by Kris Bryant
Piper smiled sympathetically. “First of all, take a deep breath. I’m sure it’s going to blow over. Gabrielle isn’t one to hold a grudge. She’ll get your project done and everything will be fine.”
“Piper, you didn’t see the look she gave me. It was as if she didn’t even see me at all.”
“That’s just Gabrielle shutting down. I’ve known her for quite some time. I’ve never met anybody she was dating because she doesn’t date. I watched her at the barbecue and she only had eyes for you. This will blow over.”
“I hope so.” Serena sighed. “How are you doing? I’ve been crying over my own life and haven’t even asked how you’re doing.”
“No complaints. Shaylie’s great. Maribelle is starting preschool in a few days and she’s very excited about it.”
“What do you do for daycare now?”
“Shaylie has her in the morning, then she drops her off at Bodhi. I have class until noon, then we go out and do fun things like ballet and tumbling. If we need additional help, my mom is available. Some of my instructors like to babysit. There’s always Rosie if I’m desperate.”
“I like Rosie and Anne. Very sweet family. And their children are very well behaved. I love watching families interact.”
“Then I have the best idea. Come over for dinner on Saturday night. We’ll host and I’ll invite them over. Bring L.B. and Faith if she’s not working.”
Visions of Gabrielle filled Serena’s head. She didn’t want to be rude and ask if Piper was going to ask her to the party, too. “That sounds great. What do you want me to bring?”
“How about I text you and we can finalize food and time and all that good stuff?” Piper looked at her watch. “Crap. I have to go. It’s my turn with munchkin, but thank you for reaching out. I really believe things will work out with Gabrielle. She just needs time, okay?”
Serena nodded. “I hope you’re right. Thanks for taking time out to visit.”
Piper pulled her into a hug. “Anytime. Be careful going home.”
Serena finished her tea and thought about everything Piper said. Piper knew Gabrielle better than Serena did, and she was just going to have to trust that Piper was right. It still made her heart heavy thinking about this morning and the flash of anger she saw in those beautiful amber eyes.
* * *
“We got the club house for my graduation.” Faith was out of breath, but laughing.
“What’s going on?” Serena had a moment of panic, but the words finally clicked into place. “I mean, good. When can we get in and decorate?”
“I only got it for twenty-four hours. We can go in that morning. I was thinking of having the open house from three to seven. What do you think?”
“Sounds good to me. Have you picked a caterer yet?” Serena wasn’t about to make that decision on her own. Faith was a foodie and she could work that all out. It wasn’t going to be a big thing. Their family and friends were a small group, but she wasn’t sure how many students from the culinary center would show up.
“Yes, it’s all done. I’ll send evites out this week. I count at least ten with our family, my roommates, and Chloe and Jackie. Probably half a dozen from the school, and Phillip, his friend Tyler, and Tyler’s girlfriend. I’m guessing about twenty-five total.”
“That’s great, Faith. When can we look at the space?”
“Anytime. It’s mostly used on the weekends. Are you around today?”
“I had a meeting in Denver, but I’m on my way back to Vail. Give me an hour?” Serena wanted to pick up L.B. first. Her house was on the way to Faith’s apartment complex, so it wasn’t out of the way.
“Sure. See you then.”
Serena wondered what plans Faith made with her mother. Ever since she told Faith she wasn’t putting her mother and Paul up in a hotel, she hadn’t heard a peep from Faith. She was curious, though. Hell, knowing her mother, she’d probably reached out to Jackie and asked for the Presidential Suite at Waterfall Lodge and expected it for free. Serena wasn’t going to ask her friends to stop being nice people. If they wanted to put Diane and Paul up for a few days, that was up to them. She just made it perfectly clear that she wasn’t paying any bills they accrued and they were under no obligation to support them either.
Being tough felt liberating, but it also had its drawbacks. The situation she was in with Gabrielle was because she stuck to her guns even though, looking back, Gabrielle was right about almost everything. She decided to send Gabrielle a text message after work. After the dust settled. She had a feeling Gabrielle would be working late. The rescheduled meeting was for Friday afternoon. That only gave her a few days to get it all done.
