He released her then, stepping away from the door, looking as though he were struggling to speak. Not able to bear another apology, Julia yanked open the door and simply walked away before she could run back into his arms and beg him to never leave.
Chapter Six
January
“Julia, how wonderful to see you again. Please, come in and have a seat. Did you want Courtney to get you some coffee or tea?”
Julia shook her head as she walked inside Travis Headley’s office and took a seat at one of the chairs facing his desk. “No, thank you. Courtney was already kind enough to ask but I’m fine. And it’s lovely to see you again, too. It’s been over two years, I think.”
Travis nodded as he sat down next to her rather than behind his desk, taking her hand in his. “Yes. I was in Manhattan for the Thanksgiving weekend two years ago. We had dinner together with Gerard and Maddy before your family flew in for the holiday.”
Travis had been another of Gerard’s protégées, having originally been a student of his at the Design Institute. Gerard had on occasion presented workshops and seminars at his alma mater, and he’d been impressed with Travis’ talent and vision. Like Julia herself, Travis had spent a year interning at Manhattan Interiors after graduating from college but had left New York for the West Coast soon thereafter. He had made it a point over the years, however, to keep in close touch with Gerard via email and phone calls and had made several visits to New York.
Julia had met Travis for the first time about five years ago when she was still in college. She’d traveled down from Cornell to spend a long holiday weekend with Aunt Maddy, and Travis had been in town at the same time to visit Gerard. Travis knew Maddy as well, so it had been only natural for all of them to meet for dinner one evening.
There had been a couple of other meetings since that first one, and Julia had hit it off with him each time. Like Gerard, Travis was openly gay, but in a more discreet, less dramatic manner than the older man. In his early thirties now, Travis favored tailored business suits like the light gray one he wore today, and could just as easily have been a lawyer or executive as the interior designer he was. He was the co-owner of a very successful architectural design firm here in San Francisco, in charge of the interior design division of the company while his partner managed the architectural side. And Julia was keeping her fingers crossed that she would soon be one of their employees.
Travis seemed in little hurry to discuss the business at hand, however. “How is Madelyn these days?” he asked of Julia’s beloved aunt.
“Relieved that the holidays are over, of course. It’s crazier than normal at the store then.” Madelyn Benoit was the head buyer at Bergdorf Goodman, one of Manhattan’s most exclusive, high-end department stores.
Travis nodded, his admiring gaze taking in the beautiful dress of cream cashmere that Julia wore today. With its crisscross neckline and slim pencil skirt, it managed to be both businesslike and ultra-feminine at the same time.
“I see Auntie is still keeping her favorite niece well dressed. Another Donna Karan?” he asked, naming one of Julia’s favorite designers.
She shook her head. “Ralph Lauren. And yes, there are definite and numerous perks to having Maddy for my aunt.”
Madelyn had never married, and had no children of her own, so she had always showered her adored nieces with affection and gifts. She had worked in the fashion industry for three decades, and as a buyer for about half of that time. In her current high profile job, she frequently received samples and overstock from all manner of designers, especially when she attended the twice-yearly Fashion Weeks in cities like New York, Paris, Milan and Hong Kong. It was always far too much stuff for her to use personally, and even after distributing goods to her staff there was plenty to ship to her sister and nieces. And since Lauren favored a much more casual wardrobe, the bulk of the dresses, skirts, shoes, and bags went to Julia. It was a very fortunate thing, too, because there was no way Julia could have ever afforded to buy such high end pieces on her own salary. She made good money as an interior designer – or had, at least – but it still wasn’t nearly enough to afford the outfit she had on today. And she had a real weakness for designer goods, so she was eternally grateful she had Aunt Maddy to make frequent contributions to her clothing addiction and therefore avoid having sky-high credit card bills.
Travis’ gaze dropped to her feet, shod in cream suede Giuseppe Zanotti peep-toe stilettos. “Love the shoes, too. But you always were a very stylish young lady. Even when you were in college I don’t recall you ever wearing jeans and flats.”
She gave a mock shudder. “Jeans are for tomboys and flats for old ladies. Besides, both of them make my legs look too short.”
He grinned, looking very boyish with his well-styled wheat blond hair, fair skin, and trim build. “Well, you look sensational, honey. You must have to beat men off with a stick.”
Julia sobered and made a dismissive movement with her hand. “Actually, I’m kind of off men at the moment. You know the old saying ‘fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me’. Or the other old saying – ‘men are assholes’.”
Travis lifted a brow. “Well, I can see we’ll have to have a loong talk one of these days. Sounds like you’ve got some interesting tales to tell. But in the meanwhile let’s talk about the possibility of you working here.” His expression turned serious. “Gerard told me a little about what happened with that witch Vanessa but I’d like to hear your side.”
Julia sighed. “You mean why she fired me and then proceeded to call every design firm she could think of to blacklist me?”
Travis listened intently – and with empathy – as she related the story that had filled him with outrage when Gerard had first filled him in. One evening last October Julia had been in the office working late when Vanessa’s slimy boyfriend Philip had accosted her. The office had been deserted and no one had heard her scream when Philip had torn her blouse, slapped her across the mouth hard enough to draw blood, bruised her hip, and cracked three of her ribs as she’d fought him off.
