Page 87 of The Spark Between Us

Chapter Thirty-Two

Sarah

I hadn’t seenBraden in two days.

By the time my family finally rolled out at two in the morning—after a lot of wine and more rounds of running charades that even I wanted to play—Braden had cleaned up the whole kitchen and headed up to bed, exhausted.

I just slipped between the covers and curled up against him. My happy place. “You cleaned up everything. You’re amazing.”

He didn’t answer, and I fell asleep quickly. But when I woke up in the morning, he’d already worked out, showered, and was heading to the station to work a double shift. He hadn’t done that once since I’d been in town.

Still, I didn’t worry.

I just missed him.

We texted, but there was none of the usual sexy banter. He didn’t call me Damsel.

Something was up.

A couple days later, my phone rang, and because I’d been thinking nonstop about Braden, I assumed it was him. It took me a moment to shake off the disappointment when it wasn’t. It took me another moment to realize the person calling was the department chair at Berkeley.

After I hung up the phone, I sat motionless at my desk. Stunned.

Then I texted Braden.

Me: Hey, you home?

The flicker of three dots on my phone made me happy.

Braden: Just got here.

Me: I’m coming home early. Can’t wait to see you.

Braden: You too.

Me: PS—a neutron who walks into a bar and asks How much for a beer?

Braden: ??

Me: For you, no charge.

That earned me a smiley face, and even though our text exchange felt lackluster, I told myself Braden was probably wiped out after a double shift. I didn’t want to think about what else it could mean.

I found Braden in the kitchen doing dishes. It looked like he’d made an omelet or something, and cheese had burned on the pan.

“Hey.” I wrapped my arms around his waist and tipped my head up to kiss him. “I missed you. How was your double shift?”

“Long. Exhausting. And I missed you too.” His kiss was warm, sweet, and he tipped his forehead against mine. I really was so damned happy to see him.

“So, I just got a crazy phone call. I’m still kind of in denial it even happened, but you were the first person I wanted to tell.”

He moved back to look at me while I told him I was offered a full professorship at Berkeley, a good two years ahead of when I thought it might happen.

“Not just tenure track, but full tenure! The chair just called me,” I said, still blinking and shaking my head in disbelief.

He put the pan down and stared at me, a smile pulling at his lips. “Sarah, that’s amazing. You deserve it. I’ve seen how hard you’ve worked. Congratulations.” He reached for me and pulled me into a hug.

His reaction seemed sincere. He seemed really happy for me.

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