Chapter 8
Clifford closed one more folder for the night and he bent his chair back with his own back wall and sighed with a grand push from down his stomach to release a gigantic pressure. He had been working the minute he woke up this morning and took the bus to be here around 4 AM. He glimpsed at the clock at his desk and he could hardly see the sharp direction of the two red flesh his Stop clock had for the original design. It was 12 AM and hr pivoted he chair to glance at the Company lobby. The truth was hard to buy it was his and he had worked for it.
"No one…" He mumbled with the hope he might distinguish someone, just in case she altered her mind about his proposition. It had not been that like ng since he started to learn good of Alicia and Carolina had warned him before he could open his lips to tell her the truth. The truth was simple and harsh as well as for the right person and the wrong person.
"I love Alicia, Carolina." Carolina just stood from Clifford side after they had shared a magnificent night in each other arms. She forced the sleeper over her shoulder before she pretended she had an idea about Clifford feelings way before he knew himself.
"I know. Most men I met chose her, even Gaston had. Now it is you, except this time, If Alicia accepts you, you will be perfect for each other." Carolina comforted her soul with the satisfaction she had seen Clifford soul and hid intentions were real and pure. Alicia will finally meet the right guy although she had her right as well to meet him and be the woman he can be with. Yet, Carolina knew better than anyone when two people loved each other, imposing her own person would only delay the inevitable. She had made peace with her luck longtime ago, except she will have this secret in her heart where she had tasted the very man who declared his love for Alicia after a sensational night with a different woman. For her, not even Clifford will remember that time.
"Wow…I can't believe I am such an idiot…Carolina, I did not want to hurt you and now…
"…Now, nothing…" Carolina slid her hand over Clifford's face to put him at ease. "…do not worry about me, I practically jumped you last night…"
"That may be true, but man these days do not know how to say no about this…" Clifford smirked with Carolina who could not hide her curious eyes.
"…Not that I left you much a choice…" Carolina dressed up and without doubt, she let one of her hearings at Clifford. "I hope she finally knows true love like I did last night…Take care of her..." Carolina got off the bed, picked up her boots, and stopped at the door. "…I will see you downstairs soon, right?" Clifford had his back to the door when Carolina pressed one last time. Her gray eyes fell over the Rocky wall of Clifford back. She could not find the words to tell how wet her lips got. She joined Clifford to help him and he turned to assure her. He would be down in a second. She would have loved to wipe this picture in Alicia's face, but Alicia was the woman Clifford chose. She did not see the point.
"Clifford, can you come see me, tonight? I must communicate a fact with major importance. It can't wait tomorrow…" The high-pitched soprano voice of Alicia caught his utmost attention and he did not add one word from her request, except he was in his way already in his mind to join his new woman. He took him to note that a lot before he confessed his true feelings at Alicia, his Anger Management Therapist.
"After being in your father shoes, finding a solution to bring back the insurance of workforce for the people here, in Asia region. How do you feel?" Alicia had always tolerated him standing close to the window, with her behind him, taking notes. This time, she was not with a notepad. She had her fingers close to Clifford's ears and she was admiring the friend she had gone further even though he was just standing there, unable or restraint his own will to caress Alicia. "Anything, do you still hate him?"
"He was right about one simple outcome. If I did not find something to hold up, I would have stayed an incontrollable damage freak for the rest of my life." Clifford foresaw and Alicia could only imagine where in the little corner of the world he would have been. She would have been impossible to meet, to see each other, even to ever uncover the mystery of each side.
"Did you call him or…?" Alicia tried to see if there was any peace between Clifford and his father.
"Inutile…I am here to stay and my family, when I finally got one." Alicia sure noted self-confidence and passion in his alto voice, but the depth had some nostalgic. He was still holding back from his true emotions and the ones he preferred burying as long as he can.
"Clifford, I am more than your therapist…" She hesitated and Clifford caught her hands. A nice man would kiss them. He just held them like she might want to regain them back. Hr did not care for chivalry, his intentions were clear and simple. He did not know if Alicia would have the same goal, he just remembered he had to take a chance. "…What about me, how do you feel?"
"…I love you…" Clifford articulated
"…I know…" Alicia smiled with both her hands in his and she waited for his real reply.
"…I am in love with you…" Clifford sealed the second time with a gentle kiss. She had kissed many lips and she could not recall the taste, but this ginger was different. Clifford approached her but it felt like she was the one who concluded, even if she desired, she would not dare to push him away.
"…Cliff… I…I…I…" Alicia walked around her office like she could not borrow any word in the alphabetical order. "…Clifford, I do not…" By the time Alicia finally borrowed some words to respond Clifford, he was gone. She rushed to the door but her office was as empty as when she first started her first day five years ago.
