by Kathy Bosman
Chapter Seven
Ross walked into Ella’s home a week later armed with all his ideas on how to finish setting up the website. He wanted out as soon as possible. He’d worked on it late every night the past week so he didn’t have to sidle up to Pauline any longer. And to see Ella again, knowing she was trying to set him up with one of her friends, had made him want to pull out his hair and take out all his anger on his stupid house.
Who would have thought Pauline had it for him? He hadn’t noticed until her flirtatious ways on Sunday had reached a crescendo. He’d nearly resorted to telling her he wasn’t interested but instead had made it pretty obvious by getting up and excusing himself from the room. The shell-shocked expression on her face had assured him she’d received the message loud and clear. He felt bad, but really, what did Ella think? He could just move his affections from her to someone else at the drop of a hat? How shallow did she think his feelings for her really were?
His irritation only mounted when he found the house empty and Pauline the only person in the office.
“Hi,” he said, surprised at how clipped his voice sounded in his ears. “Where’s Ella?”
“She went out to buy something quick. Shouldn’t be much longer.” Pauline barely gave him eye contact. “Anything I can help you with?”
“I wanted to show Ella what I’d come up with for the website.”
“You finished it already?”
Pain crossed her face. He should feel more compassion. Pauline was a sweet person, but…she wasn’t Ella.
“Yip, been working late. Thought Ella needed it in a hurry,” he lied. Didn’t want to totally destroy her sense of self. “Look, Pauline…”
“You’re here. Thanks for coming on a Sunday, Ross.”
Ella spoke from behind him in her usual upbeat, clear voice. He turned to her and his breath caught. What was it about Ella that as soon as she entered a room, his whole world came alive? Colours became brighter and her voice brought joy and a sense of ease to his being. He longed to watch her every expression, every response. Crazy he still loved her after the way she’d treated him. Love had no prejudice, so it seemed. First time he’d actually really been in love. He chanced a glance at Pauline and the hurt had tripled in her eyes. Had she picked up his response to Ella’s presence?
“I’ve got the website done and dusted.”
“Really, so quick? I thought it was a mammoth task.” Ella began to unpack a grocery bag full of stationery.
“I worked hard on it, but no worries, it was fun.” Another lie. Well, not quite. He liked the sense of achievement of a job well done. Well, he hoped it was to her requirements.
“Pauline, do you want to check it out for me?” Ella said, turning away, a stiffness in her shoulders. “I have to contact some clients.”
What was her problem? Sudden change in mood?
“Sure.” Pauline moved slowly up to him and sat down by ‘their’ computer. “Do you have a flash drive?”
He nodded and pressed on the power button of the computer. Once it had booted up, he slotted in the flash drive, all the time aware of Ella’s back to them while she ruffled in one of her cupboards.
Was she jealous? It suddenly occurred to him. Ella felt jealous of Pauline and him? Despite the fact that she orchestrated it. Silly girl. He clamped his hand over his mouth to hide the big grin that came at the thought. He could play along with it. Be friendly with Pauline—no, not flirtatious, that would be cruel, but he could stop being so indifferent and rather cold towards Ella’s friend. He’d make it clear to Pauline later on that he had no intentions for her.
“How was your day yesterday?” he said in his kindest voice to the woman next to him.
She gave a little gasp and then straightened herself. “Good. I took a drive down to the beach with my mum. She needed to get out for a while.” Pauline looked at Ella who didn’t even turn around. “And I cooked a fancy supper for her.”
“Sounds good. The weather was perfect for the beach yesterday—not too stuffy but sunny and bright.”
Pauline nodded at him, a small amount of shock and awkwardness evident in her stance. “This computer takes a while to boot up.”
Ella turned to grab some papers from on top of her desk and gave them a quick glance.
Ross quickly averted his gaze and placed it firmly onto Pauline, adding on a pleasant smile. “I could have done with a break yesterday, too. Been too busy doing up my house.”
“Really?” Pauline didn’t even look at him but continued to stare at the computer screen while it went through the loading process.
“Yes, it’s a pain in the butt. I’ve painted the outside of the house and the outside window frames, but still have to fix some plumbing problems and paint all the rooms.”
Ella brushed past them hurriedly and closed the door a little too loud behind her for comfort—not exactly a slam, but not a comfortable click, either. He let out a breath. Phew, that was tense.
“Painting isn’t fun,” Pauline said, her eyes a tiny bit brighter than they had been. “I helped my mother paint her lounge a few years back and I hated every minute.”
