by Thorn, Ava
“Well great.” Farrah went over to Kari and hugged her quickly before being ushered out the room by Austin.
“They didn’t tell you I’m driving back to Dallas,” Hank mumbled, walking over to the wall to observe the sketches.
“That doesn’t bother me,” Kari shrugged, as she made notes to order the colors for the bedding for each nursery and the wood panels for the nursery wall in Dallas.
“It’s a nine hour drive,” he informed her.
“I don’t have to ride with you, last time I check there were planes, trains and automobiles,” Kari said through clenched teeth. “Please believe I don’t need you chauffeuring me around.”
“Whatever you say.”
“Don’t you have a horse to ride or a cow to brand?” she asked, the cocky man standing in the room looking at her. Kari continued to place the drawings in her satchels. Lord please let me get through these three weeks with his ass. “Shit,” she exclaimed, looking at her finger.
“What, did you break a nail?” Hank asked with a smirk.
Kari hesitated for a moment before opening her mouth to give Hank Jackson a piece of her mind. “What the hell is your problem? You had a problem since day one with me,” she hissed, rolling her eyes.
“Let’s see. One: you have road rage-”
“Get the hell out of here, you were driving like an 80-year old grandpa,” Kari interrupted. “Did you lay in bed last night thinking about how I passed you?”
“I’ll have you know that Karley never crossed my mind.” He waved his hand dismissively, giving Kari a look.
“It Kari! K-A-R-I,” she sighed exasperatedly. “You’re a jerk.” She ripped the remaining sketches from the wall and placed them in a file. Swinging her bag on her shoulder and nearly sprinted from the room.
“Shit,” he yelled.
“What did you do?” Farrah asked, as she wandered into the room with her hands on her hips.
“Nothing,” he said, with a scowl on his face.
“Obviously something,” Farrah said, with a surprise look on her face. “I heard how you were so harsh with her. Please, I beg you Hank, do not and I repeat DO NOT run away my interior decorator. If you do there will be hell to pay.”
“Don’t worry, I won’t run away the decorator,” he murmured as he stalked past Farrah.
Reaching out she grasped his arm. “Don’t allow for you past relationship interfere with your life,” Farrah pleaded. “It’s not the end of the world.”
Without saying a word, Hank walked past Farrah and out of the house. Stopping in his tracks, he picked up the silk green scarf on the ground next to where Kari parked at. Lifting it to his nose, he inhaled the blends of something floral, warm vanilla with the hint of citruses. Putting the scarf into this truck, he went home but his eyes kept drifting to Kari’s scarf on the front seat. Hank didn’t want to admit that Farrah was right, he was allowing his past relationship with Natalie to interfere with everyday life.
The way he argued with Kari was inappropriate, she didn’t do anything to deserve the way he treated her. Since the day Natalie left him, his days were clouded, he didn’t have the ability to enjoy life anymore. Hank was always looking for fault in himself. Groaning, Hank made a U-turn in the middle of the road instead of going home he headed into town to apologize to Kari.
***
Kari slammed her books on the desk with a thump. How dare Hank Jackson talk to her like that? God she couldn’t stand that cheeky son of a bitch. Groaning she rubbed her temples, opening the desk drawer Kari pulled out a bottle of Tylenol. Popping the top off, she pour two pills into her hand.
“I think I need two more,” Kari said, shaking two more tablets in her hand. Tossing back the pills and downing them with a bottle of water with hopes the medicine would work wonders on her throbbing headache.
Trying to focus on something else beside the nasty reception that she received from Hank, Kari slipped on her glasses to order fabric for the beddings and paint for the walls. It looked like riding with Hank to Dallas was her only option, since she would have to deliver materials to the McBride’s ranch. But that didn’t mean she had to play nice with him.
“Was your day that bad?” Corey asked, walking into the room carrying a brown bag full of donuts.
