Between You and Me

by Lynn Turner

  He seemed apprehensive for a moment, but handed them both to her. “I need you to sign that.”

  “Excuse me?”

  “Please, just sign it and I’ll explain after.”

  Her curious gaze moved from his eyes to the paper. She scanned the page and brought her eyes to his again, this time in disbelief. “Seriously? A non-disclosure agreement? Finn—”

  “I know it’s crazy, but it’s something I’ve given a lot of thought…I wouldn’t ask if I didn’t think it was absolutely necessary.”

  She was in business mode now, her instincts kicking in. “You’re aware that this agreement won’t stand in the event that you disclose something illegal to me?”

  She registered his nod and signed the agreement, handing it back to him. He folded the paper and tucked it into his back pocket.

  “Thank you, Emmi.”

  “I trust you, Finn, but you’re freaking me out.”

  He smiled and reached for her hand. “C’mon, I wanna show you something.”

  He led her to the office, motioning for her to sit at the desk, then clicked on the monitor. She sat patiently, watching him navigate to an untitled folder and open it. Inside, there must have been a hundred photos of men, women, and children of all ages. He clicked on one, and the round face of a very wise looking adolescent girl filled the screen. It wasn’t her pretty braids or her larger-than-life smile that caught Emanuela’s attention. It was the purple, toy-like prosthetic arm posed in a wave, that made Emanuela’s eyes widen in shock. Considering what she’d just signed, Emanuela knew it wasn’t a toy.

  “That’s Maddie,” Finn said. “She’s twelve, from Haiti. Wants to be a doctor. Lost her arm in the big earthquake several years back. That’s her second arm. The first one was pink.”

  “Finn—” Her mind reeled.

  Finn closed the photo and opened another, and another, and another. A patient who lost a hand in a factory accident, a mine worker, a birth defect…

  “Oh my God,” she said, overwhelmed.

  He told her about the 3D printer in Simon’s garage, the program he wrote to custom design each prosthetic device, and the encrypted email system he used to keep his work under the radar. He told her about how he’d wanted to say something for weeks, but the timing was never right. She took a moment to process what she was seeing.

  “Say something, Emmi.”

  She rubbed her temples, finally tearing her eyes from the screen to look up at him. “I— This is…I can’t begin to tell you how big a conflict of interest this is, Finn.”

  “I know.” He dragged his fingers through his hair.

  “And the ethics concerns trouble me even more. I mean, I know how good you are, but these devices haven’t been certified in any way— Some of those patients are so young.”

  “Believe me, I’ve taken all of this into consideration. Many times. If it helps, I’ve tested them myself to determine what they’re able to withstand. I make sure to provide clear instructions to each patient for how to operate them safely. These aren’t robotic devices, Emmi. They’re very simple, meant for normal, everyday tasks.”

  “I believe you, Finn,” she said earnestly, reaching for his hands. “I believe every word, and I know how much this must mean to you.” She sighed, knowing she was about to ask something impossible of him. “It’s incredible what you’ve done. If I had any other job I’d stop there, but you know I can’t.”

  He nodded. “I can guess where this was going.”

  “I have to ask that you don’t print any more devices until I can work something out. Your smart limbs haven’t hit the market yet, and if—”

  “Emmi.” He went to his knees in front of her. “I’m telling you this as your lover, not as your colleague.”

  “Finn…”

  “I know the risk, but so many people rely on these devices. If I stop sending them, who knows where they’ll get them? If they get integrated into the same product line as the neuroprosthetics, the patients would never be able to afford them! I don’t want people who’ve already suffered tragedy to get hurt even worse because they don’t know what they’re doing, or because they’re being screwed by the system.”

  “You’re decided then,” she said, knowing his answer before he said it.

  “I am.”

  “And Simon?”

  “He knows. He signed the same agreement.”

  She nodded, taking his face in her hands. “You are—I don’t know if I should be hitting you or kissing you.”

  “Maybe both?”

