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“I could get used to this,” Leela said panning the room with her phone. Once she was done, she propped the phone up on the vanity table.
“That’s unreal,” Chelsea said. “It looks like something out of Bridgerton.”
“The entire experience is like something out of Bridgerton. The house is amazing. The grounds are straight out of House and Garden magazine. In fact, she has like forty trophies in a case for awards she’s won over the years. Four zero,” Leela said with emphasis. “I don’t know who could compete with this. Her garden must be her life’s work.”
“Imagine a flower garden being your life’s work,” Chelsea said.
“Sounds like a nice way to pass time—choosing the garden layout and then selecting the flowers for each spot. It’s no different than any other design work.”
“Well, it’s pretty, but it makes me want to sneeze.”
Leela laughed. Chelsea had bad allergies.
“So how are things going with Kiefer?”
Leela cooled, or at least played it cool. “Fine. The screening was nice last night. The film has gotten good reviews. Everything about being here has been lovely.”
“He must like you.”
“Now why would you say that?”
“He invited you here. There’s no reason for that. You’re a script reader.”
“I’m sure he wanted a plus one. Most of his cousins are coupled up, even if it’s just with dates.”
“But he could have invited anyone. Like an actual date. He did grow up here.”
“I get the impression he’s focused on his business right now. Which works for both of us, because so am I.”
“But he does like you.”
“I’m likeable. But it’s not romantic. We share an interest in stories and that’s not something you find that easily.”
There was a knock at the door and Leela heard Kiefer’s voice.
“It’s him. I’ll text you pics.”
Leela ended the call with Chelsea and pulled the door open for Kiefer. He was dressed in jeans just as he’d told her to do.
“I thought I’d give you a proper tour of the property. I also want to show you all my little hiding places from childhood.” He offered her his elbow. She stuck her phone in her pocket and accepted the gentlemanly gesture.
***
LEELA NEVER LIKED Fear Factor, Survivor, or any of those other adventure-seeking reality shows that required people to get dirty while risking their lives. So, the fact that she was stuck in a tunnel in an underground cave was wholly unexpected.
The warm glow of the afternoon sun made everything about Aunt Margaret’s yard beautiful, including the bird sanctuary that held forty varieties of birds common to the lowcountry. And then there was the lighthouse that Kiefer wanted to show her. What started as a cautious walk through an old building had turned into an episode of the reality show Trapped because the trap door to Kiefer’s childhood hideaway snapped closed and wouldn’t open. Now she thought of it as a crumbling edifice that was going to take her to meet Jesus and her ancestors. It wouldn’t be so bad to see her mother again, but it was too soon. Her mother wouldn’t want to see her. Not yet.
“We’re going to die in here.”
Kiefer didn’t say anything. He probably didn’t hear her. He was feeling guilty about the whole horrible situation, but Kiefer didn’t share her anxiety about being trapped for days. He insisted it was going to be okay. The family cruise off Aunt Margaret’s dock was at four, if he and she were a no show and couldn’t reached by phone, Aunt Margaret would send out a search party. The open door to the building would signal that they’d come inside.
Leela understood what he was saying, but the idea of being in this dungeon for hours or even possibly overnight was causing her to itch. She was somewhat claustrophobic, and she needed to pee, so she decided to brave going through a metal pipe or tunnel or whatever this thing was she was stuck in in hopes that she could do two things: either make her way out of the tunnel without being eaten by vermin or get close enough to the exit to get a phone signal. She had her miniature flashlight and Kiefer’s pocketknife as a weapon.
Leela crawled on her belly. This was going to ruin her manicure and the toes of her new Keds. Sweat pooled in her hair and trailed down to her temples and face. Dang it, her silk press was about to be nappy too. She should have kept in her braids.
Kiefer’s voice echoed from behind her. “You okay in there?”
She was not okay. She had regrets about this expedition, but she kept her full bladder and desire not to pee in a corner in mind and moved forward.
“Can you still see?” Kiefer asked.
“Yes!”
A loud noise sounded overhead. It sounded like a hammer banged on the metal above her.
“What was that?” Leela asked. Fear had its tight hands around her throat. The words barely came out. “Kiefer, what was that!”
He didn’t answer.
Leela turned like repositioning herself off her belly would give her more volume. “I said what is it?” Couldn’t he hear her?
“I think it’s the waves bumping up against metal. When the current is strong, it probably rattles it.”
That was not comforting. It could cave in. Leela pushed sideways, using her free hand to help move her another couple of inches. This pipe-tunnel situationship was getting creepier by the minute.
Kiefer had assured her that his aunt paid good money for products that kept snakes, rats, and other things away from the bird sanctuary and the lighthouse. The lighthouse was a part of their family history. Great-great-great Grandpa Warren Bennett hid in this very cave during the Civil War as they prepared to ambush a Confederate ship.
Kiefer was all chest out when he brought her down here to show her the markings left by his ancestor and the other enslaved men. She’d wanted to see it, but now visions of things with teeth and tentacles skittered through her mind. The willies came over her and she smashed her hand into the wall, losing the small flashlight in the process.
