A Reclusive Heart

by R. L. Mathewson

  “Oh, I’m sorry. I just-“

  He cut her off. “It’s no problem, Miss. Harris. We can go over it now if you’d buzz me in.”

  “It’s kinda of late,” she responded quickly.

  “It won’t take that long. I promise. At the very least I need to go over tomorrow’s schedule.”

  “Can’t we go over it tomorrow morning?” she asked, sounding hopeful.

  He had to smile. Poor thing must be so humiliated. Well, it was best to get it over with and see what he had to work with.

  “I’m afraid not. We’re not meeting at the office, Miss. Harris. I really need to speak with you.”

  “You’re speaking to me now,” she pointed out.

  Nick closed his eyes and prayed for patience. The first day wasn’t over and she was already causing him problems. He had no doubt that he could get the little recluse under his thumb. He’d use his charm, false flattery and if that failed, which it never had, he’d just use the little fact that she was a pushover to his advantage.

  “I prefer to speak with you in person, Miss. Harris, instead of discussing Rerum Publishing business in public for the entire neighborhood to hear.”

  “I’m, uh, tired. So, um, this will have to wait until tomorrow. So, um, goodnight,” she said. A small clicking sound followed, letting him know she turned off her intercom.

  Why that little……

  Did she really think she’d get rid of him so easily? She really had a lot to learn if she thought she could dismiss him.

  He picked another buzzer at random.

  “Hello?”

  “Pizza delivery,” Nick said.

  “I didn’t order any pizza,” the guy said.

  “Are you sure? It’s all paid for.”

  “Oh, wait. Um, yeah, I think my wife did,” the guy said obviously lying. A few seconds later he was buzzed in.

  He walked through the paste white foyer to the stairs and took them two at a time. A few minutes later he was knocking on the little recluse’s door. No answer.

  There was nothing but silence.

  “I know you’re there, Miss. Harris. I can wait here all night if that’s what it takes,” he said in a bored tone as he leaned against the doorframe.

  Her answer was a small gasp. He had to laugh. Yeah, his little recluse was going to do what he said when he said it. Then it was smooth sailing from there on out.

  “Miss. Harris, please open up so we can talk.”

  “No.”

  “Miss. Harris, I can stay here all night. Why don’t you save us both some time and open up now? The sooner we get this over with the sooner you can go to bed,” he promised in a reassuring tone, but he really couldn’t help but wonder how bad the makeover was.

  Did she look like Frankenstein or a drag queen?

  “No.”

  “Miss. Harris,” he said warningly. He was getting pretty aggravated now.

  “You can stay out there as long as you want. I for one am going to bed.

  Goodnight,” she said.

  She wouldn’t……

  She did!

  The light beneath the door disappeared. A minute later he heard a door shut.

  No doubt it was her bedroom door so she wouldn’t have to hear him.

  “Son of a bitch!” He rapped on the door for a moment.

  Nothing.

  He waited another five minutes, feeling like an idiot. No woman ever made him wait. It was unheard of. The fact that this little recluse had pissed him off like nothing else.

  “This isn’t over! I’ll be back!” he said to absolutely no one. Scowling at the door one last time he left. This was far from over.

  Chapter 5

  “This is Jamie Harris,” Jamie said in a hoarse voice, hoping she wasn’t overdoing it.

  “Hello, Miss. Harris, how can I help you?” one of the office assistants asked cheerfully.

  “Could you please tell Rick that I’m going to be working from home today? I’m afraid I caught something yesterday.”

  “Miss. Harris, could you hold please?” she said before she placed Jamie on hold.

  Jamie opened her mouth to say she couldn’t hold, but didn’t get the chance.

  She suddenly felt like a kid playing hooky from school. Maybe she should just hang up and shut her phone off. As long as she edited a few books today they should be happy, right?

  She paced her small bedroom, mentally berating herself for not just hanging up. It was easy. All she had to do was press the “End” button and then turn off the ringer. Then she could spend the rest of the day wrapping her mind around everything and make sense out of the little surprise she had yesterday.

  Of course it all could have been a fluke yesterday brought on by a very vivid imagination. It was most likely a side effect of an overactive imagination, the two glasses of champagne she drank at the spa and the wishful thinking of the other woman affecting her eyesight. Not to mention the laser eye surgery. That probably altered her sight, making her see things that really weren’t there.

  No doubt about it. Her mind played a trick on her, a mean trick, but a trick nonetheless. She’d been with two women she didn’t want to disappoint and she saw what she knew they wanted to see, but it wasn’t true. That woman wasn’t her.

