Maybe she was involved in an accident. André dismissed the thought. If anything had happened, surely someone would have answered her phone. Or found out who her previous callers were. With so many calls from him, someone would have dialed his number.
So wherever Susan was, she didn’t want to talk to him. But he wanted to talk to her. He wanted to know why she’d left her job. If the situation between them was the reason, he could accept that. It was what he wanted, right? André wasn’t so sure anymore. He was pursuing her, not the other way around. Not the usual way he’d seen women. Maybe because she didn’t look at him the way those other women had. In her eyes he saw no dollar signs. Still, he had to know if she was real or just an extremely good actress. He’d encountered those in his lifetime too.
André stopped pacing and took a shower. He called the office to let them know he wasn’t coming in. His assistant’s surprise at this drastic change in his routine was evident, yet he offered no explanation. He had previously accessed the office systems to find out Susan’s street address.
If she wouldn’t come to him, he had only one alternative.
André arrived at Susan’s building just after ten o’clock. While he came from one direction, she stepped out of a taxi at the curbside. The relief that went through him was physical. While he’d rationalized that nothing had happened to her, seeing her alive and well sent a shock wave through him. He got to her as she pushed the taxi door closed. Her back was to him as he began to speak.
“Susan, where’ve you been? I’ve called you a hundred times.”
She turned. The surprise on her face was frightening. André took a step back to give her room.
“What are you doing here?” she asked.
“I was concerned. Jessica told me you resigned without notice.”
“I did,” she said and started toward the entry door. André fell into step behind her. The building was protected and had a doorman, who quickly opened the glass entry. André acknowledged him as he passed.
At the elevator, he asked, “Did it have anything to do with our kiss?”
Her eyes stabbed him as hard as she stabbed the elevator button with her finger. The door opened.
“Yes,” she said, with her voice sounding knife sharp.
André followed her into the elevator. They were going to talk. Apparently Susan thought so too, or she’d resigned herself to it. She didn’t invite him into her apartment, but she didn’t shut the door in his face either. After dropping her purse on a chair, she disappeared into the kitchen for a moment. André took the time to look again at the beautifully appointed room and the sweeping view of the city. Susan returned with two bottles of water. She handed him one.
“Sit,” she said.
André complied, watching her take the seat where she’d dropped her purse. It was the farthest from him the room would allow, and she sat on the edge of it as if she’d need to escape quickly.
“Why did you quit?”
“I don’t think the work environment was good for either of us.”
“It was a kiss, Susan, not a proposal.”
As soon as the words left his lips, he knew it was the wrong thing to say. He didn’t want to travel that road. He wasn’t looking for an engagement, and the color seemed to drain from Susan’s face.
“I didn’t mean that the way it sounded,” he said, apologetically. “I mean you don’t have to leave the store because of...” He didn’t know how to continue.
“I don’t think it’s a good fit,” she said.
“Jessica thinks the sun rises and sets on your designs.”
Susan smiled at that. André knew she and the furniture-department head had clicked. Each respected the other, and each complimented the room designs. Jessica had said that if it wasn’t for Susan, she’d have let things remain as they were.
“Thank Jessica for me, but I want to focus more on my photography.”
“And less on me,” he said. He wanted to talk about them. He wanted to know what she found objectionable.
André got up and moved closer to her. As he sat on the edge of the coffee table, he noticed her slight movement farther back into the chair.
“I know you’re wary of a relationship.”
André didn’t know if this was true, but he knew his own history, and he was sure that somewhere in her past there was a relationship that had gone wrong. He could tell by the look in her eyes that he’d struck home.
“I understand,” he said. “The same has happened to me.”
André hadn’t intended to say that. He’d never told anyone about what had broken him and Gail up, what she’d said to him and how involved his heart had been. But since then he’d protected himself. At least he had until Susan had crossed his path.
“I don’t want to begin a relationship with you,” André said.
Susan’s eyes opened a little wider. “Then what do you want?”
“There is obviously something between us.” He thought of the way she felt in his arms. “I think we should at least see where it goes.”
“Why?” she asked. “You already said you weren’t seeking a relationship. Neither am I.”
“Well, now that you no longer work for the House of Thorn, you can’t have any objection to our getting to know each other better.”
“That may not be something I want to pursue,” she said.
André knew she was dead serious, and it irked him. “Why not?”
“We’re not from the same world.”
He looked around the smartly appointed apartment. While it had a traditional feel, the furnishings and decor were rich and upscale. The room reflected its occupant.
“It appears that we are.”
“Don’t be deceived by what you see.”
“How about we go out?” He had changed the subject.
“Now?” she asked.
“I was thinking of a date.”
