A New Foundation
Page 7
Sonja walked over to the narrow window to give herself time to calm down. She didn’t want to say something that would ruin her chance to become the architectural historian for the restoration project. She concentrated on the landscape unfolding before her eyes, taking deep breaths to slow down her respiration. She saw a pond with ducks and swans. Her gaze shifted, and she spied the roof of one of the cottages. She went completely still when she felt the heat from Taylor’s body seep through her jacket and into her when he pressed his chest against her back.
“I didn’t say you were a man-hater, Sonja,” he whispered in her ear. “And I’m not accusing you of being lonely. Being alone and lonely are not the same.”
Sonja knew she didn’t have to explain herself to Taylor, especially if he was to become her employer. And it wasn’t because she was his sister’s friend. It was her education and experience in the field of art history that made him want her to become a part of his restoration team.
She turned to face him. “What are you saying, Taylor, if not that?”
He stared down her at the same time the beginnings of a smile tilted the corners of his strong mouth. “I think you are an incredibly talented woman that any man with half a brain would respect.”
Sonja felt hot tears pricking the back of her eyelids, but she refused to cry and embarrass herself. Hugh had driven her to tears so many times that he would provoke her just to see her cry. She was damned and determined not to let Taylor see her that way.
“I had a man tell me almost those exact words and, unfortunately, I fell hard, hook, line and sinker, into his trap. I gave him four years of my life, and then I knew I had to get out before I allowed him to destroy me. It took another two years to end the legal entanglement because he refused to let me go. That’s when I swore I would never become involved with another controlling man as long as I was in my right mind.”
“You are lucky because you were able to get on with your life. I know you don’t want to hear it, but not all men are like your ex-husband.”
Sonja closed her eyes for a few seconds. “It’s been difficult for me, but that’s something I’ve been trying to convince myself.”
“I’m not saying I’ll try to convince you one way or the other, but I’m available if you need a friend.”
She managed a brittle smile. “You want to be my friend and my boss?”
One of Taylor’s eyebrows lifted. “Boss aside, I’ll always make myself available to you if you need to talk about something.”
Sonja chided herself for misinterpreting his motives. Maybe it was because she was his sister’s friend that he didn’t want any romantic entanglement. Besides, he’d warned Viola about attempting to set him up with her friends, and for Sonja she thought of it as a win-win. Not only would she add the restoration project to her résumé, she would also interact with a man with whom she could have a no-pressure ongoing friendship.
She extended her right hand. “All right. Friends.”
Taylor took her hand and dropped a kiss on her fingers. “Friends.” He released her hand. “Now, friend, it’s time we head down to the cellar so you can see what’s waiting for you.”
Chapter Five
Sonja clapped a hand over her mouth when she saw crates filled with china, paintings, crystal pieces, monogrammed silverware, a collection of snuff boxes, framed prints, porcelain figurines, vases and military swords and paraphernalia, and worn leather-bound books she suspected were first editions.
She found shelves lined with dusty wine bottles, Bainbridge Cellars labels indicating the year the grapes were harvested. The entire cellar contained a treasure trove of items that would take months, possibly a year, to go through.
“What do you think?”
She turned to find Taylor standing several feet away, arms crossed over his chest. “I feel like a kid walking into FAO Schwarz during the Christmas holiday season. I don’t know where to begin.”
“I told you it was overwhelming.”
She sighed. “Yes, you did. I’m going tackle one crate at a time, but I can’t work down here.” The space was dimly illuminated with several overhead naked bulbs.
“Don’t worry, Sonja. I’ll set aside a room you can use as an office. And once you’re set up, I’ll bring the steamer trunks here instead of leaving them at your hotel. You’ll have enough to do here, that once you get back to your hotel you shouldn’t have to look at anything that remotely resembles work.”
“Thank you.” She paused. “I’m sure there’s a library in the house, and that would be perfect place to set up my office.”
Taylor lowered his arms. “Let’s go upstairs and see.”
They found the library on the east wing of the château. Sonja stared at the walls. “You’ll have to hire faux bois specialists to restore the wall, and the plaster moldings in here and in the ballrooms,” she told Taylor.
“After I take care of securing and cleaning the house, I’ll need you to come back and go through the entire house and recommend the craftspeople needed to restore everything to its original state.”
“That’s not a problem. The interiors have held up well after not being occupied for sixty years. I’ve been inside homes that were practically falling around the owner’s head because of neglect. Bainbridge House has what I call good bones.”
“We’ll find out once I inspect the foundation.”
“When are you going to do that?” she asked.
“One day this week. A moving company is scheduled to take the contents of my apartment to a storage unit sometime next week. Once that’s done I can move into my mother’s condo. Living in Jersey...” His words trailed off. “Is that your stomach making those noises?”
Sonja bit her lip as she averted her gaze. “Yes. All I had was coffee, and it’s probably reminding me that I need to eat.”
