Page 108 of The Spare
“Yup, I added it this morning. Don't lose that.”
I released a contented sigh.
Over the last few years, that picture and the journal were my connection to her.
A tether.
Now, it could hang on the wall forever. I didn’t need it anymore; I had her. That simple fact would keep me grounded and incandescently happy for the rest of my life.
Epilogue
SLOAN & MARCUS
Two Months Later…
SLOAN
Getting settled into my new office was odd. It would remain the same if I ever became managing partner. That goal had lost some luster, now that I didn’t feel the need to prove myself to anyone.
I was a senior partner for a couple of months now, and it was everything I expected. Thinking back on it now, I realize all of the accolades were confetti. They were nice to have and made things brighter, but from now on, I’d enjoy my accomplishments and only pursue what I genuinely wanted.
I sat down at my desk and took a second to take it all in. A gleeful squeal escaped me when I pulled my legs up onto the chair and twirled myself around in it.
“I saw that,” Xander said as the chair swung back around. I shook off the quick dizziness and stood to greet him. He handed me a paper. “You see this?”
Amari princess on the arm of the competition
“Yes.” I rolled my eyes and threw the gossip rag on my desk. It was a photograph from a benefit all the partners attended. Marcus and I waited until everything with the board was settled before attending public events together for that exact reason. It was the first event we attended together. Henry was there too, but he went alone.
“Now that Henry’s on his best behavior, it looks like they’re interested in you again.”
“Fabulous.” I was getting used to it, but I knew it made Marcus uncomfortable. He had always managed to stay out of the public eye, and so had I. After deciding on law school, the papers didn’t have any interest in what I was doing. It would seem Henry’s compliance with his new PR consultant made him boring, and our relationship sparked some interest.
For now, it seemed they were interested in us because we were new. A shiny headline to capture attention for a few weeks. Henry’s head of public relations, Selena, told us to lean into it. The papers loved drama, so if we continued to be nauseatingly in love, they’d quickly tire of us.
That wouldn’t be too hard.
“Ready to go?” Xander picked the paper off my desk and threw it into the trash bin. Now that I was back from my short stint in London, Xander and I could grab lunch like we used to.
“Sloan?” Marcus walked through the door, typing quickly on his phone. He looked up, and his smile fell when he saw Xander. He wouldn’t be bending me over my desk today.
“Are you third-wheeling our lunch?” Xander asked.
Ignoring his brother, Marcus looked at me. “I got you something.” He pointed to two movers bringing what looked like a large painting into my office. I couldn’t exactly tell what it was. “Which wall?” His sly smile had me interested.
Xander and I looked at each other with confusion, and I pointed to the one directly to my left. The other side of the room was a bookshelf that spanned the entire wall. Behind me was a wall of windows.
We turned to face the movers as they began to mount the piece. Marcus walked into the office to stand beside Xander and me as it was hung. The brown protective paper still concealed the painting.
“You buy her a Rembrandt?” Xander asked.
“No, the artists are relatively unknown.” Marcus’s tone was almost bored, but his eyes told a different story. He had that look in them. “Well, in the art world, anyway.”
Finally, the covering was removed, and I gasped when I realized what I was looking at. An array of colors smudged across a white canvas. Except the canvas was actually drywall with a clear sealant painted over it. I was staring at the piece of wall he pressed me against after we said I love you for the first time.
Framed beautifully. Hung in my office.
His arms wrapped around my waist from behind me.