“Yes, it’s soul-destroying. Never seems to end, what with the sanding down of the old paint, washing the walls, then all the coats, and lastly waiting for it to dry.”
“I hate having newspaper all over the floors and that smell. It makes me want to cough.”
“Not to mention having to move all the furniture out the room and finding another spot to store it.”
“So, you’re going to do all of your own painting then?”
Pauline hadn’t warmed up totally yet but he could feel some of the tension between them easing. Maybe being friendly made life a lot easier on many fronts.
“I’m afraid so. I can’t afford to hire anyone at the moment. There’s just so much that needs fixing that I—”
Ella opened the door quite loudly again and stood over them. “So, let me see this website.”
So much for her suggestion that Pauline look at it.
“As busy as I am,” she continued, “I do need to make sure you’ve done it right.” She winked at him, disarming all his plans to focus on Pauline.
He opened it up and typed in the links. “Here it is.”
With detail, he explained everything he’d added—the tags, the forms, the pages, clicking on each one and navigating around the site with ease. Ella hovered ridiculously close to his back and bent down with her face inches from his. Heat rippled through him and he pressed his thighs together to hide his body’s response to her nearness.
“Is it what you expected? Better? Worse?”
“It’s great.” Her voice softened. “Just perfect.” She stood up straight again, showing her sweet form in the tight-fitting blue blouse she wore in a soft, cottony fabric. “Thanks so much.”
“You’ve decided not to put a contact form?” Pauline asked him.
“Oh, that. I wanted to ask you about that, Ella.”
“Let me pull up a chair, then.” She fetched the chair from behind her desk and placed herself closer to him than Pauline. At the sudden realisation that she’d started to take an interest in him as more than a friend, all his sexual feelings for Ella ballooned inside of him. Oh, heck, if only Pauline could go away. But that would probably chase Ella away, too.
“What questions do you have?” Ella asked.
He fired away and within twenty painful minutes, they’d put up a contact form.
“Let me work on it to make it live. You all ready? You may be inundated with responses straight away.” He grinned.
“I doubt it. It’s been rather quiet lately.” She sighed and gazed at him, her pupils large and her soft, beautiful skin crying to be touched, her small lips ready to be tasted again. She looked at Pauline. “I don’t know what to do about my one male client. Sorry, I suppose it’s confidential, Ross, and I shouldn’t tell you about my clients, although you’re basically an employee, anyway.” Her face turned a pretty pink. “It’
s weird thinking I’m your boss, in a way.”
She gave him an awkward look like she felt guilty bossing him around. Right now, he could take her waist between his hands and squeeze her tight, run his hands up along those slender sides and bring his palms to rest upon her silken cheeks, then—
“Well, I’m getting side-tracked. But I’m not going to talk about anything he’s shared with me. Just that…well…he won’t match with anyone. I’ve tried him with twenty women.”
Ross blinked and tried to focus on what she said.
“Maybe he has the problem,” Pauline said, breaking the cloud of desire.
For a moment, he’d forgotten she was in the room.
Ella pulled away and moved her chair behind her desk. His surroundings came into focus again. He tried to calm his rapid heartbeat and focused on the screen instead of her.
“Do you think that’s possible?” Ella sounded distraught.
“Why not?” Pauline said. “Look at Roan. Do you really think he’ll ever have a successful relationship if he can’t stick to one woman for long? As cute as he is.” She looked at Ross and gave a high laugh. “Excuse the girl talk.”
“Well, this guy doesn’t particular have celebrity looks. He’s pretty plain. Surely, he has some redeeming qualities. I mean, I thought everyone had someone right for them somewhere in the world. If not one, a handful or maybe a hundred. If you study the personality types, you see that certain personalities complement others. You just have to find—”
“Maybe some people aren’t willing to make the extra effort of making it work,” Ross said. “I can think of a couple of people I know at work who have no desire to make other people feel comfortable or to get on with them—for them, it’s about making the money and they will push other people out the way in the process. Sad, but true.”
Ella shrugged and didn’t look at him. He must have hit a painful spot with his comments. She’d always been an idealist, believing in perfection, that dreams should come true for everyone in life. Pity, some people sabotaged their own futures. And those of others. She needed to learn that. Maybe The Album would show her.
“Well, it doesn’t help my current situation. I can’t exactly say to him, ‘Um, look, mister, I haven’t found a single suitable candidate for you. Please take your business elsewhere.’”
“Why not?” Ross shrugged.