“Why didn’t you say something earlier? We could’ve stopped to eat before coming here.” Reaching into the pocket of his jeans he removed his cell phone and tapped the screen. “I just sent Dom a message that we’re leaving, and he should close the windows and the gate.”
Sonja was relieved to leave the cavernous unheated house and feel the warmth of the sun on her face. She’d hoped by the time the office was set up for her to begin working she wouldn’t have to wear a coat.
“Where are we going to eat?” she asked Taylor as she secured her seat belt.
“There’s a restaurant in Yonkers I sometimes frequent. The food and service are excellent.”
She shared a smile with him. “All right. Let’s go.”
Taylor winked at her. “Yes, ma’am.”
“How’s your omelet?”
Sonja’s fork stopped in midair as she smiled across the table at Taylor. They’d arrived at the restaurant as brunch diners were leaving and were able to get a table in the enclosed patio with views of the Hudson River. “It’s delicious.” She’d ordered the farmer’s omelet with a medley of finely diced peppers, onions, mushrooms, bacon, ham and sausage. “How did you find this place?” Taylor had had to drive down several narrow one-way streets before he was able to find parking.
“I told you my college buddies used to search out restaurants to visit, and one day we missed the turnoff for City Island. We decided to keep heading north and ended up here.”
“I thought you said you took the subway uptown and to other boroughs.”
Taylor gave her a direct stare. “Do you remember everything I say?”
“Just about,” she admitted.
“Which means you could catch me in a lie.”
“Do you lie?” she asked, deadpan.
“Hardly ever,” Taylor countered. “I learned a long time ago that if you tell a lie, then you have to tell another to correct that one, and after a while you’re busted.”
Sonja popped a piece of fluffy egg into her mouth, chewed and then swallowed it.
“Back to my question about how you ended up in Yonkers. Whose car did you use?”
“It was my rental.”
“Renting a car under the age of twenty-five is pricey.”
“Not for me, Sonja, because I’d just turned twenty-five.”
“How did you get into modeling?”
“I sort of fell into it.”
Propping her elbow on the table, she cupped her chin in the heel of her hand. “Tell me how you fell into it.”
There had been a time in his life when he’d forgotten his career goals. He’d known at ten when his parents gave him a Christmas gift of Lego that he’d fancied himself a builder. Using the interlocking pieces, he spent hours creating entire cities with imaginary office buildings, hospitals, restaurants and even malls. Instead of his obsession waning as he grew older, it intensified. Whenever he went into Manhattan with his father he’d found himself transfixed with the towering buildings and wondering how they were able to stand without falling.
“Earth to Taylor.”
He smiled. “I’m sorry about zoning out on you.”
“Are you or aren’t you going to tell me how you became a model?”
Now he knew why Sonja and Viola were friends. They were like dogs with bones when seeking information. “I’d just begun my sophomore year at NYU when a student asked if she could take some photos of me for a photography project because she said I had an interesting face. I told her I would think about it, but then she told me not to think too long because she had to complete her project and submit it in a couple of days. I said okay and she gave me a form to fill out with my name, address and phone number. There was also a section certifying that she owned the photographs.
“I met her the next day in one of the classrooms set up as art studios, and after about twenty minutes she was finished.”
“Did you have to take off your clothes?”
Taylor wagged a finger. “Get your mind out of the gutter, Ms. Rios-Martin. I wasn’t auditioning for a porno flick.”
She narrowed her eyes. “But you did take off a few garments.”
Taylor wondered if he was that transparent or she that perceptive. “She did ask me to remove my shirt and shoes.”
“Even if she’d asked you to take off all of your clothes, as an artist she would’ve viewed your nude body as art.”
“I’m not a prude, but I wouldn’t have complied in case she wasn’t going to use the photos for her school project.”
“Did you know her?”
“Not personally, but I would see her around campus and always with a camera. I ran into her a month later, and she told me that her professor gave her an A. Her prof said I might do well if she sent the photos to a modeling agency. I told her to do it just to humor her. I’d returned to Jersey for the winter break when I got a call from a woman asking if she could rep me because a modeling agency was interested in booking me.
“I’d forgotten about the pictures until she mentioned the photographer’s name. I was curious, so I agreed to meet her at a midtown restaurant. I listened to her spiel and told her I had to talk it over with my parents. Mom and Dad really didn’t want me to drop out, but I promised then I would do it for two years, and then go back to school. Two years turned into five and even though I’d earned a lot of money I knew it wasn’t what I wanted to do long term.”
“So, you just walked away.” Sonja’s question was a statement.
“Yes. And I’ve never regretted it.”
“How did you manage to remain an enigma when your face was so recognizable?”
Other women had questioned him about his career as a model and most times he was able to gloss over it without going into detail about a time in his life when he’d lost focus on his goal to become an engineer. However, Taylor felt differently when it came to Sonja. Not only was she his sister’s friend, but they would also work together and he wanted her to trust him.
