by Ford, Mia
“Well, you should learn to accept things that don’t immediately make sense to you,” I said.
I was not sure what the hell that meant or where it had come from. Did it sound charming? Was I acting like a fool?
“I agree,” Landon said. “What about it, Miley? Does Cora here, really have as few interests as she says? Or is she shy?”
Instantly I felt a bit angry that he was talking about me almost like I wasn’t there and that he was teasing me a bit about being shy, which I usually wasn’t. But right then I could hardly string a sentence together. What in the world was happening to me?
“Be nice,” Britney said.
“So, how about it?” Landon asked me. “Hopefully, you aren’t an obsessive workaholic like me. I’m not sure two workaholics can be friends.”
I smiled. “Maybe I am,” I said. “But who said I needed a new friend? Maybe my dance card is full at the moment.”
“I figured so, but a man can always hope, right?”
“Well, since you brought it up, what do you do for fun?”
“Oh, all sorts of things,” Landon answered vaguely.
I waited for him to continue. When he didn’t, I probed him further. He was really starting to aggravate me, but somehow I kept talking with him. I’d almost forgotten that Britney and Miley were looking on watching this odd verbal dance in total silence.
“Such as?” I asked.
“I love skydiving,” Landon said. “Have you ever been?”
“No,” I replied. “It sounds a bit extreme.”
“That’s the beauty of it. I love extremes.”
“I’m more at home on the ground.”
Landon crossed his arms over his broad chest. “Really? I won’t assume it has anything to do with a lack of guts.”
“Good. You’d be wrong to assume that.”
“Glad to hear it. Now what would be the cause of this distaste?”
“Well, I just find more intellectual things to be far more satisfying.”
“Enlighten me. Say, it’s another Saturday night. You decide to stay home with an intellectual pursuit. What are you into?”
I paused a moment and glanced at Miley. She was staring at the two of us with an amused, if confused, look on her face.
“I would typically be drawing up plans for some of the buildings I hope to get built one day.”
“There we have it,” Landon said.
“What do we have?”
“I mean your passion, of course. Everyone has a passion; but some are embarrassed by theirs. Why would you be embarrassed by a passion for architecture?”
“I’m not embarrassed. Maybe I just don’t like exposing my inner workings to a man I just met, who is a little eccentric.”
“Eccentric? I’m not sure anyone has ever described me that way before.”
“Would you prefer ‘strange’?”
“Yes, actually. I can get behind ‘strange’.”
“This conversation is a little strange,” Britney said with a chuckle.
Miley joined her.
“Well, we just discovered we have more in common than one might have originally thought,” Landon said.
“How so?” I asked. I was genuinely intrigued now and I was no longer feeling nervous. The odd rhythm of our exchange had put the two of us in sync with each other. It was interesting to say the least.
“Well, my company is in the real estate business. We do residential, but a large part of what we do is commercial. We are always looking for great architects and people with fantastic vision to come up with winning designs.”
“Thanks, but I haven’t even started school, yet,” I said.
“Well, I’m one who thinks that talent is talent and no amount of schooling or lack of schooling is going to change that. Schooling just teaches you the structure and procedure; but all of that is really not necessary. I’d love to look at your idea sometime. Maybe, over dinner?”
I realized where this was going and while the idea of someone taking an interest in my work did appeal to me, I knew that no respectable company would hire a kid just out of high school to create detailed architectural blueprints for their commercial real estate. Landon wanted an excuse to take me to dinner. He would probably wine and dine me and dazzle me with sweet words about my designs, and then I’d get caught up in the magic of it all. Plus, he was so devastatingly handsome and charming. I didn’t trust myself to say no to that level of sophisticated charm. I could tell he’d been around the block a few times and he’d charmed girls with a lot more experience than me right out of their clothes.
I wasn’t about to play his little game. Besides, romance was just not in the cards for me right then. I had so many other things on my plate to think about.
“I appreciate the offer, but I’m just not interested,” I said.
I expected Landon to be a bit shocked, or even mildly annoyed. But he barely batted an eye.
“Well, I hope you do change your mind one day,” He said. “I’d hate to see good talent slipping away from me to benefit someone else.”
“Oh, I’m sure you have plenty of talent to choose from.” I looked around at several pretty girls who were walking by, a few of them even checking Landon out. “Take your pick.”
I took my funnel cake and soda and started to walk away. “It was nice meeting you both,” I said over my shoulder.
Miley quickly said bye to her friend and jogged up to join me as I headed for The Scrambler ride.
“What are you doing? That guy is so hot,” Miley replied. “That’s Landon Glatt. Do you have any idea how rich that guy is?”
I shrugged. “I don’t care.”
Miley shook her head. “Wow, I don’t get you at all.”
“How come you never mentioned Britney to me before,” I said. “She seems nice.”
“Haven’t I? Oh, well she used to babysit me when I was a kid and then when I started playing golf with my dad for a bit. We kind of became friends because our dads would often make us caddy for them. We lost touch a bit when she went to school, but during the summers we would meet up again at the country club.”
