“17???” I asked in disbelief
“Yeah, she really is the baby in the family,” He shook his head “she is spoiled, in high school and there is nothing we wouldn’t do for her. She frustrates me to no end; I think that is what I give her everything she wants and needs. If I never have kids I can say that I knew what raising a kid was,” He looked so proud.
“Don’t you want kids?” I asked him.
“I do, I really do. It’s just a matter of time,” He looked at me “What about you, kids?” “Well, if you had asked me a year ago I would have said ‘Hell no’ but now….I don’t know,” I shrugged “What changed?” he let one of his fingers touch my hand “My life,” I smiled and he had a huge smile. “I’ve never seen your brothers and sister at the galas,” “Well Stuart is in New York, he never leaves NY unless it’s for business or big family events like weddings or funerals, Jameson is always traveling writing his next book, Ugh! They really suck, his books but I publish them because no one would. Regina never goes to galas, according to my parents she is underage and should not be in too many events where alcohol is served. Such bullshit, for her Sweet 16 we had this huge party out here and there was alcohol everywhere. She just gets a free pass because she is the baby. She goes to the ones she actually wants to be in.” “Yeah but you love her,” I say smiling at him
“She would probably get away with anything,” he grabbed my hand this time and looked at me, “Kinda like you,” Wow! My hand felt like it was on fire, I couldn’t help the sudden reflex of holding his hand too. I think I was having cold sweats.
“I need to get back to these books,” I said staring into his eyes.
“Yeah, I think I can go on with what I was doing,” I nodded. He nodded and let go of my hand. I had no idea what the hell was going on with him or me.
We spent the rest of the afternoon working. I was going through the books and he had brought his computer to the library and worked in one of the sofas. We didn’t say much but a few comments here and there. By the time I was done with the books I felt like I was about to drop dead of exhaustion.
“Want me to get you some dinner?” I said stretching myself on the sofa opposite to the one where Patrick was.
“In a minute. Rest a little,” he said while punching the keys in the computer. “I believe you will have to go to New York tomorrow,”
“That’s ok. Let me know the time,” I sighed
“Since we are already in business mode,” he said putting his computer aside “What can I expect from you and Brian from now on?” wow… I thought that I’d told him what I wanted to do. But then again this was Mr. Maynard asking, not Patrick.
“In the office, nothing out of the ordinary. We are not in a relationship and I don’t even know if we’ll ever be,” I said sitting down on the sofa. I felt a bit uncomfortable with his way of approaching the subject.
“Ok. For the record, relationships are not frowned upon in the office is just that I always like knowing when there is one in case of any eventuality,” I nodded.
“Ok then. Dinner?” he asked smiling and I just went with it. He was so damn cryptic. What was that? We had that whole heart to heart thing before where he sent a couple of hints, if you could call them that, and now he was asking me about my relationship with Brian. And just then we heard someone clearing their throat we turned to see Mike standing in the library door.
“Mr. Maynard,” he said “Your mother is here to see you,” he said and Patrick took a deep breath.
“Right. I’ll see her in the living room,” Mike left and Patrick looked at me. It looked like he wanted to say something.
“Go,” I said. “I’ll be right there to make some coffee,” I smiled and he just nodded.
Just before he left he turned and put his hand on my cheek “I’ll wait for you,” he said and walked out. I wanted to pull my hair out. What the fuck did that mean? Was he talking about the coffee or was he hinting something about Brian? Ugh! I should have known better than trying to understand Patrick Maynard.
I sighed and took the trolley with me; I stopped in front of a mirror to do something with my hair and went on.
“Good Evening Ms. Maynard,” I said while I parked my trolley on a corner “Lucy, Darling, call me Elaine,” she said walking towards me and giving me a warm hug. I wanted to react to that but I just went with the motions because my feelings phobia didn’t allow me to do more. “My God, Patrick, why is the girl pushing a trolley around the house?” asked Elaine eyeing the thing like it was sent from hell.
