Sapphire Ice

by Hallee Bridgeman

  He tilted his head and gave her a confused look. "No. Let me finish." He hooked a foot over his knee. "Here's the problem. Hank's leaving about a month earlier than anticipated. We tried to look at resumes for a manager but neither of us were pleased with what we've seen out there. None of them have what I'm looking for."

  She felt the frown crease her brow. "What's that?"

  His eyes were intense, serious, while he looked at her. "Your experience. Your love of this place. Your drive."

  She blinked. "Excuse me?"

  "I talked it over with Hank. He's in complete agreement."

  Hank squeezed her hand and released her. "Absolutely."

  "Complete agreement about what?"

  Tony quit spinning the pen and smiled a very charming smile. "About you."

  A kind of fearful excitement tried to course through her veins, but she stamped it down. "What are you getting at?"

  "I want you to run Hank's for me. I want to hire you on as the manager so that I don't have to worry about losing what it is that makes it Hank's."

  She snorted. "Yeah, right."

  "I'm absolutely serious."

  She looked in his eyes and saw that he was. "Look, Tony. I'm just a barmaid, a waitress, and a high school dropout. You don't want me running this place for you."

  "What does any of that have to do with anything? A person with your experience?" He felt the anger and only partially tried to keep it in check. "I didn't ask you about your educational background."

  "Well, it's a good thing you didn't. I've never even gotten my GED."

  "So?"

  Now she laughed. "So, hire some guy who has a bunch of education and is trained for the position. A Viscolli company doesn't need some two-bit bartender running anything for it."

  Tony's temperature rose a few degrees. He felt as if, in insulting her, she had personally insulted him. No one talked about Robin that way. "You think that I give 'two bits' about diplomas and accolades? If I wanted that, I could have had my pick all week. I want you."

  Robin looked from one man to the other and felt heat flood her cheeks, trying to find the right words. "Look, Tony. If you're doing this just because we – "

  He cut her off. "Robin, one of the reasons I'm what I am is because I don't mix my business and personal life. It will cut you off at the knees every time."

  "You'll be laughed out of the Chamber of Commerce if you hire me."

  "You think?" Taking a different approach, he slowly stood. "Do you think I'm qualified to run my company?"

  Obviously not liking his advantage, she stood as well. "Obviously."

  "I used to Dumpster dive to eat my one meal a day," he chided. Instead of continuing on, he took a deep breath and closed his eyes, praying to find the right words. "My point, mi amante, is that if the Chamber of Commerce were going to find something to laugh at me about, it wouldn't be because I picked the best, most qualified person in this entire city to run my newly acquired restaurant."

  His words, the naked sincerity that weighed them down, penetrated Robin's very blood and beat through her veins in a rush. Robin had needed the reminder. Wow! She thought she hadn't forgotten, really, what he had disclosed about his past on Saturday. Somehow, though, she could barely reconcile those facts with this Tony; smooth, cultured, in charge. He commanded the room even over Hank.

  When Tony talked about having to go to California and New York, she thought he'd been in the midst of firing her and ending their relationship. Now she had an opportunity to work even closer with him. That prospect alone promised some really unexplainable appeal for her.

  Could she let herself harbor some tiny hope that even she could rise above her own personal birthright? Could someone one day meet her and not believe how she had lived her whole life? Would she one day find herself transformed as completely as a caterpillar to a butterfly? As completely changed as Tony had changed? Could she become a brand new creature?

  She sat, looked between the two men again. "What now?"

  Tony admired his own personal restraint that kept him from throwing back his head and laughing with glee. "Now, you look over my offer, the contract, haggle over the salary, get at least fifteen percent more, then you go to dinner with me tonight to celebrate your new promotion at work."

  Hank's laugh reminded her of his presence. "I will take that as my leave to go. I have a lot of packing to do. Tony," he held his hand out and Tony leaned over the desk to shake it. "It has been an absolute joy to work with you."

  "And you, sir. May God bless you and keep you."

  He looked at Robin as he sat back down. "You still look a little dazed. I'm going to give you a draft of the contract and let you read over it. I need you to put in your notice at Benedicts. This is more than a full time job."

  "I can't afford -"

  Tony felt the smile on his face, excited for her, anticipating her surprise over the salary offered. He had left the contract writing up to Barry, so even though he'd have personally padded it just because he loved her, Barry didn't and nothing was nonstandard. Even so, he had a feeling that the number hovering just under six figures would more than satisfy her current living situation, tuition notwithstanding.

  "Just take this and read it. If you have any questions, I'll be happy to answer them." He held out the eight-page contract and waited for her to reach out and take it.

  She stood as she did and said, "Okay. Thank you." She turned to leave, as if dismissed or dismissing him. He wanted her to stay with him and chat some more. He wanted to spend a portion of this insane morning with the soothing calm of her presence.