Miley’s dad was an optometrist who was more obsessed about the game of golf than anyone I’d ever met. If you spent any time with him at all you would realize this immediately. He usually closed up his office early Thursday and Friday just so he’d have plenty of time to play.
“I see,” I said. “I think Jacob and Kirby are finally done losing at basketball.”
“Yeah, I think the girls they were trying to impress walked away.”
“Too bad for them,” I laughed.
“Seriously, though. That guy just offered to take a look at your designs. You know they are great.”
“Yeah, they are so great that I didn’t get into the architecture program at the college of my choice,” I said.
“You know that had nothing to do with your designs,” Miley said.
I shrugged. “It’s ok. He had no interest in my work; he was just interested in schmoozing me into bed with him.”
“You are so cynical. You should lighten up just a bit. This chip you’ve had on your shoulder lately just isn’t happening. It’s turning you into a real downer.”
I sighed. “I know. I’m just so mad about it all. It sounds silly to pout about, but I feel entitled. I’m going to go to school and make the best of it, but deep down I’m always going to wonder if not getting into Ohio State is going to ruin my life, or at least ruin it from what might have been.”
“But that guy is hot,” Miley said. “You know it.”
I laughed. “Wow, way to change the subject. But yes, he is very hot. I mean… so hot!”
“Then why not go for it? Even if it turns out to meaningless sex, at least you got that going for you. Do you have any idea how many women would like to make it with a billionaire?”
I stopped. “Did you say billionaire? With a B?”
“Yep. Sorry, you passed it up now?” Miley teased.
“No
, but that is interesting,” I said. “It doesn’t matter how much money he has. I just don’t want to get involved and be another notch on his bedpost.”
“Why not try putting some notches on your own bedpost? I think it might get you out of this weird negativity you’ve been stuck on for a while.”
I groaned as I finished my funnel cake and threw away my trash.
“Why not go ahead and try to get a few of your own? You are always meddling in my romantic life; there isn’t anything stopping you from walking your own talk.”
Miley smiled. “You know that guys don’t look at me the same way they look at you.”
“Now who is on a pity party?” I said.
“You’re starting to sound like my mom,” Miley said.
I snorted. “You are joking? You do not talk about this with your mom.”
Miley smiled with a goofy grin. “Yep. My mom usually brings it up. I always have to make sure my dad isn’t around.”
“That’s crazy,” I said. “Your mom might have some issues.”
“I think she tries to be cooler than she is, or this is her way of just fishing for details about what I am or am not doing. Luckily, I’m always too disgusted to say what I am doing or thinking about. It’s a weird system; but it works.”
“Hey, ladies,” Jacob said as we joined him and Kirby. “You enjoy your pathetic little bullet game?”
“I’d love to see you go on it; you’d probably be wetting your pants, “I said.
“Nah. I’d be just fine,” Jacob replied. “That ride stopped being interesting a long time ago.”
“I see,” I said. “So, you thought you’d try to impress some strange girls by winning them stuffed animals with the basketball game?”
“Hey, it almost worked. I was so close to winning.”
“And assuming you had, I can imagine you’d be having the time of your life in the backseat with that random girl?”
“You know it,” Jacob said. Kirby gave him a high five.
Miley and I looked at each other and burst into laughter. “Wow, you guys are really pathetic.”
“What about you? I saw that Mr. Wall Street looking guy talking to you,” Jacob said.
“Oh, those were Miley’s friends,” I replied.
“Miley has other friends?” Kirby asked.
“Apparently,” I said.
“Britney is my friend,” Miley replied. “But the guy with her was a guy I’d only heard about previously. I wasn’t sure she actually knew him, but she talked about Landon all the time.”
“Landon? What type of name is that?” Jacob asked.
“Landon Glatt. The billionaire,” Miley said.
“That guy is a billionaire?”
“I heard of him. But technically, his dad is a billionaire,” Kirby said.
“Oh, well that is way different,” Jacob said. “You got to give it to us straight Miley.”
“Funny,” Miley said. “Well, he was just trying to steal your girl here.”
Jacob pretended to be confused. I wanted to slap Miley upside the head. I knew that Jacob had a thing for me; why did she have to go and make it weird?
“What are you talking about?” Jacob asked.
“It’s nothing,” I said. “He was trying to butter me up in hopes that I would go out with him, but I turned him down quickly.”
“Yeah, because Cora can be so picky that she is turning down billionaires who are interested in her work.”
“Well, if he is interested then he will find me again,” I said.
“Oh, like fate?” Miley asked. “You’ve seen way too many Hallmark Romance movies.”
“So, let’s go do the Scrambler,” Jacob said.
“I’d rather do the Hurricane,” I replied. “Unless you are all too chicken.”
I walked towards the Hurricane without waiting for an answer. After a few seconds I heard the footsteps falling in behind me.