“She bought the damn thing, Mom,” That was new! Patrick was whining!!!! “That’s true,” I said bringing Elaine’s attention back to me “It’s easier for me to do my job with it,” I smiled and Elaine looked back at Patrick. “What can I get you, Elaine? Coffee, Tea?” I said smiling.
“Raspberry tea, darling, it would be great,” she said walking back to the living room “Patrick?” I asked
“The tea that assistant used to make... What was her name, mom? The girl who wore hooker shoes?” “Patrick,” her mother said, “Susan, her name was Susan,” I had to stifle a laugh and went to the kitchen.
I put a kettle on the stove and reached for the binder in hopes of finding the Susan tea somewhere in it. I could hear them talking and I have to admit that I did pay a bit more attention to their voices. I wasn’t exactly eaves dropping but I was putting a little more effort than usual.
“Patrick, Lucy is a keeper, she has put up with all your ridiculous crap,” I heard Elaine said “Mother,” Patrick gasped loudly in a fake way.
“Be serious, Patrick,”
“I am mother. I know she is special. She’s tough,” He said and I had a big smile on my face.
“She lasted more than a month,” Elaine said
“Yeah, that too,” he agreed.
The kettle began whistling and I went back to the binder that had been on my hands but had not been really used.
“Raspberry,” I said putting the tea on the coffee table in front of Elaine “Susan’s Tea,” I said to Patrick. In reality, it was English breakfast tea but it was useless wasting my breath on explaining that to him.
“Thank you, dear,” said Elaine taking the cup and giving a sip “perfect,” she said and smiled.
“Well, let me know if you want to eat something. Miranda left a couple of delicious dishes for us,” I smiled and turned around to walk back to the pool house.
“Pepper, would you like to join us,” I had to smile at that. He was afraid of being alone with his mother.
“Oh I’d love to, Patrick but I have to finish that thing I was doing. It was lovely seeing you, Elaine,” “You too, Lucy. We should have lunch sometime,” she said and smiled “Really? You two together? So you can talk about me on an on?” Patrick asked his mother and I just left the room. I wasn’t very fond of him at the moment. He was weird.
2 hours later I was watching T.V on my room when I heard someone knocking on my door. I sighed loud enough for him to hear me. I knew it was Patrick because there was no one else that could come knocking on my door at 8 pm. I’ve had had enough of him for one day. I went down the stairs and when I opened the door he was there with a bottle of wine and what looked like a thousand bags of pretzels.
“Wow, you can’t have enough of me, can you?” I asked as he let himself in “No, I can’t actually,” he said. He sounded annoyed so I didn’t know if he was being serious.
“What do you want Patrick?” I asked him tapping my feet as he made himself comfortable and sat on the red couches.
“I want to ask you not to sleep with Brian,” What? “What?” I asked as he opened the bottle of wine and I brought two cups to the table.
“What you heard,” he said.
“Why?” I asked really confused.
“Because my future depends on that,” he said in a horrible tone as he poured wine in the cups “What if he is my future, Patrick? Don’t I have the right to have a future?” I asked annoyed as I took the cup and gave a
big sip.
“He is not your future,” he says grabbing a cup
“How do you know that?” I was really getting frustrated.
“I just know it, ok?” he said looking at me right in the eyes.
“Oh, Patrick, I want to bitch slap you so bad,” I said resting my head on the couch “I know,” he said sighing. “Anyway, seems that one of my clubs will be hosting my baby sister’s 18th party,” this was the most frustrating man ever. One day I would found myself in serious need of a lawyer because he’ll push me to commit murder. I heard him as he went on and on about the party but my mind couldn’t help but to drift away wondering what the hell was wrong with him lately. I just wished he would speak, to say whatever it was bothering him. We would talk about it; scream about it and in the end laugh about it sitting down on the kitchen over a sandwich or pie. I really needed to pay attention to this party thing because I was afraid I was going to plan the whole thing “… so ask Tracy about that…,” Ok. Nope, Tracy was planning it. Good, I am no party planner. Was I supposed to meet with his sister? He was looking at me waiting for some kind of answer or response.