  "How was your day off?" he asked.

  Robin spun around. Her eyes flashed anger, which confused him a little bit, but her voice remained calm. "Fine."

  "What did you do with your time?"

  "Nothing," she said, rolling up the bound pages in her hand. "Absolutely nothing."

  Tony raised an eyebrow, thinking that he'd discovered the root of the anger. "Is there something specifically wrong that you'd like to talk about?"

  Robin advanced on him, waving the rolled up contract in front of her like a rapier. "You take me out every single day for a week. I work two jobs and in the brief hours each day I normally have to decompress and refocus my energies, I ended up with you. Suddenly, on the one day off I have for the entire week, I don't hear a word."

  Ah. Clarity. "I asked if you wanted to come to church with me."

  "So because I declined coming to church with you, you blow me off for the entire day?"

  "Of course not. I don't just put on a tie and spend an hour in a building, Robin. My entire Sunday is spent in holy communion with God. There are two services on Sundays, and as the treasurer of the church board, I had a presentation to give to the church body regarding some land acquisitions, so I stayed for both services. I also teach a Sunday School class. By the time I leave the church building, it's late afternoon and I typically end up in the home of one of the staff members, enjoy a light lunch and some low key fellowship, then head back into the church building for evening worship."

  As he spoke he watched her face fuse with color. Tony stood and moved quickly around the desk so that he could reach out and touch her, take her hand in his and look into her eyes as he spoke. "I wanted to spend the day with you. I thought about you all day long. I wished you'd been there to hear the music, to listen to the amazing sermon that I heard twice, to have lunch with me and my friends."

  Robin felt her hand momentarily tremble in his. The back of her throat burned and she had no idea why. She cleared her throat and pulled her hand away. "Okay. I'm sorry that I was so upset."

  Before she could turn back around, he grabbed her hand again. "You're still a little upset. I'm sorry that you didn't understand what my Sunday is like. I should have been more clear. While I enjoy thinking about you wanting to hear from me, I don't enjoy having unintentionally let you down or hurt you in any way."

  Robin looked into his eyes and saw the sincerity and –
something else. Something warm, wonderful, inviting. She saw safety, security, peace. Her heart started pounding. Blood roared in her ears. She wondered how he couldn't hear it, it sounded so loud.

  He stood close enough that she could feel the heat of his body. Even so, she wanted to be closer to him still. She stepped forward until the tips of their shoes touched. Not knowing which one of them made the move to close the last of the gap, she found herself wrapped in his arms, his mouth on hers.

  The initial punch in his gut from finally holding her and touching her spread until his whole body fairly tingled with want to get closer to her. Her cool lips almost immediately warmed under his, softened for him. He forcefully pushed back his desire and instead just reveled in the amazing feel of her lips, of her hands on his back, of her scent that surrounded him.

  She was tired, worn out, still disturbed by the unfamiliar emotions she'd had assault her for a steady week. That was the reason her head started spinning, why her limbs trembled. His mouth felt hot, demanding. Wonderful.

  His teeth nipped and she gasped. Taking advantage of her open mouth, his tongue swept inside. A feeling she didn't recognize streaked straight to her stomach and her knees buckled. But he was there, his arm caught her weight, pulled her closer until they were practically one.

  He pulled away when she whimpered. The sound was so small, so desperate, that he sensed enough was enough. While he was willing to release her mouth, he wasn't quite ready to release her all together. He pressed his lips to her forehead, then pulled her face to his chest.

  His heart pounded under her ear. She should have felt embarrassed, now that the room had stopped tilting. Instead, she was in awe over the fact that simply kissing her had caused such a reaction in him. His arms were strong and secure around her, and for just a moment, she let herself seep into him, let herself lean into his strength.

  Then reality came flooding back.

  He sensed it the instant before her body tensed. With great reluctance, he relaxed his arms and stepped back.

  "I'm sorry," she said, stepping backward until there was at least two feet between them.

  Tony laughed. "I'm not. I've been wanting to do that since we met."

  Her lips felt a little numb and a lot tingly. She resisted the urge to touch them. "I need to go to work now."

  Tony bent and picked up the forgotten contract. "Please accept my offer and put in your notice today."

  How could he jump back to business as usual just like that? She had no cognitive thinking happening right now. Nothing inside of her jumbled up mind made any sense. "I need to go."

  She spun and almost ran, throwing open the office door and pushing her way around construction workers and delivery personnel and sous chefs. Her hands shook so badly that she could barely get her car door unlocked, but finally threw it open and slid onto the seat. She tossed the contract onto the seat next to her and rested her forehead against the steering wheel. Finally, she allowed herself to give into the impulse and put three shaking fingers against her trembling lips.

