Just One Spark: A Black Alcove Novel

by Jami Wagner

  “Let’s talk about this later. Now we need to—”

  “Who?” I ask in a harsher whisper. “Did you do this on purpose? To ruin my chances?”

  “Beth, no.” He sighs and shakes his head. “We need to figure out what we are going to say without the slides.”

  “That’s easy. I have it memorized.”

  “Then—”

  “I do apologize for this.” Mr. Mitchell scoots his chair back. “Please forgive me for asking for a moment with my employees.”

  “Not a problem,” a man says. “This was starting to sound a bit too much like the last presentation we just sat through.”

  This time, I know everyone can see my eyes widen. If it were possible, my eyeballs would fall right out of these sockets.

  Austin presented our presentation. That’s why I was receiving those faces. Does Maverick know? Obviously, he does—he just told me it’s gone.

  I lock eyes with too many concerned faces, but it’s Bart’s alone that could make my heart stop. I exchange a glance with Maverick before following him and his uncle out the door. Gail, head down and papers clenched to her chest, is right behind us.

  The door barely latches closed before Mr. Mitchell’s hands are thrown in the air.

  “This is a conversation for my office, but since the two of you have clearly put me in a position where I’m unable to do just that, right here must do.”

  His phone pings—clearly our situation isn’t that dire because he checks it. His eyes widen and then he squints. He motions to Gail and sighs. “Please call security up here. This is the least favorite part of my job.”

  “Security? This is all just a mix-up. The file somehow was erased. We’ll get it back, just give us some time,” Maverick pleads with his uncle. He moves to rest a hand on my lower back but I move away from his touch. I don’t know what going on with him, but I have good feeling whatever he’s done is the reason that file is gone and the reason I’m standing in the hall right now, not landing the contract that should earn me a job.

  “Austin stole our presentation.” Maverick’s tone is clipped.

  “I—”

  “I believed he was responsible for the women at the event center, but this, this is not something he would do,” Bart defends his son.

  “I think he would,” I join the conversation, my heart jumping up my throat when Bart slowly turns to face me.

  Fuck, and I thought I gave some nasty scowls to people.

  Mouth is shut.

  Got it.

  “You’ve had more than two months. And from what I’ve seen and heard, the two of you spent more time fooling around with each other than working on this project,” Bart continues.

  “They what?” Maverick’s father’s voice from behind us startles us both.

  That heart that just jumped my throat has now flopped to my stomach.

  “Dad, you know that isn’t true. You’ve seen how hard we have both worked. Beth, especially.”

  “Maverick, I don’t need you to defend me.”

  “But I am because you didn’t do anything wrong.” His voice is louder and it only makes his father angrier.

  “You’re right, son. She didn’t, but you did. All you had to do was commit to the job. Keep things … separate.” His last word is spoken slowly and with a long sigh.

  “Dad—” Maverick’s voice is full of warning. “I did. We did. We were able to work together and spend time together outside the office. That’s a whole lot of commitment, if you ask me.”

  I’m too shocked for words at this point. The conversation went from not being ready to present to commitment issues faster than I would ever imagine.

  Two of the security men who regularly remain in the building lobby downstairs join us.

  “Ms. Moyer here needs to be escorted off the premises,” Bart says, and I gasp.

  “Me? Why?” A man grabs my arm and I jerk it back.

  “Sending inappropriate photos of yourself and another coworker is not how we do business here.”

  “What!” Maverick and I both shout at the same time.

  “I never …”

  “Please don’t make a scene,” Maverick’s father asks. Out of everyone here, he shows the most grief on his face.

  “But I never sent any photos. I didn’t do what you’re accusing me of.”

  “It was sent from your email account,” Bart says, motioning again for security to resume their job. “I’m sorry, Miss Moyer, we can’t employ you with MM.”

  Bile forms in my mouth and I’m going to be sick, but I manage a nod. I need to be professional, and screaming my innocence right here isn’t going to make this situation better. “At least let me do it without security,” I say.

  Mr. Mitchell begins to shake his head, but Maverick’s father, who is clearly older than Bart, holds up a hand. “That will be just fine,” he says.

  “Beth,” Maverick starts to follow me, but his father stops him.

  I’m done with this company, and I am done with Maverick.

  Maverick

  “Just give me a moment,” I say to my father. He sighs for what feels like the hundredth time in the least five minutes but nods.

  “Beth, wait,” I call out. “Let me explain.”

  Her steps don’t even hesitate as she continues to walk away from me.

  “Please, I know this looks bad, but it—”

  “Bad?” The word comes out in a growl as she flips around. I almost run into her. “Maverick, this is so much more than bad. This was my first real job. A job that means everything to me. Now no employer is going to see me as a serious worker. Because of you, everyone is now going to think I sleep my way to the top.”

  “No one is going to think that.”

  “Really? You’re going to say that me? You heard Bart just now. Someone sent pictures of me to everyone here. Where did they get the photos, Maverick? Huh? Can you answer me that? Is that what you need to explain?”

