Free Luminosity (Gravity Series #3) (The Gravity Series) by Abigail Boyd Page A

steady speed, feeling the wind in my hair through the window. I couldn’t help the smile that crept across my face.
    When I reached the downtown area, I pulled off and parked on the side of the road. I sent a quick text to Henry, hoping he might have the chance to go out.
    Congrats on the wheels! You know I’d love to, but my dad has me stuck at the office.
    I could always kidnap you.
    I wish you could. He has me shredding every file in this mess.
    Why? Curiosity suddenly gnawed at me.
    That detective has been ‘sniffing around’ (dad’s words). So he wants me to get rid of the back log. I’ve been trying to read over them but so far it seems like tax statements and a lot of boring ass emails.
    Does this mean that we’re not going to see each other for a while?
    I hope it won’t get that bad. Why don’t we meet up on Saturday at the library? Our old thing, we can go down to the conference rooms.
    We’re such nerds.
    That we are. Love you, dear.
    I didn’t know what to send him back, so I didn’t send him anything. Instead, I started the car back up and headed on towards home.
    I wanted to tell him I felt the same way. But too many things had happened before to bruise my trust, even if those had explanations that I understood now. Dating Lainey Ford out of the blue on his father’s orders had, especially, left a dent in my faith. A worried part of me didn’t know if I would ever fully recover from it.
    ###
    Just as I’d worried, it wasn’t just one day of shredding files. Henry was Thornhill’s new full time employee. I didn’t know if maybe that anonymous car in the parking lot had caught us after all or what, but it seemed like Phillip was trying to keep him as busy and preoccupied as possible. Driving past Thornhill’s office one day, I saw two huge recycling trucks parked at the curb.
    A change in weather brought a thaw to the persistent freeze, snow melting and giving way to mud. Claire and my father had continued to be distant with each other at home. Claire was preparing for her first Thornhill event, a bake sale at my school. Advertisements with cookies dressed as kings and queens decorated the billboards.
    It was weeks before I saw Henry for more than a glance at school. Our original library date was delayed several times, until we finally got an opportunity to meet up.
    I had to bargain for a day off , Henry told me when we wrote each other back and forth about it. I’m sorry I’m such a pain.
    You’re not a pain. Your father’s a pain. I’d like to give your father a pain, too.
    By the time I arrived at the library, I was practically buzzing with excitement. I went inside, turned the corner, and disappointment slammed into me. Cheryl Rhodes, Henry’s beautiful and snobbish mother, was standing in the front room. She was speaking with her two assistants: Roger, who was also her lover, and a much more innocent-looking young lady whom I’d never seen before.
    The sight of Cheryl hit me with an electric shock that coursed through my whole body. Why was she here? Why today? Had they caught wind of our plans and decided to spy on us?
    I sped past them, not getting close, and through the glass hallway to the main part of the library. In my haste, I bumped into Charlotte Gary, the punk girl from school, who had been shuffling the opposite way.
    “Do you mind?” she growled at me. She was holding her grimy trench coat closed, but a couple of loose CDs tumbled to the dark carpet. She scrambled to pick them up.
    “Are you stealing those?”
    “Shut up and mind your own business, vanilla,” she sneered, and stalked off. I didn’t care enough to report it to the desk; so, instead, I went to the fantasy section to meet with Henry.
    He was already waiting for me beneath a painted mural of a dragon when I arrived, leaning against the shelves. His arms were crossed tightly, brow furrowed as he glared at the floor.
    He glanced up, and his worried eyes flickered when he noticed me. The look was intense