by Leah Atwood
She grimaced. “You and your dinosaur music.”
“I believe the word you want is classical.”
“Give me jazz any day.”
“Each has its merits.”
“You’ll have to work harder than that to convince me.”
“Maybe we should put it to the test. Come to a classical concert with me, and I’ll go with you to Jazz Alley.”
She avoided his eyes. “You know I stay away from this side of the water on the weekend.” Commuting to work across Puget Sound on the ferry was hard enough without making the same trip during her off hours.
“What about on a Friday before you go home?”
“Maybe…”
“I’m portable.”
She lifted an eyebrow. “Meaning?”
“The Bainbridge Chorale is quite good, and they are performing Rutter’s Magnificat this year. That, in case you need an interpreter, is a composition based on Mary’s proclamation of God’s goodness to her cousin Elizabeth.”
“You’d be willing to come to my side of the water?”
“Why not? I’ve heard it’s beautiful.”
“It might seem quiet compared to Seattle.”
“Sounds perfect.”
Showing him around her turf held a certain appeal, but she wasn’t ready to commit to anything at the moment. A change of subject seemed safest. “So, what did you buy me for Christmas?”
“Something special.”
“Care to give me a hint?”
“You’ll just have to wait and see.”
“Well, I’m not buying you anything.” She tried her best to hide her smile. He was always talking about the garden he cherished, so rather than purchasing his present, she’d crafted a hanging birdbath featuring a jumping dolphin to give him.
“Is that so?” He cocked an eyebrow with an expression on his face that told her he was onto her.
The smile broke out anyway. She’d never been any good at hiding her feelings. “Well maybe a candy bar.”She glanced at her watch and yelped. “I have to go. There’s a meeting with the new manager. Something about revising our forms.”
“Sounds fascinating.”
“Don’t laugh. In insurance, forms are a big deal.” She jumped to her feet.
“I’ll take your word for it.” He held the door for her and followed her outside onto the sidewalk. The Belltown district was quiet this early, with only the occasional car swishing past on the street. “How many managers does that make now?”
“I’ve lost count.” The high turnover rate at her company should lead to opportunities for someone like her. Except that wasn’t how it was working out.
“You’re prettier without the frown.”
She raised a shoulder, at a loss for a reply to such a backhanded compliment.
“See you Monday.” He stepped backward, ready to turn.
“Monday.” She raised her half-finished mocha in salute, then followed the sidewalk for two blocks to the towering building clad in black marble where G. W. Brown, Incorporated occupied the penthouse suite. She punched in the security code and pushed the glass lobby door inward, then tossed her empty cup into a trash can. One of the elevators opened with a bing. She stepped inside, grateful no one else was waiting. Riding the elevator up so many floors still made her a little nervous even after three years of working for Brown. Stopping and starting at other floors made the ride take longer. The car bumped upward to the twentieth floor, where it binged again as the doors slid open. Hailey stepped out with relief.
“Hold that elevator!” a familiar voice called as the man of her dreams hurried down the hallway toward her. Corey Wilson’s dark suit showed off his athletic build, and his blue-and-beige tie matched his eyes and hair.
She stared at him for several heartbeats, but then recovered enough to put out a hand and keep the doors from sliding shut.
He dove past and turned inside the elevator, flashing his perfect teeth in a smile. “Thanks.”
The elevator doors thumped shut between them.
Hailey released the breath she hadn’t known she was holding. The man was gorgeous, but that was the most he’d said to her in a month. He was too busy chasing Evangeline in the claims department. Hailey shoved the dreary little thought aside, but it dogged her all the way to her desk.
Chapter Two
“Do you remember issuing the homeowner policy for Robert and Sarah Owens?” Taylor Davis hissed the question.
“Huh?” Wrenching her mind from the Lloyds of London policy open on the desk in front of her, Hailey peered at the woman chewing her lower lip. Wearing a gray tweed suit that complimented wings of gray that swept back from her forehead, Taylor certainly knew how to dress for success. That must have been what landed her the underwriter position.
Think charitable thoughts, Hailey. Mother would have said. She tapped her pen on the desk just to make it click. “I remember the policy.”
“What should I say about the pond? The agent is on the line asking if the homeowners can be exempted from fencing it in because they have no children.”
The woman had to have lied on her employment application. Why else would she be ignorant of a basic concept even a rooky insurance agent could recite? Hailey drew a steadying breath. “As an attractive nuisance, a pond draws children like a magnet. It doesn’t matter that the couple is childless. Their neighbors or visitors to their home probably won’t be, so a liability risk exists.”
Taylor’s forehead puckered. “So, do they need to fence their pond?”
“Ye-es.”
“How long should I give them to comply?”
Hailey’s pen clicked a couple more times. “Thirty days.”
“Thanks!” Taylor rushed back to her desk by the window.
Izzy, the other assistant underwriter in the high-risk homeowner department, appeared at Hailey’s elbow. “Why do you help her?” The scowl on her Hispanic face contrasted with her jolly Christmas sweatshirt and candy cane earrings. Izzy believed in taking full advantage of Friday’s casual dress policy. “She’s sitting at the desk that should have gone to you.”