  CHAPTER 11

  TONY arrived at Robin's apartment at seven o'clock on the dot. A kind of nervous little excitement about a real dinner date with Robin made his smile stick and added a lightness to his step. He wanted to shower her with pretty things. She had so little pretty in her life. He ran his hand down the outside of his suit pocket and felt the bulge of Robin's promotion present. She would resist this gift, he knew, but he also knew she would eventually accept it.

  He could hear loud music coming through the door. He paused to make sure he hadn't gone up an extra floor perhaps to stand at the wrong apartment door before rapping his knuckles hard on the door. No answer. He recognized the song and realized it neared the end so he waited. As soon as he heard a lull in the music between that song and the next, he knocked hard again. He heard "Come in!" just before he heard the beginning strands of the next song.

  As he opened the door, the strong smell of oil paint assailed his nostrils. With the couch and chair pushed out of the way, Maxine had a painter's canvas set up in front of the television. Music blared out of speakers from somewhere in the room. She wore a pair of torn jeans, a half-cropped T-shirt, and had her hair bundled on top of her head. In one hand she held a palette of paints, in the other, her paintbrush.

  "Hi Tony," Maxine said. She waved her brush like a wand, gesturing with it while she spoke.

  Tony walked in until he stood behind her. On the canvas in front of him lay an almost complete bird's eye view of Boston Harbor as one would suppose it looked about two hundred years ago, every detail as perfect as he could imagine it. Majestic ships filled the harbor, horses and carriages lined the docks. Amazed, he watched as she dipped the brush in some blue and touched up the water.

  The door opened and closed behind him. He could barely tear his eyes away from the perfection of the painting to see Sarah come into the apartment. She rolled her eyes and went to the stereo system and turned the volume way down. She paused next to Tony and looked at the painting. "Are you in love again?"

  "Deeply." Maxine answered without hesitation. She arched her neck until their heads touched before she went back to work. "Can you fix me a drink?"

  "Sure. What do you want?"

  "Something cold."

  Sarah had to climb over the couch to get to the kitchen, and Tony smiled while he continued to watch Maxine paint. Her brush moved with absolute confidence as she touched up here and there, fixing things he didn't realize were imperfect until she perfected them. Finally, she set the palette and brush down and stepped back to stand next to him. "What do you think?"

  "I think you're a genius."

  She laughed as she took a paint splattered rag and started rubbing at her stained fingers. "I've liked you from the first, Tony."

  "Have you ever had a showing?"

  "Nah. I don't do it for that. I just do it." She grinned up at him. "In my heart, I'm an advertiser. This is just dabbling. A hobby, really."

  "This is the best dabbling I've ever seen. If you change your mind, let me know. I own a couple of studios around the country."

  She shrugged and rushed over to get the drinks from Sarah's hands so that she could climb back over the couch.

  "I'm serious, Maxine."

  "I can tell," she said, "but I have no desire to make this my profession. I already have a profession."

  He stared at the canvas again. The colors, the details, looked so perfect that the painting immediately swept him back in time. He could almost taste the salt air and hear the sounds from the dock. "No reason why you can't do both."

  She handed him a glass of ice water. He accepted the drink and Maxine said, "Dozens of reasons, actually. But let's just leave it alone for now. You can bring it up again when I've not just come out of a massive all-night painting session."

  Sarah sat down in the chair sideways, leaning against one arm and throwing her legs over the other. "So, who is it? Donald?"

  Maxine started packing her paints. "Donald? Who?" Then she stopped and threw her head back, laughing hard. "No, honey, Dwayne."

  At Tony's confused look, Sarah grinned. "Maxine only paints when she's in love."

  She snapped the case shut with a click. "He proposed to me last night."

  Sarah raised an eyebrow. "Are you getting married?"

  "Of course not. But it was fun to get asked."

  Tony said, "If you're in love, why say no?"

  She reached up and released the clip securing her hair, shaking the black tendrils loose from their confinement. "Because, this is only fun love. It will fade." She stared at him, her green eyes serious. "I'm waiting for the big one. The real deal."

  Sarah rolled her eyes and stood. "The big one?"

  Maxine stared at Tony while she spoke, understanding the warmth in his eyes that was for her older sister alone. "The real one. The one that is destined. The one that will last forever."

  "And how will you know the difference?" Sarah chided.

  Though
her sister spoke, she never took her eyes off Tony. "Oh, some people just know. Others need to be shown. Right, Tony?"

  His nod was barely perceptible. But his smile stretched wide and real across his face.

  Maxine climbed onto the couch and drew her legs up to her chin. "Where are you going tonight?" Maxine asked.

  "Harbor House," Tony confided.

  "Wow." She pushed herself up. "Hey Robin!" She yelled, angling her head toward the hallway. "Scratch that black dress and get the blue one out of my closet. With the scarf."

  Robin's voice came from behind a closed door. "What blue dress with the scarf?"