  She wasn’t………

  She wasn’t beautiful, wasn’t cute, wasn’t that woman that stared back at her at the spa through the mirror. She just wasn’t. Jamie was the sensible, boring, quiet one. She was just background, wallpaper and nothing more. She didn’t draw attention unless it was to point and laugh at. Caitlyn was the natural beauty. She was the daughter her parents adored. The one her mother babied and pampered even though Caitlyn was the oldest. She was the one her mother brought to the beauty parlor when they were little, because she was a natural beauty, not Jamie.

  Jamie paused midstride as she caught a glimpse of the surprising beauty in the mirror. She was beautiful. Her hair was shorter, ending just below the shoulder blades with a hint of soft curls. It flowed like silk with every movement. Jamie pushed back a strand of her hair behind her ear and was somewhat startled as the beauty before her did the same.

  It was so wrong. The woman before her was too beautiful. It couldn’t be. It definitely couldn’t be that simple. A day at a spa and a shopping trip and she looked like this? Impossible. If it was really that simple why hadn’t her mother done it for her years ago? Her mother loved to go to the spa, so wouldn’t she have brought Jamie along with Caitlyn if something like this was even possible?

  Caitlyn was the favorite, everyone knew that, but wouldn’t her mother have been happy with two beautiful daughters? Shouldn’t she have tried for Jamie’s sake? A small sob escaped her before she could bite it back.

  Why had her mother been so sure, so adamant that there was nothing to her?

  Exactly when had Jamie been designated ugly, useless and nothing more than Caitlyn’s plain little sister? Why?

  With a shaky hand she pushed her hair back and smiled nervously as the golden silky hair slid perfectly back into place. She traced her newly thinned arched brows down her face. With her glasses now permanently gone she could see her features better. They were softer than she thought they would be. Her skin was definitely softer and healthier looking thanks to the torture she endured yesterday.

  She’d never done much for herself in the way of beauty. What was the point?

  she thought. All those years and all those put downs from her family kept her in her place. She never ventured past the basics of self-care, never even considered that there might be more for her. Why would she?

  All those years……

  She’d been such a fool.

  Was this the real her? she wondered as her eyes moved down the little pink tank top Dana picked out for her yesterday. She’d never worn anything that fit her so well before. Normally she picked clothes that were plain and way too big.

  Anything that helped her blend in and not attract attention made her happy.

  N
ow she couldn’t help but smile. As a child she’d always been stick thin. It wasn’t until college that she finally began to fill in. Not that anyone would notice thanks to her wardrobe. She never thought her body was anything special. Plenty of women had breasts, hips and a nice figure, but the difference was that those women had a pretty face to go along with the package and now so did she.

  She smiled as she looked down at the cute pink flannel pajama pants that hung low around her hips. They were a little bit baggy but in a complementary way.

  They looked really good. It really surprised her how good she felt and how feminine these clothes made her feel.

  For the first time in her life she’d enjoyed shopping. When they entered the store, out of habit she wondered over to the discount area, not because she was broke, but because that’s where the plain clothes were. Dana and Amy shared an amused look as they dragged her away.

  Under their guidance and direction she bought everything from shoes to simple lingerie. Her bedroom and half her small living room were now filled with shopping bags. An excited smile tugged at her lips at the thought of going through everything and playing dress up.

  She felt like such a girl today! It was exciting and scary and she couldn’t wait to get started!

  “Miss. Harris, please hold while I transfer your call to Mr. Quinn,” Jennifer suddenly announced, breaking through the Christmas morning-like euphoria Jamie had going on.

  “Ah, that’s not really necessary!” Jamie hurried to say, but it was already too late. As the last word flew out of her mouth she heard the audible click of the phone being switched to a different line.

  “Good morning, Miss. Harris,” Nick said smoothly. “I hear you’re not feeling well this morning.”

  “I…ah, that is…I’m…..,” she rambled on nervously.

  “You’re planning on working at home today I gather.”

  “Yes,” she answered quickly. Then she remembered that she was supposed to be sick and cleared her throat and tried to make her throat sound all scratchy-like, “Yes.”

  “You don’t sound too good.”

  Relieved that he was buying it, she relaxed a little. “Yeah, I think I just need a day or two to recover. I should be fine in a few days, but in the meantime I’ll just have to work here.” She added a little sigh at the end to make it sound like she wasn’t entirely happy with the idea of skipping the office for a few days.

  “I see,” he said.

  “So, I’ll see you in a few days?” It came out more of a question than she planned. She really needed to work on being firm. No wonder people walked all over her, she thought, disgusted with herself. Well, she’d fix that later today with a trip to the book store. She was going to buy every self-help book there was on being more affirmative.

