Читать книгу Love In Logan Beach - Shirley Hailstock, Shirley Hailstock - Страница 11

Chapter 3

Rose stayed in her office long after David had gone. There were two ways she could interpret David’s comments about giving her preliminary plan to the designers. She could let it go and have them redo the floors to their desire. Or she could present her own version of what the House of Thorn Logan Beach should look like. The idea was practically resolved in her mind before she finished formulating it.

Thank goodness it was Friday. She had the weekend to create her model. Longer than that, and her window of opportunity might close.

It took her the entire weekend to complete, as she started working late at night on Friday, and finished up on Monday morning before going to work. She had both a 3-D computer simulation of the entire store and a physical model of the first three floors.

Getting the model to the office was a precarious trip, but she arrived without a mishap. Setting it up in the conference room, along with her laptop, she covered the model, then made a cup of coffee and went over her presentation before David arrived.

Even though she heard the door of the office open and close, his presence at the conference room door surprised her.

“What’s this?” he asked, coming into the room.

“I want to show you something, but get your coffee and settle first.”

She knew he had no appointments.

At least he hadn’t mentioned any. David was good about keeping her up-to-date and letting her know when he was leaving the office.

“I had coffee on the way in.”

“Then sit down. I have something I want to present.”

He entered the room, taking a seat near the computer and across from her.

“One of the comments you made last week was to ask me what I would do if the store was completely mine and I could design it the way I wanted it.”

Glancing at David, she wanted to know what he was thinking. Her heart beat a little faster and she knew it wasn’t due to her being nervous about her presentation. Each time she saw him her body did things that surprised her, things she knew shouldn’t happen.

David nodded for her to continue.

“This is a computer rendering of the six retail floors.” Her voice was several notes higher than normal. She took a moment to clear her throat.

She tapped a key on the computer and the entire outside facade of the store was projected on the screen at the end of the polished conference table.

David faced the screen, sitting forward in his seat.

“This may not be your vision of the store, but I wanted to start at the beginning.”

There were large display windows with miniature models in them wearing the latest summer fashions. Rose’s 3-D model had real dolls she found in a thrift store.

David nodded, but didn’t give an opinion.

She went on. Every few minutes, as she added more and more floors to the store and explained where everything would be placed and how the lighting would display it, David nodded. He asked a question now and then. She tried to read his expression, but he had his lawyer face on.

Rose continued. She was proud of the design. When she got into the project, she found it didn’t tire her out. It inspired her. When the Bachs retired, her plan was to change some of the departments, but with Thorn’s she had a blank slate. She visited the other stores online, incorporating some of the recurring layouts and creating others. She thought about crowd flow and the natural movement of people from one department to another.

David had said it was scientific and she kept that in mind as she completed her presentation.

“I’ve made a mock-up of the first three floors,” she said when she finished the computer simulation.

Unveiling the three-dimensional model, she stood behind it. David came around to look at it.

“Is this done to scale?” he asked, his first question in a long time. She heard the awe in his voice and didn’t know if it meant he approved or was just surprised.

“You must have worked for days on this.”

“Just the weekend,” she said, keeping to herself the number of hours she’d put in. Unfortunately, she yawned at that moment, putting her hand up to stifle it and hoping he didn’t see it.

David turned the model around, perusing it from every angle. He stooped down, leveling his eye with the model.

“This is beautiful. You should have told me you were an artist.”

He glanced at Rose and she smiled, yet she didn’t want to be complimented on the art. She wanted him to like the layout, approve the design and at least let some of it be used.

“If I approve this, do you think, among your duties, you can work with the designers to implement it?”

Rose blinked, unsure of what she’d inferred.

“Are you giving me approval?” Her voice was more tentative than she would have liked it to be.

“Not yet.” He shook his head. “Email me a copy of the proposal and I’ll present it to the Board and get back to you.”

Rose’s face fell, but she quickly lifted her chin and looked David square in the eye. She knew what his comment meant. He needed time to find a reason to reject it. She knew it was good—better than good—but it wasn’t created by the House of Thorn or any of their agents.

“Don’t get me wrong, Rosanna. It’s a great design.”

Rose nodded absently. “What about the designers?”

