by Parker, Ali
Yes, I was still very pissed at Patrick. I wasn’t ready to forgive him quite yet. It wasn’t like he’d apologized. He was convinced he was in the right and I needed to just get on board. It would take a while before I welcomed Patrick back into my life with open arms. I didn’t hate him, but I had very little to say to him.
Chapter 32
Tyson
I picked up the magnifying glass and studied the coin between my fingers. It was not what the seller thought it was. It was far older and more valuable than he believed. The coin was part of a collection of coins from the Rome dig. None of the coins were all that valuable but they would make a nice addition to the Roman Empire display I was curating. Of course, the statue would have been the star attraction, but I wasn’t going to be bitter. I needed to keep moving forward.
“Knock, knock.”
I heard the familiar voice and popped my head up. “Alec?” I asked because I didn’t expect to see him in my office ever again.
“In the flesh.”
I got up, dropping the coin and magnifying glass. “What are you doing here?” I asked and shook his hand before gesturing for him to have a seat.
“I had a few loose ends I needed to tie up,” he said with a smile. “I thought I would pop in and see how things are going.”
I retook my seat behind my desk. He looked different. He looked happy and lighter almost. Rainy weather looked good on him. “Things are going all right,” I answered.
He smirked. “I know that look and I know that tone. All right sounds a step above hell.”
I chuckled and shrugged my shoulders. “It has not been hell, but there have been a few hiccups. All of which I blame on you.”
“Me?” he asked with surprise. “I haven’t even been here. How can I be blamed?”
“Because you weren’t here, and I had to deal with the public.”
His laughter floated around the room. “You could hire someone to do that for you.”
“As it turns out, the only person I would trust to do that job is now my stiffest competition.”
“Really? That sounds interesting.”
“Not that interesting.”
He looked at me, like really looked at me. “What’s going on?”
It was a pivotal moment in my life. I knew Alec. I trusted him. Even if he did leave me high and dry. I needed someone to talk to about the Mae situation. She was not returning my calls or texts. I thought we were going to move forward but her ghosting me told me otherwise. The last week had been rather miserable. The first day or two it wasn’t so bad. I told myself it was just her playing hard to get. She wanted to make me grovel. I was cool with that.
She wasn’t playing hard to get. She was simply ignoring me altogether. There wasn’t a single return text, not even a fuck off. It was as if I didn’t exist and that was what was killing me.
“I got mixed up with a woman,” I said.
He looked very interested. He leaned forward in the chair. “And?”
“And she ghosted me.”
He winced. “Harsh. I’m sorry. How long were you together?”
I smirked. “Something like fifteen years, off and on.”
“What the fuck? Are you serious? You never told me you were seeing anyone!”
“I wasn’t. I knew her fifteen years ago. It was her family’s business you put me in touch with. I bought her family business and now she isn’t talking to me.”
He blew out a breath. “You knew her then, but why does that rain on your parade now?”
“When you gave me the name of the business, I recognized it. I went to check it out and ran into her, Mae. We got together and you know about the trip to Israel. She really wanted to hold on to that family business. It wasn’t good for her. I know that, and her brother knew it, but she doesn’t see it that way. The business was stale. It wasn’t going anywhere, and it would have gone under or been taken over by someone else. I’ve tried to tell her I did her a favor, but she won’t hear it.”
He shook his head. “Word of advice. Never tell a woman you did her a favor. They equate that to you taking away their power. You mansplaining a business she has been a part of for a long time is not going to win you any points.”
I rolled my eyes. “You could have told me all this before.”
“I didn’t know before.”
“True.”
“And now? Are you going to hire her? Will she work for you? She seems like an obvious choice because of her knowledge of the business.”
I slowly shook my head. “There is no way in hell she would ever work for me. She’s too stubborn for that. As it turns out, she works at another museum.”
“Which one?”
“I’m not entirely sure. It shouldn’t be that hard to find out.”
“And you can’t ask her because she isn’t speaking to you,” he said with a small laugh.
I nodded. “Yep. That’s about the gist of it. You know that dig in Rome you told me about a couple of months ago?”
“The one that claimed to be onto an old Caesar site?”
“That’s the one. I reached out right away and discovered they had a statue. The pictures looked good. I was very excited about it. That thing would have been a huge deal. It is rare and I wanted it. I wanted it bad. She bought it out from under me.”
He smirked before slapping a hand over his face. “No shit?”
“Yes. I had no clue what she was up to. I ran into her in Rome and we talked. A lot.” When he raised an eyebrow questioning my story, I decided to be honest. I was already into the story with him. “We shared a hotel room. The next morning, she was gone. I got to the site after her. She bought it and refuses to sell it to me.”
“That couldn’t have been cheap,” he commented.
“No, it wasn’t. She used the money I paid them for the business to buy the one thing I really wanted. Isn’t that fucked up?”
He chuckled, shaking his head. “Sounds like she did it on purpose. She wanted to get back at you.”