“What about Regina?” I asked taking a sip of wine.
“I just told you. Get her to come here and meet Tracy,” I nodded. He smiled. Ugh! “Where were you Pepper?” he asked taking my hand.
“Really, Patrick? You expect me to snap out of whatever mood you put us in when you came barging into the house demanding me not to sleep with Brian?” I asked more perplex than angry. Not even annoyed.
“I’m sorry, Pepper,” he said relaxing a bit and giving me a white smile “I was in my head and didn’t care to explain. I just don’t want things getting weird at the office,”
“Earlier today you told me the company didn’t frown upon fraternizing,” I asked suspicious of whatever Patrick was trying to say.
“I know but, let’s be real, you wouldn’t last in a formal relationship with Brian and then things would get weird,”
“I might want to try to last,” I said crossing my arms. Patrick was right, I am not the kind of woman that can have a relationship but it was annoying that he knew that.
“You can try without involving sex. It would be not too messy afterwards,” He shrugged. I shrugged. I thought that he might have been right.
“I’ll call Tracy tomorrow. Now, go,” I said picking up the wine glasses and taking them to the kitchen “We’ve had an eventful weekend and tomorrow we need to be up early,”
“Fine,” said Patrick getting up from the couch he was on “I’ll see you tomorrow, Lucinda,” he gave a tiny squeeze to my shoulder and left. I closed the door behind him. I couldn’t believe the weekend I’d had.
Ten
The week began in the best way possible. Patrick wasn’t too moody when I took him his coffee before breakfast and it didn’t require for me to take any thermoses with us in the ride to the office. Once in the office we fell back into our daily routine which was exactly what I needed after the weekend I’d had. Patrick was his same self screaming my name every other hour, or minute, to help him get unstuck; Brian stopped by, jumping on my desk to share gossip about the party and the office not once mentioning anything about us. Without him knowing, he had scored a huge point with me, he didn’t mix business with pleasure. Around noon I was sent to New York to get some papers for Patrick and, get this, the cheesecake they sell in the corner of May, Inc.’s offices. I was sent to New York to buy cheesecake. I was back in Philadelphia by 4 only to find a Sandwich and coke on my desk. I took it and inspected every part of it.
“Did Brian stop by?” I asked Harriet who had a lovely mustard/poop cardigan that made her look really pale.
“No, Lucy, you have a ton of messages, though,” she said pointing at all the post-its on my desk I nodded. “The sandwich is from Mr. Maynard. He put it there when he came back from lunch,” I know that my jaw would resemble to one of a cartoon because Harriet just nodded “I know,” she shrugged.
“Harriet... is...”Patrick stopped mid sentence when he spot me “Lucinda, good, come. Bring that if you want,” he said pointing my sandwich. I nodded.
“How was New York?” he said as he sat on his leather chair. He was not happy, he was stressed. The sleeves to his white shirt were rolled up, he had the green tie half done and it looked as if he had grown stubble of two days. Could men grow it just by stressing out?
“Good. Thank you for the sandwich,” I said sitting on a chair in front of the desk “I didn’t have lunch,”
“I know,” he said covering his face with his hands. How did he know? He was going into stalker mode but I was not going to question him because he seemed worried and that scared me. He was not the kind of man that worries about work or anything really.
“I brought you the cheesecake,” I said pulling out of a plastic bag the cake.
“Oh, savior,” he said grabbing the plastic container and the fork I gave him. “Come,” he said as we both went to the black leather sofa in his office. As soon as he tasted the cheesecake I saw him relax. His green eyes sparkled and he smiled. There; the 35 year old looked like a 5 year old and I knew everything would be ok.
“What happened, Patrick?” I asked opening my sandwich and gave a bite “Hmm I guess I was hungry,” I said more to myself than him but he nodded.
“Stinson,” he finally said and I nodded “E-course will declare bankruptcy,” “What?” I asked almost spitting the sandwich. I’m sure some of it managed to escape my mouth.