“Business wise it went great.” Kari placed her pencil behind her ear the rumbling of her stomach reminded her that she skipped lunch and it was way past lunch time.
Corey placed the bag on Kari’s desk and sat down in the workspace across from hers. “What happened? I thought you said the McBride account was a slam dunk,”
“It is!” she whined. “Just that they want their cousin to build homemade cribs.”
“So what’s wrong with him? Is he finnneeee?” Corey laughed.
Kari rolled her eyes and took a bite out the glazed donut. Since moving to Nashville, Corey was in hog heaven with the clean-cut cowboys around town. Los Angles didn’t have those sexy wranglers there. “Geez get you mind out the gutter,” she said.
“I can’t help it,” he said dreamily. “You should come out to the club with Tony and me.”
“No thanks,” Kari laughed “I have a lot of work to do, not to mention I have to make sure we’re on schedule with the all of our clients.”
“Kari, you know since we moved out to Nashville business has been booming,” Corey said in one of those voices that sounded like a public service announcement.
Kari knew Corey was about to saying something that either she didn’t agree me or what he thought was best for her. Reclining back in the chair she looked at him. “Say it.”
“You made me do this girl,” Corey said, taking a deep breath. “Sam somehow got wind that you moved here.”
“Because you post every damn thing on your freaking Facebook,” Kari stood up abruptly, nearly knocking over her bottle of water. “What happen to keeping business separate from personal lives?”
“Dammit K, this is my second time witnessing you becoming so jittery after mentioning Sam’s name. The first time was yesterday and now today. What’s going on with you and Sam?”
“It’s nothing.” Kari was feeling a bit peeved that he wouldn’t just drop the topic.
“K it’s not healthy that you still feeling this way,” Corey said quickly. “…Sam wants to meet with you…I told him I would ask you about it.”
Kari gave Corey an evil glare that spoke volumes. “You can take off early…I have a lot of designs to finish up today,” she said, before going to her drawing table by the ceiling to floor wall that gave a beautiful view of the courtyard.
Kari chose this location for her business because the magnificent facade construction, but also because of the residential condo above that she couldn’t help purchasing. Looking down below at the outdoor café there was two happy love birds. Kari pitied the woman with the love in her eyes; it was only a matter of time before her heart was broken beyond repair.
“Kari,” Corey said, with worried look on his face. “When you ready to talk I’m here for you.”
“Okay.” Her voice was soft. Kari blinked rapidly to keep the tears from falling. “Have a nice day.”
“Just remember, you gave me the remainder of the day off,” he continued, picking up his tote bag and car keys off the table. Corey turn back and looked at Kari.
“I know,” she mumbled, choosing a pencil from the holder on the table Kari started outline the build-ins for each nursery.
Corey took one last look at Kari “Yeah, but don’t forget that when it’s time for my paycheck,” he joked.
“I won’t,” she mumbled.
For hours Kari sat seated at her design table making drawings for the nursery furniture for Hank with detail instruction on traditional wood stains. Her stomach started to rumble, and it was long past time that she called it a night. But if anyone knew Kari, they knew that she was a perfectionist and everything had to be right including the instructions for the baby furniture. This was her biggest order and challenge that probabl
y would ever come her way, especially working with someone who had so much dislike for her.
Kari was just about to call it a night when the door chimed and open. She couldn’t believe her eyes. A tight-lipped Hank stroll into her place of business. Their eyes connected. Kari scrambled to get off the stool, her legs felt like jelly as she met him in the middle of room.
“What made you come all the way out here?” she blurted out. As soon as the words came out her mouth Kari wanted the floors to swallow her up.
“Don’t worry, I didn’t come out here to pop champagne,” he quipped with a smirk on his face. “You left this at the ranch.” Holding out his hand he offered her the green scarf.
“Oh thanks.” Kari took the scarf from him and placed it on the desk.
“I didn’t just come here to deliver you the scarf,” Hank said, after shuffling back and forth. “I…came here to apologize for the way I treated you.”
