“That’s okay, I was too.”Luna sounded more relieved than upset.“I can’t get anything else from it, do you think you can?”
“I’ll have to dig, but I’ll try.”
“What does this mean for us?”Brandon’s question shattered the eerie feeling of no one else talking.
Luna’s exhale was loud.“If you have a computer with AcesPlayed assets on it, disconnect it now.From the internet, from the network, from your phones.Turn the Wi-Fi off completely.”
Groans echoed through the room.I’d never heard a group of people more disappointed that they’d been told not to work on a weekend.Though to be fair, this was more limiting.
“Personal machines in the office tomorrow.I’ll make sure you’re all locked down and then you can surrender your nights to work again.I’ll tell the rest of the office,” Luna said.
Which left me with the only internet capable computer in the room, and a problem I still didn’t have the answer to.“I’m going to keep digging.”
“I’ll do the same.Let me know what you find.”Luna hung up.
Phillip picked up his phone from the coffee table.“That means we’re all off the hook.See you tomorrow, Elliot.”
“Yeah, let me know,” Elliot said.
Brandon and I said our goodbyes and headed into the stormy weather.The snow had stopped falling, and the plows had already been out, leaving the roads clear, but the landscape blanketed in silence.
We stopped next to our vehicles, and Brandon squeezed my hand.“See you at home?”
“If I’m a few minutes late, don’t call the cops.I need to stop by Reese’s.”
His frown melted into understanding.“The thing?”
“The thing.”
He gave me a quick kiss, and we were on our way, driving in the same direction until I hit the intersection that took me on a different path.Driving after a snowfall, when no one had been out to disturb the world, was an experience in eerie beauty.I loved the way the lights reflected off both the ground and the clouds in the sky, wrapping the world in a bubble of pale yellow.
I got to Reese’s, grabbed the present off the seat, and gingerly walked the unshoveled path up to her door.
She answered with a smile that didn’t hide a faint sadness in her eyes.“Were you really working this late?”
“And I’ll probably do more when I get home.I want to find this person.But first, I had to come find you.”I handed her the gift.
“It’s not Christmas.”
“You should open it anyway.”A glance past her told me she’d already done the decorating, but it wasn’t too late to add one more piece.
She gave me a suspicious look, then tore off the colorful paper.When she saw the box inside, she managed a smile and a gasp simultaneously.She pulled out the winged girl in a crop top and jeans, who was playing a guitar.“You got me a new angel for my tree.Where did you…”
“I asked Adam to make it for me.”I’d given him the specs and pointed him toward a bunch of reference photos, and he’d 3D printed it, then painted it.
“It’s amazing and perfect and I love it.Thank you.”Reese threw her arms around my neck.
I squeezed back, and a pulse of desire surged inside.To hold her longer.To push her inside and steal a kiss.To do more.Instead, I forced myself to let go.“I need to take off before the snow starts again.”
“I agree.”Some of her sadness leaked back.“See you tomorrow.”
Brandon was already gonewhen I woke up.Judging by the numbers on the clock, he’d probably been at work for a couple of hours.
I hated that I hadn’t found my answers yesterday, and even more than the leak basically happened on my watch.I wanted to get back to it today, but I’d exhausted all avenues I could think of for searching, the hole was patched, and I had to get to my own job.
I ran on autopilot through getting ready, and sighed at the sight of an empty coffee pot.The second mug in the sink implied Adam may be responsible for my lack of morning caffeination.
It was my day to grab coffee and donuts for the first meeting of the day anyway.There had been a lot of discussion—way too much in my opinion—about whether or not it was a good idea to provide coffee for teenagers.