landed on her face and inside her open mouth.

Glenn whistled. “Nice. You play baseball?”

“He was offered a scholarship to play at Ohio State, but he turned it down,” Josh informed him, clearly impressed. Then, in a more subdued tone, he said, “At least, that’s what Sherry said. She googled you. Not me. And it was in old newspaper clippings…”

So. They all knew more about Matt Williams than she did. Because they had all known she had been making a fool of herself in front of him for nearly a year. Hope spit the snow out of her mouth, cracked her neck, and locked eyes with the source of all her recent frustrations. Quick as a flash, she scooped up as much snow as she could hold, and ran at him with the intention of splattering as much of it as she could all over his neck, where it would hurt.

But the coward ran. Hope chased him around the house and into the backyard where she jumped onto his back and began grinding the snow onto his neck while he laughed. He lost his footing, and they toppled to the ground with simultaneous “umphs.” She immediately rolled off his back and he rolled onto his side, facing her. There was laughter in his eyes and she found herself smiling up at him, feeling warm and cold, out of breath, and alive.

After a moment, his expression became serious, and her eyes dropped to his mouth, to get away from his searching gaze. But that was a mistake. They looked firm, warm, and inviting. Her heartbeat sped up and breathing became difficult, but she couldn’t tell if it was because she sensed danger or anticipated a thrill.

“She got him!” a high-pitched voice called from behind, and Hope twisted to see her niece and nephew were jumping up and down on the deck.

“You’re shivering,” Matt said, alarmed, and began to get up.

Paige quickly came out and ordered the shoeless and coatless children back inside. Then she looked at Hope and Matt and ordered them inside, too. “You’re both in business suits and fancy wool coats that will now need a good dry cleaning! Now, come in and warm up before you both catch your death!”

Hope took a deep breath and allowed Matt to help her up. “It looks like our progress was being tracked,” she said, in as merry a tone as she could muster. “How did you find me here?” she asked next, to get them back on familiar territory.

“I went to your house, first, and when you weren’t there, I figured you were here,” he explained, as he began dusting the snow off.

“You were looking for me all over town?”

“Yes—but don’t flatter yourself. There was snow on the ground, and payback was my goal. And I got you right where I wanted to.”

Which either meant he’d wanted to hit her left boob and face, or her heart and her mouth. She cleared her throat. “How do you know where Paige lives?”

He gave her a look, as if he knew she was interrogating him to put distance between them. “Your family gave me every last piece of contact information they could to make sure I could find them in case you wandered over to my house again.”

“Well, I’m sure they never expected you to misuse the information,” she said in her most disapproving tone. She was still cold and hot and bothered, all at once, and not happy about it.

“I’m sure they didn’t, either. Now let’s get you inside before you freeze. Your lips are turning blue.” While his still looked warm. She shook her head and trekked inside.

Matt followed Hope inside, wishing he could pull Hope to him and kiss her lips until she was warm and flushed all over. The thought made him sweat on top of the cold, and soon he was shivering, too.

The moment he shut the sliding door behind them, Paige tossed a pair of sweats at Hope. “They’ll be a little long on you, but they’ll do. Go. Change,” she ordered. “And dry you hair. The blow-dryer is on my vanity.” She then looked at Matt, and her eyes were full of consternation. “I’m sorry—I don’t have anything for you to change into. But please come and sit by the fire and warm yourself, and I’ll make you some hot cocoa. We’d also love it if you stay for dinner. It should be ready in about half an hour.”

“Come, sit,” Gracie called from the fireplace. She was holding up a warm fuzzy blanket and waiting for him to sit so she could cover him up. His heart twisted at the entire scene before him. Two caring sisters, one offering food and another a blanket, two kids at the table doing their homework, and through the formal dining room’s large picture window, three men building a snowman. Somewhere in the house, Hope was changing and getting ready to get comfortable with her family. They all belonged, and he didn’t know how Hope would feel about him staying.

He smiled. “Thanks for the dinner invitation, but I’ve got to go now or I’ll be late to pick up Zeus.” He would have loved to warm up before leaving. Heck, he needed to warm up before leaving. But it would be best if he was gone before Hope came back down. So instead of sitting by the fire, he slipped off his shoes and began making his way to the front door, following the wet tracks the kids had already made.

“Wait—you shouldn’t go out again in your wet clothes!” Paige fretted behind him.

“I promise I’ll be fine,” he assured her. “And maybe one of the guys can give me a quick ride to my car? I’m parked in front of Hope’s place—it should take ten minutes, tops.” He hated to break up anyone’s fun, but he knew they wouldn’t let him walk.

“If you’re absolutely sure that’s what you want, I’m sure Josh won’t mind taking you,” Gracie said, coming up behind them. Matt turned to face her when he reached the front door. She gave him a bashful, lopsided smile. “He, uh, feels bad about pulling a gun on you. You’ve endured enough from us. This will give him a tiny chance to make it up to you.”

Paige’s eyes brightened. “And it’ll give Glenn and Alex ten minutes alone together. I think they can manage it without jumping down each other’s throats. They both really are trying.” Matt opened the door, and they all looked outside. Glenn and Alex were clearly in a silent competition to see who could pack the most snow onto the lower and upper body of the snowman. Alex, who was building the upper body, was winning, and it was making the snowman look like it had a giant beer belly. He shook his head. He knew a little about Glenn and Alex from local news. Glenn was Paige’s ex-husband, and Alex was the FBI agent who had investigated him. Glenn’s father had accidentally shot Alex a while back. It was a wonder they could be in each other’s company for even a minute.

