“What if they don’t feel the same way?”
“That’s the risk we take when we give our heart to another. But don’t fear it. Don’t be like your father. You love and keep on loving.”
“But what if Kane—”
“Darling, he would be a fool not to love you, but don’t let that stop you. You’re young, and you will probably fall in love many more times. Enjoy each go-around and learn what you’re meant to from each relationship.”
I knew I was naive; even so, I couldn’t imagine falling in love with anyone but Kane. He was it. I knew it. My heart felt at home with him.
“Thank you, Naomi. I love you.”
“That’s the best love right there.”
~*~
I went back to the office still unsure if Kane loved me, but I knew I loved him, and that was what was important. Not to say I didn’t hope that he loved me or wouldn’t be hurt if he didn’t, but I was at peace knowing my own heart and mind. Really that’s what this summer had been for me—coming to know myself. I couldn’t believe that in a few weeks it would be over.
I tried to get back to work as soon as I returned, but I was anxious to hear how Kane’s meeting had gone with my father. I swore I read the same paragraph fifteen times on my laptop, before I gave up and stared aimlessly at the ceiling from my spot on the floor. Just when I started counting the ceiling tiles, Kane knocked on my door before letting himself in.
He quickly closed the door behind him, looking a bit shell shocked. His eyes were darting all over, and he was breathing heavily, as if he’d come from a workout.
I stood with a huge knot in my stomach. “What happened?” I eeked out.
Kane ran a hand through his hair. “It was good. Better than good.”
I let out a huge sigh of relief. “Really?” I approached him. “What did he say?”
Kane swallowed hard. “Uh . . . well . . . he’s happy with my work. Very pleased,” he stumbled on his words.
“Of, course he is.” I threw my arms around him.
Kane stood stiffly.
I dropped my arms and stood back. “Is everything all right?”
He shook his head as if trying to get his thoughts straight. He reached for me and wrapped me in his arms. “I’m sorry, darlin’.”
I rested my head against his chest. His heart was pounding. “Are you sure everything is okay?”
He stroked my hair. “Yes. It went better than expected.”
I relaxed a bit. “I’m so glad. I was worried.”
He kissed my head and lingered there. “Scarlett, I’m going to need to cancel our plans tonight. I have an important project I need to work on for Augustus,” he growled his name if I wasn’t mistaken.
I tried to pull away, but Kane wouldn’t let me go. “I promise, everything is okay,” he answered my unspoken plea.
I heard him say the words, but I didn’t feel them. “Kane?”
“Darlin’,” he choked out, “I promise, I’ll make it up to you tomorrow. In fact, can we change our plans? Let’s do Edge of the World tomorrow instead of Stone Mountain.”
Weird. I thought he was saving Edge of the World to cap off our summer list of dates. It was one of Kane’s favorite places. All summer he’d been going on and on about how beautiful the waterfalls were and how it was the perfect swimming hole.
“Sure. What time should I be ready?”
“Does ten work for you?”
I nodded against him.
He gripped me tighter. “Scarlett . . . I . . . I . . .”
“What?” I felt nervous. Something was off.
He didn’t say anything. Instead, he grabbed my face using the three-finger method and pressed his lips to mine. He’d never kissed me before in the office. And this wasn’t just any kiss. His tongue was urgent and demanding, making my lips part and then prodding as far and as fast as it could go. He held my face so tight, as if begging me not to let go. I had no intention of letting him go. I loved him. I let myself drown in him minute upon minute while he devoured my lips and mouth, until I was only breathing him in.
And just as urgently as the kiss started, it ended. He broke away from me and peered into my eyes as if he were trying to commit them to memory. “Scarlett, you are one of the best things that has ever happened to me. Please don’t ever forget that.”
Did that sound like he loved me too? I wasn’t brave enough yet to say how I truly felt; all I could say was, “I feel the same way about you.”
He gave me a half smile before kissing my brow. “Your father wants to see you in his office. I’ll see you tomorrow.” He left before I could even comprehend what had happened or say goodbye.