As I walked towards the ride I couldn’t resist sneaking a glance back towards the spot where we’d talked to Landon and Britney. Landon was heading towards the fresh squeezed lemonade stand. He looked even better walking away, almost like he was perpetually moving through water in slow motion. It was like a sweet, lovely dream.
Then he turned and looked right at me. His eyes locked with mine and he smiled slightly.
I looked away quickly and tried to pretend this had not happened. But I couldn’t deny that there was something between the two of us.
I just didn’t know what that was yet.
Chapter 6
Landon
One Month Later
“I see what you are saying,” I said.
And I was trying, but for the life of me I could hardly look at Don Phelps without giving him a look that asked the question, “Are you crazy?”
We’d been sitting in my office going over the plans for his new high rise apartment building that our in house architect had drawn up for the third time now. Don just couldn’t understand what we were talking about when we dismissed his ideas.
“Great!” Don said. “I’m glad to see we are getting somewhere.”
I smiled and tried to stay polite and pleasant. I wanted to scream at him. I wanted to whack him upside the head several times with my hand and then grab him and violently shake some sense into him.
“But, I do have some reservations about the lobby. If it is laid out in a square like you want, then it is going to make some of the other amenities that are laid out here so much harder to do. It’s going to make the gym way too small and the swimming pool over here is going to go from a full pool to only half a pool. Unless you want to make the overall size of each apartment smaller, and that is going to be like starting over.”
“I don’t think so,” Don said. “The lobby is important. It’s what people see when they first arrive in the building. It has to be open that way. It’s the best place for tenants to meet each other and form friendships.”
Did he think we were trying to become some sort of a teenage soap opera? I suddenly understood my father’s constant cantankerous mood much better now.
“Well, Don,” I said. “I think that the tenants will get to know each other much better in a larger gym and a larger pool area. This is a more relaxing environment.”
Don scratched his chin and leaned back. He looked up at me and then nodded slowly. Was it sinking in yet?
“Yeah, I guess that does make better sense,” he said. “Now, about this archway to the entrance--I think it should be higher. I really want it to pop and stand out, you know?”
“Well, Don, as I explained earlier, if we do that then we end up having to raise the entire second floor and all the subsequent floors several feet to make it fit. Again that changes everything else and we’d need to start over with a new draft plan.”
“Ah, ok,” Don said. “Well, normally I would say to do it and start over, but we are behind schedule and the longer we delay, the more money it is actually costing me. So, let’s proceed. I think it all looks fine.”
“Great,” I said.
I shook his hand and we exchanged a few pleasantries before he finally left my office. After he walked out the front door past my secretary, Berta, I looked at her and pretended to shoot myself in the head. She nodded and smiled.
I walked back into the office, opened up a bottle of scotch, and poured it into a tumbler. I was wound up so tight I was willing to do anything to relax, even drinking scotch at one in the afternoon. I’d had nothing but non-stop appointments all morning and I was busy as hell at work.
I sat down and pulled up my notes that I needed to start preparing a presentation I was giving the next day. If I worked fast, I could have it all ready to go by seven at the latest. I might actually feel like I had some sort of an evening to enjoy.
I was just getting into the beginning of the presentation when a knock came at my door.
“Come in,” I said.
Berta walked into my office and strode up to my desk. I was fairly focused on
what I was doing, but I couldn’t deny the sex appeal of this beautiful woman who was now standing right in front of me. She was wearing a tight blouse that clung to her large chest and a long skirt that hugged her curves beautifully.
And her perfume smelled sweetly of lust and adventure. I couldn’t fight the excitement that I was feeling.
“Mrs. Brooks cancelled tomorrow afternoon’s meeting. She had to run out of town for some family emergency.”
“Ah, nothing serious, I hope.”
“It didn’t sound like it.”
“Well, she is probably just making it up to get out of it.”
“I’m not sure why anyone would excuse themselves from seeing you,” Berta said with a soft voice.
I looked up at her. She was staring down at me, leaning in gently so that I could take in her perfume and see the slight bit of cleavage that she had on full display in front of me.
I swallowed slowly and leaned back in the chair.
“Somehow, I think Mrs. Brooks has her reasons,” I said.
“Is it going to be another late night?” Berta asked. “Seems that you’ve worked some long hours today. Maybe just once you might give in and take a break, release some tension.”
I could see where this was headed. I’d sensed a growing attraction between the two of us since I’d started working here. Berta had been my dad’s secretary for almost two years. I wondered if she and him had done anything.
It was a weird thought, and disturbing to see that it would mean my father had cheated on my mother. Knowing my father, he’d probably been unfaithful at least a few times over the years. My mother most likely knew about it, and chose to stay with him. I would never understand that. I didn’t have any proof of my father’s infidelity (and maybe neither did she), and if I did know then I would have lost all respect for my father. I did not understand men who cheated. I’d never considered cheating on anyone I’d been in a relationship with and I hoped that I never would.
“I’m fine,” I said. “I appreciate the suggestion.”