Wordlessly, she stood there staring up at him. “I can accept your apology if you can accept mine for giving you the middle finger.”
“Apology accepted,” he said, and extended his hand to her. “We must shake on it.”
“Ditto,” she said, shaking his hand.
Letting go of her hand Hank walked around the office. “You have a nice office,” he said, looking around the pristine white office, with a glass top desks, and nice art on the walls, and a work area in the back that was cluttered with fabric.
“Thanks,” she said.
“I saw the designs you did for the nurseries and I must admit that you have a gift.” He sighed, all of the wariness suddenly showing on his face. “Can I hire you to decorate my cottage?”
Kari was taken aback by his request. “You want to hire me?” she asked pointing to her herself. “To work for you?”
“Yeah,” he blushed, sticking his hand into his pockets.
“Wow,” she was still in shocked. “Fine, I have to get measurements of the rooms you want me to decorate and what colors you like.” Kari ticked off, going to her desk she sat down and jotted down a few notes.
“Kari, I want all the rooms done. Living room, bedrooms, bathrooms and kitchen.” His voice was deep.
The sound of his deep, smooth southern voice captivated her. Looking up from her seat she stared into his cool grey eyes. “Oh ok-okay,” she stuttered. “Just…um…um…give me directions to where you stay at so I can get the measurements and we can go over colors together.”
“I have time now,” he offered.
“To go to your house?” she asked.
He grinned in answer. “No. About the color stuff you were talking about earlier.”
“Of course. Hold on.”
Hank watched as Kari walked around the room. He noticed that she wasn’t wearing high heels and was way shorter than his 6’2” stature. Hank had to admit Kari was a pretty woman even with the tiredness in her eyes. She turned and looked at him with a small smile at the corners of her mouth. Damn, her walk was like a slow dance as her hips swayed from side to side.
“Okay, here are the color pallets.” She waved for him to come to a large white table.
He plopped down on the chair next to her and tried not to pay attention to how delectable her perfume smelled. “I don’t know anything about this decorating crap,” he said.
“What’s your colors?” she asked.
Her scent was intoxicatingly sweet, too sweet. He leaned away from her and took a fresh breath of air to clear his nose and head. “I don’t know, all I want is for my house to look different.”
Kari’s head was tilted towards him. His jaw twitched angrily when he mentioned wanting the house to look different. She wanted to ask him why, but figure it was none one of her business. “Most of my single male clients always go with dark colors for their living room and kitchen.”
“What about the bedroom?” he asked.
“The bedroom should be a soft place to land at the end of a long day.” She smiled at him. “Do you have anything in mind?”
“You’re the decorator. I’m paying you the big bucks.” He shrugged, picking up the blue stress ball on the desk and squeezed it a few times.
“You’re a southern man,” she said, taking the ball from him. “I would do a rustic look for the master bedroom. I like the bedroom you did in the McBride house.”
“I only design and build the furniture,” he bragged, as he toss the ball in the air.
“You did an awesome job,” she confessed, looking at him as she tucked a tendril of hair behind her ear.
“Thanks,” he smiled.
His smile was warm and welcoming. It made her forget about the tension between them and the headache she had earlier was gone. “Oh, I forgot. Here are the designs for the cribs,” Kari said, changing the subject and putting so much needed distance between her and Hank.
He accepted the sketches she handed him. “I’ll get started on the pieces tomorrow. You can come out Saturday to get the measurements for the rooms.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
Time seemed like it stopped between them. Their eyes locked. His eyes bore into her sharp, whiskey brown eyes. In that instant he knew what was happening: Hank was attracted to Kari Hayes. “I need to be get…going.” He sucked in a nervous breath and stood up.
“Yeah.” She stood up and walked him to the door. “Thanks for stopping by.”
Hank put on his cowboy hat and nodded his head as he strolled out the office. Kari stood there at the window and watched him get into his truck and drive away.