I stared at the door for several moments, trying to gather my thoughts and decipher Kane’s words and actions. I wasn’t sure it was possible. Normally, I would embarrass myself and ask him, and maybe I would tomorrow when we were alone. For now, I needed to see Auggie, which was weird, too. He’d never called me to his office before. And why would he ask Kane to tell me?
I stepped out of my office and was met with several stares, mostly from admins who worked in the cubicles across from me. Some of them literally popped up when they heard my door open. I’m sure they had noticed Kane coming in and staying for a while. Some of the men wore sly smiles. The women were a mixture of narrowed eyes and pouty lips. I’d gotten used to it. Sort of. I knew a lot of women in the office were envious of me. I couldn’t blame them. Kane was the best.
I hustled toward Auggie’s office to avoid getting the full force of each glance and stare. When I reached the executive wing, I was greeted by Sir Randall, who jumped up from his desk and saluted me. “Hello, young lady.”
I saluted him back. “Hello, Sir Randall.”
“Your father’s waiting for you.”
I nodded and turned to enter through the large, dark, wood, double doors, but before I could, Randall said something odd. “Keep your chin up, honey.”
I whipped my head toward him to respond, but he marched off double time. What was up with everyone? It made me more nervous to knock on my father’s door. But knock I did.
“Enter,” Auggie’s gruff voice called out.
With trepidation, I turned the gold knob and pushed the door open. Every time I entered Auggie’s office, I looked around in wonder. It was stately, though light and airy, which was such a contradiction of his character. His massive glass desk sat back in the large office that also housed a long conference table set near a giant screen used for presentations. Additionally, he had a seating area with a couch, two chairs, and a minibar.
Auggie stood as I crept toward him, not saying anything. Even though his office was large, he loomed larger in his dark suit and tie. “Have a seat, Scarlett.” He pointed at the couch.
This day was getting weirder and weirder. I thought this would be a quick trip in and out. I obeyed and made a detour for the seating area. The beige couch was stiff and uncomfortable, kind of like Auggie, but I didn’t say that out loud. Especially when he took a seat next to me, holding a leather-bound book. Wait? Was that a photo album?
Auggie tapped the album with one hand and adjusted his yellow tie with the other. “I wanted to give you something.”
Yep, this was definitely going down as a weird day.
“Okay.” I stared at the album.
“Callie, your mother . . .,” he whispered. He never, ever spoke Momma’s name.
Tears filled my eyes just hearing it. Even more hearing Auggie say it so tenderly. Maybe it was unusual to miss someone you never knew, but I did miss her. And more than anything, I missed my father.
“She would want you to have this.” Auggie handed over the photo album, though when I grabbed it, he didn’t let go. “Scarlett, don’t live in the past. You have a bright future ahead of you.”
I didn’t think I did live in the past. I mean, my past wasn’t all that wonderful, unless you counted the past summer. I planned to relive that for a long time. But I did look forward to the future. A fut
ure with Kane in it.
Auggie let go of the album, and I cradled it to me, wondering what was inside. But I didn’t dare look as Auggie’s eyes pleaded with me not to open it in front of him.
“Is that all?” my voice shook.
He took a moment to answer. “I . . .” He paused. So unlike him. He let out a heavy breath. “You’ve done a good job this summer. Pamela was impressed with your reports.”
“I’m glad.”
He hastily stood.
I jumped up too. “I guess I’ll go now. Thank you for the album.”
Before I could leave, Auggie gently grabbed my arm. “Scarlett, you may not understand why I do the things I do, but I do them with your best interests at heart.”
“Do you really?” I wasn’t sure he knew what was best for me. How could he when he hardly knew me?
His eyes widened. “Please don’t doubt me,” he pleaded. He breezed past me as if embarrassed he’d shown some actual emotion.
I guessed that was my cue to leave, so I turned toward the door in a daze, stunned by his response. It left me wondering not only if Kane loved me but if my father did too.