“What? Are you nuts? One disgruntled customer can cause a whole ripple-effect of people not willing to try me out. And I’m not about to pair him with a woman who I know is going to get hurt in the end.”
“You’ve got a point there,” Pauline said.
That’s what he loved about Ella. As enthusiastic and quite reckless as she could be sometimes with her words, she was very cautious in her decisions and never liked to hurt other people or mess them around. That’s why, initially, her matchmaking business had seemed wrong in so many ways. Until he’d watched The Album play out its magic time and time again.
“I respect that you don’t want to hurt him but maybe you need to be straight with the guy. There really isn’t a suitable woman for him on file and he must wait. Perhaps he’ll appreciate your honesty.”
Ella nodded. “I suppose. It’s better than matching him with some poor unsuspecting woman who’ll get hurt along the line. I’m hopeful that one day, I’ll find the right girl for him. Maybe I’m just like him—that’s why I’ve never found anyone.”
She looked down at her papers and Ross wanted to shout. He hated when she got like that. He was right for her. Wish she’d see it. Oh, but maybe he just wasn’t perfect enough for her idealistic notions.
“What about Dirk?” Pauline asked and turned to look at Ross.
He didn’t return the gaze but instead studied Ella to see if this Dirk guy was anything to be concerned about.
“I don’t know.” Ella kept her head down. “He’s nice. Maybe he’s the one.” Enthusiasm certainly didn’t drip from her tone this time. “Look, guys, I have to do some work now. I’m going to the living room. Can only work in silence, as much as I like your company and that.”
“Sure.”
Pauline seemed okay with Ella leaving the room. He wasn’t. He wished she would stay and tell him more about this Dirk. Or just stay so he could look at her or hear her voice.
Why had he decided to help her with her business? She only tortured him. And making her jealous hadn’t really worked. Maybe he’d imagined the jealousy—his desperation had made him see things that weren’t there.
He went back to fixing up the last few tweaks of the website while Pauline busied herself with a sketch for a logo or something. Within half an hour, he was ready to leave. He stood up and Pauline spoke.
“Where’re you going?”
“I’m going to head on home now.”
“Thanks for your help.” She seemed more relaxed with him now.
“Sure. Any time. Are you going to continue to help Ella?”
“On and off. Maybe once a month or so from now on. She’s basically set up. I help her with her appointments and keeping organised.”
“So, what do you do during the week to keep yourself busy?” He smiled at her to put her more at ease.
“I work, of course.”
“I know that. Where?”
“Well.” She sucked in a breath and braced herself, her gingery curls bouncing around her slender neck and he thought she really was an attractive woman. “I work in a crafts shop. Sounds boring, yes, but I love it. I design recipes and do a food blog on the side.” She blushed.
“Doesn’t sound boring. Retail can be interesting and challenging. And it’s good you find time for your interests, too.” He fiddled with the flash drive in his hand. “Have a good week then, Pauline.”
“You too, Ross.”
He walked out and met Ella right by the door. Had she been eavesdropping? He wouldn’t put it past her, the imp. Maybe, just maybe, he could make her insanely jealous after all and then she would leap into his arms.
“I’m leaving now.”
He composed himself to look serious and stern with her, like he didn’t crave the contact and closeness they’d shared for years. Pretending they weren’t best buddies anymore was incredibly hard.
“You finished?” she asked.
He tried to read her but failed. Was she closing her emotions off just as much as he? Oh, the games they played.
“Done. You probably won’t require my services anymore.”
“Oh, okay.”
Now, the disappointment was obvious. Whether it was because she couldn’t push him in Pauline’s vicinity or whether she missed him, he wasn’t sure.
“Don’t go yet, Ross. Stay for a drink or something.”
“No, I’d better go. I’m getting ready to paint the toilet room. Got to sand down the walls this afternoon.”
“Oh. That sounds horrible. Can I help you?”
“No, I don’t think so.” He shook his head and narrowed his eyes at her to remind her they weren’t supposed to be friends at all now. “And besides, you’re very busy.”
“I’m sorry. It’s unfair that you help me and I don’t help you.”
“You paid me.”
“Still.”
“Bye, Ella.” He turned around before he said anything stupid, like yes, he’d loved to stay for a drink. The need to kiss her burned pretty strong too, not a good idea at all.
“Bye.”
She gave a half-hearted attempt at greeting him as he went out the door, not making it easier to leave. What good reason could he have for coming back now that his job was done? What had he been thinking fixing up the website so fast?