Spark: Book 1 (The Heat Series)

by MJ Masucci

  “Fine, I will call you later to see how you are doing. When are you going to come over for dinner again? Your aunt is missing seeing that beautiful face of yours.”

  “Maybe I can come this week sometime.” With that, Ava got up from the chair and headed to the door.

  “Ava, please keep this quiet. We need to investigate everything before we make a decision. However, David will be put on leave until we have completed everything. You will be assigned to another attorney.”

  “I already was. Maggie in HR said I would be working for the real estate division.”

  “Yes, but that won’t be for another few weeks, so we will have to assign you to someone for the interim. We will review the needs of each department and assign you as soon as we can. In the meantime, I can assign thing or possibly have you work in the pool for now until we get this sorted out.”

  She closed the door on her way out noting that it was already 7:45. She wanted to get out of the building before she bumped into anyone she knew. She hurried down the hall to grab her coat and purse. She felt sick to her stomach, and her anxiety was consuming her. This would be one of the days that her anti-anxiety medication would be her friend. She decided to take it before she took the subway home. She didn’t think she could handle being around all those people on the train without it.

  She got on the elevator, and when she got to the first floor, she stopped at the small café located in the lobby of the building. She grabbed a bottle of water from the case and while she waited to pay the cashier, she slipped the pill into her mouth and took a quick gulp of it. She hoped it would do its job soon. After she had paid the cashier, she made her way out to the street. She ducked into a cab just as Sam had exited one. She didn’t want to talk to anyone, and that included her best friend. She gave the driver her address and sat back; she could feel the medication starting to work.

  Her anxiety started to level off and by the time they pulled in front of her building, she felt much better. Ava decided to call her Aunt Mavis later and ask when would be a good night to come for dinner. Her aunt was the consummate homemaker now, but she wasn’t always. She had been married to Daniel for over thirty years. They had met in high school and dated through college. On graduation night, he asked her to marry him even though he was going to be attending law school. She took the responsibility of supporting the two of them while he was in school. She worked two jobs and even when she got pregnant while Daniel was in his third year, she continued to work. After he had graduated, she took the roles of wife and mother. Mavis could always make her feel better, and she needed the comfort of home. When Ava had moved to New York, Mavis doted on her. She was lucky to have her family.

  Ava’s phone chirped. She reluctantly looked at it and saw that Sam had texted her. She let her know why she wasn’t at work and of course Sam couldn’t resist asking if she had sex with Liam yet. She ended the conversation there and put her phone on silent. Entering her apartment, she decided to get back in bed and take a nap. The day had taken a lot of energy out of her even though it was still early.

  Ava woke up several hours later with fur in her face. Riley had parked himself right on her pillow. When she stirred, he yawned and stretched his paws out seemingly hugging her. She was thankful for the furry comfort. She grabbed her phone and noticed she had missed several texts and three voicemails.

  There were a few texts from Sam and one from her cousin Rachel asking her if she was feeling better. Uncle Daniel must have told Rachel she was unwell. She called her voicemail, noting two were from Liam, and one was from her brother telling her to call him. She hadn’t spoken to Michael in some time. He was seven years older than her but her favorite of the siblings. He was always protective of her. She scrolled to his number on her phone and punched the phone key. It rang several times before he answered.

  “Hey Button, how are you doing?”

  Button was his nickname for her because when she was a baby he used to call her cute as a button.

  “I’m fine; I miss you!”

  “I miss you, too, but I have some news for you.”

  “I hope it’s good news; I can use some.”

  “I got engaged last night!” Ava could hear her brother smiling through the phone.

  “Oh my! I am so happy for you.”

  “I’m sure that Alicia is thrilled that you finally asked her!”

  “She is, and she was wondering if she would be a married woman before she gives birth.”

  “We are having a civil service in a month. I expect you to come down here for it, and since Daniel is your boss, I’m sure you can get off for it. After the baby is born, we are going to have a large wedding.”

  Ava knew they could more than afford it. Alicia was also an attorney, and they were both doing well.

  “I will try to come down.”

  “I want you there.”

  “Is Brooke coming?”

  “I invited her, but she said she is not sure. She is off somewhere in the south of France doing some vineyard tour with her new boyfriend. She said that she would come for the larger wedding.”

  Ava would be happy if Brooke didn’t come. She had spent most of her childhood being bullied by Brooke. She didn’t want to see her any more than Brooke wanted to see Ava.

  “Have you talked to Brooke lately?”

  “No, why would I? She makes no effort to me as her sister, so why should I bother to talk to her?”

  “I wish you two would bury the hatchet.”

  “Michael, if she did, the burying would be right in my head.”

  “I have to be in court in fifteen minutes. I will call you later. Love you Button. Oh, by the way, Dad wants you to call him.”

  “I’ll call him soon. Love you, Michael and give my love to Alicia.”

  She hung up the phone and went to the kitchen to find something to eat.

