AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Daniel’s at my office door.
I smile at him. “You caught me dreaming.”
“Did I? Sorry to interrupt.” He flashes a quick grin and strides into my office.
He wore a navy-blue suit today, but he’s discarded his jacket, and the sleeves of his white dress shirt are rolled up. His blue tie is loose and his hair is ruffled from where he’s been running his hands through it. Usually, this means he’s been in a meeting he’s found interesting and fun enough to let loose and be himself.
“You’ve met someone amazing,” I joke, sitting straight in my chair, “and you’re leaving early to have a lunch date.”
He raises his eyebrows. “Not even close.”
At the look on his face I lean forward. A tingle of electricity pulls at me. “What is it?”
He rolls his shoulders and looks to the side. I know Daniel as well as I know myself. He doesn’t want to tell me.
“What? Daniel?”
When he looks back he frowns, his forehead wrinkling. “You know the watch you designed?” He nods to my wrist.
My hand automatically reaches for the pearl and emerald bracelet and I close my fingers over the ticking blue watch face. “Yes?”
“Well ... ” He takes in a deep breath. “Why did you call it the McCormick?”
My heart stumbles and then starts again. The warm air from the vent pulls at a loose strand of hair that tickles my neck. I shake my head. “I don’t know.”
Daniel nods. “Right. That’s what I thought. But, look ... Fi.”
“What?” I ask, my body coiling tighter, tension winding taut in my chest.
“After Christmas, when we officially released the watch, we were contacted by a man named Aaron McCormick.”
I stare at Daniel. He’s waiting for something, I just don’t know what. The pain in my chest pulses and I stand, pushing my chair back.
“Fi?”
“I don’t know him,” I say, shaking my head. “I’ve never heard of him. What does he want?”
I smooth my satin dress down, brushing the soft fabric until it falls to mid-thigh. The watch is heavy and warm on my wrist as I brush the wrinkles away.
“That’s the thing.” Daniel smiles then. “I hadn’t heard of him either. He’s a marathon swimmer. He holds a few world records. He retired, but two years ago he started swimming again. Fi, he’s brilliant.” Daniel grins at me, and I immediately know why he looks as if he’s been enjoying himself.
“You’ve met him?”
Daniel nods. “He swims for charity. He just finished swimming a hundred miles nonstop, unassisted, between the Bahamas and Juno Beach, Florida. Everything he raised went to local disaster relief. The man’s incredible.”
“He sounds all right,” I say, pressing a hand to my chest.
Daniel’s eyes light. “Yeah. He’s all right. I have it all planned, Fi. We’re going to sponsor him and his crew. Outfit them with Abrys. He’s in Geneva. He said he wanted to meet the person who designed the watch with his name. We’ll do media campaigns. Donate to the charities he swims for. He said his family likes Geneva—he might stay for a bit. I told him when it warmed up he could swim the lake.”
A warm, rushing wave falls over me and there’s a buzzing in my ears.
“What do you think?”
I swallow. There’s a strange quality to the moment. The sun is still shining, the snow is still sparkling in the field outside my window, and the mountains are still there. Outside my door there’s the murmur of conversation and the sound of the printer running. Yet everything feels as if it’s changing.
“I think it sounds good,” I say, looking past Daniel, toward the hall.
“Did you want to meet him?” Daniel asks. He gives me his protective-little-brother look. “I held off. He contacted us back at Christmas, but you were down, and we had the holidays and family?—”
