There was Lex.
Lights flashed in his face as he walked the red carpet of a movie premiere he’d attended the previous night. A tall, lean blonde woman gripped his upper arm and sauntered along beside him.
The commentator spoke.
“Lex Mitchell and Violet Rose were one hot topic at this year’s MTV Movie Awards, both nominated for Best Onscreen Kiss in the film, If I Stay. But critics ask if the passion has died off-screen, as the couple seemed to have lost the spark they once had. Could they have been having a bad night, or is America’s favorite couple going through a rough patch? Manager to the stars, Cash Mitchell assures us that the couple is more in love than ever and can’t wait for the release of The Way You Love Me, set to be in theaters in 2015. We’ll have more on stars and their celebrity lovers tonight at 11. Stay tuned and find out if your favorite couple is making…or breaking. I’m Candace Copley for Entertainment L.A.”
As the screen switched to commercials, April mulled over what she had just seen. Could Lex have been less devoted to Violet, because of her?
She shook her head. No, she shouldn’t think like that. She was in Seattle to get over him. Thinking about him wasn’t going to help at all. She turned the TV off and went to bed.
Highland Books Inc. was a multibillion dollar company set in the business district of Seattle. Every employee seemed to be female, blond and blue-eyed. April felt more out of place than she had back at Bridgeport. A short, plump woman in a black pantsuit showed her to Mr. Bradley’s office. A few minutes later he rushed in. April was stunned by how young he was.
“Hi there,” he said.
“Good morning, Mr. Bradley. I’m April Cooper.”
Theodore Bradley slid into his chair on the other side of his colossal desk. He flashed a large, white smile at her. She smoothed her pencil skirt over her thighs. His piercing eyes seemed to see every move she made and she was suddenly nervous.
“It’s nice to finally meet you, April. Tell me a bit about yourself.”
“Well, as you know, I’m from Canada. I grew up on a ranch.”
“You ride horses?”
April nodded, watching the way his eyebrows twitched as he spoke. His grey gaze followed her.
“I’ve always been fascinated with horses,” he said.
“You ride?”
He shook his head. “Fascinated, but terrified.”
“I see.”
“Well, I think you’ll find HB is a bit different from a ranch. Definitely less manure and more paperwork.”
She laughed, already relaxing a little. “If you don’t mind my asking, sir, what exactly are my duties here? As you know, I have a degree in Business, not English Literature.”
“Well, the whole reason why you got this job, Ms. Cooper, is because your degree isn’t in Literature.”
“I don’t understand.”
“While it’s true that you will be assisting me with some screening of authors’ submissions, your main focus here will be organizing documents. Filing, etc.”
“Okay. Well, I hope I can help.”
“I’m sure you can.” Mr. Bradley got up, went to the filing cabinet in the corner of the room, pulled out a file and placed it in front of April.
“Read this and get it back to me with any notes that come to mind. By tomorrow, if you can.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Your desk is just through the door, to the left. Make yourself at home. I’ll check in with you a bit later.”
He opened the office door, and April stood.
“I feel like I should apologize,” she said.
“For what?”
“For not being blonde.”
Mr. Bradley laughed a full, throaty laugh that tipped his head back.
“I think you’ll fit in very well here, April,” he said.
“Thank you, Mr. Bradley.”
“Call me Ted, please.”
April nodded. Her desk sat behind two white screens just outside Ted’s office. There were a few others scattered throughout the area and the people sitting at them typed at their computers. She slid onto the hard swivel chair. The computer in front of her was fancy, way fancier than her own and the crisp white keyboard shined. Brand new. The phone next to her had labels on it and she spotted Ted’s name by the number four. There was a small bouquet of fake flowers in a purple vase on her left. She sighed. Fake. There was one window across the room from her but besides that, the area was lit with florescent lights that made her eyes hurt.
April was glad she had remembered to grab her blazer as the air was crisp inside the building. She shrugged it higher up her shoulders. She knew she looked good in business attire. Now if only there was someone around to notice.
The following days consisted of mundane chores any intern would be plagued with. April fetched coffee, and answered emails. Her highlights included accompanying Ted to a few meetings and acting as liaison for the press at one minor press release. Ted seemed to be a good boss and April found herself laughing a lot.
April was beginning to feel at home in her spacious apartment as well. She had hung photos of her family and friends on the wall that added a bit more interest in the main room. She was comfortable in this city and, unlike at the ranch, there was no constant reminders of the past.
