Page 16 of It Started with a Sunset
Summer smiled. She liked when people thought she was fearless. She liked when she felt like she was fearless herself.
Pavani put a hand on Avery’s shoulder. “I hate to ruin the vision you’ve got of Summer, but a girl doesn’t go on as many dates as Summer does yet gets to be twenty-seven years old without having had a single serious relationship.”
Avery turned her attention to Summer. “None?”
Summer shook her head. “But it’s not about fear. I can’t even commit on a Thursday to what I’m doing on a Saturday because a better option might come along. A commitment as big as a serious relationship requires is just too hard to even comprehend. The coast is clear. Let’s go!”
As they hurried from the leadership building to the Clark Geoscience building, a deep voice called out, “Hey!”
All three of them froze right where they stood, and they turned their heads to see a campus security guard walking in their direction from a couple dozen feet away. How had she missed him when she’d peeked out to check if the coast was clear?
“Fudge buckets!” Avery hissed.
“What are you three up to this late at night?” The officer stopped a good fifteen feet away, shining his flashlight between all three of them, who just happened to look about as guilty as could be. Then he said, “Summer Graham?”
Summer stood up straight. “Mike Gunnell?” Then she turned to Avery and Pavani and whispered, “I’m going to distract him. As soon as he’s not looking, you book it the rest of the way to the Student Center. I’ll find a way to catch up with you there.”
They both nodded affirmation like she was their squad leader, and she walked up to Mike, making sure she stood so that he had to turn his attention away from Avery and Pavani to talk to her. “Hi! It’s so good to see you! How’s Olivia?”
“Getting so big! She’ll be nine months old next week. The bigger question is why are you all sneaking? You know your access badge is always active until midnight, right?”
“Yeah, but Pavani and Avery need a little adventure in their lives. Want to help?”
He nodded like he totally understood that need, and they both turned to look at Avery and Pavani as they scurried alongside a building, half-crouching, half-running toward the Student Center. “You bet I do.”
“Okay, give us five minutes, then come to the Student Center and shine your flashlight through the glass to the Welcome Center lobby. I’ll keep the door to the offices open when we get there, so make sure you shine the light back that direction, too.”
The guard nodded, arms folded, a big grin on his face.
“That’ll be our cue to hide. Your access badge will open the Welcome Center door, right?” He nodded, so she continued. “Okay, then come in and shine your flashlight around the offices, but don’t find us. And Mike? There aren’t good hiding places, so it’s going to be really hard not to find us. And Pavani is under doctor’s orders to not do anything too crazy.” She probably should’ve found a way to keep Pavani from doing the crouch-run thing she was currently doing. If that was even possible with Pavani.
Mike reached a fist out in her direction, so she bumped it with hers.
“Thanks, Mike.”
“Anytime. I needed a little something to keep me awake and alert tonight.”
When Summer got to the doors of the Student Center, she didn’t see Pavani and Avery and worried that they might have had a bit of a communication error until the two women stepped out from where they were hiding behind the bushes beside the door. “Sneaky.”
She used her access badge to open the doors, and then they snuck down the hallway, hugging the walls, like that would somehow make them invisible, as they walked toward the doors to the Welcome Center. Then Summer used her access badge to open that door, too, then the door to the offices.
In no time at all, they were all standing inside of Brock’s office, marveling at the sparse, clean, tidy space.
“They’ve already emptied his garbage,” Avery said, “so no clues there. Maybe he keeps notes in his files.” She walked to the filing drawer he had at the side of his desk and crouched down to pull it open. She started rifling through the tabbed items.
“Nah,” Pavani said. “He probably keeps it in files on his computer. Do you want me to hack into it?”
“Do you even know how to hack into a computer?” Summer asked.
“No, but I can guess passwords as good as anyone else. It’s probably something like ILik3Rul3s or p3rf3cti0nist or maybe even Lusci0usH@ir because he really does have luscious hair.” She jiggled his mouse to bring the screen to life.
But Summer wasn’t looking at her friends. She had found a sheet of long, skinny notepaper sitting in the middle of Brock’s desk, with his perfectly neat handwriting with the strong, sharp corners and perfectly straight lines. The paper saidThursdayat the top, then had everything listed that he planned to get done that day. And the list waslong. Even if someone was perfectly efficient, she didn’t think they could get so many things done in a day. Why in the world did he expect so much of himself?
She started scanning the list. Some of the items were boring things, like remembering to email or call someone or to research something related to some type of scholarship. A few were meetings he had with people in the office or with local businesses or with prospective or current students. And, of course, he had included his meeting with her tomorrow afternoon. And she swore that his handwriting on that item was different from the others. A bit more curved than angled. Softer.
Then her eyes fell to the next item on the list:Find a way to tell Summer how beautiful she looks in every ball gown picture she sends me.
There was a moment when her insides melted and she was seeing hearts floating all around her. And then came the feeling of wrongness—that what they were doing was invasive. She never guessed they would actually find something personal in his office. She set the to-do list back down where it had been. “We need to get out of here.”
