I smiled.
“Whoa, what’s that smile?” Landon asked. “It can only mean a woman.”
“The neighbor, actually.”
“The one who doesn’t want to date?”
“The very one.”
“What’s the text say? Did she change her mind?”
I re-read the message. “I can’t tell. She friend-zoned me, but now she’s asking if I want to go to a museum Saturday.”
“Like a date?”
I thought back to our last conversation. “I don’t think so. She’s pretty stubborn. I think she means as friends.”
“And this is a chick you want to be friends with and go hang out with in museums?”
I was quiet long enough that he stepped out of the strike zone to watch me more closely and let the next pitch pass.
“You like her,” he said.
“I did.”
“Go to the museum Saturday.”
But I was already shaking my head. “Bad idea. I need more distance before I can honestly say I’d be there as her friend.”
“You got moves. You could change her mind.”
I gave him my best big brother “knock it off” stare. “No, dummy. It’s not a game. I’m listening and respecting her because that’s what good guys do.”
He scoffed. “Sure. Good guys who don’t want to date their gran’s hot neighbors. But you do want to date her.”
“Maybe me from a few months ago would have agreed with you. But after looking into Ri—uh, Bad Guy, pushing the issue is what he would do. And I won’t be like that.”
“Fair enough.” He seemed to lose interest as he focused on the incoming pitches, hitting more than he missed.
I kept reading over Brooke’s message, trying hard to figure out how to respond. I knew what I wanted to say. But I finally texted back what I knew I should say. Wish I could but slammed with work. Have a good time.
Her reply came several minutes later. Will save it for another time with you. Think I’ll spend the morning with Willard instead.
Willard? Who? I texted back.
The mega-toothed shark exhibit at the Natural History Museum. I have a thing for him.
I snorted. Sounds dead sexy.
Well, dead anyway, she texted back, and that made me laugh out loud. I sent her a gif of Jaws chomping on the back of the boat.
Landon and I each went home for the night, but the next day, Friday, the closer it got to school letting out, the more my mind drifted to Brooke. Was she on the road out to her parents’ place yet? Or would she wait out traffic? Although...she’d be going against it, so maybe she was on her way now, leaving right after school to make it by dinner.
I could call her, take her up on her museum offer the next day. I’d love to spend time revisiting the good parts of DC with her, the parts I often forgot about with the frustrations of my job.
But no. I didn’t think I could hang out with her in the just friends capacity. I still needed time for my brain to switch gears.
Saturday morning, I went into the office to keep myself busy around the time I figured she’d be hitting the museum. It wasn’t that unusual to see people in the office on the weekend, but I was still surprised to find Sherrie at her desk outside my office.
“What are you doing here?” I asked. “Don’t you have kid soccer games to go harass the other parents at?”
“Not until this afternoon. Wanted to pull on a thread in the Rink case without my kids in my hair.”
My eyebrows went up. “Anything good?”
“Maybe. I’ll keep you posted.”
I settled into my office and spent some time trying to investigate financials to eliminate any possible witnesses who had received a settlement from the senator. They’d be bound by NDAs and less likely to come forward.
My attention kept wandering to my phone, wondering where Brooke was now. It hadn’t been too hard to talk myself into staying in town to keep my distance the last couple of weekends; I used all my usual workaholic excuses. But it was totally different knowing she was right here, right in the capital, maybe even a few blocks away somewhere in the maze of the Smithsonian.
After an hour, I couldn’t resist anymore. I reached for my phone and checked her Instagram. She posted about once a day, usually tailoring her posts for her students as she documented interesting stuff in the garden or from exploring the countryside around Creekville.
Bingo. She’d posted ten minutes before but from the National Zoo, her face beaming in delight as she took a selfie with the panda exhibit in the background. The caption said, “Life under the microscope is cool, but studying biology is even better in person!”
Man, I loved that smile.
Well, not loved. Not like that. But I’d really missed seeing it.
I made a decision that I decided not to second guess. “I’m going out for lunch,” I told Sherrie. “Will you be here later?”
“For a couple more hours, at least. Eat something good.”
“You want anything?”
“Caesar salad with chicken, thanks.”
The zoo wasn’t far, but I didn’t want to waste time by walking, so I drove over, parked, and walked in. Like all Smithsonian exhibits, the zoo was free, but I hesitated at the entrance, studying the map to guess where she might be. It had been almost a half hour since Brooke had posted from the panda exhibit. She could be anywhere in the zoo right now if she hadn’t left.
Apes. I couldn’t say why, but a gut feeling said she’d be there.
I took the shortest route, and sure enough, as soon as I walked through the arch into the Great Ape House, I spotted the blue shirt Brooke had been wearing in her post. She stood watching an enormous silverback female grooming a baby gorilla. I was sort of indifferent to animals, but even I smiled at the cuteness of the ugly little thing.
I got close enough to be heard over the other zoo visitors but not close enough to scare her. “I have a theory that the uglier a baby is, the cuter it is.”
Brooke jumped and turned. “Ian!”
“Hey.” I tried not to grin like an idiot, but the corners of my mouth weren’t cooperating. Dang, I had missed her.