  “Hmm, perhaps I should stop by and see how you are. I could bring you something to eat and perhaps some tea for that sore throat of yours and we could go over a few things,” he offered.

  He wanted to come here? Oh no, no, no, no, that couldn’t happen. Today was her fun day. Today she was going relax and be girly. She couldn’t do that with him here! Plus she didn’t want him to burst her bubble.

  Right now she felt pretty and womanly. If he looked at her and still saw the same old Jamie it would break her. She liked this new Jamie. She wanted, no, needed to be this Jamie.

  “T-that’s okay. I don’t want you to get sick.”

  “Oh, but I don’t mind. Why don’t I swing by?”

  “Er……”

  “I can be there in ten minutes. I can see how you are and we can get some work done,” he said.

  “Well, I-“

  She was cut off by the beautiful sound of someone knocking at her door.

  Thank god for annoying neighbors. No doubt Mrs. Brigs wanted to tell her to turn down the television that wasn’t on or it was Mr. Ames accusing her of stealing his mail, again. Heck, even the landlord informing her of a rent hike would be more than welcome at this moment.

  “I have to go. Someone’s at the door. So, I’ll just see you at the office in a few days. Bye,” she said quickly, not giving him a chance to respond, knowing he would just find some way to come by.

  She tossed her phone onto the couch as she made her way to the front door.

  At least she bought herself two more days before she had to listen to Nick Quinn tear into her again, she thought as she opened the door.

  A small whimper escaped her as she came face to chest with Nick Quinn. Oh, this was so not good.

  ******

  Nick didn’t even bother looking at the little recluse as he swiftly backed her up. He had more important things to do like get inside her apartment so he could assess the damage and see what needed to be done in order to make this work for him.

  Once he backed her into her apartment far enough he shifted her away, she may have stumbled, he wasn’t really sure or cared at the moment, and turned to shut and lock the door. Satisfied that he had her where he wanted her, he placed the new laptop on the table by the door and let out a relieved sigh.

  Admittedly last night he’d been a little pissed that the little recluse wouldn’t let him inside so he could do some damage control, but he went home and regrouped. He went through the itinerary he’d worked his ass off yesterday to set up and added a few things, deciding that he could in fact be generous and allow the little recluse a few hours to console herself after her failed makeover, but that time was over.

  He turned around to get his first glimpse of the made over little hermit and frowned. Where the hell had she gone now? He swore under his breath as he scanned the small organized living room and didn’t find her.

  “Miss. Harris?” he called out. He stepped past the couch and a half dozen shopping bags and quickly scanned the adjoining kitchen. Nope. No little recluse there.

  He wasn’t too surprised when she didn’t answer. No doubt she thought he’d eventually get bored and go away. Not a chance in hell of that happening, he thought as he looked at his watch. They needed to go over a few things, pack, get to a photo shoot, pray for a miracle, go to Cole’s game and then catch a flight to Boston. This was his chance to make his mark and he wasn’t about to fuck it up.

  “I’m not going anywhere, Miss. Harris. The sooner you get out here the sooner we can get to work,” he announced as he put his hands on his hips in an effort to keep himself from tearing the little apartment to shreds to find her.

  Shaking his head in disgust, he walked back to the door and grabbed the laptop. He was pretty sure Rick never had to go through this much bullshit for Dana. The reason for that was pretty simple, Dana had been motivated to get out there and ignore her doubts and fears.

  She’d been trapped in a loveless marriage with a worthless piece of shit that cared more for his computer and girlfriend than he had for his family. Writing had been Dana’s only means of escape and she’d worked her ass off day and night to perfect her craft and it had paid off not only for her, but for Rerum Publishing and definitely for Rick.

  Nick wanted what Rick had. He wanted to be a leader in the industry and most importantly he wanted to leave his mark on the world and Miss. Harris was the key. If he couldn’t get her to cooperate and get in line with his plans he would be good and fucked. There was no doubt in his mind that she’d be switched to another editor if he couldn’t pull this off quickly. His bosses were practically drooling at the idea of having another author of Dana Pierce’s caliber and they wouldn’t tolerate mistakes.

  With that in mind he knew that he had to entice the little recluse into doing what he wanted. He sat down and removed the new laptop from the bag. As it powered up he looked around the small room. Beyond the basics like furniture, a small television and a computer there really wasn’t anything special about this room.

  The only wall decoration was a framed diploma. Other than that there were no pictures of friends or family. No knick knacks or keepsakes to be found. Now that he really took the time to look around the only area of the roo
m that looked lived in was the