That was sadly true, thanks to a reorganization of the company. “I’m…not sure.”
“You’d be better off letting her fall flat on her face.”
“It’s hard to watch a train wreck, I guess.”
“You are too soft-hearted, chica.”
Izzy had a point. To get ahead, Hailey needed to be more ruthless. If only she knew how. Working in big business sometimes made her feel as bewildered as Dorothy in Oz.
Izzy’s eyes widened. “Heads up!” She retreated into her cubicle.
Hailey bent over the Lloyds of London policy attentively while the new supervisor marched past with a scowl on his face. Had something put him out or was that the way his face looked in repose?
Once Doug Kelsey was out of sight down the hall, Izzy reappeared at her side. “Come on. It’s break time.”
“All right.” Hailey locked her computer and stretched.
They had the break room to themselves. Izzy snagged an apple fritter from the last of the doughnuts that always showed up on Friday, a gift from the owners of the company, while Hailey pulled a container of lemon yogurt from her stash in the refrigerator. They sat across from one another at a table near a long window overlooking Seattle. Skyscrapers cut the sky, and only a few blocks away, the space needle pointed heavenward. Izzy took a bite of fritter and sip of coffee then fixed her brown eyes on Hailey. “Why were you looking so unhappy this morning?”
“Was I?”
“Come on. You can tell Aunt Isadora. Is everything all right between you and Matt?”
“It wasn’t about Matt, actually.” She lowered her voice. “I ran into Corey.”
“And?”
“And nothing. What chance do I have with someone like him?” Hailey stabbed her spoon into her yogurt and left it there. “I might as well accept that I’m not on his level.”
“That’s ridiculous.”
“Come on, Izzy. I could never compete with Evangeline.”
“Not that I think you should have to, but just why do you think that?”
“You have to ask? You’ve seen her.”
Izzy’s coffee cup thumped against the table. “Don’t sell yourself short. Evangeline may have an angel face and the curves men like, but you’re beautiful in a wholesome way. Besides, looks don’t matter as much as what’s inside a person.”
Hailey propped her chin on her hand and watched a seagull flying past the window. “Corey barely knows I’m alive.” That hadn’t always been true. When they’d first met, he’d started showing up at her desk for obviously fabricated reasons. But then, after the company hired Evangeline, he’d stopped coming around.
“Too bad for him.” Izzy waved her coffee cup in the air for emphasis. She usually talked with her hands or, if they were full, with the objects they held. “Plenty of other fish in the sea. I still think Matt is the one for you.”
“He’s only a friend.”
“That’s up to you, I think.”
“He’s been acting a little funny lately, though.”
“Oh?”
“If I didn’t know better, I’d say he was trying to date me. You can take that smirk off your face, by the way. I’m considering a New Year’s resolution to give up men entirely.”
Izzy laughed. “Oh? I hate to tell you this, then. Evangeline turned in her notice this morning.”
“What?”
“She won a scholarship to a university in Colorado.”
“You mean she’s leaving?”
“Unless she’s figured out a way to be two places at once, I’m pretty sure that’s what it means.”
“How’s Corey taking it?”
“I overheard them arguing in the file room.”
Hailey picked up her spoon and took a bite of yogurt. The news filled her with mixed emotions, not all of them pretty.
“Have you ever been to the top of the space needle?” Izzy’s question intruded into her thoughts.
“Well, yes. Hasn’t everyone?”
“I have not.”
“We’ll have to fix that.”
“What’s it like?”
“Scary. From the observation deck at the top, you can see the curve of the earth.”
“Sounds like something worth seeing.”
“At least once, I suppose.”
Izzy laughed. “Maybe my husband should take me instead of you.”
“How’s school going?” Izzy was earning a degree in psychology by inches at night.
“I’m stressed and surviving on lack of sleep at the moment.”
“You have my sympathy.”
“Don’t mind me.” Izzy waved a hand. “I’m happy to knock out my goals.”
“It must be nice to work towards something you want.”
“And you can’t?”
“Maybe, when there’s another opening for underwriter.”
“Are you sure insurance is where you belong?”
“It pays the bills, and there’s a chance to make real money.”
Izzy’s dark eyes narrowed. “That’s not what I asked.”
“Sometimes…” Hailey sighed, and her gaze wandered to the view from the window where, beyond the city, a ferry plied the waters of Puget Sound. “Sometimes I wonder how life would have turned out if my parents hadn’t died.”
“I’m sorry, chica. Eighteen is too young to be alone. It must have been hard.”
“It’s all a blur now, the funeral and struggling to keep the house afterwards.”
“I can’t imagine.”
“Landing a job with Trask and Davis seemed like a godsend, even though it was only filing. It helped me discover my knack for insurance.”
“You made quite a name for yourself, I hear.”
“It was a whirlwind. I’d no sooner taken the agent’s test when the head of the personal lines department retired, and I stepped into the vacancy.”
“So how did you wind up at Brown?”
“A head hunter the company hired called me, and I decided to interview.” She frowned. Her climb up the ladder had halted when she’d come to work for Brown.
