by Dara Girard
“I still have a regular routine. I had to miss playing tennis because of this.” He met every week with his close friend Dr. Khan. “And I want to make progress on my book.”
“I wonder what he wants?”
“You’ll have plenty of time to find out.”
Naomi pressed her hands together as if in prayer. “Dad, please, you have to help me get out of this. I can’t be seen with him.”
“You can and you will. What ‘jam’ as you call it, did he help you out of?”
She let her hands fall and sank back in her seat. “It’s nothing.”
He stood and put his bowl in the sink. “Maybe I should ask him.”
“No, don’t,” she said quickly. She sighed resigned. “Fine, I’ll work with him.” Until I can find a way to get rid of him.
Chapter 8
He still couldn’t determine whether she was pretty or not. Sebastian tapped a finger on his desk in his study while a grandfather clock ticked in the background. The afternoon sun slipped through the blinds behind him causing striped shadows to fall across the floor.
Sebastian rested his palm flat on the table, perplexed. His mother’s question should have been a simple one, but he couldn’t answer it yet. Was she pretty?
Dr. Naomi Mensah had arresting, angular features that on their own could be off-putting—a pointed determined chin, sharp cheekbones, short, straight eyelashes—but put together in her oval face he found himself intrigued by her snapping brown eyes and full lower lip. He found himself watching it as she ate, watching her pink tongue sweep across it after a spoonful of soup. That tongue could keep him up at nights.
A knock on the door woke him out of his wandering thoughts. He cleared his throat, trying to ease the heat and tension in his body. “Come in.”
His friend and personal secretary, Andre Bremmer, came in bristling with indignation. Sebastian wasn’t surprised, he’d expected the response. “I can’t let you do this,” Andre said.
Sebastian sighed. “You spoke to Mom.”
“She’s in a panic. She thinks you’ve lost your mind.”
“I haven’t. I’ve already completed my first assignment.”
Andre sat down and waved his hands. “But this doesn’t make any sense.”
“It makes perfect sense to me. And you know me better than to think I’d do anything irrational.”
“I still can’t let you do this.”
Sebastian smiled, amused. They both knew it was an empty threat. There was nothing Andre could do to stop him. Sebastian was a head taller and fifteen years younger than Andre. A hard looking, greying man with a bulldog face and the tenacity to match. His father had hired him first, eight years ago, but he and Sebastian became fast friends so when his father grew ill, Sebastian hired Andre as his personal secretary. He managed the house and completed other duties for Sebastian and Josephine.
“I’ll give you back the money,” Andre said.
Sebastian’s smile fell. He’d given him an extra bonus to compensate for having to look after his mother while Sebastian put his plan into action. “No you won’t. You have a family to support.”
“And you’ve always taken good care of me and my family.”
He nodded. “I always will.”
“And it’s my job to take care of you.”
“You don’t need to do that for a while. An assistant doesn’t need another assistant. It will just look ridiculous. When’s the last time you took a vacation? You look like you could use one. I’ll get someone to look in on Mom.”
“I don’t need a vacation, I like what I do. You can’t be an assistant to that woman.”
Sebastian’s patience began to fade. “That woman is a highly respected—”
“I know what she is. But this situation is beneath you.”
“You’re the only person who thinks so.”
“A waste of your genius.”
“Again arguable.”
“What would your father say?”
Sebastian shrugged. “Considering he’s dead. Not very much.”
“Why would you do this? You’ve suffered enough. Why punish yourself even more?”
“This isn’t punishment. This is an opportunity.”
“How?”
“I have my reasons. But just know this, there are certain variables in place that increase the probability of success.”
Andre blinked, confused.
Sebastian adjusted his glasses knowing he needed to speak more plainly. “I know what I am doing.”
“We can’t ignore the elephant in the room.”
“Which is?”
“She looks a little like Barbara.”
“She looks nothing like her. The only similarity is that they’re both black and wear glasses.”
“But you have a type.”
Sebastian slid his finger across the table from the left to the right. “See this line? It’s best not to cross it.”
Andre ignored him. “The moment she entered your life is the moment things went downhill.”
Sebastian clasped his hands together in resignation, trying to scare Andre rarely worked. He was one of the few people Sebastian couldn’t intimidate. He clicked his tongue as if to scold him. “That’s sloppy logic. You know better than that. Just because it rains the same day you wash your car doesn’t mean washing your car caused the rain.”
“She went off and married—”
Sebastian couldn’t stop a grin. “That just shows she has terrible taste in men,” he cut in not wanting to remember how Barbara had left him at a time when his father was dying and his career was at a crossroads, to marry a more established colleague who boosted her career.
Andre frowned. “You’re not taking this seriously.”
“No,” Sebastian said with a laugh, “and I never plan to. It hurt. I got over it. Besides, Dr. Naomi Mensah is different.”
“There are rumors.”
“I don’t listen to rumors.”