Serena pulled into her driveway to find a smiling L.B. looking out the window and happily barking at her. She typed in the alarm code and took him out to the backyard. She wondered if he ever used the doggie door when she was gone. When he was finally done marking everything out back, she whistled and he raced back to her. “You want to go for a drive?” He twirled and barked his answer. “We’re going to go see Auntie Faith. You ready?” More barking. She grabbed his leash and opened the front door. He bolted to the Jeep and pranced until she opened the back door. With all of the recent rain, Serena decided to limit him to the back seat only after putting down a weatherproof blanket to catch the mud. He didn’t complain. She rolled the window down enough for him to stick his snout out and smell the fresh air.
Faith met them as they pulled into the parking lot. “The manager is going to meet us in five minutes.” Serena loved looking at her younger sister’s sweet, innocent face. They’d been through a lot together and Serena was so proud of her. She was on the fast track to a solid career that she wanted. She reached out to touch her sister’s cheek, but Faith slapped her hand away. “Weirdo, stop that.”
Serena laughed, opened the door, and accepted Faith’s hug instead. “You’re such a brat.”
“People can see us.” Faith wasn’t one for public displays of affection. It was almost considered a weakness with them. They grew up bracing for disappointment.
Serena rolled her eyes and opened the back door so L.B. could say hello to Faith, too. She sat on the sidewalk and allowed him to kiss her and try to curl up in her lap.
“Be careful. He might be dirty. The backyard is still sketchy.”
Faith brushed off a partial muddy paw print. “A little mud is the least of my laundry problems. You should see my aprons. They’re a hot mess.”
Serena squelched the urge to buy her sister one hundred new aprons. She had one week off between the end of school and the start of her new job. Serena was surprised that she took time off, but Faith was turning twenty-one and wanted to go to Vegas. She had already been saving for it. When Serena won the lottery, she offered to pay for the flight and the hotel for Faith and her best friend Becca as her graduation present to Faith. They had already picked the hotel and both girls were pestering Serena into going with them, but gambling wasn’t her thing. She still had a hard time throwing money away, and since she knew nothing about gambling, she would be doing exactly that.
“Hi, Leo. You remember my sister, Serena, right?” Faith did a quick introduction.
Leo mumbled hello back and motioned for them to follow. The clubhouse was near the pool, nestled in a cluster of fir trees. The trees provided nice shade, which they would need since the unit didn’t have air-conditioning. He unlocked the door, flipped on the lights, and stepped back for them to enter. It wasn’t musty, but the air was stale and the place needed airing out. The large room, albeit dated, boasted a built-in bar, two long countertops for food, a refrigerator with ice maker, and several round tables and chairs that were folded up and tucked into a slotted metal structure that kept them out of the way and organized. It wasn’t a bad space, it was just boring, but when Serena turned to Faith, her eyes were wide with excitement and possibilities.
“I think it’s great,” Serena said. She was ignoring the dark stains on the carpet, which were probably soda spills and
not blood. She really needed to stop watching slasher movies.
Faith squeezed her hand. “I think so, too. Okay, Leo. I’ll get the key from you next weekend at nine so we can start decorating.”
He nodded and waved them back out. “I need to get back to the office, but I’ll write you down.”
“What color decorations do you want?” Serena turned to Faith after Leo left them on the sidewalk by their cars.
“I love teal. Or black. Or whatever really.”
Serena remembered when Faith’s favorite color was pink. Of course, she was eight then and she also liked mermaids. The one time Faith got to trick-or-treat she’d dressed up like a mermaid and almost froze to death. Serena was working at the diner and Diane was nowhere to be found. Faith decided she wasn’t going to miss out on the free candy and festivities, so she got dressed, grabbed her pumpkin basket, and headed out. At least she’d put on boots. She got about five doors down before Serena got a call from a concerned neighbor.