She didn’t recoil, as he felt she might, yet she was shaking her head.
“I might not be elegant enough for your class of friends. I’m more of the beer-and-pretzels type.”
“You cut yourself short. I’ve seen you in action, and I know you can talk to anyone about anything.” André smiled. “I think you’ll be very comfortable at any gathering.”
“So, what do you have in mind, dinner and a movie?”
That was the usual first-date thing when he was younger, but he commanded a department store that yielded the greatest profit of any of the stores in the chain.
“Do you have anything against dinner and a movie? It will mean I get to sit in the dark with you. And depending on the movie, you might throw yourself in my arms.”
He was teasing and Susan knew it. He saw the slight smile that curved her kissable mouth.
“Trust me,” he said. “I’ll choose something that we can do that won’t involve anything getting too complicated.”
She said nothing and André took that as assent.
“Pick you up Saturday morning?”
“You won’t be working?” she asked.
André shook his head. He wanted to see her, and his routine at the store was just that—a routine. If he didn’t walk the floors before the store opened in the morning, no one except Jessica might notice. Susan wouldn’t be there. She’d come in early, and he’d looked forward to seeing her and discovering what changes she’d made to the department. But from now on, she wouldn’t be there. But he wanted to keep seeing her, needed to keep seeing her.
“What do I wear?” she asked.
André stifled the joy that jumped in his chest.
* * *
“A bicycle shop,” Susan said on Saturday morning, when André took her to a place near Central Park.
“We’re going riding,” he said.
“How do you know I can ride?”
“Everybody knows how to ride,” he answered.
Susan laughed. Of course she could ride. From the time she had been in middle school, until she had gotten her first car at seventeen, the bicycle had been her only mode of transportation around the winding roads of Mountainview, Montana.
The rental took no time, and they were off and riding. Susan was pleased that the morning traffic was light. They didn’t race, but stayed close enough to talk, while negotiating the path with other cyclists.
“Jessica asked about you,” he said. “She wants to know if you’ll come back.”
Susan didn’t want to talk about the store. She had really liked working there. She had loved doing the interior designs. She had ideas for other areas of the store too, but she didn’t want to get so invested in the place or its president only to find that nothing can come of it.
“I think it’s best if I find something I can do as a career.”
She sped away from him then. It was harder to talk and ride at the same time, and André obviously wanted to discuss a subject Susan wasn’t comfortable with. When André caught up with her, he didn’t speak. They road together for a while, then slowed down and pulled off the path. They parked their bikes and stood, looking over the grassy green park.
The weather was warm, and for July the humidity was low. The park was crowded with people.
“What kind of career are you looking for?” André continued as if the subject was still part of their conversation.
Susan honesty hadn’t thought about it. She had enough money, but she wasn’t used to sitting around, doing nothing. When she’d been in Italy, she’d had Jerome teaching her, but she looked at that time now as a long vacation. Now she was back to the real world and she wanted to be useful. To do something she could be proud of.
“I like photography.” She lifted the camera that was hanging across her body. “I thought I could do something with that.”
André sat down on the grass and pulled her down with him. Susan pushed the camera to the front and lifted it.
“We have an advertising department that needs photos every week for sales. We chronicle the store windows for past and future displays.”
Susan thought about that. “I’ve always written my own copy for my photos. I could do that, but right now I’d like to change the subject.”
André’s brows rose and fell. “All right. What do you want to talk about?”
“I don’t know.”
“How about you? I told you about my family. What about yours? Brother, sisters, parents?”
“All of the above,” she said. “I have two sisters and a brother. One still lives in Mountainview.”
“Mountainview?”
“Montana.”
“So that’s the accent I hear.”
“I don’t have an accent,” Susan contradicted.
André laughed. “You do, but it’s more continental than Midwestern.”
That she liked.
“Back to the siblings,” André prompted.
“I have a sister in Chicago, and my brother—he’s the youngest—is in college in Massachusetts.”
“My family is spread out too, but we get together frequently, and we talk online.”
“We do too. I FaceTime with my parents at least once a week. They worry about me living here alone.”
“Most people who don’t live here worry. Even with the rep, there is a lot to like about the city.”
Susan nodded. She loved it. “Mountainview is a small town. It’s picturesque, settled between two mountains and relies on tourism for most of its income.”
“What did you do there?”
“I ran a small business.”
“What kind of business?”
“It was an art-and-photo-framing business.”
“Your own photos?”
She shook her head. “This was before I went to Italy and met Jerome.”
“Why did you stop doing it?” André asked.
Susan swallowed, remembering the rubble that was left of her former life. “There was a fire. The building burned to the ground with everything I had in it.”