  She smacked him in the shoulder, then bent to press her lips to his. “You make me crazy,” she whispered, “but I’ve never been more proud of you.”

  ****

  They stayed in that evening, feeling their time together coming to a close. They didn’t want to spend the final hours anywhere else but snuggled up in Finn’s cozy bed, the heat from the fireplace keeping them warm.

  “So,” Emanuela said, his face nuzzling her neck, “are you hiding any other shady business besides shipping limbs overseas?”

  He groaned and she giggled at the vibration against her throat.

  “I’m just making sure you aren’t part of a mob or—ah!” She gasped, her nipple caught between Finn’s teeth.

  She slid her fingers into his hair, the teasing remark on her tongue instantly forgotten. She held him to her, squirming at the expert hands roaming her body beneath the covers.

  “Hold still, or I’ll have to hold you down,” he said in his deep, velvet tone.

  Her sighs grew heavier, his open mouth trailing along her tummy, his tongue swirling her belly button. Her body jerked in response, and he growled.

  She moaned. “Not fair.”

  He ignored her, positioning his head between her thighs, his hands planting her hips firmly in place. “Tell me again.”

  “I love you,” she whispered. She repeated it many more times before she fell asleep that night.

  Chapter Twenty

  “Morning, Sunshine,” Emanuela said through her Bluetooth device.

  “Well, not yet.”

  “I’m sorry. I thought you’d be up watching that beautiful sunrise of yours by now.”

  The clock on her console read 8:14. She’d been driving along Eighty West for about an hour and could no longer resist the temptation to call him.

  “Yeah, well you ruined that for me, Emmi. It’s not the same without you here.”

  The image of a warm, more vulnerable Finn with his tousled bed-head waves filled her mind and she smiled. “I doubt that very much,” she said, momentarily distracted until she succeeded putting her car in cruise.

  “How much farther do you have to go?”

  “A few more hours still.”

  “I wish I was there with you.”

  “Me too, but it’s better for my mother when I ease her into things,” she said. “Besides, she’ll have a ton of questions, and this way we won’t have to pretend we aren’t talking about you.”

  “Ah, I see. How is she?”

  “She’s good. Going on six months now without any new episodes. I’m sure she’ll be beside herself when I tell her about you.”

  “And your dad?”

  “Well…”

  “I thought as much.”

  “Don’t take it personally. He dragged Greg with him on an eight-hour fly fishing excursion that started at four in the morni—”

  Finn lost it, and she couldn’t blame him. A city slicker like Greg up to his waist in the great outdoors was a mental image so ridiculous, Finn’s fit of laughter filtered through the phone and bit her, sending her into a round herself.

  “Hey, it’s not that funny,” she said when she could speak again.

  “Oh, it’s exactly that funny.” He chuckled again and then quieted. “I like fishing.”

  “I know.”

  She did know. Because he’d told her over the phone—or maybe video chat. She couldn’t remember. She was sick of both methods of communication.


  “It’s been three weeks,” Finn said.

  She sighed. “I know. It’s been busy at the office, especially with Philip away—”

  “He’s still punishing you?”

  “Avoiding me. At least I think he is. He emails regularly and conferences in on occasion, but he’s been attending more forums this season than usual.”

  “Emmi—”

  “It’s okay, I can handle it.”

  “You shouldn’t have to.”

  She didn’t begrudge Philip his time away to sort himself out. She understood, and was making use of the time herself. “This is good for me. I work well under pressure, and I think I’ve shown that I’m capable of keeping the firm afloat while he’s away.”

  “Of course you are.”

  She didn’t need the reassurance. Her work spoke for itself, but it mattered to her to hear such conviction from Finn. “Thank you, for having so much faith in me.”

  He gave her what was quickly becoming her favorite response. “Ditto.”

  She smiled. “It just occurred to me that you are about to meet everyone important to me in less than a week.”

  “That has occurred to me more than once.”

  She laughed softly. “Don’t be nervous. They’ll love you.”