Serena blinked at Faith. “I’ve got this, baby sis. Just get the key next weekend.”
“Can I have a chocolate cake? With vanilla icing?”
“Your wish is my command. We’re going to go. Call me if you need anything.” Serena opened the back door for L.B. and climbed into the driver’s seat.
“Thanks for everything,” Faith said. She reached inside the Jeep and squeezed Serena’s cheeks like she was an eighty-year-old grandma saying goodbye to a baby.
Serena slapped at her hands, but laughed. “Weirdo.”
Chapter Twenty-two
It was ten at night and Gabrielle had been working on the Pet Posh Inn since after the meeting the day before. She could finally see the finished product and was wondering why she didn’t see it before. Once she moved the layout to include three aspen trees for the indoor portion of the playroom area, everything else just clicked. She was struggling to fit everything on one level. She and Serena had argued back and forth over land space when it was so obvious to go up. Literally.
She put the offices upstairs, along with the feline floor. To avoid the whole cats and dogs together, the offices were directly over the canine condos. The cat cottages were on the other side above the quieter, smaller pets. Serena finished the canine section with everything Serena wanted including individual heaters and air conditioners, fans and free-flowing fountains. She playfully named each condo for dogs in movies, literature, and television shows after googling a list of the most famous canines. Those were only suggested names, but they made Gabrielle smile. Lassie, Toto, Rin-Tin-Tin, Odie, Snoopy, Benji, Pluto, Muttley, Scooby-Doo, Scrappy-Doo, Clifford, and Winn-Dixie. She deleted Cujo because this was a serious job and she wanted to please Serena. Shit.
She picked up her phone and looked over her messages. Serena had sent her an apologetic text that she barely read because she was in the groove. She decided to take a minute to breathe. And eat something. The sandwich Miles had picked up from the deli was soaked in pickle juice and barely edible, but she was hungry, so she ate around the soggy side of the croissant.
Are you alive?
Gabrielle smiled at Rosie’s text and fired one back at her. Barely. I’m still at work.
Shut the fuck up. Go home! Her message was followed up with stern emojis.
I’m finishing up the Pet Posh Inn. Meeting tomorrow. Gotta finish. I’ll get home before midnight. The meeting is at one. I have time.
You know that for every hour you work overtime, you gain a wrinkle, right? Rosie asked.
Shit. I’d be dead by now.
Seriously. Go home. You can’t possibly be accomplishing a lot.
Au contraire! I’ve been on a roll. Had a breakthrough. I’ll call you tomorrow.
Rosie responded with a gif of a sheep holding its thumbs up.
In the middle of designing the outdoor space, Gabrielle came up with a brilliant idea for the cats. She designed a giant tree wrapped in sisal they could access from catwalks from their own cottages. There was a communal area inside the tree if they could all get along. She actually liked it more than the dog space. And why didn’t she think to use the loft space before? It solved all their problems.
She would run this by civil in the morning since now there was a bathroom upstairs for the employees, but she didn’t make too many changes other than utilizing the trees, which would need a watering system. It took her a couple more hours to polish it all. It was perfect. All of this time it just took a swift kick in her ass to get past her ego and put her crush on Serena on hold to get this project done. She saved her project, then fired off a quick email to Miles that she would be late in the morning, and would he make five copies with a note that civil needed to stamp them before final approval.
Gabrielle got home and snarfed down two handfuls of pretzels and a chocolate bar. By then, it was one in the morning. She took a shower before bed and slept until ten. She refused to look at her phone until she was damn well good and ready.
She put on slim gray slacks with a matching jacket. She chose a white tailored shirt and left the top button undone. Sensible heels since she’d be standing for most of the presentation. In a spontaneous decision, she left her hair down. In the ten years she’d worked at Arnest & Max, there was only one other time she left her hair down. Her first day. The men had looked at her wolfishly and she decided she wasn’t going to be sexualized at work. She always pulled her hair back and wore her glasses most days. She wanted to be taken seriously, not looked at like a conquest they felt the need to master. Today she demanded attention from her boss and, more importantly, from Serena. She tamped down her excitement at showing her the new plans. If Serena hated it, Gabrielle would hand the project over to Christopher, quit her job, and go work at her parents’ nursery where she could take out her anger on bags of dirt and mulch. This project, for all of its ups and downs, ended up being something she was extremely proud of.