“What are you doing here?” she demanded even as she came over to hug me.
Maybe she meant it to be a quick and friendly hello, but it lasted longer than the hugs I gave any of my friends. I couldn’t tell if it was her or me.
“I wanted to see some apes,” I said when she stepped back after a minute.
“How did you find me?”
“Did you forget what I do for a living?”
She stepped back and gave me a slight smile. “You followed my Instagram.”
“Was hoping for some sexy Willard content.”
Her smile got bigger. “Want to go see the pandas again? They mostly sleep but they’re still so cute.”
“Sure.”
She reached out like she was going to take my arm but then dropped her hands to her sides. “Let’s go. How’s life?”
“Boring,” I reported as we headed to the pandas. “All work, all the time.”
“Same.”
“Tell me about the house. How’s the makeover going?”
She kept me entertained with her list of grievances and triumphs as we walked over. The house became a character the way she talked about it, and it made me want to show up the next weekend to dig in and help her with the work.
“Thanks again for the swing,” she said as we lined up to see the pandas. “I’m waiting to put it up as a reward for finishing all the downstairs walls. Thinking about sitting in it in the evenings is getting me through some long hours of spackling and sanding.”
“It’s good you took a break.” I wanted her to say she’d driven out because she missed me. I knew she wouldn’t. But it didn’t change the wanting.
She shrugged. “I decided to celebrate Labor Day weekend by not laboring.”
“Fair enough.”
We admired the pandas for a while, and when we had to move
on or risk antagonizing the people waiting behind us, we left the exhibit and wandered the path that led toward the park entrance.
“Thanks for taking a break from work with me,” she said.
“Sure. Guess I should probably head back to the office.” Not because the work had to get done, but because I could feel Brooke drawing me in. Not that she was trying. It was more honest to say I felt myself being drawn to her again. It made the friend zone boundaries blurry.
“Right.” She was quiet for a moment, and it was the first silence to fall between us. It was awkward. Like talking-to-your-boss’s-wife awkward.
“Do you want to get some lunch? We could grab something and eat it at my desk. Not the most exciting offer, but I do know some good places.”
“All food sounds exciting when you’re starving. That sounds great.”
I led her to my car and drove the short distance to a sandwich shop that I knew would have Sherrie’s salad, then drove back to the firm.
As I waved my badge to unlock the front entrance, I wondered how Fleming, Roth, and Schill would look through her eyes. The building was eight stories of glass and chrome with an interior of marble, granite, and wood. Our firm occupied the top three floors, and as we left the elevator, we stepped into the more traditional trappings of law offices: rich mahogany furniture, expensive sculptures on tasteful tables, plush seats in the reception area, beige walls, and burgundy carpets.
I led her through reception into the warren of desks and toward my small office. Normally only partners got offices—and theirs were at least twice the size of my glorified closet—but some of my work required discretion, and an open desk wouldn’t cut it.
“It looks like my assistant stepped out,” I said as we passed Sherrie’s empty desk. I set her salad down.
“Should you refrigerate it?” Brooke asked. “The biology teacher in me freaks out a little about food safety.”
“Nah. She’s close by.”
“How do you know?”
“It hurts my feelings that you think I suck at my job.” I nodded toward Sherrie’s purse, tucked beneath her desk but still visible.
“Ah, right. Sorry, Sherlock.”
I led her into my office and set our food on the desk. She took the client side and started unpacking the bag, an Italian sub for me and a club sandwich for her.
“I thought you liked tomatoes,” I said as she unwrapped the sandwich she’d requested to be tomato-free.
“I do. But Miss Lily’s spoiled me, and now I can’t stand any that don’t come straight off the vine.”
“I see. High maintenance. Got it.”
She rolled her eyes. “Yeah. So high maintenance with my ponytail and overalls couture, and my constant need to be in the dirt.”
I grinned. “Gran has that effect on people.”
“She makes them want to be in the dirt?”
“In the garden, anyway.”
“And yet you stayed away for a long time. And you’re staying away again.”
I thought about what I should say here, because Brooke was the reason I was staying away. Telling the truth seemed like another way of pushing on her friend zone boundary, so I shrugged and let it drop. I took a bite of my sandwich to get out of answering.
Brooke took the hint and changed the subject. “Working on anything interesting right now?”
Worst possible subject change. Yeah. The case most likely to upset you. “Uh, couple of big things but kind of boring.”
“I used to find all of this interesting. Maybe I will again. Try me.”
I cleared my throat, trying to figure out what to say, when the office door flew open, and Sherrie barreled in.
“We got him! We got Rink cold!” She was staring down at a file in her hands, but when she looked up, grinning, and spotted Brooke, her smile froze. “Oh, hey. Sorry, Ian. Didn’t know you had company.”
“Sherrie, this is Brooke Spencer.” Sherrie’s face didn’t change expression to give away that she knew who Brooke was. Good. Sherrie was getting better all the time. “Brooke, this is my assistant, Sherrie.”
“Nice to meet you,” Sherrie said.
But Brooke ignored that. “Rink?”
“Oh, that’s just business. A case,” Sherrie said, waving her hand like she could swat away his name.