“No,” she cried, flipping back on her stomach. She used both hands to slap around to find it. “Nooo!”
“What’s wrong?”
The darkness deepened and the air thinned. Leela’s chest tightened with each struggling breath.
“Leela! Answer me!”
Leela suddenly became aware of the heavy breakfast she’d eaten as it pushed against the walls of her stomach and nausea whooshed through her. She had to answer him, but speaking without air was hard. “I lost...I lost the...light.”
“Calm down. You’re okay. I’m right here. Scoot back!”
She couldn’t go back. How would they get out of here if she didn’t make it to the exit? She felt around for the flashlight but didn’t feel it. She needed it. She was operating in the dark and darkness never showed the way to anything good.
Kiefer’s voice was muffled in the distance. “You need to come out!”
“I can’t,” Leela cried. Her mind told her she had plenty of air, but her body conflicted with rational thought. “I...I’m scared.”
“Push yourself backward, Leela. As soon as I can reach your feet, I’ll pull you out.”
Leela took a deep breath and used her butt, feet, and leg muscles to inch in the opposite direction.
Bang! The entire pipe vibrated, pulling more wind from her lungs. This thing could collapse. She was crazy to be in here. Kiefer tried to talk her out of it.
A voice in her heart told her to breathe. She inhaled, held the breath for a count of ten and let it out. Then she pushed herself, forcing herself not to turn her head in the opposite direction.
Critters are as afraid of you as you are of them. That’s what her daddy always said.
“Breathe,” Leela’s internal voice told her. She inhaled again. Counted to ten, let it out, and scooted back again. It was so dark.
You have your phone.
She pulled her phone out of her pocket. She didn’t have any bars, but she had a flashlight. She put the phone on her chest with the light facing up and scooted some more.
“You’re here, Leela.” Kiefer’s voice was closer. “I’m going to pull you a little at a time. Kick if you need me to stop.”
His hands wrapped around her ankles and then she was being pulled backward like a character who’d been trying to escape in a horror movie.
He pulled again, moving her a foot at a time until finally, a different atmosphere filled in around her as she exited the pipe. Once she was on the edge, he put his hands around her waist and cradled her to the ground. They hit with a thud. Leela opened her eyes and gulped air like she was sucking it from a Slurpee cup.
“You’re okay,” Kiefer’s arms were still around her. “Keep taking breaths.” He counted “One... two...that’s right, nice and even.”
Leela inhaled and exhaled on command until her heart stopped sending blood into her ears.
“That was a bad idea,” Kiefer said. “But it’s not the time for I told you so.”
Leela looked down at her trembling hand. It clutched his shirt in a fisted grip. Her eyes traveled up to his. “I thought I was going to suffocate.”
Kiefer’s face was inches from hers. His eyes sank into hers deeper. He lowered his head. His lips glided against hers with the intensity of the kiss growing and growing until everything in her was focused on everything in him. Leela wrapped her arms around him and slid her hand up to the back of his neck.
He cupped her jaw and pulled away. “See. You’re okay. I wouldn’t let anything happen to you.”
But something had happened to her. He’d kissed her and right now that was scarier than being stuck in this cave.
***
THAT HAD BEEN EVERYTHING he thought it would be. Kiefer pressed his back against the wall. Removed his phone from his pocket again, hoping to magically have a phone signal. He couldn’t believe he’d gotten them in this mess. It was all good checking out the lighthouse, until they’d come down into this hole and the trap door jammed.
“You should drink some water,” he said extending what was left of his bottle to her.
Leela wrapped her arms around herself and shook her head. “I don’t need a drop of fluid.”
One thing for sure, she was stressed. He thought about the things he’d learned about her over the months...the things she didn’t like...pedicures—she did her own, horror movies, listening to the radio, and cooked onions. There was more. Every little thing adding to the complex, but interesting woman sitting in front of him, stroking her hair like she had a hot comb that would save that press job.
“Your hair is fine.”
“It’s summer. I usually wear braids. I don’t know what I was thinking getting it straightened. I sweat in my head.” She rolled her neck around, taking in all the crevices in the rocks in the ceiling for the umpteenth time. He looked up. Nothing had changed. She needed a distraction.
“Who are your favorite authors?”
“What?”
“I’m trying to distract you. Let’s talk books. Authors. Your favorites.”
She dropped her head to the side. “I have lots. I met Vanessa Riley at a book signing last month. She’s from somewhere in Metro Atlanta. She was at 44th and 3rd Bookseller. It was great.”
“So you like those kind of events?”
“All readers do. It’s the best thing ever.”
“Noted. Who else do you love?”
She gave it more thought before answering. “Unoma Nwankwor. She writes romance centered on African culture with the most amazing settings and description. Pat Simmons is one of my favorite Christian romance writers and Pamela Samuels-Young writes mysteries. Really twisty stuff. I could go on, but they’re my favorites who have a big catalog. I’m always discovering new authors who have like one or two books that I like, but I’ve read everything they’ve written.”