“No shit,” I muttered. “I have offered to buy it. I offered to pay far over what she did, but she won’t do it. She has dug in and she won’t let me have it.”
“You sound like you two are fighting over the same toy.”
“She cannot possibly appreciate it as much as I do,” I argued.
“I think she can if it means she is pissing you off.”
“That’s a good point.”
“Tell me more about this Mae person,” he said.
I shrugged. “There isn’t much to say.”
“Tyson, I’ve known you for a few years, and while I won’t pretend to know you on some deep personal level, I think I know you well enough to know when you are hung up on a woman. I know this because I have never seen it before. You like her.”
“It doesn’t seem to matter. Every time I think I can be with her, something gets in the way. First, it was her brother, and now, it’s this nonsense. She is never going to let me into her life.”
“You’re just going to give up?”
“I’m not going to continue beating my head against the wall and getting nowhere.”
He shrugged. “So you have to work a little.”
“You don’t know Mae. I am going to have to work a lot more than just a little.”
“I guess you bought the wrong business,” he said with a laugh.
I frowned at him. “Gee, I wonder how that happened.”
He chuckled. “You should have done your homework.”
“I did!” I protested. “That’s the thing. I did my homework. I knew the family and the history and why I would be the best person to buy the business. I have told her over and over if it wasn’t me, it would have been someone else. Someone else would have fucked them over. Someone else would have pilfered through their stuff and gave them an unfair deal. You know how this works. You know how it is in the business. You have to buy low so you can make a profit. I’m not interested in making a profit off their business. I will use their stock to pad my mu
seums and my personal collection.”
“You keep overpaying for stuff and you are going to find yourself out of business,” he warned.
I shrugged. “I’m sure I’ll be okay for a while.”
“Suit yourself, but don’t make it a habit.”
“Now that you know, what do I do? I want her. I need her.”
“Tell her.”
I scoffed. “It isn’t that easy. For one, she won’t listen to me or talk to me. And second, I can’t do that.”
“What do you mean you can’t? Sure, you can.”
“What am I supposed to say? I can’t just tell her I want her. Isn’t that wrong?”
“You shared a hotel room. Twice that I know of. How is it wrong? I think it’s pretty clear she likes you a little bit. At the very least, she likes sleeping with you.”
“I’m just supposed to walk up to her and tell her I want her?”
He winced. “No. Not quite like that. Have you never wooed a woman?”
“Woo?” I said the word with disgust. “What the hell is that? Do people do that?”
He laughed. “Happy people with good relationships do. Rather, that’s what I have heard. I have wooed but I don’t know that I have actually done a great job with consistent wooing. If I had, I would not be sitting here a single man.”
“You mean to tell me I have to regularly woo?” I stopped for a second, replaying the last few minutes of our conversation. It sounded ridiculous.
“I’m saying you need to buy her flowers, send her a sweet message now and again. Surprise her. Show her you care. Show her you want her for more than a little roll in the sack. You have to strip down and bare your soul. Humble yourself to her.”
I wasn’t sure I liked that idea. It would leave me vulnerable. “I’m not going to do that.”
He shrugged. “Then you lose the girl.”
“That’s awful dire.”
“It’s the truth. You said you’ve been trying it your way and you have gotten nowhere. You do know the definition of insanity. Keep doing what you are doing, and you will not win her back.”
“I didn’t realize you were such an expert on matters of the heart.”
“I’m not expert level, but I’m going to make a wild guess I have more experience than you. I can see you are suffering. What is the worst that can happen? She shoots you down? At this point, she has already shot you down.”
He had a point. “You’re right.”
“All right, now that my work here is done, I need to get to the bank and take care of some paperwork. Keep in touch. I know you have that fancy jet. Take a trip out west and visit. We have museums out there too.”
I laughed. “I’ll keep that in mind. Thank you for giving me the pep talk. I have a new understanding of our fairer sex. They talk. A lot. I actually feel a little better.”
He was laughing as he stood. “I’m glad I can be a part of the awakening of Tyson Helms.”
“Thanks for coming by,” I said with a wave.
Once he was gone, I settled back into my chair and mulled over all that he said. Wooing. Did men do that anymore? Obviously, I knew about the flowers and stuff, but I honestly thought that was just shit they did in the movies. From what I knew about Mae, I didn’t think she would appreciate the traditional things. Maybe I could present her with a rare artifact from my collection. I had a feeling that was a little more her speed.
Then again, could I really show up with a thousand-year-old relic and expect her to swoon? I didn’t think that was really her style. It certainly wasn’t mine.
Chapter 33
Mae
I was checking the list of inventory I had taken over the last week against the inventory Benjamin presented me with. I winced when I saw the discrepancies. Benjamin was getting up there in years, and although he was generally sharp, I did notice a few moments where he seemed to drift off. I needed to do another check before I took the problem to him. I didn’t know if the items were simply misplaced or if they had been stolen. There was a vast storeroom that I had yet to go through. I was really hoping the items were pulled off the floor and put into storage.