The Beginning of the End
It was hard to imagine I had ever been so small. I brushed my fingers over a picture of me sleeping peacefully in my father’s arms. I had to say, I was pretty adorable. Who knew I had been born with my crazy dark curls? My hair was as unruly then as it was now. I was torn between continuing to absorb the photo album Auggie had given me and getting ready for my date with Kane. It was a testament to the power the pictures held. I didn’t think anything could keep me away from Kane, especially since we’d missed our date last night and I was worried about him after the scene in my office yesterday. I kept reliving his kiss, which still had my lips feeling swollen, and his words—that I was one of the best things that had ever happened to him.
However, those pictures of me as a baby with my beautiful momma so full of life and with Auggie looking so happy were special beyond words. They were the only proof in existence that I had a momma and that my father had once loved me. The man who’d cradled me so gently and smiled down on his infant baby girl—me—that man didn’t exist anymore. I think that that Augustus would have wanted to be called Daddy instead of Auggie. The fact that he had given me evidence he was once a different man still had me in shock. Why, after all these years, did he share it with me?
I hadn’t let go of it since I’d left Auggie’s office. I’d pored over every page several times, trying to inhale my first year of life, documented by my momma. Everything from my birth to my first steps. Her little captions under some of the pictures were treasures. A few of my favorites were:
Daddy and his favorite girl.
Sweet baby girl said her first word today. Of course it was Dada.
I don’t care how tired I am—when I see this girl smile at me in the middle of the night, I can’t help but think I’m the luckiest woman in the world.
I sat up on my bed, set the photo album next to me, and wiped some tears out of my eyes. I desperately wanted to know how Momma could seem so happy in the pictures, then just days after some of them were taken, take her own life. Did Momma hide her demons? Is that why Auggie had never come to terms with her death?
Maybe I should bring the album with me. Perhaps Kane could give some insight, and I knew he would love to see it. It would make him smile and give him something to tease me about. I could tell he had still been down when he’d texted me before I fell asleep last night. Good night, darlin’, was all he’d said. Normally, he would text something longer and sexier like, I can’t stop thinking about you. You don’t know how often I look at the empty pillow next to me and imagine your hair splayed across it and you smiling back at me. I would blush even when I was alone before I texted back that I couldn’t wait for that day. Then I would drift off to sleep the happiest woman in the world.
Bringing the album, though, probably wasn’t feasible. We would be hiking to Edge of the World and then swimming. I didn’t want anything to happen to it. I would show him later tonight after we got back. We had plenty of time together before I left for school, assuming Auggie didn’t have any more unexpected business trips to send him on. School, I sighed. Three more weeks.
Normally I couldn’t wait to get back to school, but Kane had me wishing for an endless summer of being in his arms. This summer was nothing like I had envisioned. I’d thought living at home with Lady Deathstrike was going to be torturous; instead, it had ended up being the best summer of my life. While Eva would never be my favorite, her son always would be. I smiled, thinking back to our parents’ wedding. How our relationship began with him rescuing me from getting my hand stuck in my lacy bra, all due to my ring and those pesky cake crumbs that had taken a deep dive down my chest. That would be quite the story to tell as we got older.
Kane had not only rescued me from an embarrassing situation—he’d saved me from myself this summer. For the first time in my life, I saw myself for who I really was, and I loved who I saw. I loved him, too, even though I had been too afraid to say it. What if he didn’t feel the same way? He did say he would make time to see me as often as he could while I was at school, and that I was one of the best things that had ever happened to him. And it’s not like Samford was that far away. It was barely over a two-hour drive. We could see each other every weekend. I liked the sound of that. Maybe Kane and I could make a list of everything we wanted to do in the fall. Or maybe we would have to finish off part of our summer list, since Auggie had kind of put a damper on it. We had five more items to go after today: Starlight Drive-In, Sips Under the Sea at the aquarium, Stone Mountain, the outdoor concert series at the Wildflower Meadow at Serenbe, and the botanical garden.