  The last time I was caught with a woman at the office, I cared only about taking the heat off of me, protecting my reputation in the office. This time it’s different. I don’t give a shit what Bart or Austin or anyone else makes of our fight. I made wrong choices and I deserve this, but it’s different because I don’t want this to be the end. I don’t want her to leave me. I want what we have. I meant everything I’ve ever said to her. But right now, she isn’t going to believe me.

  “Beth, I didn’t do this,” I say, reaching for her hand. The tips of our fingers brush before she jerks back. My head drops to me chest. I should give her some space, but I can’t. What if she needs more than space? I won’t be able to handle that.

  “Do what exactly, Maverick? You didn’t delete our presentation? You don’t go making office relationships a habit? You didn’t take nude photos of me to sabotage my chances? Or you didn’t make me fall in love with you just so you could get everything you wanted, regardless of how it ended for others?” I catch the slight shake in her bottom lip as she glances away. “Tell me, which part didn’t you do on purpose?”

  I pause before I say another word in the silent tension that fills the air. I didn’t mean for any of this to happen. I don’t know what happened to the file. I just know I went to view it on the shared drive before our presentation and it was gone. And the pictures … I was late to our meeting because I wanted to confront Austin about it, but he must have left the building after he spoke with the station, because I never saw him.

  But after all that, all I can focus on is the part where she said she fell in love with me. I swallow, falling numb at the throbbing ache in my chest. I fell in love with her, too.

  “Beth—”

  Her hand comes up as she shakes her head. When I hear her faint sniffle, I step for her. Her small frame fits perfectly in my arms and I hold her tighter as I feel her shake. For a moment, I think we can get through this. For a moment, I think we’re just having another fight and everything is going to be fine, because there is no possible way things between
us can grow worse, but then she shoves me away.

  “You don’t get to do that. You don’t get to do anything anymore. I don’t want you to follow me another step. I don’t want you to call, or text, or show up at my apartment. I don’t want to see you, Maverick.”

  This time when she leaves, I let her. And I listen to her. For now.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Maverick

  I step into my office and not a second later my father follows me in.

  “Maverick, do you want to talk about it?” he asks.

  “No,” I snap and drop into my chair, twirling around to look out the window. I was supposed to be making things better. Show her how much I wanted this—us. And now, I’m not sure what I can do to get her back. To get her to trust me again. I’m a smart man, how could I let myself fuck up so badly?

  “Son.” Dad takes a seat in one of the chairs around my desk. “Is this job really what you want?”

  It used to be. Now, thinking of a life without Beth seems … wrong.

  “When I didn’t know that there was more to life than having the perfect career, yeah, it was.” I turn slowly to face him and he’s smiling.

  “What?”

  “I felt that way once myself. Almost started my own company. Your grandfather hated that I wanted to spend more time with your mother than at work.” He chuckles. “I was ready to leave—do my own thing. All so I could have your mother in my life.”

  “Grandfather didn’t like Mom?”

  “Oh he did, he loved her like she was his own daughter. And that was why he came to his senses. He knew she was good for me. She made me strong.”

  “What does this have to do with me?”

  “Simple. The fire I saw in you just a bit ago, that spark you had trying to protect her, it’s rare.”

  “She didn’t send those pictures. Someone put them on my desk yesterday morning and threatened both my job and hers if I didn’t end things with her.”

  “I believe she didn’t send those pictures either; someone hacked into her email.”

  “How? No one else believes her.” I lean back and rub my hands over my face. She doesn’t deserve this.

  “I believe her because you believe her. You’re my son. I trust you.”

  I snap my head up. “You do?”

  “Of course.”

  “But I thought you sent me here because you couldn’t.”

  “I sent you here hoping you’d learn more. I didn’t say in what area. I moved you into the director position so quickly, I was beginning to think I stole a part of your youth. The part where you really focus on what you want to do. And also because you messed up.” His brow raises, but he’s grinning.

  “All I’ve done in the last few months is mess up. I’ve made mistake after mistake.”

  “We all make mistakes, Maverick; the important thing is that you learn from them.”

  I groan. “Well, I’m sure learning the hard way.”

  “Sometimes that’s how it works, son.”

  Bart’s voice echoes outside my office, drawing our attention. Sounds like the contract didn’t go well. Sucks for him.

  “What happens now?” I ask.

  “Now we contact security, review some tapes, and find out who is behind all this.”

  That’s a grand idea.

  “We lost the contract.” Bart storms into my office. “Said they needed a more organized firm. One with less distractions. Someone who won’t struggle to provide what they are asking for.”

  “If Austin hadn’t stolen our presentation, they could have had that,” I tell him straight out. Beth style.

  “Bill, I’m sorry, but Maverick can’t continue to blame his mistakes on others at this company. I can’t offer him this job.”

  My dad’s hand is up, ready to defend me, but I’m quicker.

  “So that means Austin gets the job?”

  “He’s clearly the focused one here,” Bart says.

  “I’m sorry to hear that.” I stand. “Because hiring him means one thing.”

  “What’s that?”

  “You’re fucked.”

  Then I walk right past him and out of the office. I hear the argument between him and my father as I make my way to the elevator. I’ll have to apologize later for pawning him off on my dad like that.