  She settled on a small container of strawberry yogurt. There was a ton of Chinese leftover from last night’s dinner, but her stomach was still in knots. She thought it better to eat light. It was lunchtime, and she hadn’t had anything for breakfast. She sat on the couch working on the New York Times magazine crossword puzzle. She had always loved puzzles. When she was frustrated enough with it, she put it down and turned on the television. She scrolled through the channels. There was nothing on but soap operas and reality shows. It seemed that lately, her life was turning into a soap opera. Maybe some time away for Michael’s wedding would be good. She could take a four day weekend and go down to Georgia.

  She would hate to be away from Liam, but he was so busy. She wondered what it would be like going home after so long. She hadn’t been home for almost five years. Her family had come to New York for holidays and her cousin Jacob’s wedding. She had not seen her father for several months. Michael and Alicia had come last summer, staying for a week at Uncle Daniel’s and Aunt Mavis’ house since they had plenty of room.

  Ava had taken some days off of work back then and taken them around the city to all the sites. They went to museums, Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, and the Empire State Building. They enjoyed lunch her building’s rooftop deck and were lucky enough to see fireworks from it on the Fourth of July. She was happy she had someone to celebrate with last year. Most of her cousins were either married or dating, and she didn’t want to be a third wheel. They graciously invited her to come with them when they did things, but she didn’t want to be a bother, so she made up some excuse. Maybe now that she was dating Liam, she would begin to enjoy her life.

  Ava’s phone rang. She recognized Liam’s number and answered it.

  “Hi.”

  “Hey, baby, I’m on the train heading back home, and I just wanted to call to say hi, so hi. How was your day?”

  “It was okay, I guess.” Liam could hear the strained tone of her voice.

  “What happened, Ava? Did you talk to your Uncle Daniel today?”

  “I did, and it’s worse than I thought it would be.”

  “I’m sorry,” Lia
m said.

  “But hey, I’m also calling to tell you that I just found out that they want me to teach a seminar at the London office. I will be leaving this Monday.” Ava felt tears welling in her eyes, why was she so emotional lately.

  “I am going to miss you.”

  “I’m going to miss you too, but we can Skype. Hey, I’m hitting a dead zone so let me go before…”

  All of a sudden, his phone disconnected. Ava’s brain started to weave a plan while Liam was away in London. Ava decided that Liam would stay with her. It’s what she wanted, and it wasn’t permanent. She knew he was way too independent to want to live off her kindness. A He could well afford to get his own place, but she hoped it would be close so they could see each other.

  She texted Sam about her plan. Sam agreed that it would be a good idea since she had asked her father about borrowing a truck for the weekend after next. They could pack everything and Ava thought that maybe Uncle Daniel would let her store some things in his basement in their three-story brownstone on the Upper East Side. She called her Aunt Mavis because even if Daniel were against it, Mavis would convince him.

  They spoke to about storing Liam’s furniture in the basement and her aunt asked her to come to dinner anytime even it was to drop in. She always cooked for an army.

  It was true. She had four children as well as a daughter-in-law and Daniel’s numerous law associates that tramped through her house in any given week. She would often cook more than she and Daniel could eat and either Robert or Jacob with his wife in tow would find their way over for dinner or leftovers. Rachel and Dani would usually eat outside of normal dinner hours depending on their schedules, whatever wasn’t eaten usually ended up in Daniel’s lunch or containers for her children.

  Daniella (or Dani as she liked to be called) was Ava’s youngest cousin. She was twenty-one and finishing up her Art History degree at Columbia. She was very creative. Painting was one of her favorite hobbies, but she also was quite adept at drawing and sculpting. Her parents nurtured her creative side in the hopes that she would become proficient enough to make a career out of it. The Keene family had long pursued the field of law, but Dani had no interest. Some of her artworks had already gained notice, and she had had a few showings at several galleries in Greenwich Village. She had made a good amount of money off of some of her paintings and drawings. Dani had yet to display any of her sculptures, but she had several in the process.

  Riley had been bugging her for his dinner and when she got off the phone, fed him. Having only eaten a yogurt for the day, she needed to find something to eat, too. She relented and opened the carton of leftover Kung Pao. She sat down on her couch, turned on the TV and dug into the carton.

  She ate while she clicked through the channels, finally settling on a marathon of Sex in the City. Now that she was dating someone she was fascinated with the dating and sexual habits of single women. Of course, these women seemed to have a new boyfriend each episode. She lived in the city and was sure that most women didn’t live like these women. She didn’t know any women that lived this way, except for Sam. But Sam had Justin, and they were dating for many months now. It was the first time she had seen Sam content with settling for someone.

  Ava had known her for over four years and had seen Sam’s revolving door of men. Sam liked to call each man her flavor of the month. She was carefree and easy going when it came to relationships, but she was also careful. She wasn’t the type to engage in one night stands and always used condoms. Ava knew this to be true because she once was looking for a pen and opened Samantha’s nightstand. It had every color and flavor of condom you could imagine. She was horrified but was happy her friend was careful. She knew she could ask Sam anything about sex if she had questions but also knew it would open an examination. Samantha would question her about her relationship with Liam and say she was holding out on her. It probably was better to ask Rachel or go on the internet.

  Ava was not shy about sex. She was curious and had, like a lot of young people, looked at porn. She had seen that men’s penises come in all shapes and sizes. Some men came a lot, some men just a little. There were many sexual positions you could try, and she was curious about that, too, because some of the ones she had seen were almost impossible to do.