“I wish I’d met you before I hired them. I could have saved the family a lot of money.”

Rose smiled for real then.

“One thing,” he said.

She froze, feeling like “here it comes.”

“The outside of the building.”

“Yes?” she prompted.

“Because of the previous storms, we’ve committed to shoring up the foundation. The windows are made of special glass that can resist hurricane-force winds. The building, while it will have the look of the other Thorn stores, will be different than what you have here.”

Rose nodded. “That sounds like a good thing.”

“And the lettering of the logo.” He put his finger on the word Thorn’s.

Rose smiled. “I couldn’t find the right font.”

“I’ll have to pass this by the board, my family, and see what they think,” he repeated.

Rose’s heart hammered and her face burned as if she was on a hot beach, but she was pragmatic. Board, she thought. Even if they were his family, they would never approve a project already in progress, one they’d laid out money for a team of designers to complete. She’d been excited for a moment, but now she knew she didn’t stand a chance. It didn’t matter that hers was better, she’d wasted time and energy thinking David would even seriously consider it. Still, in the back of her mind, she held out a tiny amount of hope.

“I can fix that logo before you go if you know the font name,” she said evenly.

“I’ll find out and let you know.”

He stood up from his crouched position.

“Good job, Rosanna.”

“Rose,” she said. “My friends call me Rose.”

“Rose,” he repeated, his voice barely above a whisper, yet it seemed to roar in her mind.

* * *

The benefit of the doubt. Rose heard a message her father used to give her when she was young and he’d take her to his office. When there was a problem related to people, he advised her to always give them the benefit that they might be right, or at least have a viable reason for whatever the issue was.

So she was going to believe that David had given her proposal its due when he presented it to the board.

Rose yawned. It has been a long weekend. Blinking, she tried to focus on the task list that appeared to grow with each ticking minute. Getting up, she headed for the kitchenette. She poured what had to be her hundredth cup of coffee in the last seventy-two hours. When she returned there was a note on her desk.

She picked up the white piece of paper and read out loud the three words on it.

“Go for it.”

With the paper still in her hand, she went into David’s office. She needed to know what it meant. It had only been an hour since she’d finished presenting. How could he have called a meeting, even if it was with family, and have a decision this fast?

“What does this mean?” Rose asked, extending her hand with the note in it.

David smiled. “You have a go.”

Rose said nothing for a moment. She was stunned.

“H-how?” she stammered. “I mean when? There wasn’t enough time.” She stopped because she was rambling. Her mind was rambling.

“I called the board. Or rather I emailed them. They said any changes I wanted to make were my decision.”

Rose’s mouth dropped open as the full impact of what she was hearing processed in her brain. Clamping her hand over her mouth, Rose kept herself from screaming.

“I can see that makes you happy,” David said. “Your eyes are as bright as the sun.”

Rose stifled a laugh. It came out as almost a sneeze.

“I’m sorry,” she apologized.

“No need. I know exactly how you feel.”

Rose nodded and as she headed toward her office, she knew he couldn’t possibly understand how she felt. She stopped and looked at the ceiling, but she was really looking to the heavens. Closing her eyes, she whispered a prayer. “Thank you, Daddy,” she said.

Standing there for several seconds, she thought about David. He wasn’t as bad as she initially thought. Maybe it was his family and not him who’d bought Bach’s. That thought brought her out of her reverie and she moved.

She should have been riding on air. David had just given her the go-ahead, but she’d been living on adrenaline and coffee for a few days. Returning to her office, she sat down and suddenly a long weekend of pushing herself to create and finish in time to present her ideas slammed into her like a sprinting runner bent on getting to the front of the pack.

At her desk, she rested her head and closed her eyes a moment. Sleep stole over her in seconds...

Her chair slid backward, crashing against the wall and jerking her awake.

David yanked her door open and rushed inside.

“Are you all right?” he asked, concern evident in his voice.

Rose was still trying to get her bearings and didn’t immediately focus on him. So she was unprepared when he pulled her chair around and went down on one knee so he was level with her.

Rose tried to keep the distress from her face, but she was too tired.

“I’m all right,” she said. “Just a little tired.”