  “It was good to see you, Maverick.” Ann steps around her desk to hug me. “I’m going to miss all the excitement around here.”

  “I’m sure you’ll have plenty more here soon,” I say. He fucking hired Austin. What an idiot. “I’ll see you around.”

  I press the down arrow and just as the doors open, I hear my name. My dad steps into the elevator with me.

  “Dad, I know I should have been focused on work and that I shouldn’t have spoken to Bart that way and that I should be in there fighting for this job, but Beth…” I smile, but my next thought crushes my heart. “I can’t lose her.”

  He nods, pressing the lobby button.

  “So,” he asks, “what’s your plan?”

  “My plan?” I ask.

  “To get her back,” he says.

  My face must say it all.

  “You don’t have a plan? How will you win her back without a plan?”

  I shake my head.

  “I’m twenty-six years old and my father is still teaching me how to be a man.”

  “Makes me feel young,” he says.

  We both laugh. And then, I start thinking of a plan.

  Beth

  The last thing I should be doing right now is driving. Yet here I am, cruising down the streets, barely able to see through my tear-blurred view.

  “Naked pictures!” I scream into my silent car.

  As if having the first man I love be ashamed to admit there was something between us wasn’t bad enough, let’s just email some nudes out to the staff.

  Fuck.

  As much as it hurts to know everything I worked toward was just pulled out from underneath me, it hurts more to know that the first time I let someone in, he betrayed me. Twice.

  I trusted him.

  I’ve never told anyone that I loved them aside from my family and friends, and those cases were rare. Maybe I should have, though. Had I actually let a guy in during high school or college, I could have started with a calmer approach to dating life. I could have had someone break up with me or lie to me or even cheat because they didn’t want me anymore. No, I have to go and max out the heartbreak box and let the man I love use me for his own personal gain. I let him fool me into thinking everything we had was real. Three months, Beth. Really. Three months was all it took to ruin everything I created for myself in the last twenty-five years.

  I didn’t have a destination in mind when I got in my car, but when I pull up in front of Kelsey’s home, I know I came to the right place. My closest friends are exactly who I need right now.

  I attempt to brush off my tears with my palms, but even without a mirror I know that all I’ve done is make the smudges worse. Any chance of hiding my emotions right now are a lost cause by the time I reach her door. I don’t have time to knock before Kelsey appears on the other side of the door in a hoodie, sweats, and with a messy bun on top of her head as she cradles her newest baby boy, Andrew, in her arms.

  “What’s going on?” she asks.

  “Auntie Beth!” Clara rushes toward me. Her legs are moving faster than she can control and the image of Phoebe from Friends running through the park comes to mind. Leave it to the cutest little chocolate-headed girl to make me smile when my heart is shattered.

  “Whoa, Auntie Beth, you need to fix your ’scara.”

  That makes me laugh.

  “You don’t like it?” I ask. Baby Boy starts to fuss.

  “I’m just going to pass him off to Ethan and I’ll be right back,” Kelsey says as she leaves the room.

  Clara is still shaking her head. “Mommy told me that if I don’t know how to use it, I can’t.”

  I remember the day Kelsey told her that. We wer
e outside for a barbeque; Clara and her cousin Jake were inside. We’d all thought they were playing with some of her toys when Alexis went inside for a soda. She came back out to say the house was awfully quiet. Kelsey immediately went straight to her room. Turns out it wasn’t the first time Clara got into her makeup, and we learned that day, as both kids stared up at the adults with black streaks all over their small faces, that Clara was no better at putting it on Jake than she was on herself.

  “I’d say your mother is probably right.”

  I plop myself on the brown leather couch and watch as Clara leans over the armrest and blushes before looking away.

  “What?” I ask. That face says she’s up to something.

  “Mommy didn’t show me how to use it, but you should ask her.”

  I laugh hard at her comment.

  “I’ll be sure to do that,” I finally reply.

  This time her face is serious.

  “What’s wrong?” I ask again.

  “Can you ask for me, too?”

  Kelsey reappears before I have a chance to answer.

  “Mommy, Auntie Beth has something to ask you.”

  “Oh, she does, does she?” My friend’s tone is a dead giveaway of how well she knows her daughter. The wink she gives as she sits next to me confirms it.

  “Aunt Beth, what is it you want to ask me?”

  “Well,” I begin. A small hand rests on my knee and big, brown eyes watch me with urgency. “It’s been brought to my attention that my makeup isn’t done properly. I was wondering if you could show me and Clara how to do it correctly?” I ask.

  Kelsey’s mouth forms a firm line.

  “I’m sorry. I can’t do that. Only adults wear makeup.”

  “But Beth is an adult, Mom; I was just gonna watch!” Clara whines and then storms off. Kelsey and I hold back our giggles until she is out of sight. Then all we hear is the murmur of voices down the hallway as Clara fills her dad in on what her mother just did.

  “She’s a daddy’s girl, all the way,” Kelsey says, her smile fading slowly. “Now tell me why you’re here and why my child thinks you need lessons on how to apply your makeup.”