It had been a mixed blessing when Vanessa – who had arranged to meet Philip at the office – had arrived and heard the commotion, rushing into Julia’s office in time to stop Philip from hurting her further. He of course had tried to blame the whole thing on Julia, claiming she’d been flirting with him and leading him on for months. And, despite the fact that Julia was curled up in a ball, bleeding, bruised and sobbing, Vanessa had chosen to believe Philip and had fired Julia on the spot.
Vanessa’s anger and jealousy had gone far beyond merely firing her, however, and she’d done her damndest to prevent Julia from getting another job. That was when Julia had called Gerard, hoping to move to New Orleans and work with him again. But his new firm was still getting off the ground, and there was barely enough work to keep him afloat, much less to bring on another designer. Gerard had, however, contacted Travis who coincidentally was looking for a new designer and here Julia was.
Travis’s mouth had tightened into a grim line as she had related her story. “I always knew Vanessa was a royal bitch – that’s one of the reasons I never took a permanent job with Gerard. But I never imagined she could be quite that mercenary. I hope you pressed charges against her slimebag boyfriend.”
Julia shook her head. “Aunt Maddy was very upset with me when I refused. She came to pick me up that night after I called her but I just didn’t see much point in pressing charges. Vanessa’s family has piles of money and she would have probably hired some shark of a lawyer to get Loverboy off. I just wanted to forget the whole nightmare.”
“Is that why you left New York?”
“One of them,” she admitted. “But to be honest, I’d been thinking of moving anyway. New York is wonderful but I’ve left some other bad memories back there, too. It’s been nice to be back in California and especially to be spending time with my parents and sister.”
She’d been staying at her parents’ home in Carmel since just aft
er Thanksgiving, having given up her apartment in Manhattan and shipped all of her belongings out here. Everything she owned was currently in storage inside her father’s workshop.
“Did you tell your family about what happened?”
Julia nodded. “Only because Aunt Maddy threatened to do so if I didn’t. My dad was furious, he still wants to press charges, but I’ve convinced him not to. And Lauren swears she’s going to beat the crap out of both Vanessa and her boyfriend the next time she’s in New York. Considering that she still takes kung fu classes on a regular basis, I’m a little worried about that.”
Travis grinned, having heard multiple stories about Julia’s fierce twin sister. “And what did your mother do?”
She sighed. “Mom didn’t say anything, just held me and let me cry things out. It was a rotten few months for me, Travis, going back to something that happened in September.”
“Ahh. Does that have anything to do with the ‘men are assholes’ quote?”
She laughed. “It has everything to do with it. But I’ve tried really hard to move past it, so can we not discuss it right now?”
“Your wish is my command. How about we take a look at that portfolio you’ve brought along instead?”
For the next half hour or so, they poured through Julia’s design portfolio, with Travis asking questions, making comments, and listening to her responses. They talked for awhile longer about some of the other projects she’d handled, what types of assignments she could expect to be given here, and about current design trends.
At the end of it all, Travis was regarding her with a half-smile. “So I assume you’d live in the city if you got this job?”
She nodded. “Luckily there’s a great little place that just became available in my friend Angela’s building. She lives in this amazing Victorian in Lower Pacific Heights. I’ve been crashing with her the past couple of nights.”
“Any other job offers you’re considering?”
Julia bit her bottom lip uncertainly. “Nothing serious, no. There’s a small firm in Atlanta that I’ve had a phone interview with, and a place in Minneapolis who just emailed me this morning. But both of those are just straightforward home interior shops, nothing like what you were just describing.”
Travis waved a hand in dismissal. “Ugh, Atlanta. From a boy who grew up in Florida, trust me when I say you’d hate summer in the Deep South – all that humidity and those nasty bugs. Yuck. And Minnesota? Honey, all that wretched snow and probably no Neiman Marcus or Barneys within a hundred mile radius. No, you can’t even consider either of those offers because you’re coming to work for me.”
She stared at him in shocked surprise. “Just like that? I mean, don’t you have to think about it for awhile? Or – or discuss it with your business partner or something?”
“Yes, just like that. No, I knew almost before you walked in the door that I would hire you. And, no. Nate and I don’t interfere with who the other hires. So, if you’ll do us the honor, Ms. McKinnon, Atwood Headley would very much like you to be their newest interior designer.”
Julia smiled, really smiled, for the first time in months and couldn’t contain her happiness, almost giggling in reaction. “I would absolutely adore working here with you, Travis. Given our connection through Gerard, this feels like the perfect fit for me. I know I’m going to be very happy here.”
Travis stood and extended his hand to her. “Welcome aboard, honey. Now, give your new boss a hug, why don’t you? You know with me it’s not going to be any form of sexual harassment if I touch you.”
She did giggle then as she gave him a quick, affectionate hug. “Thank you, Travis,” she told him, suddenly serious. “You don’t know how much this means to me. I was afraid for awhile that I’d never be able to get a decent job again.”