“You’re going home,” David announced. His don’t-argue-with-me voice penetrated her mind, but she ignored it.

Pushing back, she said, “I don’t need to go home. I have a ton of things to do and with the addition of the—”

“Every one of them can wait until tomorrow. You’ve worked the entire weekend, night and day, it appears, so you’re going home.”

Rose accepted the argument. The thought of taking a nap seemed like the best idea in the world. But she didn’t want him to think she was incapable of handling her responsibilities.

David must have read her expression, because he answered her concern as if she’d voiced it.

“No one will think ill of you for taking a comp day. We all need them now and then.”

There was no one except the two of them, but Rose didn’t point that out. She nodded and moved to stand, but he was directly in her path. David got up and his hand went under arm, helping her to her feet. Rose felt steadier than she had before he appeared in her office, but she didn’t protest his touch. It was warm and she wanted to put her hand over his and turn to face him. Stifling the urge, she stood and pulled away, using the need to gather her purse and briefcase as a reason to remove the contact between their two bodies.

* * *

Logan Beach wasn’t a large place, even though its population swelled in the summer to thousands.

“Is it all right if I ask you a question?” Rose asked when they were driving in his car.

“Sure.”

“You’re a trained lawyer. How did you come to manage the Logan Beach store? Wasn’t the New York legal scene more your style?”

David negotiated around a tractor trailer and made a left turn before speaking. “About a year ago, my parents called a family meeting. There are five of us. My two brothers and twin cousins. The twins were raised by my parents and are more like brothers than cousins. Our parents announced their retirement.”

“Ah,” Rose commented.

“It wasn’t going to happen that fast. My mother is a visionary. She started out as a stay-at-home mom, but wanted more to life than rearing children. She loved to cook. So she started selling cakes from her kitchen in DC.”

“DC? I thought you were from New York.”

“No,” David said. He stopped at a light and glanced at Rose. She didn’t look as tired as when he’d found her asleep at her desk. “We moved to New York after she started baking. My father was transferred there and she had a few clients in Washington who recommended her to stores in New York. That was the beginning. Eventually the business grew so that she had to move production out of our house and into a small store, where she added ice cream and cold drinks to her menu.”

David remembered those days. He loved the ice cream.

“Soon it was evident she needed help. We all helped out after school and in the summer, but we were probably eating more than we sold.”

Rose laughed at that.

“My father quit his job when the store was making more profits than he made as a retail salesman. And he was tired of always traveling, especially after his brother died suddenly and my twin cousins came to live with us.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry.”

David felt the depth of emotion in her words. She must have lost loved ones, too.

“That must have been hard on you as a family.”

“It was, but I think because we had one another—we got through the grief faster than those who have no one.” Before he realized what he’d said, the words were out. He wasn’t sure if Rose had anyone, but he didn’t get the impression that she did, at least no one close. And so many people were going through the same trauma as she was.

“Go on,” Rose prompted. “How did you get from a baked-goods store to a department chain?”

“My uncle left a small retail business that my father took over. People in the retail store would ask about ordering from the bakery and my father would take their orders and pass them on. It was my mother who came up with the idea of putting a bakery in the retail store, giving people a one-stop-shopping experience.”

“Good idea,” Rose said. “That’s a staple of the House of Thorn.”

“Every Thorn store has a bakery. The idea proved to be a perfect arrangement. After a while the bakeries were doing equal business with the retail store. My parents decided to open more stores, one at a time until, in addition to the original bakery, they had five stores in as many states and my father was back on the road, managing them.”

“So did you decide to help out by managing the new Logan Beach store?”

He shook his head. “That’s where the family meeting came into play.”

Rose leaned her head back on the seat, her neck rolling until she faced him. He felt a small twinge of awareness under her scrutiny.

“When the twins went to college, my parents announced they planned to retire after the twins graduated. They would stay in business until then. After that they planned to go on an around-the-world cruise and the empire would pass to the next generation.”

“So obviously the twins graduated.”

“Two years ago.”

He looked at her. Her eyes were closed, but they opened, looking directly into his. David turned back to concentrate on the traffic.

“When they asked which stores we wanted to manage, I chose this one.”

