Page 34 of Secret Spark

The light from Greta’s headlamp glinted off the metal ductwork as she glanced up with a sly grin. “We had some good times there.”

“We had some great times.” They’d spent a few weeks there the last (and final) time they thought they could make things work between them.

“So, wait.” Mark still wasn’t getting it. “You’re just doing this for shits and giggles?”

“She does everything for shits and giggles,” Joan said, and Greta laughed in agreement.

“I enjoy my money,” she said. “Unlike you two. ‘I pay my rent. I bought my car with cash.’”

“Joanie steals cars.” Mark loved to point that out.

“One car, one time, when I was young and dumb,” Joan said.

Greta’s headlamp beam bobbed side to side as she shook her head. “You felt so bad, you returned it.”

“I couldn’t justify why I’d done it.”

“For fun? Because you could?”

Speaking of why it never worked between us…

The car episode should’ve been exhilarating, but had left her feeling sad. Mark had been enrolled in culinary school, and she’d felt lost without him accompanying her on Spark escapades. It’d prompted her to try going legit. The call center job she got fired from for the suspicious fire in her cubicle.

Customer service was not her strong suit.

“I didn’t need a sports car,” Joan said. Then she grinned. “But I did need that Migano statuette I picked up a few weeks later. I liberated it from a rich guy’s office.”

“Is that the bronze horse on your shelf?” Mark said.

“Yeah. I love it. I look at it every day.”

True, she loved the bold lines and deep carvings on the little sculpture. It also acted as a reminder of what she was good at. The world she belonged in. A middle finger to the norms who’d never tried to understand her.

“Wait,” Greta said. “Didn’t you take it from your old boss’s office or something?”

“The owner of the call center,” Joan said.

“That’s right.”

“I was still working through some anger management issues in my twenties.”

Mark snorted. Greta’s smile was barely visible. “Perry was so proud of you,” she said. “Iwas proud of you. A Migano belonging to the man who fired you. That was a sweet score.”

“It was.”

It had been at the time. Gaining Perry’s approval used to be so important. He’d been glad when Joan took a liking to art, so he’d taught her all about what was worth money and what was to be appreciated. And that revenge was a dish best served on really nice china.

Then Mark flunked out of culinary school for always making dishes that were too cold. Their little family had been reunited. For a while, she was happy just being Spark.

A new Sadie text appeared.

Have to get back to work but I’ll think about colors for the hot and cold logo and will text you later

Looking forward to it.

At least one norm understood her desire for something different. Joan put her phone away, then called down to Greta, “Sadie’s so nice. She’s a genuinely nice person.”

“And here you are helping with some light B and E,” Greta said. “What are you going to do about the fact that you’re not a personal trainer or whatever story you told her?”