“She’s odd and in your field that’s saying a lot. They say she’s so focused that a marching band could pass her by with horns blaring and she wouldn’t notice. That at almost every meal she uses a straw because her meals come in a thermos.”
“I like a little eccentricity.”
Andre’s frown deepened. “She’s not rich enough to be eccentric.” He leaned forward. “I know it’s been…difficult since your father’s passing and having to take care of the business these past several years instead of working on what you want must have been a strain, but you’re better off than most. If you hadn’t had your father’s business to fall back on, who knows where you might have ended up after what happened?”
Sebastian rested his chin in his hand looking bored. “If you have a point, I’d like you to get to it.”
“Working with a scientist, isn’t the same as being one.”
He nodded. “Duly noted.”
“And—”
Sebastian held up his hand. “This is where the discussion ends.” He let his hand fall and smiled. “I have my reasons so relax. I haven’t lost my mind. You worry too much.”
“Because you don’t worry enough.”
“Tell Mom that the company is safe and soon Gregg will be able to take on more duties.”
Andre nodded and left, but didn’t feel reassured. If there was one thing he did well, it was worry. Growing up he worried where his next meal would come from; he worried about staying out of trouble; he worried about getting kicked around by his father who thought Andre’s light brown skin meant his mother had stepped out on him; he worried about keeping his family together. But as he grew older he kept his worrying in check, to the relief of his wife and daughters, but when he did worry it was monumental.
And he was worried now. Sebastian used to trust him, used to confide in him, but he was keeping secrets and that couldn’t be good. Andre didn’t know what to do.
Josephine met him in the hallway, anxiety shining bright in her eyes. “Well?”
“He sa
id he has his reasons,” Andre said, wishing he had better news to tell her.
“Did he tell you what those reasons are?”
“No, but he seems determined. Give him space he may grow bored. Being an assistant isn’t easy.” He lightly touched her shoulder and offered a smile. “I should know.”
Josephine didn’t respond to his touch, her gaze growing more anxious. “Should we get his brother involved?”
“There’s nothing he can do. The company is stable and Gregg is in a good position now. I don’t think Sebastian would have planned something like this otherwise. Come, you shouldn’t be standing like this.” He led her to her bedroom.
Josephine sat on her chaise lounge chair and set her cane aside. “What do you know about the woman?”
“Everything I told you. Until we can understand his reason for choosing her there’s nothing we can do.”
“There’s always something to do.”
Andre shoved his hands in his pockets and rocked on his heels. “Right now, all we can do is wait and see.”
Chapter 9
Dr. Sebastian Scott had clearly lost his mind. Naomi stood in the elegant room not knowing what else to think.
She’d expected a one bedroom apartment, not a suite inside a mansion. That Saturday morning, she’d prepared herself to have Sebastian help her look at a two story walkup or studio apartment on the eighth floor somewhere. When he drove her out of the suburbs to a curved driveway and an expansive home nestled on acres of land that looked as if it were designed for royalty, she had been confused.
Now she stood on the second floor staring at a master suite that could have swallowed her apartment two times over. It boasted high ceilings, large windows—lots of light! she could hear her mother squeal with delight—and was meticulously furnished.
“What do you think?” Sebastian asked. “Anything you don’t like can be removed.”
Naomi stared at the room in awe. “How many others rent here?” She’d counted the bedroom doors and could imagine seven to ten other tenants, but she didn’t know what the lower level contained.
“You’d be the only one.”
“Has the owner gotten into trouble and needs the ready cash of renters to cover the mortgage?”
“No.”
She waited for him to expand further but after a few awkward seconds realized he didn’t plan to say anything else. She walked into the full bathroom gaping at the elegant modern design and light effects to create a luxurious experience and then went into the bedroom where a double bed, chaise lounge chair and chandelier greeted her. She met him in the main area shaking her head, dumbfounded that he would even tempt her this way. “I can’t afford this. All I need is a simple place to eat and sleep.”
“The cost will be comparable to what you were paying for your apartment.”
“That’s impossible.” She walked over to the bookshelf and gasped at the selection of titles—The Andromeda Strain, Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy—it was as if the room had been created with her specifically in mind.
“You don’t like it?” he asked in an odd tone.
She turned to him. “No.”
He nodded. “Duly noted. I’ll—”
She spread her arms to the side and threw back her head. “It’s divine. I’m in heaven.” She let her arms fall and looked at him. “And my sister thinks I have terrible taste, but if she saw me here she’d change her mind. But—” She wagged her finger at him when he opened his mouth. “It’s too good to be true. I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop.”
She noticed his jaw relax and realized that he’d been worried. How could that be? Who wouldn’t love this place?
“Not many people would like that abstract,” he said, nodding to a painting on the wall, by an artist who used cell patterns for his creations.
“I’d seen this work before. It’s my favorite.”
A quick smile came and then went. “Mine too.”
She called him over with the crook of her finger.
He bent down. “Yes?”
She cupped his face in her hands. “Why didn’t you warn me that you are crazy?”
“Crazy?”