“I noticed there are no men on that list.”
“I like women’s fiction, but I am a huge fan of Walter Mosley. He’s amazing. The GOAT for real.”
“I’ll have to remember that if I ever decide to treat you to a book.”
“A gift card, sir. I have my favorites on preorder.”
Kiefer chuckled. He was glad to see he’d distracted her. They talked about authors some more. Leela even opened her phone and read a few of her favorite lines to him from the e-reader app. He was impressed that she highlighted parts of the eBooks and made notes in them. She really loved literature. Her passion for it was beautiful but disarming at the same time. He had always had such a disdain for it, especially the classics. Most of those books had print that made it even harder for him to work with. By the time he got to college, he was buying CliffsNotes and any other helpful resources for reading projects and getting help with papers.
“I was kind of looking forward to the cruise,” Leela said. “The water is beautiful, and the weather is nice.”
Kiefer’s knees had been pulled up to his chest. He stretched his legs out. “We’ll come back. Aunt Margaret loves visitors. She keeps busy with her charities and different events and there are lots of family here, but she’s one of those people who handle family like the widow with the ten coins. The missing ones are the ones she’s focused on, so all out of town guests are always welcome.”
“Do you mind if I ask what happened to your parents?”
That sharp little pain he always experienced when he thought about his parents hit him. It felt like her question came from out of nowhere, but it was a reasonable one for her to ask. He knew a lot about her family. He took a deep breath and let it out. “My parents were killed in a car accident. A drunk driver hit their vehicle, flipped it over. They were both deceased at the scene.”
She responded with the appropriate amount of shock and then sadness for him. “I’m so sorry. How old were you?”
“Twenty-five. I’d just moved to Houston.” He pulled his knees back up. Reading his own body language, he was drawing himself in. “I wasn’t talking to my father. We’d fought bitterly about my career choice.”
“What did he want you to do?”
“Take over our sporting goods chain.”
Leela was thoughtful. “Bennett Sporting Goods? Is that your family?”
“Two hundred stores strong,” he replied. “I had no interest in doing that, but he didn’t care. He’d tried and failed to groom me for it.”
“But you wanted to make movies.”
“Documentaries at first, which really bugged him.” Kiefer chuckled a little at the memory. “At least if it was movies, he could see a future for me at Bennett Television, but docuseries and stuff people don’t pay to see on Saturday night? He was repulsed. Anyway, we argued about it, and I never talked to him again before his death.”
“That must have been hard.”
“It was. Guilt messed with my head for a long time, but then I forgave myself for doing nothing wrong and felt better.”
“Is the company still in your family?”
“Oh yeah. My sister wanted it. She’s really done some great work. She was the right Bennett for it. My father would be insanely proud of her.”
The faint rustle of wings filled the quiet. Kiefer stood in hushed wonder as he listened to the distant murmur and squawk of birds outside.
“What is it?” Leela asked.
“Someone’s here. The birds are disturbed.”
Kiefer cupped his hands around his mouth and yelled, “We’re down here. Under the door.” A few times Leela joined in. Minutes later, the hatch door creaked open, and the faces of Stone and Jackson peered down.
Stone said, “If you wanted some time alone, you just should have said so.”
“Very funny,” Kiefer said. He took Leela’s hand and helped her up the steps before following her out of the space. Meisha was with them.
“Girl, are you okay?”
“My silk press is sweated out and my bladder is about to burst but other than that...” She looked back at Kiefer. A little smile tugged at the corners of her lip. “Thanks for taking my mind off my phobias.”
“He’s the bonehead who got you stuck,” Stone inserted.
Kiefer smirked at him before giving Leela his attention. “It was my pleasure.”
Meisha collected Leela and they got on a golf cart and headed back to the house.
“We’re not ten anymore. What in the world were you doing down there?” Jackson asked.
“I wanted to show her our family history.”
“You don’t look too disappointed about missing the boat,” Stone said.
Kiefer couldn’t keep the smile from his face. “I can’t say that I was.”
“I thought I was smooth. You should be giving classes,” Stone teased.
“It wasn’t like that,” Kiefer said. “It’s...” His words were stuck in his chest, in his throat, in his brain. What was it? He and Leela had all these little moments stacked between them. Each conversation and interaction was like a Lego piece snapping into another. And he’d kissed her and didn’t want the kiss to stop. They were building something, together, and it no longer felt like friendship. The problematic situation with her ex-husband came to mind. Kiefer was going to get him out of her life...for good.
He looked up the path that Leela and Meisha traveled. Before they turned the corner, her head spun in his direction. He couldn’t see her face clearly in the distance, but he knew the smile that played on her face. It made his heart melt and he felt like he’d been seeing her smile his entire life. Feeling her lips against his, and the press of her breast against his chest when he kissed her...all that felt like his forever. He was feelin’ her, period, and there was no way Brad was going to mess up her happiness for even a minute. He was going to make sure of that.