“Surely there was an insurance settlement.”
She nodded. “It wasn’t enough to rebuild.”
“So you went to Europe and then came here?”
“Pretty much.”
André had skipped over a large part of her life, but she wouldn’t fill him in.
“How long were you there?”
“A couple of years. I spent one in Paris, then moved to Italy.”
“You didn’t like Paris?” He looked incredulous.
“I loved it, but I wanted to see some of the other countries, so I traveled around for a while, and when I got to Italy, I met Jerome and stayed awhile.”
“He must be a very interesting man.”
Susan’s hackles went up. She understood a fishing expedition when she heard one, and André was trying to get information from her. She’d told him about Jerome, but only in relation to Minette.
“He is. I couldn’t have met a better man.”
“I guess after losing your framing company, you needed a lifeline.”
She wondered if he understood or if he was trying to find something. She hoped it was the former.
“He’ll be here soon. I talked to Minette again.”
“How’s she doing?”
Susan thought about her consoling influence just a few nights ago. They didn’t talk about Jerome or anything related to his visit to New York or a reconciliation between father and daughter.
“She’s fine. I think she’s getting closer to meeting with her dad.”
“That’s great. I can’t imagine not having a relationship with my dad,” André said. “He and my mom are on an around-the-world cruise. It’s strange not talking to them.”
“Can’t you reach them on the ship?”
“We—my brothers and I—decided to let them have their time. Unless there is a major emergency, we aren’t going to call them.”
“Not even to say hello?”
“That’s hard to do with them moving from one place to another, and you don’t know how my mother will want to see everything there is to see in the amount of time she has.”
“Sounds like a wonderful family.”
André smiled, letting that be his answer.
“We’ve rested long enough,” André said, unfolding his body and standing up. “Let’s get back on the trail.”
Susan got on her bicycle and the two started riding again, following the path that led through the park.
“You must have caused a sensation at the store today,” Susan said later, as they sipped fruit smoothies at a sidewalk café.
“Why?”
Susan laughed. “André, you’re a creature of habit. You didn’t go to the store today and you left early a few days ago. Believe it or not, people keep track of your movements.”
“Why?”
She frowned at him. “You’re the president. Everyone works for you. Believe it or not, no one wants to get caught doing something that might displease you.”
“They all know me and know I’m not a vindictive person.”
“Still, you head the company. You control their livelihoods.”
“And what do they think of you?” he asked.
“Other than Jessica, no one thinks I even know you.”
He smiled, but his next question was serious. “Is that something you’d like to keep a secret?”
Susan took her time before answering. She needed to see if he wanted to continue seeing her as much as she wanted to see him again.
“More getting to know you?” She smiled.
“If that’s your wish.”
“That’s my wish.”
Chapter 6
It didn’t appear that either of them wanted the day to end. Their bicycle trip had turned into a two-hour laugh-fest lunch, and then a walk around the city. Susan had taken hundreds of photos, many of which included André. Finally, at seven o’clock, they were back at the park.
“I know we’ve been out all day, but it’s nearly dinnertime,” André said. “Do you want to stop and get something before going home?”
Susan was hungry. It had been hours since they’d last eaten, and her stomach growled at the mention of food. “I have an idea,” she said. “I don’t live far from here.” She glanced up the street, in the direction of the Dakota. “I’ll make you something to eat and we can watch the lights come on as the sun sets.”
“In addition to designing bedrooms and taking world-class photos, you cook too. Marry me now.”
Susan laughed, but an emotion she wasn’t familiar with went through her.
Back at her apartment, Susan grabbed a couple of steaks from the freezer, defrosted them in the microwave and popped them into the broiler. While she prepared other items, André talked to her from the other room.
“Have you lived here long?”
“About eighteen months.” When she’d first returned from Italy, she had rented a house in Jersey City. Since she’d spent so much time traveling to places in the city, she had then looked for a permanent place that was close to the museums and theaters.
“It’s a great location. How did you find it?”
“I was lucky. I lived in New Jersey and one of my neighbors told me about it. She told me I would be pushed to the top of the waiting list if I offered cash instead of a mortgage.”
“And you decorated it yourself?”
“It’s all me.” Glancing through the doorway, she saw André staring at the photo of her that Jerome had taken. He’d done that the first time he had been in the apartment.
“Whatever you’re cooking smells good,” André said. He came to the doorway and watched her.
Susan checked the steaks and then pulled dishes and glasses from the cabinets. “Make yourself useful,” she said, handing him the plates. “Set the table.”
Susan had strategically placed it in front of the windows. As she ate each day, she got to see the city as the sun rose, crossed the sky and set.
Love in New York ; Cherish My Heart Page 8