“Senator Rink?” Brooke’s voice had gone tight and quiet, and she looked pale. She turned to me. “You’re investigating Senator Rink?”
Sherrie and I exchanged glances. We could tell Brooke since Rink wasn’t our client, but that didn’t mean we should. Not unless she wanted to help bring him down. I quickly catalogued what I knew about her so far. She had an NDA with Rink, and she couldn’t speak about him without nullifying her settlement. But she also had a strong sense of right and wrong that might make her anxious to help.
“Yeah, we’re investigating him,” I said quietly.
“I’m going to go eat my lunch before it gets...uh, I’m going to go eat.” Sherrie stepped out and closed the door behind her.
“How much do you know?” Brooke asked.
I hesitated again, unsure how to navigate this.
“How much?” she repeated.
“More than you would want to tell me,” I acknowledged.
“Did you bring me here to try to get more dirt on him?”
“Brooke, no.” I leaned toward her across the desk. “Of course not. I didn’t even know you were going to be in town until a couple of days ago.”
“So? How would that stop you from charming me into your office?”
“I swear to you, until I got up and walked out the door to find you in the zoo, I had no idea I was going to do it.”
“Right. Well.” She folded the paper around her barely eaten sandwich. “Thanks for lunch, but I lost my appetite. Think I might go back to the zoo and check out the snake house.”
I winced. “Brooke, that’s not—”
“It’s fine, Ian.” She rose, hitched her purse over her shoulder, her hand on the door before I could even round the desk.
“Brooke, wait. Hear me out.” She paused, not pulling the door open yet. “I don’t know what Rink did to you, but I’m dead sure he was guilty of something. Probably something bad.” A brief flicker of pain crossed her face. “We’ve got a shot of bringing him down. If I had to guess, Sherrie was coming in to tell me that she’s found a victim to come out publicly against him.”
Brooke flinched at the word “victim.” It was so slight, but I was watching her too closely to miss it, and I hated thinking of her in that context. “We’ve been looking for someone willing to speak out against him, and we’re hoping that once the first woman comes forward, it will give other women the courage to do the same thing.”
Her face hardened. “So if I don’t want to speak out against him, it’s because I’m a coward?”
“No! No, of course not. It’s smart. It’s self-preservation. But the risk to you—to any of you—goes down with every witness who comes forward. This is the beginning of the end for him, Brooke. You can be part of that.” I’d heard enough from the women we’d found to make me sick to my stomach, to make me angry enough to yank the senator from his expensive Mercedes and pound him to a pulp in the driveway of his townhouse, maybe with Landon and his baseball bat to make sure he got the message.
“You will never know what he cost me.” Her voice was cold but her eyes blazed. “But I rebuilt myself out of ashes. How dare you ask me to light myself on fire again? I’m done, Ian. I’ll see myself out.”
“Brooke, let me—”
“No. Stop. I’m going to walk back to the zoo, pick up my car, and drive home. All the way home. I’ll see myself out.”
I followed her out of the office then stood helplessly and watched her leave. I knew if I tried to say anything, it would only infuriate her more. When the elevator doors slid closed behind her, I bit out a curse and sagged against the wall.
“What happened?” Sherrie asked.
“I told her we were lo
oking into Rink and that we only needed the first witness to start a chain reaction that would blow up his career and take him out of commission for good. She said I was as good as calling her a coward for not speaking up and accused me of trying to blow up her life again.”
Sherrie didn’t say anything, just gave me a look full of concern and sympathy.
“What do I do? Go after her?”
“No. She told you not to. Respect that. And maybe I have the silver lining here.” She handed me the folder she’d carried into my office. “I found someone willing to come forward. Heather Giles, an intern from seven years ago, and she thinks she has a friend who will speak up too. Apparently, they bonded over their time in Rink’s office, and they’ve both gotten out of politics, so they’re willing to speak out.”
I took the folder. “Why these two? Why now?”
“Heather got married a couple of years ago and just had a daughter. Said it got her thinking about the world she’s going to grow up in, and Heather wanted to do her part to make it better. Her friend, Madison, isn’t a sure thing yet, but Heather thinks she may be able to talk her into coming forward too.”
I tapped the folder against my palm. “It’s unraveling.”
She nodded. “Yeah, boss. I think it is. Finally.”
I worked eighteen-hour days for the next week, first sitting in on the depositions of Heather Giles, then her friend, Madison, who decided to come forward too. Once I had their depositions, I went back to each of the previous victims who hadn’t wanted to come forward. It meant back-to-back trips to New York and Philadelphia, but by the end of the week, we had five women ready to speak out against Rink.
The snake would not survive the scandal, not in the current political climate. And his governor would get a chance to appoint someone to serve out the rest of Rink’s term, someone with the same political values but a true moral core. Someone who hadn’t been corrupted by power.
I’d met Brooke too late to protect her from Rink. But at least I could make sure he never had a chance to prey on another bright-eyed idealist again.
I only wished I could tell Brooke, but she hadn’t returned any of my texts over the last week, not even acknowledging my apologies.
Kiss Me Now: A Romantic Comedy Page 18