“It’s cruel to get a woman’s hopes up like this. We aren’t sure what the owner is like and whether he or she will even rent to me.”
Sebastian clasped his hands behind his back and straightened. “This house is also close to the lab you’ll be using.”
Her brows shot up. “You found me a lab too?”
He nodded and turned. “Let’s go see it.”
She grabbed his arm, then quickly let go when he looked at her surprised.
And at that moment a sensuous light passed between them that startled her, causing her heart to beat fast and her gaze to hold his longer than she needed to.
“What do I have to do?” she asked, feeling suddenly breathless.
He frowned. “What?” he asked, his voice sounding deeper than before.
She swallowed and steadied herself. It was nothing. It was the beauty of the room. The light. She’d never been surrounded by so much natural light; it was making her feel heady. “What do I have to do for all this? Everything has a price.” She bit her lip. “Things like this don’t happen to me.”
Sebastian folded his arms and gave her the long, measuring look that made her skin tingle. She couldn’t read his thoughts although it was a look she was starting to get used to. He finally said, “The lab is mine and so is the house so you can stop worrying. You don’t have to do anything but focus on your work.” He turned.
She grabbed his arm again, but this time when he looked at her, she didn’t let go, even though her hands trembled a bit from a mixture of anxiety, excitement and another feeling she couldn’t quite place. “What you just said doesn’t make any sense to me.”
“Which part confused you?”
“All of it.” She threw up her hands. “How can you own a lab? How can this be your house when you’re—”
“A disgraced scientist who should be living in a boarding house eating canned beans? I’m sorry to disappoint you.” He left the room.
She found him heading down the stairs. For a large man, he moved fast. She hurried to catch up. “It’s just… Come on, few scientists—let alone ordinary people—live this well. What do you do?”
“I work for you.”
“I wish you’d stop saying that.”
“Why? It’s true.”
“That doesn’t make any sense either.”
“Sebastian is that you?” a female voice called from the hallway.
He halted so suddenly, Naomi bumped into him. She stumbled back catching herself with the railing; he didn’t budge.
“Sebastian?”
He sighed then slowly headed down the remainder of the stairs.
“Who is that?” Naomi asked.
“My mother.”
Naomi widened her eyes. “You live with your mother?”
“My mother lives with me,” he smoothly corrected. “But we won’t be in your way. She has a room on the main floor.”
“Sebastian!”
His jaw twitched.
Naomi nudged him forward, surprised by his sudden leisurely pace. “She sounds like she really wants you. Maybe she hurt herself.”
“No, she always calls me like that when I don’t respond the first few times.” He proceeded down to the main floor and walked into the sitting room where an attractive older woman sat.
“I thought I heard voices,” she said in a pout. “Why didn’t you say anything?”
“This is Dr. Naomi Mensah,” Sebastian said. “She’ll be staying with us for a few months.”
His mother’s mouth fell open making it clear she’d had no idea of this new arrangement. “And now I’m going to take her to the lab. Andre will be here to take you shopping in twenty minutes.” He kissed her on the cheek. “Goodbye.” His tone left no room for argument, although Naomi could tell from his mother’s expression that she’d have plenty of
questions for him when they were alone.
Naomi held out her hand. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
But his mother was too busy staring at her son in stunned silence to notice the gesture, so she took a step back and followed Sebastian outside.
“I knew it was too good to be true,” Naomi said once they were in the car.
“My mother won’t be a problem.”
“She didn’t look too pleased to see me.”
He checked his rearview mirror looking unperturbed.
“And that doesn’t bother you at all,” she said in a dry tone.
“I think you’re really going to like the lab.”
Naomi actually squealed when she saw the lab. It was even more stunning than the house. It was state of the art, simple, clean. It even had a special keypad with the passcode 1872, the year Ferdinand J Cohn contributed to the founding of the science of bacteriology. “You’re not my assistant,” Naomi said. “You’re my fairy godfather.”
Sebastian smiled. “That’s how I felt the first time I saw it finished.”
“But you don’t use it.”
“I had plans…” he said, letting his sentence drift away, but not before Naomi heard a touch of longing in his voice and saw brief sadness in his eyes.
And at that moment she knew the house and money couldn’t replace the loss of a career he’d loved. She wanted to know more. How could he have made such an error? Had he tried to correct it? What had really gone wrong?
Soon she found herself not only wondering about his career, but about the man himself. She suddenly felt drawn to him, noticing his broad shoulders and the elegant slope of his nose. It was the first time she’d seen him unhappy—she’d seen him confused, annoyed, frustrated, but not like this—and she didn’t like the expression, so she brightened her tone and smiled and said, “We’ll put it to good use. This day has been amazing. The house, the lab. Next you’ll be replacing my car—”
His gaze sharpened. “Is your car giving you trouble?”
“No. It was just an example. But it’s time we were honest with each other.”
He nodded. “I haven’t lied to you.”
“No, but I don’t need an assistant and you clearly don’t need a job. Why even volunteer for a position like this?”