On her way out, Miles had called to let her know he’d made the copies and set up the conference room with a coffee bar, bottles of sparkling water on ice, cookies, brownies, and trail mixes in biodegradable pouches he’d purchased from Denver’s famous nut store a few blocks from the office. It wasn’t necessary because Gabrielle knew Serena would be too nervous to eat. Hopefully Miles didn’t go overboard. He had Gabrielle’s credit card and wasn’t afraid to use it. He often ordered excessive amounts of everything and took the leftovers home. Gabrielle decided any leftovers would go with her to Piper and Shaylie’s informal gathering this Saturday. She got the evite last night while she was shoveling pretzels in her mouth and quickly checking her emails. She’d confirmed and barely remembered it until just this moment.
Gabrielle parked and grabbed her bag. Serena was due in fifteen minutes, and she wanted to review everything before she presented. Christopher was waiting when she got to her office.
“I hope you don’t mind, but I looked at your plans this morning.”
Gabrielle bristled but kept her cool. Christopher was her boss and was on her side. “Oh? What did you think?” She continued her routine as though his presence didn’t rattle her. She hung her messenger bag on the coat rack, undid her suit jacket, and sat to answer a few emails from this morning. She didn’t take her eyes off her computer although she was dying to read Christopher’s expression.
“I think the changes are great. I can’t imagine your customer not liking this new layout.”
Gabrielle finally looked at him. He was at ease with a hint of a smile perched on his lips. “I already told myself if she doesn’t like this one, I’m quitting and working for the family business.”
Christopher broke the threshold and sat down. He waved her off. “If she doesn’t like this one, I’ll quit, too.”
Gabrielle smiled. For her boss to tell her this and so casually meant only one thing: She’d nailed it. This meeting was either going to go extremely well or she seriously was going to hand it off. She could deal with Serena after the drawings were in the hands of the builder. This was her make
or break job, and a possible relationship couldn’t jeopardize her future.
“When Serena gets here, please escort her to the conference room.” Gabrielle hung up the receiver after Miles confirmed. An instant message flashed from Christopher.
Heads up. Lawrence and John will be in the meeting.
Fuck, Gabrielle thought. Two partners were going to see her plans before they were finalized. That didn’t happen very often, so either they were concerned, checking up on her, or Christopher told them to be there because he approved.
Thanks. See you in there.
She really wanted to panic. She paced the front of her desk, reviewing her speech, all the major points she wanted to hit, in order to please both Serena and the partners. Keep it professional, Gabrielle, she repeated. Keep it professional.
Miles called her again. “Serena’s in the conference room. So are Mr. Anderson and Mr. Lacy. Oh, and Serena brought somebody with her.”
That got Gabrielle’s attention. Keeping the surprise out of her voice, she said thank you crisply and hung up. She took a deep breath, ran her hands over her suit to smooth the wrinkles, buttoned the top button of her jacket, and headed to the conference room.
“Gabrielle,” Christopher said. She turned to find him behind her. “Don’t worry about the partners. I told them you were presenting the final before you finalized it, and they want to see how the client receives it. They did the same with Tom. Don’t worry. It’s a great, creative design.”
She offered him a quick smile. “Thanks, boss. Your support means a lot.”
“Go get ’em.” He followed her into the conference room.
Her steps stuttered when she saw Serena. Wow was all she could think. Serena was wearing a sleeveless cream-colored blouse, black slacks, and black peep toe heels. Her hair was styled and her makeup looked amazing. She looked amazing. Gabrielle smiled when she recognized Serena’s guest. Chloe stood close to Serena, perusing the available sparkling waters.