  As handsome as Liam was, she could imagine that he had his share of relationships and was plenty experienced when it came to lovemaking. He was tender and gentle with her, and she expected that when the time came, he would be that way when she gave him her virginity. At least she hoped he would eventually take her virginity. She wanted it to be him, but he was resistant. Maybe after he got back from London, he would be more open to having sex with her. By that time, they would be dating for a month. Wasn’t that long enough to wait to have sex with someone? As she got ready for bed, she wondered about it all. She dozed off thinking of Liam.

  The next morning Ava woke up to Riley kneading her leg. She dragged herself out of bed to feed him. While he crouched with his head in his bowl, she prepared her Keurig with a coffee pod and then grabbed her robe for a shower. She undressed while the water was heating and looked at herself in the mirror. Her hair was a mass of messy auburn waviness. She had forgotten to wash her face before bed, and her mascara had smudged. She was decidedly scary and turned away to get in the shower.

  When she was done, she pulled on her robe and went to the kitchen to get her coffee. She needed a big boost today before she hit the office. Daniel had said she would be assigned to a new attorney and she had felt some anxiety. She didn’t want to keep popping medication. She often felt a bit loopy after she took them and she needed to be sharp today. Dr. Newman said to take them as needed and her need was too much lately.

  She was going simple and chic today with a matte jersey navy blue dress that had an A-line skirt. She would wear navy blue heels and call it a day. She didn’t want to look too dressy or too dressed down. This seemed just right. She applied some mascara, eyeliner, lip gloss and put her hair in a ponytail. She wasn’t in the mood to blow dry it.

  At 7:00 AM, her phone rang. It was Liam.

  “How are you today, beautiful?”

  “I’m okay; I have a little anxiety.”

  “Don’t be worried; you will be fine. I’m sure they already took care of everything at the office yesterday.” Liam tried to assure her.

  “I have a breakfast meeting now, so I will talk to you later.”

  Ava felt elated after she hung up with Liam. They might have only been dating for less than two weeks, but she already had feelings for him.

  She arrived at the office early and found an email from her Uncle Daniel to come to his office. She felt knots in her stomach as she made her way to the other side of the building. His secretary Annie told her to go right in because he was expecting her. Daniel sat at his desk. As Ava entered his office, he held up a folder.

  “I have your assignment for the next month,” Daniel handed her the folder. It said she would be working for Alexander Wilder.

  “Is this Peter’s son?” Peter was the “Wilder” in Keene, Ashburn, and Wilder.

  “Why, yes it is. I didn’t know that you were familiar with him since he is a few years older than you.”

  “I met him some time ago at a barbecue at your house. I think he was in his senior year of college or had just graduated.”

  “Alexander graduated from Duke Law a couple of years ago and had worked for two years in the public defender’s office. He has decided to join us and leave his old position. He just moved into the empty office near Jacob. He will assign you work based on his case load. Show him the ropes?” Daniel winked at her.

  “Thanks.” Ava headed for the door

  “Oh, by the way, you can store your friend’s furniture in the basement. Your aunt asked me at dinner last night.”

  “Thank you so much.” Ava smiled brightly at him as she closed the door.

  So she would be working for Alexander Wilder. She remembered him very well. Ava had just come to live wit
h her aunt and uncle a few months before. They usually had one or two large parties during the summer. It was a hodge-podge of people from the firm, her cousin’s friends and personal friends of the family. She remembered seeing this very handsome guy talking to her cousin Rachel. Rachel had called to her and introduced her to Alexander. She shook his hand, and when he looked her in the eye her shyness got the best of her, and she looked down. Ava had excused herself to get a drink, but she noticed him glancing at her a few times during the day. She had thought: why is he looking at me; he could probably have any girl here. At that point, she considered herself overweight, complete with full braces and glasses. She had very little confidence at the time. She wondered if he would even remember her.

  Ava walked down to Alexander’s office. She almost bumped into her cousin, Jacob, who was coming out of his office as she passed.

  “Whoa, watch where you are going kiddo!” Ava punched him in the arm, and he jumped back and stuck his tongue at her. Jacob might have been thirty, but he was a kid at heart, and she loved that about him. As was typical of all the Keene children, Jacob was very handsome with a shock of unruly blonde hair, blue-green eyes and a square jaw. At well over six feet he towered over her.

  Ava arrived at Alexander’s door and knocked. He had a corner office, and it was off of a small alcove around the bend from Jacob. She would have liked to have this office. It was quiet, and the alcove held a large couch that was the perfect place to read and relax. She had spent some time during lunches reading there when she wanted to get away from the boisterous break room. Most of the legal support and secretarial staff took lunch around the same time, so it was very noisy. From inside the office, she heard, “Come in.”

  She opened the door and was greeted by a more striking man than she remembered. She was almost shocked that his looks could improve from the gorgeous man she saw almost five years ago.

  “Ava, how are you? I haven’t seen you in years, and you look wonderful. I was so happy to hear that you were going to be my assistant. I’ve heard some very good things about the work you do.”