Clifford borrowed one of the Company trucks and drove straight for Alicia home. She had been in her own apartment since the day she had missed scheduled to become the wife of Gaston or any men ready to have her walking the aisle to meet. Clifford had never used the Company truck, but the alteration in Alicia's voice did not let him much choice. The truth, she did not talk to Clifford since he had left her office. They met at the Company, she said hello and he replied, but Alicia still could not give him a proper response. He did not bother her either. He was not in a hurry to trust a woman might love him how he turned into these last few days in Asia. He often heard the merit Jeanette claimed after his father, but in this case, if Alicia accepted him, he was not sure he had a good beginning with her. He had not told her the truth about him and he claimed to be a man, but he can even do something without threatening someone.
Guiding the Company and solving his current problem with the Machinery as an aftermath of the White blizzard sand required more than a firm hand and a leader. Clifford was none of these, yet he managed to turn the table around. Alicia was not enough to distract the employees and a layoff rumor began at the center of the Machinery, in the back section where the mechanics endured more than a simple cold heating under their feet, and hands.
"Show me the back section Lebau, I need to see everything and you need to secure the employees of their place here, in the Company." Clifford resumes to him after a week without success about the situation." The problem spread from the crashing of the Machines to their function at the main Company placement. Sure, the employment would be back in less than three hours, but what happened if the white sand flew once more in the Company direction. What would prevent it from breaking the steel of the working Machines? Will the machines be able to take another hit previous to the storm it brews in a second to a hurricane in five minutes? Clifford had more in mind than letting the machines worked again.
Lebau did not deny him the request and Clifford took all the information he required from the machines function, their place, the ingredients they needed for good state, and the record of the Storm hit, where it hit and how. Clifford even took some precise measures and the testimony of veteran workers with this particular section.
"What do you expect to do with all these information?" Lebau was impatient to see the failure of all these acquisitions of Clifford, but he only hoped his diagnosis brought anything he could work with. Clifford let Lebau know he would take two
days to envisage the right combination to get the machines working again and in good security.
"If you get them working again and with security enough to protect everyone and the products, you will be on the next plane back home, boy…" Clifford did not see any more alternative than to repair the machines fit his sake, except Alicia caught the surprise of his exchange with Lebau and she was not expecting him out of her life so soon. They just met and he was gone if he ever succeeded. Alicia managed her current uncontrollable desire to know more and to discover what would make Clifford remain here, in Asia, for the Company.
"Clifford is one of us, I would not believe he would leave after he is the hero of the zone. Right?…" As expected, Lebau did not hear one word from Clifford's lips as much as Alicia pretended not to see the cruelty of reality. Clifford had his eyes elsewhere while Alicia did not know what to do and Lebau was confirming her suspicion about these two.
"I must go, I need peace.…" Alicia was going to argue but Clifford was already down the stairs, down toward the Company basement.
"Lebau, are you serious about the proposition you just explain to him?" Alicia demanded Lebau. He did not add a word but before he left her for his office, he sighed enough that Alicia knew exactly where to go.
"Carolina, I need a drink, strong and lasting…" Alicia bargained in the Motel and Bar of the region. Carolina just signed her father to try the next room, leaving Alicia and Carolina to reflect on their life decision. Christophe had learned first hand how women got when they needed to talk or to empty their emotions. He walked away crossing the wall behind the counter leading to their room and the provisions the Motel and the Bar required.
Carolina got out, stood behind the counter, and poured a new bottle of Scotch she just opened. She served three glasses to Alicia before she unleashed everything she held out until now from her flat belly. Carolina listened to her and she did not make a sound. Alicia was babbling, revealing her doubts, her anxiety, and her fear to fall for the guy everyone looked upon for solution nowadays. "…before he was nobody, he almost died, now everyone turned to him for a solution. Am I cursed?" Alicia went back and forth, walked in the whole bar, and sat before she concluded her issue.
"What is wrong Alicia? What is bothering you?" Carolina articulated in every sense of the word and her new character. Alicia grazed at Carolina who did not move quite from her position, she then walked to the counter, picked up her glass and toasted with her old friend.
"I miss this you know."Carolina smiled and served her once more after they smirked for old times sake. "If he fixed the machines and the real problem at the Grandvue Company, he will be on his way back to his origin. I do not know with whom I am going to talk now…he understands me and he declares me more than he should…" Alicia confessed to her friend who still had not moved a finger. "What am I going to do?" Carolina finally sighed when Alicia wondered what to accomplish and she drafted her a picture. Carolina informed her Clifford had the plan to return to his country even before the problem came, he would have gone one way or another. She invited her for once in her life to take a chance. She did not take one with Gaston, "Maybe that is why you knew he would not marry you from the beginning…" Alicia could not defy her replies since she knew that fact better than anyone. Carolina continued to tell her that Clifford was no Gaston and if he had declared his love to her, this would have been huge because he had never mentioned his undeniable feelings. "Talking to Clifford is like playing drum without a sound." Alicia busted into laughs and she collapsed in a chair. Carolina reminded her of their good times together and Alicia once more apologized for not saying anything about their friendship when Helene came between them.