“Vanessa’s influence isn’t as far reaching as she’d like to believe with that overinflated ego of hers, “declared Travis. “And from what I hear her business isn’t going so well these days. A lot of clients were very loyal to Gerard – and also to you – so with the two of you gone things are drying up. Plus, Gerard is so pissed over what happened to you that he’s working on damaging her professional reputation with as many people as he can.”
She nodded. “He told me that. It really isn’t necessary, you know. I’m just glad to be out of that awful situation. Ever since Gerard left it was hell for me to work there.”
Travis’s mouth tightened. “Having interned there for a year and seeing how Vanessa operates, I can certainly empathize. But that’s all in the past now. You’re going to love working here and I’m going to start throwing stuff at you right away. How soon can you start?”
“Hmm. Today is Tuesday, Would next Monday be okay? I think I can sign the lease on the flat today – the landlord is holding it for me until Thursday – and then convince my dad to haul all my stuff up this weekend.”
He grinned. “A woman of action. I like that. It will serve you very well here because things move fast. Monday would be sensational. Let’s take you over to Personnel so you can fill out mounds of boring paperwork. I’ll introduce you along the way to as many people as I can. You’ll never remember names, of course, but I guarantee they’ll all remember you. Especially how good your ass looks in this dress.”
Julia gaped at him in mock horror, then shared a laugh with him. “I know. Gay boss, straight employee, no sexual harassment.”
“Just paying you a compliment, honey. Hell, I’m practically like your brother. But there are a couple of the guys you do need to watch out for. I’ll make sure you know who they are.” He shook his head. “Too bad Nate is already spoken for. The two of you together would have been awfully pretty. And I can’t stand his fiancée. But that’s a long story, one we’ll share over a bottle or two of wine someday. Come on now, let me go show you off.”
Atwood Headley was a much bigger firm than Manhattan Interiors had been, largely because of the architectural arm of the company. Between architects, designers, and all the support staff, there were over a hundred employees. It seemed to Julia that during their whirlwind tour of the office Travis must have introduced her to at least half the staff. She knew he was right and that she’d never remember anyone’s name come Monday, apart from Travis, of course, and his admin assistant Courtney.
Julia thought the oddly dressed girl was what Olive Oyl would look like if she suddenly went hipster. Courtney was tall and painfully thin, with super skinny arms and legs, and long, lank hair dyed a bright orangey-red. Travis had whispered that this was a new shade – last week it had been cotton candy pink. Courtney wore a very strange assortment of clothing that looked vintage/thrift shop – but not in a good way – accented by leopard-print flats and red-framed eyeglasses that clashed badly with her current hair color. The fashionista imbedded deep within Julia could have wept at such a horrific assault on the eyes, but Courtney seemed like a sweet girl and was very kind, despite her scary sense of fashion.
In fact, everyone she met was very kind and welcoming, though more than a few of the men had either gaped at her open-mouthed or stared at her breasts. The two men in particular that Travis had warned her against – one an architect, the other a landscape designer – had both definitely flirted with her. But Julia had long ago mastered the art of the firm but subtle put-down, and was quite certain she’d made it very clear to both of them that it was to be a business only relationship.
One of the last stops they made before Julia was to spend an hour or more filling out personnel forms was at the office of Travis’ partner – Nate Atwood. Seated just outside of the office was a petite woman who looked to be in her mid-to-late forties. Her nameplate identified her as Robyn Reynolds, and she was all eager smiles as Travis introduced her to Julia.
“Welcome to the fold, Julia,” she told her warmly, clasping her hand. “You’re going to love it here. We’re all like a big family.”
Travis put an arm around the older woman’s narrow shoulders affectionately. “And Robyn’s
the mama of our family. Nate and I stole her away from the firm we both worked at when we decided to spin off on our own.”
If Courtney was Olive Oyl, then Robyn was Tinker Bell. Small and sprightly, her chestnut hair was cut in a stylish pixie and there was a smattering of freckles across the bridge of her nose. She wore a wrap dress of dark burgundy wool and black suede ankle boots.
“I’m sorry that Nate isn’t in today so you could meet,” apologized Robyn. “He’s on a job site up in Napa all day. Lousy day for it, too, with these scattered showers.”
Travis turned to Julia. “The Napa site is the resort hotel I mentioned to you earlier. It’s one of the first projects you’ll be assigned to, so you’ll be working closely with Nate on it.”
Julia nodded. “I’m really looking forward to doing the design for that one. It’s amazing that you have the Gregson Hotels as your client.”
Gregson Hotels were known worldwide as an ultra-luxe brand of both city hotels and sprawling resort properties. The headquarters for the North and South American properties was located in San Francisco, and Atwood Headley had already completed several projects for the company. By coincidence, Julia had worked on a remodel project for one of their Manhattan hotels last year, and she was thrilled at the opportunity to work on such a high profile account again.
A couple of hours later, as she finished her tour of the office and filling out an endless stack of new hire forms, she headed back to Angela’s flat with a sense of satisfaction. Finally, after several months of so many bad things happening to her, it seemed that all the dark clouds were starting to blow away. Julia was more than ready to forget the heartache and disappointment she’d known in New York and begin a new, happier chapter of her life here in San Francisco.
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