Page 27 of Sheltered

No sooner had I climbed into bed and allowed my eyes to drift shut, my phone chimed.

I reached out to my nightstand, lit up the display, and saw a text from Blaze that made me smile.

Blaze

A lawsuit.

I stared at the response for a long time. It was the simplest thing. Two words. They weren’t even anything of significance, yet they made me feel like I’d been handed the world. Because they came from him. After what I could only assume must have been a long and difficult day of work, he gave me that answer.

And I couldn’t miss what it meant.

He was likely home now, and it was me who passed through his mind at the end of his day.

When I took my lunch break on Thursday afternoon, I had hoped I would have been able to call Blaze, but I’d received a text from my mom while I was with one of my morning clients. She’d asked me to give her a call when I had a free moment.

So, instead of reaching out to Blaze just to touch base with him, I gave my mom a call.

Two rings later, she answered, “Hello?”

“Hi, Mom.”

“Hey, Harlow. What are you up to?” she asked.

I finished chewing a bite of my sandwich, swallowed, and answered, “I’m on my lunch break right now. How about you?”

“Decluttering the office,” she replied. “I can’t believe how much paperwork is here. I found a receipt for the washing machine we bought four years ago.”

“Wow. Sounds like you got yourself involved in a bigger project than you probably anticipated it would be when you started,” I said.

“Exactly,” she mumbled. “I’m glad you called me back, though. Your dad’s birthday is coming up in two weeks, and I wanted all of us to get together to take him out for dinner. I talked to your brothers, and they’re both free that whole weekend. I know you work on Saturday, but do you have anything going on that Sunday?”

“I figured you would want to do something then, so I haven’t planned anything,” I told her. “Sunday is probably the better day for me, though.”

I heard the paper shredder in the background. It sounded like she’d put the phone right up against it before it suddenly faded away. “Sorry about that. I had one last thing I wanted to run through there. I’m stopping to grab myself lunch now. Okay, so I was leaning toward Sunday anyway. I’ll call when we get off the phone to make reservations and let you know a specific time once I have one.”

I hadn’t shared the news with my mom about Blaze, but I thought this was the perfect time to do it. “Hey, would it be okay if I brought someone along with me to celebrate?” I asked.

“Sure. I don’t mind. Do you want to call Olive and confirm she can make it before I make reservations?” she countered.

I licked my lips as I felt a flutter in my belly. My mom might not go as crazy as my best friend did when she’d learned I’d joined a dating app and had a date, but there was no question my mother was going to be surprised.

“It’s actually not Olive that I want to bring,” I told her.

“Oh?”

Hesitating a moment, I realized there was little I could do to prepare myself to share this news for the first time. “I’ve started seeing someone,” I confessed.

My mom gasped. “Are you serious?”

“Yes.”

“Who is he? How long have you known him? Where did you meet?” she questioned me. I didn’t mind the questions and had fully expected she’d have them for me. It would have bothered me if she hadn’t cared enough to ask at all.

“I’ll do my best to tell you everything I can right now, but I only give myself so much time for lunch,” I noted. “I might need to call you back later tonight when I get home.”

Refusing to allow us to waste a minute, she urged, “Well, get started. Tell me about him.”

I laughed and said, “His name is Blaze Matthews. He’s a private investigator, and I met him the night he rescued me from a horrible date.”