Grabbing her purse and turning the lights off, she locked her office front door. Buying her townhouse on Market Street gave her the opportunity to live and work at the same place. The first floor, housed her office and a small kitchenette. The second and third levels were her domain. With her designing background, and the help of a great contactor she turned the two-level into her oasis.
Going up stairs, Kari looked around the house she paid for with her own money. Not bothering to stop in the living room, she made her way to her glamorous bedroom that was her favorite place in the house. The lights were already on and the fireplace was going. Going to the dresser, she put clothes onto the metal bed with burnished brass finish that was custom designed by her. It was the focal point of the room. The fabric on the headboard and footboard were also custom made gold and cream colors. She added cute gold and white ceramic succulents that made the room pop, but it was the vintage gold ceiling chandelier made the room come together.
After her shower, Kari sat on the terrace enjoying the nighttime air and drinking a glass of red wine. Sorting through today’s mail, a letter slipped through her hands when she saw who the sender was. Kari poured herself another glass of wine and gulped it down. Adjusting the throw blanket on her, she tore open the white envelope and began to read the words on the paper.
Dear Kari,
I’m hopeful that you will read this letter. Two years ago you walked out my life and I can’t blame you, but you must know that I did love you genuinely. Every day I suffer from the guilt of abusing your love and trust. We may not be together anymore, but I’m still in loved with you.
I’m told that you live in Nashville now. I’m traveling there for business and hope that you will give me the privilege of meeting with you….
There was more to letter but Kari didn’t want to read it. Standing up, she walked to the glass fireplace and tossed the letter in it. She wasn’t that same woman that she was two years ago. How could the man she respected and love break her heart and cause her to sob for days? Sitting back down in her lounge chair, she wished she could forget the way she loved him. But no matter how much she tried to forget there were always memories of the love she had for Sam that haunted her. Kari didn’t want to be in the same room as Sam, and she didn’t want to read a letter detailing how sorry he was either.
After the breakup with Sam, all she wanted to do was lay in bed and forget the hurt and pain that he caused. Closing her eyes she could feel the temp
erature dropping. It’d been two year but her heart was still hurting like it was yesterday. Kari didn’t want to admit it but she was miserable and bitter. A gentle breeze blew over her and she realized that she couldn’t continue to live like that. Kari felt trapped and that she couldn’t get a grip on her own life. It was time for her live, love, and trust again.
***
Hank sat on the bed with his head in his hands. It was nearly 10 o’clock at night and there was no sleep in his future. Since Natalie left him months ago, he was unable to sleep. He kept thinking what he could have done differently to make her stay. All the signs pointed to that love was lost. Hank called and texted Natalie every day begging her to come home. He wasn’t ready to let her go even though she was with another man. He kept hope that one day she’d come home and put her key through the door. But maybe it was time for him to stop pretending, she obviously didn’t want to make it work.
Standing up from the bed, Hank went to the dresser drawer and pulled out Natalie’s clothes and started to pack them up in boxes. Maybe in the future she would come back, but until then he would have to let her go. Picking up the wedding picture of them, Hank traced Natalie beautiful face. Why couldn’t she love him? He gave her everything that she needed and wanted. Tears blurred his vision as he threw the pictures and empty jewelry box against the wall. What was wrong with him? What could he do to make her love him? He would do anything for her to love him.
Stumbling out the bedroom he made his way to the kitchen and fixed himself a glass of bourbon. He was drunk, angry and hurt. He didn’t need love or a woman to make him happy. It would take the whole bottle of bourbon to help relieved the pain. He made a lot of scarifies for her and the only thing he got in return was a slap in the face.
Natalie was gone and now he was left to pick up the broken pieces. He felt like he was caught in a maze and all he was doing was going around in the circle. Hank felt like was lost and there was no way out this hellhole. He couldn’t see no light guiding him out of his darkness. Somehow, he had to find his way out the dark and back home, until then he would be wandering around in agony.