Awakening Fire by Emerald Larissa

Author:Emerald, Larissa
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Castle Oak Publishing LLC
Published: 2015-03-03T05:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

When Emma arrived at the park a few hours later, she sat in the car, gripping the steering wheel long after the purr of the engine ceased. Her stomach rolled through spasm after spasm. Jalapeño peppers? Hadn’t eaten any. More like her father’s unexpected arrival.

This visit with her grandmother sure wasn’t what she’d imagined it would be. She centered the heel of her hand against her chest and rubbed. Then she disengaged the keys from the ignition and made a mental note to stop at the drugstore on the way home to pick up some antacid medication. If only everything were that easy.

At least Grams was showing so many signs of improvement. Emma tenderly ran her thumb over the warped-butterfly key fob while clutching that encouraging thought to her breast. On a heavy sigh, she stepped out of the car.

With her attention finally focused on the park, she was shocked to discover the amount of work that had been done in a few short days. Pretty soon it would challenge the gardens in Paris. The place had been transformed, the earth smoothed and covered with new grass. Fresh off-white sidewalks led the way to granite benches, and a restroom facility had been partially erected. Someone obviously had major connections.

Jacob? He seemed to be in charge, but could he have pulled this off? Did he have that kind of clout? She inhaled deeply, exhaled slowly. If the guy was as bad as Venn alleged, then what had her grandmother bought into? Was there something going on behind the scene? As far as she knew, he was just on the city planning committee.

Emma thought of Venn’s warning. Unease grew as she neared the statue platform in the shadow of the oak. Venn’s “Divine Tree,” as he called it.

Within her peripheral vision, Jacob slithered from behind another tree. Emma gasped. “What’s with the sneaking around?”

He chuckled. “My goodness you have an active imagination.”

“No. You’re just behaving oddly.” Emma couldn’t help the rude remark. Now, more than before, he was putting off a creepy vibe.

“We were scheduled to meet here, right?”

Emma swallowed her angst. It was simply Venn’s attitude transferring to her. Jacob had never done anything to her. Then again, Venn wasn’t what he’d seemed at first, either.

She controlled her breathing. “Yes. I’m sorry. I guess I’m just stressed over things.”

“How is your grandmother?”

Emma lifted her head as the muscles along her spine bunched. “Doing much better, thank you.”

“That’s cool.” But his voice sounded hollow and stilted, like he didn’t use those words often.

A slip of irritation kicked along her nerves. She couldn’t stand talking about Grams with the guy. He didn’t seem to genuinely care, and it was none of his business.

“So, what do we need to cover?” she asked, directing the conversation to their business.

He smirked a little. “The dedication on Saturday is all set. The mayor and even a state senator will speak. Three days and you can head back to Paris.”

“Okay,” she replied, wishing the ceremony could be postponed.

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