Page 8 of Stolen Sun

“Absolutely,” he replies with a nod and gets out of the truck.

I follow his lead and meet him at the curb. When I reach out to shake his hand, he glances down at it and smiles. Instead of reaching out with his right hand, he takes it with his left to walk me to my car. Once I’m seated inside,he tells me to drive safe and walks away with his hands stuffed into his front pockets.

My insides are all butterflies mixed with ghosts of the past. I turn the A/C on full blast and try to put the car in reverse. It doesn't budge, and something dings at me. The dash is blinking with a message reminding me it will not go into gear until the driver’s seatbelt is fastened.Shit, get it together.

Chapter three

Noel

My phone rings just as I’m pulling onto the highway, and I press ANSWER on my dash without checking the Caller ID. I'm still lost in the replays of the time I just spent with Declan and moving on autopilot.

“Mrs. Williams, I’m glad to finally catch you. We really need you to come into the office to sign the rest of the paperwork regarding your shares and board membership,” the woman on the other end of the line says politely.

“Oh! Yes, Nicole. I’m sorry. Um, do you have a day and time already in mind?” I sigh.

“Mr. Williams was hopeful that you could join him for lunch downstairs at noon today. Afterward, you could sign the rest of the paperwork.”

“Sure. I can be there.” I wait for her to say goodbye before I hang up.

Oh, Nate, why didn’t you just let me sign the prenup?

Being the only child, Nate was meant to take over when Grant was ready to retire. The money he would’ve inherited at his father’s passing is the reason I asked for a prenup, but Nate refused. As an only child to wealthy parents myself, it made more sense to me that we keep our complicated finances separate. I didn't need his money, and he didn't need mine. It was more trouble to combine things, which his father tried to explain to him as well. Ultimately, Grant and my father sided with Nate. Now I'm stuck with all the paperwork.

My father-in-law would do anything his son wanted. They were very close. Nate's mom had left them when he was young. They had an unbreakable bond, and Grant did all he could to make up for her abandonment. The two of them had moved to Birmingham our senior year.Apparently, Grant had originally grown up here and decided to move his business closer to where he wanted Nate to attend college.

Nate and I met in Business Law class and hit it off immediately. By the end of senior year, we were planning a life together. A life that started with attending the same college.

I always wanted to get out of the state of Alabama, but Grant wouldn’t hear of Nate moving away, not even for school. I’ll never forget the relief I saw on his face when I agreed to stay in Alabama. The gravity of loving a man with abandonment issues hit me right in the chest that day. I would compromise much more over the years to stand by that promise to stay for him; I just didn’t grasp the weight of it then.

By the time I get out of my own thoughts, I’m parking at JV Marketing. The lobby is fairly empty today, which isn’t surprising; Fridays are typically a lighter day of the week. I get to my desk and open my laptop to find several emails waiting for me. One of them is from Declan.

TO: [email protected]

FROM: [email protected]

SUBJECT: Invitation

DATE: July 18, 2024

Noel,

Thank you for joining me for breakfast this morning. Velocity is hosting a charity event this weekend at the Grand Bohemian. Are you available on Saturdaynight?

Declan

I stare at my laptop screen rereading the email. It’s a corporate event. I’ve been invited to plenty of events like this by clients. If only Declan felt like a client. Things were not strictly professional this morning. Toward the end it felt much more like a date than a business meeting. The comment that I’ll always be ‘sunshine’ to him took me back to a lifetime ago. The girl he remembers had big dreams and no fear. It turns out that she didn't stand a chance against the expectations of the world after all. Seeing him again so soon feels risky. Since I can’t trust myself to make the right decision, I pick up my cell and dial Kate.

Kate skips the greeting and gets right down to it. “How’d it go?”

“Confusing. He took me to breakfast, which started out fine. He knows about Nate. But he didn’t ask any questions, so that was refreshing. It felt a little like a date. He opened doors for me. There was some flirting in the truck on the way back to his office," I ramble out my thoughts in a jumbled mess of words.

“Doesn’t sound all that confusing, Elle. Sounds like he’s interested in more than just working together,” she suggests.

“We’re supposed to be business associates,” I argue.

“But you know each other from before this, and you’re human. You can’t just turn off reality for the sake of business, Noel. Your life may never stay in the lines again, but that wouldn’t be a bad thing. You said it yourself that it’s just letterheads, nothing preventing you from going out with him.” She proceeds to throw everything I said to defend the situation days ago back at me.

Not wanting to admit that she’s right, I bring up the more pressing matter of how to respond to this email.

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