"I guess I knew you would not say anything since she took you that long to confront her." Carolina anticipated in the few months after their first dispute. She somehow, besides the bad mouth talking or the wakeup call she gave Alicia in these current days with Clifford beat up and Helene last interference. She never once held up nothing against her. She kept on dreaming one day they might be back the way they were before, even if now Alicia would have a good reason to slap her back.
Then, there was the last reason Alicia should go forth with her guts. "You love him right?" Carolina did not have to convince. She could read it in all her visage feature. Her shining eyes, her open nose, and her slick smile she could not drop the minute Clifford name hot into the conversation. It was high school all over again and this time, the two best friends knew what the other felt. Alicia was in love with Clifford and she did not know what to do. Or she was sure what to do and was afraid to adventure herself one more time with something similar with Gaston. Carolina confirmed to her Clifford was far from being a Gaston while he did not share his feeling too well most of the times. Except he declared Alicia his love, Carolina could only imagine what it took for him to surprise Alicia to that point. Alicia knew what to do and Carolina invited her that night to go celebrating her last day without a man in her arm. The night was short though since she could not wait to organize a nice meal and to throw out her heart in Clifford's hand. Carolina did not see any inconvenient since Alicia was the best friend she had ever had and she would not want to foil her own happiness.
Clifford stopped the monster truck and jumped down. He did not even feel her feet touching the snow mass on the ground. Before he could blink, he was climbing the stairs of the building where Alicia had her apartment. She lit the candle, prepared the table, and put the wine in the icy pond. She dressed in a sensitive blue short princess robe, a nice short heel, and she brushed with a classic ban held by a simple stick. She was finishing the last touch at the super when the door screamed with Clifford knock. She closed the oven, placed the plate, reduced the lights, turned up the Jazz selection she loved and she reached the door. Clifford was speechless the minute he saw her.
"I am out of place…you are divine Alicia." She tended her arms to him and he accepted them while he pulled her at the exact time to feel her entire polish state. She was someone else, the woman he did not know and he was in love with. Clifford did not know much likely how to react, but the turnaround he gave her like a professional dancer to discover her brand new vision seemed rational.
"What do you have to tell that needs Candlelight Dinner?" He had noticed the place, the nice touch, and the background jazz he could not identify the song. "I was supposed to do this s for you if you accepted my declaration, but you never…
"I love you Clifford and I want us to be together starting tonight. I prepare all this so we can…" Alicia put the brake in her words and Clifford could not hide his pale face.
"I am leaving tomorrow for my home." He announced Alicia. Her heart skipped a beat and she could not understand why he mentioned this now. Clifford walked pass her, looked at the magnificent table, and took a seat.
"My name is not Clifford. I am Tibor Grandvue and I am from New York…" Clifford with no restraint revealed his whole truth to Alicia and she could only imagine where he came from and she could understand why he hated his father to the post not he did not want to see him again. Unable to predict the future, she beloved him and invited to spend the night. A night where her dream begun fresh and pure. A night where her life for once had seen a story she was worthy. Tomorrow, she would deal with what was coming.
THE END
Mystery of Graves’s Halloween Ball
Chapter 1
ESSIE
“What are you doing?” I asked my sister when I saw her hunched over her studio desk. “Don’t tell me you’re still working.”
“I am,” Ebony responded, furiously erasing a mistake she must have made.
I snatched the drawing, holding it up to the light so I could admire it. “This is amazing! Who are you designing this for?”
“Adele. Now, give it back so I can finish it. She has a gala to go to in a few weeks and I need to submit this to the tailor by tomorrow morning.” She grabbed the drawing and went back to work, carefully selecting the right colors from her
endless supply of markers.
“You know, I never liked her music. Too sappy for me.” I plopped down at my desk, swiveling in my chair before I looked at my own work. “Do you want to give me your opinion on this outfit I’m making for The Weeknd?”
“You’re making something for The Weeknd? How did you manage that?”
“Well, after I made that dress for Selena, I guess she passed along the word to her new boyfriend. Don’t you think they are mad cute together?”
“They aren’t going to last very long. Celebrity couples never do. Just look at Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. Everyone thought they were the perfect couple but they are still getting a divorce. When your whole life is out on the media, it’s difficult to have an intimate and trusting relationship.
I rolled my eyes. “Why do you have to be so pessimistic?”
“I’m not. I’m just a realist.”
“Sure, whatever.” I handed her my sketch. “Seriously, can you tell me what you think?”
Beasts Awakened Page 31