“Why?”

“I love Logan Beach. All my memories here are fond ones. I expect to make more in the future.”

The drive from the store to Rose’s apartment was only twenty minutes. Their conversation hit a lull and when David glanced at her again, she’d fallen asleep. He smiled at her and pulled her head against his shoulder.

David drove slowly, not wanting to wake her. He also wanted to prolong the drive. He couldn’t believe what she’d done with the plans for the store. The design was better than good. Smiling to himself, he thought of their argument over the placement of display cases, and the best method of directing the flow of customers, yet she’d incorporated it into her design. It wasn’t a battle or a war that he’d won, but he felt it was a crack in the glass case she’d protected herself with.

Pulling up in front of her apartment, David cut the engine and looked sideways. Rose didn’t move. He leaned over and released her seat belt. She fell against him.

Her breath was warm on his neck and he didn’t immediately move back or push her head away. He turned his face slightly, taking a more comfortable position, one that was a prelude to his mouth seeking hers.

David stopped himself. He knew if he moved another inch he’d kiss her, and while the thought was foremost in his mind, the timing was wrong.

“Rose,” he whispered.

She stirred, yet remained asleep.

“Rose,” he said again, this time his voice a little stronger.

Her eyes opened and she looked up. It only took a moment for her to realize where she was. Quickly, she pushed back and shifted in her seat.

David knew she would react that way, yet he’d hoped she wouldn’t.

“Excuse me, I must have dozed off. I guess I’m more tired than I thought.” She glanced out the window. “We’re here.”

“I’ll see you in.”

“There’s no need of that,” Rose insisted.

“You were asleep in seconds. I want to make sure you get to your apartment safely.” He didn’t wait for her to agree or disagree. He was out of the car and coming around to her side. The truth was, he wanted to make sure she got safely inside.

The hallway was still dim, but his eyes adjusted quickly. He followed her up the steps and stopped at her door.

“I’ll be in tomorrow,” she said.

David nodded. He knew there was no reason to argue. And he didn’t want to.

“I won’t be in until noon,” he told her.

“Oh.” She frowned. “I don’t remember anything on the schedule.”

“It’s not there,” David said. “I’ll be at Legal Aid to see how I can help out. I promise I’ll get back in time to take care of whatever is on my schedule.”

“No worry,” Rose said.

“I won’t. I’m sure you can handle anything that comes up.”

* * *

In the ensuing week, David watched Rose as she moved like a dynamo. She was on the phone talking to designers, incorporating her plans into the ones they’d presented. Her office was a collection of charts, fabrics, color schemes and her endless lists of things to do.

He loved seeing her busy. He loved watching her move. In fact, it was hard for him to keep his eyes off her.

Rose had posted a large magnetic whiteboard in the reception area that showed their locations at a glance. Seeing her name on it each morning when he arrived added a lift to his day. He wondered what she did when she wasn’t in the office. Did she ever think of him the way he was thinking of her?

Their relationship had begun like two sharp rocks on a beach, but the water was slowly wearing away the edges. It was only a short time ago that David had met a fiercely independent woman who was in no way like the efficient executive who spoke with a strong voice to suppliers, gave directions to the builders and had fallen asleep on his shoulder.

Even though he’d given Rose the go-ahead and she was deep into details, on Friday he went to her office with news from the board of directors. Her head was down and she was concentrating on a floor plan. She looked up. The light hit her face at just the right angle. Her liquid brown eyes were large and fringed with long lashes—the perfect setting. David remembered that her eyes were the one thing that arrested his attention the day he met her. Today, he could drown in them.

“David, you’re staring,” she said. “Do I have lipstick on my nose?” Her hand went to her nose and she wiped at it and looked at her fingertips.

He cleared his throat and shook his head, blinking to pull himself out of the stupor he’d fallen into.

“Sorry, I was thinking of something.” He tried to cover himself, because his thoughts were only of her. “I brought you some good news.”

She smiled tentatively and David had to force himself to concentrate on why he was here.

“I sent your plans for the store to my brothers, who’ll be managing stores in California and New York, and my cousins, who’ll have stores in the Midwest and Texas. They liked your ideas and will implement some in their stores.”