Page 20 of Stolen Sun

I can’t deny that I’m a little nervous to see him, especially since it’s not work related at all this time. My pulse stutters in anticipation of how he will behave away from a professional setting, especially since he didn't let it stop him from flirting at the event.

My email dings on my laptop with the arrival of Declan’s reply.

TO: [email protected]

FROM: [email protected]

SUBJECT: RE: Logo First Draft

DATE:July 21, 2024

Noel,

You are exceeding my expectations. Please move forward with the website and business cards.

Declan

I stare at the first sentence of his email entirely too long. Convincing myself not to read into it, I decide he means the design, and I’m glad he approves. Now my afternoon just got much busier. I let our receptionist know to expect my lunch delivery. Then I set to work on Velocity’s website.

Towards the end of the day, a knock on my office door breaks me from my concentration.

“Come in,” I call out without looking up from my laptop.

“Burning the midnight oil?” Joey asks from my doorway.

I look at my screen to see it’s already 6:00pm. “Shit! I didn’t realize how late it was,” I say to myself as much as to him.

“Are you at a stopping point? I’ll walk you out. Everyone else is gone for the day,” he offers.

“Sure,” I say, “thanks.”

He walks in to have a seat while he waits for me to finish up. I hit save and shut down my laptop. Then I close the blinds and take my bag out of the bottom drawer of my desk.

“Ready,” I tell him.

He stands up and puts his phone back into his pocket as we walk out of my office and through the building.

“How’s everything going with Velocity?” He asks.

“Great! I got approval on the logo this morning, and I’ve been working on the website ever since,” I answer excitedly.

“That’s awesome, Noel. Let me know if you need anything. I’m really glad you’re back,” he says over his shoulder as he locks the front door.

The parking lot is empty except for our two vehicles, which aren’t near each other.

“Thanks, Joey. I’ll see you tomorrow,” I tell him and turn to walk toward my car.

“Hey, actually, Amanda wanted me to see if you’d be up for coming over for dinner Thursday night,” he calls after me.

I turn back around. “Sure, I’d like that.”

“Cool. I’ll tell her to reach out and arrange it, then. See ya,” he says and walks toward his truck.

I smile to myself because I genuinely feel good about accepting their invitation. Climbing back up from such a low place and actually wanting to participate in the world around me is a far cry from where I was mentally just a few weeks ago. Only now can I see just how low I really was.

When I get into my car, I call Kate to check on her. She’s been so quiet since Saturday night. She answers on the second ring and jumps right into a graphic, very detailed account of her new guy. By the time I manage to get her off the phone a couple hours later, I’m half asleep and barely make it through my shower before crawling into bed.

Chapter seven

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