Chapter 3
One week after her move to Seattle, Hailey called her.
“Oh my goodness, I’ve missed you so much! What’s it like there? Have you met any cute guys? I looked up your boss in Google, April ... holy, how on Earth do you get any work done? He’s a dreamboat!”
April smiled fondly and gave her friend a play-by-play of her time in Seattle up to date. Hailey listened intently, asking questions here and there. She stopped short when April admitted she hadn’t even noticed any cute guys.
“Well ... do you think you’d be open to dating?” she asked.
April paused. “I don’t know. I ... can’t even imagine it right now.”
“Because ...” Hailey said. She sighed into the phone and seemed to bite her tongue.
“What? What were you going to say?”
“Nothing.”
“Hailey, I swear when I come back ...”
“Fine!” April waited for the answer.
Hailey’s voice was low, and careful. “No-one’s going to compare to him, right?”
April had to bite her lip. She shook her head, realized Hailey couldn’t see, and said, “No. No, I don’t think so.”
“Have you spoken to him?”
“No.”
“Why not?”
“You know why not, Hailey.” Why not? Because then I’d have to see him, April thought.
Hailey seemed to read her mind. “A phone call isn’t the end of the world. Just to let him know you don’t hate him.”
“I don’t?”
“I don’t think you do, April. I just think you’re sad, and angry.”
April shook her head. “I don’t want to talk about him, Hailey.” She checked the time. “I have to go; I’m going to be late.”
“Where are you off to?”
“I’m going out for a drink with everyone to celebrate my first week. Ted is coming to get me since I don’t know where the bar is.”
“Ted? Like your boss, Ted?”
“The very one. Look, I’ll call you soon, okay?”
“Okay. Be careful, April. We all miss you.”
April bit her lip again. “I miss you too. Tell everyone I love them.”
As she hung up, the phone rang again. She answered it, checking the time and deciding she could spare a few minutes.
“Hi,” Kip said.
“Oh, it’s you. Hi.”
“How are things?”
April felt her lip quivering. She missed Kip more than anything else. She missed his hugs, and his laugh, and his warm smile that made her happy inside. He was the person that she could count on to bring the umbrella on her rainy days. She knew him better than she knew herself. And now that she couldn’t
see him and talk to him every day, she felt like part of her was missing.
“I miss you,” she whispered.
She heard Kip suck in a lungful of air. “April, I miss you too. More than you know.”
“I think I know.”
“So,” he coughed. “What’s it like there?”
She wanted to tell him about her life in the big city but then the buzzer rang.
“Kip, I’m sorry, but I have to go. Ted’s here to pick me up.” She pressed the button on the wall and spoke into it. “Yes?”
The receptionist’s voice from the lobby sounded through the speaker. “Ms. Cooper, Mr. Bradley is here to see you.”
“Tell him I’ll be right down.”
April rushed into her bedroom, put her cell phone on speaker and threw it on the bed. Kip’s voice came out in muffled tones.
“You have…a date?”
April laughed as she changed out of her work clothes. She had been too lazy to change when she got home, only now noticing that lounging on the couch had put a deep wrinkle in her grey pencil skirt.
“No, Ted’s my boss.”
Kips mood immediately lightened. “That’s great, April! I’m glad you’re enjoying yourself in the big city. Just don’t forget us here when you get rich.”
“I don’t see that happening any time soon, but I will definitely keep you in mind when I make my Nobel Prize acceptance speech.”
“Later, April.”
“Bye Kip.”
Ted waited in the lobby of Bridgeport. “Ready?”
April nodded. Outside, the air was cool with a soft evening breeze making the trees dance and the leaves sing. It smelled of hot pretzels and cigarette smoke and she could hear the wind briskly rearranging the branches in the tall oak trees lining the street on one side.
Ted walked beside her, and stopped after a few minutes next to a building that was decorated in green and brown panels. A large neon sign read, ‘Paddy’s’.
“An Irish pub?” April said.
Ted nodded. “This is our usual hangout. Come on, everyone’s already inside.” He held the door open for her.
“April!” she heard as she walked into the dimly lit pub.
A blond woman hurried up to her. It took her a second to recognize Meagan from the office. She worked for the Chief Editor, Gerald Hyde. She was a short, plump woman with platinum hair that was always perfected into a neat bob that curved around her ear lobes. Her big, blue eyes were alight with laughter, and probably a little too much alcohol. It was Friday night.