“Yeah, mother fucker didn’t let us know how bad it was and of course the company can’t survive like that,” he gave a huge sigh and ate more cheesecake. I suddenly had the need to hug him. Shit! What the hell was that, Lucinda? I clearly pictured myself hugging him. In his office, during a conversation about work. Dehydration, I thought, it must be; I flew to New York and back and I had not had a drink of liquid or bite to eat. I grabbed my coke opened it and gave a huge sip.
“What are you going to do?” I asked and he turned to look at me “I don’t know,” he shrugged “the cheesecake makes it better, though,” I smiled.
“Be serious, Patrick,” I said while chewing on my sandwich. I really needed the food, seems that being delusional it’s a side effect of being hungry.
“I am, Lucinda, I have no idea what I am going to do,” he nodded “I think that our chance of growing the Education branch with E-course will not happen,”
“Why don’t you buy?” I said
“I thought that but… I don’t know if it feels right,” he said shaking his head. Well, he was confused.
“Ok, let’s see,” I said taking my brown jacket of and rolling the sleeves of my white shirt. I was getting ready to work. Patrick nodded and brought his computer to the coffee table where he had left his cheesecake.
“Here, look, this is the Education Branch,” he said pointing to the screen.
And so we looked at the screen for the next hour. There was no way E-course could give May, Inc. enough to make profit in the next 5 years. Not in the shape E-course seemed to be. Around 6 in the afternoon we walked out of the office. Feeling defeated and tired after staring at the screen for so long.
“Hey,” Brian said jumping down from my desk. Everyone was pretty much gone. “Wow, you two are a depressing sight,” he said.
“We are depressed,” Said Patrick helping me to my jacket.
“Indeed we are,” I nodded.
“What happened?” Brian asked with big wide eyes.
“E-course is declaring bankruptcy,” said Patrick
“No,” Now Brian looked depressed “but that was such a cool project you had,” “I know,” said Patrick and Brian pat him in the back. Men, women would’ve jumped into a hug where tears were shed and then go shopping. I am assuming since I really have no idea what girls do, my only girl friend was Stacy, in my whole life.
“Well, anyway,” Brian said “I was wondering if you wanted to go for a sorbet,” he asked and I had to admit that a Sorbet sounded heaven
ly. I turned to look at Patrick that had such a tender smile.
“Go on, have a delicious one, you deserve it,” he gave a quick squeeze to my arm “You can come if you want, Patrick,” said Brian and I nodded. I think Brian felt sorry for him but I really I didn’t care who came I just wanted my sorbet.
“No, guys, I pass. I am too tired. See you at home, Lucinda,” he smiled and walked to the elevators “good Night, Patrick,” said Brian
“Night,” I heard Patrick say.
“Let me grab some files,” I said while looking for some Stinson files and notes. I refused to let this E-course go to hell.
“What kind?” asked Brian as we both looked at the menu. Yes, Brian knew a place where they had a sorbet menu. It was a like dream come true.
“I think I may want…..” I said putting a finger in my mouth “Watermelon,” I practically jumped up and down. Brian ordered and we went to eat our sorbets in a little table inside the shop.
“Jesus, this is delicious,” I said closing my eyes. I was in heaven.
“Have you always loved sorbet this much,” he asked amused “Hmm,” I had to think “I’ve always liked it but this place is the best thing I have ever found,” I nodded “I declare sorbets my thing now,” “It’s a good thing,” he said.
“It’s,” I nodded while I ate the most delicious thing I have ever had.
“How was New York?” He asked me.
“I wouldn’t know,” I shrugged “I can tell you how Betsy from Finance is and how much was the cheesecake in the coffee shop in the corner of the offices.”
“Uh! I love it,” he said really excited. I would have to taste it sometime if it causes two men to have teary eyes over it. “Are you tired?” he asked me while he took my hand, I let him. I was not an idiot, I knew we were on a 'date'; I also knew that this was the best we could manage during week days and I was fine with that. The whole movies and dinner thing made me uncomfortable. Not that I’ve done it a lot.
Unstuck Page 14