  “All I know is that I love you. Just lay it on thick with your parents, okay? Make me look good.”

  “I’ll do the best I can.”

  “Smartass. Call me tonight. I know you’ll be busy catching up, but I just want to hear your voice.”

  “I will. And Finn?”

  “Hmm?”

  “Ditto.”

  ****

  Emanuela turned onto the smooth, black road leading to her parents’ Tudor style home just after eleven o’clock. The neighborhood mimicked an English country village, with plenty of lush green lawns, trees, and stately homes of free-flowing brick and traditional timber. She took a deep breath and pulled into her parents’ driveway. The earth was still damp from a summer rain, the smell of fresh pavement and newly cut grass blending in the warm air to welcome her home as they’d done so many times before. She grinned, hearing the front door open seconds after she shut the car door.

  “Hi, Dad.” She trotted up the steps to hug him. “Did Mom have you keeping watch by the window again?”

  Ethan bent to her ear. “Just for the last thirty minutes or so, but it’s okay, I had something to read.” He stood back and pulled the newspaper from his back pocket with a waggle of his brows.

  She shook her head in amusement, following him through the door. Her mouth watered at the tantalizing smell of meat cooking, and her stomach grumbled right on cue.

  “All right, come on,” Ethan said. “Let’s get something else in you besides coffee.”

  “What smells so good?” she asked, following him through the house to the back yard.

  “What else? Venison!” Ethan opened the sliding door. “That city living messed up your nose.”

  She wrinkled her nose in response.

  “Ethan, you leave her alone.” Mira made her way toward them from the grill. “There aren’t any deer in the city until Christmas.”

  “Mom.” Emanuela gawked at her mother’s sexy blue halter dress beneath her apron and the three-inch sandals on her dainty feet. “Whoa. You look hot!”

  “Thank you, baby,” Mira said with a little extra sway to her hips before wrapping Emanuela in a warm hug. “Trying to keep things spicy.”

  “Ugh, Mom.”

  “Oh hush.” Mira looked her daughter over with blatant curiosity. “Your skin is glowing, baby. And you look a little fuller—”

  “Mom…”

  Mira cocked her head to the side. “What else is different about you?”

  “Nothing.” Emanuela tried not to fidget under her mother’s keen eye.

  Mira opened her mouth to say something else when Ethan cut in. “Let her get settled in before you start dissecting her, woman. You know she gets skittish when we ask too many questions.”

  “Mmmm,” Mira mumbled. Her gaze burned into her daughter’s for a long second before she turned away.

  Emanuela sighed. Her mother would dig into her later, but for now, she listened to her parents recount their romantic train ride through the Adirondacks the weekend before, and Mira chatter away about the wonders of meditation for her sometimes overactive mind. Catching up was more than enough to carry them through their midday meal.

  “So,” Mira said after they’d cleaned their plates a second time. “Are you going to tell us who’s got you so excited about us coming out next weekend, or are we supposed to guess?”

  Emanuela’s eyes snapped up and locked with her mother’s.

  “What are you talking abou—” Ethan said, but Mira quickly shushed him.

  Emanuela groaned inwardly. If she hadn’t frozen like a deer in headlights, she wouldn’t have given herself away.

  “She met someone,” Mira said. “And since we haven’t been introduced to anyone since Greg, I’m guessing it’s pretty serious.”

  Ethan looked at his daughter. “Emanuela?”

  A slow grin spread across Emanuela’s face. Busted. “How do you always do that?” she asked Mira in astonishment. Without waiting for a response, she answered her mother’s question. “Do you remember the project we took on a few months ago? The one with the scientists from Seattle?”

  “The gentlemen with the robots?” Ethan asked.

  Emanuela smiled blissfully at Ethan’s words, and then saw the look of anticipation on her mother’s face and continued, “Something like that. As it turns out, I met one of them—Doctor Kane—last year during my trip to Chicago. His proposal crossed my desk a few months ago and since I’m lead on this one, we’ve been working pretty closely all this time—”

  “How closely?”