Maybe I should brave telling him how I truly felt. Wasn’t it Kane who always told me not to be afraid of who I was? Well, I was a woman in love.
I squeezed the photo album one more time before jumping off my bed and hustling to get ready for the day. That meant throwing on my red swimsuit and cutoffs before pulling up my load of curls. My skin was so sun kissed from our summer of fun that makeup wasn’t even a thought. Not that Kane cared if I wore makeup or not. He didn’t even care about my freshman fifteen. And by some miracle, I didn’t either. Who knew I could feel so comfortable about my body? It was sad I had never taken the time to appreciate it until this summer. But from here on out, this was a whole new world for me. Scarlett Armstrong was going to live her dreams; you know, as soon as I told my father I didn’t want to take over his company and would be specializing in forensic pathology. I still didn’t know how to broach that conversation, especially after yesterday in his office. If I only felt secure in Auggie’s love, this would be a no-brainer. But I feared what telling him would do to our very delicate and almost nonexistent relationship.
Thankfully, I had something else to look forward to before that dreaded conversation. The doorbell rang, and I raced down the stairs with my bag full of towels, sunscreen, and lip balm. I planned on lots of kissing.
Auggie got to the door before I could. It was odd to have him home on a Saturday morning. He was usually golfing with other executives in the area, or at the office. It shouldn’t have surprised me, though. He’d been acting off all summer. However, I wasn’t used to him doing anything fatherly like meeting a date at the door.
Before Auggie opened the door, he gave me a once-over. His troubled hazel eyes narrowed, and he let out a deep sigh.
“Is something wrong?”
He ran a hand through his thick, yet thinning, dyed-brown hair. “Be careful, Scarlett.” I wished he would stop saying that to me this summer. I didn’t know what Auggie was so worried about. Kane was all for me finishing my education, and it wasn’t like he and I were planning on running off and getting married. Besides, Kane encouraged me to reach my career goals. And, hopefully, my other goals that involved him.
“Auggie, I’m always careful.”
He pressed his lips together, making the l
ines around his eyes more pronounced. Sometimes, I forgot Auggie was getting older. He chased his youth like he ran away from real connections. How he ran away from me.
“Just remember you’re young.”
I was tired of that catchphrase this summer too.
When I didn’t respond, Auggie opened the door.
There Kane stood, wearing my favorite swim trunks, the Hawaiian ones. The ones he’d worn the first time we’d gone swimming together in our pool. My knees went weak thinking of the heated kisses we’d shared that night. Kane wore something else that caught my attention—a look of contempt for my father. Auggie sighed and hung his head, which wasn’t like him at all. I was confused as I looked between the two men. What was going on?
Auggie let out a meaningful deep breath and walked off, not saying a word to Kane or me. Before I could ask what that all meant, Kane pulled me to him and took my face in his strong hands. His minty breath was intoxicating, as were his beautiful eyes. I loved when he didn’t shave and left a dark layer of stubble on his angular, tanned face.
“Is everything okay?”
“It is now.” He gently brushed my lips with his own.
My body erupted in an explosion of tingles, per its usual whenever Kane kissed me.
Kane grabbed my hand and my bag and rushed us over to his car waiting front and center in the circular drive, next to the large fountain stepmother number six had installed. She’d felt the property needed it. As soon as we made it to his car, he took off my glasses and tossed them in the bag before dropping it on the ground; then he pushed me up against his car. His lips didn’t waste a second before slamming into mine.
He held my hands and pressed them against my thighs while his body pinned me against his car, as if he couldn’t get close enough to me. He parted my lips and tasted me deeply, so deep I could hardly catch a breath. I wasn’t complaining. Though I wondered if anyone from the house was watching our very public display of affection. And I began to worry, as this kiss felt reminiscent of yesterday’s in my office. Urgent. Where was the urgency coming from?
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