“Hey, Josh,” Gracie called. Josh, who had been unsuccessfully trying to convince Alex to stop piling on snow, looked up. “Do you mind giving Matt here a ride to Manor Row?”

“Sure thing. Let’s go.”

Matt said his goodbyes just as he heard Hope calling, “Who wants to play Monopoly with Aunt Hope?”

“No one!” replied a burst of loud, firm voices from both the inside and outside of the house. Matt bit back a smile and began lugging his feet down the front steps, whishing he could stay and learn the reason behind such a vehement and unanimous response.

* * *

Later that night, Hope lounged on the armchair beside the fireplace at Paige’s house and pretended to work on her laptop while her grandmother and her sisters chatted and laughed. It was a familiar scene. The kids were in bed by eight, and the adults who could linger would sit around the fireplace and chat for a while, at least once or twice a week, depending on their schedules. It was comfortable. Normally.

That night, not so much. Grandma Sherry was filling her sisters in on Matt’s visit with them at the café, and it was obvious they all really liked him. It had been clear, too, during dinner, when the kids had been reliving Hope chasing Matt around the house in her heels, and the adults had all laughed and wished he’d stayed for dinner.

Hope knew it had been her fault he hadn’t. From the moment he’d mentioned kissing her, she’d put distance between them. And she didn’t regret it. Not until she’d looked across the table to the only empty chair and pictured Matt sitting there and grinning at her. It was the damnedest thing. And it was upsetting. It wasn’t even that the man was worming his way into her life. No. He was no worm. But he was smiling his way into her good graces.

It didn’t help that Matt was good friends with Rosa’s grandson, Marty, and with Johnny Amador, the town’s resident elf, who was engaged to Marty’s sister. The writing was on the wall. Matt would soon be a member of the Spinning Hills tribe.

If she weren’t attracted to him, it wouldn’t be a problem for her. He’d be a nice addition. She was big enough to admit that. But she hadn’t both really liked and been attracted to someone since Derek. It felt both terrible and amazing at once, and the combination made her heart turn over. Her body instantly associated any inkling of attraction and every little burst of trust in men with awful feelings.

“What’s up? Why the face? You look like you have indigestion,” Grandma Sherry said.

“I do,” Hope said. “I should probably go home.”

Strangely enough, they let her go. Obviously, they believed her. And no wonder. She hadn’t felt so nauseous in years. Maybe she was coming down with a horrendous stomach flu, and her feelings of ickiness had nothing to do with the past and nothing to do with Matt. A girl could hope.

On her way home, she made a plan. Having one ready always worked to make her feel in control. The one she came up with wasn’t her best, but it felt like it could work.

Number three had worked a few times over the years. One kiss was all it ever took. Even if it wasn’t bad, it was never as good as the anticipation of it…and it was never as good as her first kiss. Sweet and explosive. Filled with tender love. Because she’d loved Derek, oh so much. Nobody would ever understand it. Her stomach calmed down as an old, muted sadness settled in. It was so old and it had been with her so long, it was comforting.

When she got home, she fired up the computer, as thoughts of Derek reminded her of something that Matt had said. That maybe Derek had entered the witness protection program. It was beyond ridiculous. It was a downright stupid idea. But it was something she hadn’t considered before, and she’d promised herself she’d do everything she could to find Derek and see if that didn’t “cure” her. So, silly as it was, she did a little research about the witness protection program. But what she found didn’t jibe at all with anything she knew about Derek. It did, however, make her think of Matt.

A few websites stated that the US Marshals advised people who were changing their identities to keep their original initials. It made her relive the moment Mrs. Caputo said Matt’s initials out loud, and how Matt, who was usually so easygoing, had reacted with hostility.

But the idea that Matt Williams, who had lived in the region since he was eight, had been hiding from some sort of mobster or crime boss for twenty years was too farfetched to entertain. She rolled her eyes at herself before clicking on a link that had the most common names in the United States; a list people changing their identities were also advised to choose from. Would she be able to guess what first and last name Derek would choose? She began scanning and almost immediately stopped.

Number two on the list of most popular male names for people in her age group was Matthew, and number three on the list of most common surnames in the United States was Williams.

Feeling like a cyber-stalking middle-schooler, Hope googled him, as her grandmother had done. After ten minutes of reading, she found herself frowning again. His name appeared in countless articles. From the time he’d been an all-star in high school to his work with the DBDA. Everything from baseball stats to dean’s lists to impressive business deals in the region. But not one photograph. Not even on the DBDA’s website, where every other employee smiled at her from the screen. On top of his name there was only a gray egg.

As if she’d conjured him up, an email from Matt popped up on her screen. She opened it and clicked on the only content within it: a link to a Twitter account with the handle @DaytonBusinessDevelopmentAlliance. Their last post was a picture of her in the sunroom of the building they’d toured, looking out at the gray skies. The succinct tweet read, “Friendly Clicks CFO tours possible future office space + reflects on Wright Brothers & how their work during long winters changed the world.” It had garnered over a hundred likes and over fifty retweets. Matt seemed to have faith in her ability to solve her problems and stay. The thought warmed her, as did the idea that he was at his computer now, too, connected to her. Ridiculous.

She sighed, closed her laptop, closed her eyes, and massaged her head. She was not acting like herself. Clearly she’d been sleeping too little. But at least she had hit on a way to keep Matt at arm’s length. The consensus, so far, was that as friendly and charming as he was, and as open as he seemed, he didn’t ever talk about himself. Putting him on the spot could be a way to put distance between them. So far, she had resisted asking him about himself so they wouldn’t get closer. It was enough that he knew too much about her. But that strategy had her constantly deflecting.

It was time to turn the tables on him.