  “Ethan!” Mira said. “Let her finish!”

  “We hit it off really well when we met again for this project, so we started seeing each other right away and I… We’re—”

  “You love him.” Mira held Emanuela’s gaze.

  Ethan was incredulous. “Don’t be ridiculous. She’s known the guy for five minutes!”

  “Ridiculous? I know our daughter. She’s been grinning like a kitten since she got here, and when is the last time she pushed this hard for us to visit her in the city? We embarrass her. She hates public displays.”

  “She was with Greg for two years.”

  “She never said she loved him.”

  Emanuela swallowed, at a loss at her mother’s powers of perception.

  “She didn’t say she loved this doctor either,” Ethan said.

  “I love him, Dad.”

  He threw his hands up in surrender, grunting at the smug look on his wife’s face.

  “Well, we look forward to meeting this…” Mira looked to Emanuela for an assist.

  “Finn.”

  “What is a Finn?” Ethan asked, ignoring Mira’s glare this time. “What kind of name is that? Is he European?”

  “It’s a family name, Dad. Short for Finnegan. But there’s something else.”

  Ethan looked at her expectantly.

  “Go ahead, baby,” said Mira.

  “They aren’t robots,” Emanuela said. “The devices Finn developed are called smart limbs. Prosthetics with the ability to communicate with the brain.” She licked her lips. “Once they’re out on the market, he’ll be able to use one himself. For his leg.”

  It took a moment, but when the information sank in, even Mira looked stunned. “You’re saying he’s missing a leg?”

  Emanuela stiffened. She expected they’d have questions, but she didn’t expect to feel so…on edge. Protective. “I’m saying he sustained an injury that resulted in some limb loss. He uses a prosthesis so he can have the same functionality as everyone else.”

  “What happened?” Ethan asked. “Is he a vet?”

  She saw something in her father’s eyes she hadn’t seen in years. Fear. Something clicked and she understood. “I
t happened a long time ago. A car accident when he was a kid. His parents died and his leg was crushed. But he’s as capable as you are.” She grinned. “Maybe more.”

  Ethan looked pained and Mira burst into laughter.

  “Ethan,” she said between laughs, “you look like she just told you she’s seeing a Martian.”

  “Sorry, Dad. Couldn’t resist.” Emanuela snickered, then sobered. “Dating Finn has its challenges, but I’m happier than I’ve ever been. Like you and Mom.”

  Ethan looked at Mira and his expression softened.

  Emanuela understood. All the years, good and bad, were flooding her memory, too. They converged to this single moment in time, and her parents looked the happiest they’d ever been.

  Ethan smiled at his daughter. “Just give me a minute, Baby,” he said. “Maybe two, with that name.”

  “So you’ll be nice?”

  He sat back, crossing his arms over his chest. “I’m always nice.”

  Mira and Emanuela shot him the same dubious glare and he chuckled. “I’ll be nice! What is it with you two?”

  After sharing another laugh, Mira ordered Ethan into the house so she could have a moment alone with their daughter. “Come on, baby,” she said, getting up from the table. “Let’s go put our feet in.”

  They sat at the edge of the natural pool in the spacious back yard, shoulder-to-shoulder, their legs dangling over the side and their feet enjoying a soothing soak. The water lilies were in full bloom, bursts of soft pink and pale purple among the lily pads dotting the surface. Little ripples could be seen now and then when nature’s smaller creatures came to share the pool.

  “I’ll talk to your father,” Mira said. “He’s a cynic, you know that. I don’t blame him after what we’ve been through over the years. But I’m so happy for you, baby. Sometimes I worry about you working so much.”

  Emanuela smiled, looking down at her feet, slowly kicking them back and forth in the water. “I know. I never minded it before. I like working. It’s just…” She licked her lips and thought for a moment. “I don’t want to do this job forever. I guess I thought I would be content with the way things are for a while longer, until I figure out what I wanted to do. But lately it’s not enough for me anymore. I still enjoy it, just not as much.”