“Having a knack for something doesn’t mean you should dedicate your life to it.”Izzy’s soft voice inserted itself. “What would you like your life to become?”
“Matt thinks I should be a potter.” Why on earth had she brought that up?
“You’re good at it.”
“I have no desire to become a starving artist.”
“That wouldn’t necessarily follow.”
“What if I lost my house?”
“You could sleep on my couch.”
“I might snore.”
“How do you know I don’t?”
Hailey laughed. “Well, do you?”
“That’s privileged information.” Izzy waved her mug. “Look, no one said living your dreams doesn’t take courage. But you can’t live them if you don’t know what they are.”
Chapter Three
“I have a question for you.”
Hailey jumped and glanced up into blue eyes fringed by golden lashes “You startled me.” Immersed in another policy, she hadn’t heard Corey approach her desk.
“Sorry.” He shifted closer, opening the file he carried. “I’m working on a water damage claim for a Percy Harris. Does the name ring a bell? You set up the policy for cancellation.”
“I remember. The agent bound coverage without verifying ownership and found out afterwards there’s a co-owner who isn’t related to Percy. That created the liability issue, forcing cancellation.”
His gaze traveled over her face as she spoke, and now he rested a hand on her shoulder. “Thanks for clarifying that.”
She couldn’t seem to find the breath to reply.
He squeezed her shoulder and moved off down the hall.
Izzy popped out of the next cubicle, a knowing smile on her face.
“Don’t say it.” Hailey covered burning cheeks with her hands.
“If that wasn’t a trumped-up excuse to talk to you…”
“It had to be. I would have made a note in the system, and there’s documentation in the file.”
Izzy whistled beneath her breath. “He’s losing no time replacing Evangeline.”
“You don’t think he’s trying to do that?“
“What else?”
“I’m not ready to deal with this.”
“Be careful what you wish for, chica.”
Hailey frowned. When she’d first met Corey, she’d wanted very much for him to pay attention to her. Now she wasn’t so sure. He was on the rebound, for one thing, and she couldn’t pretend he hadn’t hurt her. Thank goodness the work day was almost over, because her concentration seemed to have followed Corey down the hall.
Watching the clock proved irresistible. By time to leave, she’d slipped off the flats she wore for business, stowed them in her desk, and tied her tennis shoes. Her day bag went over her shoulder, and then she was out on the sidewalk. The sky looked gray but no rain had fallen yet. She might make it to the ferry without having to put up her hood. She didn’t like waiting for the bus, so unless it was raining hard or snowing, she walked the mile to the ferry.
Pike Place lay along her route. In the summer she avoided the crowds it drew, but during the off-season months taking the steps through the old market was the best way to reach Alaskan Way, the broad street by the water that led to the ferry landing.
A bronze pig stood at the entrance to the market, waiting for donations to help the needy. Rubbing her snout was supposed to bring luck. Hailey had never tried it. She hurried past vendors displaying their wares and passed the famed fish market stall just as a salmon sailed through the air. Tossing fish was a popular Pike Place tradition, although how the fishmongers’ customers managed to catch the slippery creatures, she had no idea.
The elevator carried her down to the top of the hillside climb, outdoor stairs that connected Pike Plac
e and businesses on the docks. She took the boardwalk to the ferry terminal and showed her monthly pass at the door. In the waiting area, she pulled the latest Diana Bradford romance from her day bag. She’d had to stop reading at a particularly harrowing place, while the heroine and hero were being threatened by hungry lions with the villain in hot pursuit. It didn’t take her long to pick up the story thread and lose herself in the action.
“Hello.” Tania Hermon, another commuter, lowered herself into the next chair with a gusty sigh.
Hailey closed her book. Whenever she and Tania found themselves on the same ferry, they liked to pass the time by talking. “How’d the interview go?” Tania’s mortgage company struck her as unstable, so she was setting her sites elsewhere.
“It went well. Hopefully I’ll hear soon. I really want this job.” Tania’s job at her mortgage company struck her as dead-end, which was why she was making the shift.
“I hope you land it.”
“What about you?”
Hailey shook her head. “I turned down the interview.” The same head hunter who had recommended her for the opening at Brown called every once in a while to find out if she was happy in her position or wanted to interview for something different. She’d refused all the interviews she’d been offered so far, but maybe she should reconsider. It was beginning to look like staying at Brown wouldn’t help her career. Sad to say, but sometimes the only way to move up was to change companies.
The ferry docked and off-loaded cars and passengers. They lined up to board as part of the regular commuter herd. Crossing Puget Sound on the ferry to reach her desk on the twentieth floor of her skyscraper each morning and then returning to her Kitsap Peninsula home at night made for a long day. But moving to Seattle meant letting go of the house her parents had left her. She’d had to remortgage it to pay off the bank and now had a hefty house payment, but she couldn’t bear the idea of selling her childhood home.
Renting her house out would free her from the commute, but she wasn’t ready to do that, either. It was all she had left of her parents. Besides, living in Seattle cost too much despite housing prices being a little better in outlying areas. That must be how Matt managed to live in the Ballard district, but she had no idea how he managed. It was hard enough to keep up on with a mortgage on the less expensive side of the water.