“I had a clause in my contract prohibiting the agency from disclosing anything about my personal life. Professionally I’d become T.E. Wills, while in private I could be Taylor Edward Williamson.”
“What I don’t understand, Taylor, is once you become a public figure it’s virtually impossible for you to claim you want your privacy. Fame isn’t arbitrary or negotiable.”
“I know that. I insisted on privacy to protect my family more than myself. I knew how my life would change the instant my image appeared in a commercial or on the page of a slick magazine, but no one in my family wanted their lives disrupted or dissected because I’d chosen a career where I was earning money using my face and body.”
“I was in my nail salon when I picked up People’s Most Beautiful issue—in which you were included.”
Taylor rolled his eyes upward. “Please don’t remind me of that. That was a couple of weeks before I was scheduled to retire, but my agent pleaded with me to go to the shoot. I really did it as a favor to her.”
Sonja wanted to tell Taylor that his favor had extended to millions of women because he was the epitome of elegance as he leaned against a low-slung sports car in formal dress with a mischievous smile parting his lips. His expression was hypnotic and inviting.
“Going out on top means you’ll never be labeled a has-been.”
Throwing back his head, Taylor laughed. “A has-been at twenty-four is really a stretch.”
“Don’t laugh, Taylor. Think of all the child actors that weren’t able to transition to adult roles.”
He sobered. “You’re right.”
“What’s going to happen when you open Bainbridge House as a hotel, and it’s covered by the press? Then the whole world will know that Taylor Williamson is the legendary T.E. Wills.”
“I doubt...” His words trailed off when Sonja’s cell phone rang. “Aren’t you going to answer that?”
Sonja recognized Viola’s ringtone. Reaching into her cross-body, she tapped the screen. “Hello.”
“Hey, girl. I’m calling to find out how it went with my brother last night.”
“Can I call you later?”
“Are you with him now?”
“Yes.”
“Don’t forget to call me.”
“I won’t. Later.” Sonja ended the call, set the phone on the table next to her plate and picked up her napkin, touching it to the corners of her mouth. “I don’t think I can eat any more.” The three-egg omelet was very filling.
Taylor raised his hand to signal for their waitress. “Do you want dessert to take home?”
“No, thank you. My aunt is watching my uncle’s sugar intake, and I would be sabotaging him if I brought dessert home.”
“Speaking of home, it’s time we headed out, and beat the traffic.”
“My building is at the end of the block,” Sonja told Taylor as slowed along the tree-lined street and maneuvered into an empty space. She unbuckled her belt. “Thank you for everything.”
Taylor also removed his belt. “I’ll walk you in.”
Sonja rested a hand on his arm. “It’s okay. My building is pretty safe.”
He met her eyes. “Are you sure?”
“Yes, Taylor.” Leaning to her left, she kissed his cheek. “Later.”
She knew she’d shocked him with the gesture, and got out unassisted and walked toward her building. After entering the vestibule, she unlocked the inner door and made her way to the elevator. She’d just gotten in the car when her phone’s text tone vibrated. Sonja pushed the button for the tenth floor and then tapped the icon for messages.
Taylor had sent her a contract offering the average salary for museum director or curator. It was more than double what she earned working at the gallery. She hadn’t broached the topic of salary with him because she had wanted him to make the first overture. Well, he had, and now she would be able to save enough to purchase a condo sooner rather than later.
The flat screen was off in the living room, indicating she was alone in the apartment. Her uncle turned on the television as soon as he got up and didn’t turn it off until he retired for bed. She went into her bedroom, changed out of her street clothes and into a pair of cotton drawstring pants and oversized tee. Settling into a cushioned rocker, Sonja retrieved her cell phone and sent him a grinning face emoji, and then tapped Viola’s number.
“Tell me everything and don’t you dare leave anything out.”
“What happened to ‘hello, Sonja’?”
“Hello, Sonja. Now please tell me everything.”
“I’ve decided to work with Taylor on the restoration project.”
“I knew that would happen. But, what about you and Taylor?”
“What about us, Vi?”
“Do you like him?”
“What’s not to like? I must admit I was shocked to discover he is T.E. Wills.”
There was a pause before Viola said, “I couldn’t tell you because he really values his privacy. I know that sounds crazy when he is so recognizable. My family has more than its share of secrets. I never told any man I dated that my dad came from wealthy family, because I didn’t want to be viewed as a dollar sign. You know a lot more about me than a lot of people because I trust you, Sonja.”
“Yeah, right,” she drawled. “You trusted me so much that you didn’t tell me your gorgeous brother was a top male model.”
Viola’s sultry laugh came through the earpiece. “Sorry about that.”
Sonja pushed out her lips even though Viola couldn’t see her. “I got to see the château today.”
“What do you think of it? It reminds me of Disney’s Magic Kingdom.”