I didn’t believe the missing pieces were overly valuable but there was certainly a cause for concern. The museum was clean, and it seemed to run smoothly, but the books were a mess. I was not an accountant or a business major. I was going to need professional help to sort through the mess.
The displays were outdated. That part, I was looking forward to doing but not until I figured out what was what. I needed to know what I had and what I didn’t. There was also a small issue of authentication and checking the provenance on some of the items. Benjamin had been in business long enough to have things that were immune to some of the laws, but I wanted to make sure everything was squeaky clean. I didn’t dare take on a business that could land me in the slammer.
“Ah, there you are, my dear,” Benjamin said as he walked into the office that was still his as we moved through the transition. I knew he was reluctant to leave the museum. I understood how he felt. He had a sentimental bond with the place. Retirement and fishing were calling but he knew nothing else except for the museum. Change was scary.
I looked up and smiled. He was eighty and moving a little slower. “I was just going over the inventory.”
He made a face. “I always found that incredibly boring.”
I didn’t say it, but it was pretty clear he found the task boring, which was why he didn’t do it. “I need to do another run through.”
“Are we missing something?”
I offered another smile. “I’m not sure. You have a vast inventory and it is easy to overlook a few things now and again.”
“I must admit, I rarely do inventory. It isn’t like the things can grow legs and walk off.”
“But people can steal from you,” I pointed out.
He waved a hand. “I’ve only ever hired honorable staff.”
“Benjamin, it isn’t just your staff you have to worry about,” I gently lectured. “Only a handful of those cases lock.”
He waved a hand. “None of the good stuff was left unlocked.”
I tried to remember I needed to be patient. He was my elder. My parents didn’t teach me a lot, but respecting my elders was something that came naturally. “I’m not worried,” I assured him. “I’ll doublecheck everything. I’m sure I’ll find it. If not, we will write it off as a loss.”
He nodded without looking the least bit concerned. “I’ve got that paperwork all finished. Soon, all the final details will be done, and I can set sail for greener pastures.”
I laughed. “I think you are mixing your metaphors.”
“Why don’t we get dinner tonight?” he asked.
“You are crazy, Benjamin. I think it is best to keep our business and personal lives separate. I don’t want to mix things up.”
“Oh, you’re a smooth one, letting an old man down easy. I’m sure you have lots of practice.”
“I don’t,” I told him.
“You mean to tell me the young men in this city don’t fall on their knees and beg for your hand in marriage?”
“You are such a player,” I teased.
“Don’t hate the player, hate the game,” he said with a wink.
I was sent into a fit of giggles. “I had no idea you knew anything about the game. Where do you get these sayings from?”
“I’m not so old.”
I raised an eyebrow, not daring to question his statement. “You are as old as you feel,” I said once I managed to get my giggling under control.
I saw movement on the screen where the many cameras around the museum were fed into. I squinted my eyes and focused on the screen. It was Tyson! What in the hell was he doing in my museum? I quickly reined in my shocked reaction.
“I need to go,” I said and got to my feet.
“Go?” Benjamin questioned.
“I see someone I know.”
Benjamin turned to look at his screen. He stepped close to the
monitor. “Who is that?”
“No one to worry about,” I told him and left the office.
I went out onto the museum floor, taking a few seconds to watch him as he stood in front of a display and stared at the bust of a Roman leader. He was probably looking for the statue. I smiled with satisfaction that he couldn’t even see it. Not yet anyway. It deserved a place of honor in the museum and a lot of pomp and circumstance to unveil it.
“Looking for something?” I asked him as I stepped out of the shadows.
He turned to look at me. Those damn eyes. They just about made me weak in the knees every damn time. He was wearing a pair of what looked to be new jeans in a dark blue with a black dress shirt, rolled up at the sleeves with a couple of buttons undone at the top.
“I believe I found it,” he said with a smile.
“Oh? And what would that be?”
“You.”
“Me? Why are you looking for me?”
“Because you don’t answer my calls or return my texts,” he replied.
“I’m not sure why you are looking for me, but I think you have wasted your time coming here. I’m not going to sell you that statue.”
That sexy, lopsided smile threatened to make me giggle like a schoolgirl. “I didn’t come to ask that.”
I looked around the museum. “Nothing here is for sale either. This isn’t a mall and you are not going to do any window shopping.”
He slowly shook his head. “I’m not in the market to buy anything. I was admiring the collection. It’s been a while since I have been in here. I see your hand in the changes.”
“How can you know it is my hand?”
He walked to a display that I had only recently arranged. “This is you.”
“How did you know?”
“Because it has a woman’s touch. I can practically hear you saying the words that are engraved on that plaque. It’s good. It’s really good.”
I wasn’t going to be swayed with pretty words and compliments. “I’m going to lunch. Look around. You might find something interesting.”
“I’ll go with you,” he said.