“Hi Meagan!”
Meagan grabbed April’s hand and led her into the crowd of coworkers. April shot an apologetic look at Ted, who grinned and turned towards a group of men by the bar. The girls April headed towards were gathered around three round tables that had been pushed together. She recognized a couple of the other assistants from the lunch room where she often made coffee for Ted. She made her way through the warm bodies until she stood beside them, followed closely by Meagan. Both girls slid onto empty bar stools and April waved the waitress over.
“I’ll have a Bud Light Lime please.”
Then she turned to Meagan.
“So how did you start working for Mr. Hyde?”
“It’s a long story,” Meagan chuckled, “He was the only one who would accept my resume when I first moved here. If it wasn’t for him, I’d probably be homeless.”
“Really?”
Meagan nodded. “I owe everything to that man.”
The chatter turned to men.
The girls took it in turns spilling their secrets about their past and present loves and, while Meagan was distracted by the gossip, April took the opportunity to use the restroom. She looked in the mirror and almost didn’t recognize herself. Was she imagining it, or were her cheek bones protruding more than they used to? Was her face a little paler than it had been? She looked down at her body. She had lost weight. She hadn’t been eating as much as she used to at the ranch.
April smoothed her hair back, exposing the horseshoe earrings Kip had bought her for her birthday the previous year. First she smiled at the memory, then she frowned. She missed Kip so much. Her body physically ached for his hugs. She missed everyone at Blue Haven, especially her father, but she knew how proud he was of her, and she couldn’t let him down.
One last look in the mirror told her she was prettier when she smiled. She plastered a fake one on her face and pushed the door open.
Right into Ted.
“Oh! Ted, I’m sorry!” April felt her cheeks heat up. Beer had spilled down his shirt. For a moment, he looked angry, but it was quickly replaced by humor.
“Wow April, I didn’t know you could be so aggressive.” He laughed.
April balked. She couldn’t believe what had just happened. A week on the job and she had already dumped beer on her new boss.
It took her a second to realize that Ted wasn’t alone. Close behind him was Gerald Hyde, the Chief Editor of the company, Meagan’s boss. Hyde smiled at her. April couldn’t help but think it was more of a bearing of his teeth than it was a smile. She felt uncomfortable.
“April Cooper, finally we meet.” Hyde extended his hand. April shook it. For an older man, Hyde was attractive. But the look in his eyes unnerved April, like he was trying to study her as a science experiment. She felt like she was under a microscope.
“Nice to meet you, Mr. Hyde.”
“I’m sure we will have a chance to work together soon. I look forward to it,” Hyde said, still holding April’s hand. She tried to slide it from his grip and, after giving it a small squeeze, he let it go.
“Likewise,” she mumbled. She looked at Ted, who stood beside her. “If you’ll excuse me, sir.”
As she walked away, she heard Hyde whisper. “Look at that ass, Teddy. Don’t tell me you hired her for her brain.”
She hurried to her table.
The weeks followed, April’s duties repeating over and over. Before she knew it she had worked at the publishing house for a month. It still didn’t bore her to get coffee for Ted or read though endless pages of tedious submission proposals by aspiring authors. She actually woke up every morning, excited to see her coworkers and get to work. Her weekends were usually uneventful.
April knew she should talk to Ted, tell him she had heard what Hyde had said about her that night in Paddy’s, but they were friends and she didn’t know if she would be taken seriously. Those two always seemed to be together. So she sucked it up, buried herself in mountains of paper work Ted provided her and forgot all about Hyde and his off-putting, disturbing snarl of a smile that seemed reserved only for her.
“Good afternoon, sir, do you need me to get you anything?” April asked Ted one morning when he entered the office.
“No, thanks, April,” Ted replied as he passed her desk. “I’ll email some files your way in about ten minutes.”
April nodded and busied herself with organizing her computer desktop. She almost had it in alphabetical order when she heard shouting and looked over the top of her cubicle.
Gerald Hyde was leaning over a young intern April had met a few days prior. His name was Joseph and he seemed very shy. He had stuttered when he introduced himself to her.
“Are you an idiot, then?” Hyde was shouting.
“N-n-no, sir…” Joseph said, quietly, his eyes fixed on the carpet.
Hyde swung his hand through the air and knocked the papers Joseph was carrying to the floor. The files flew in all directions.
Joseph bent to pick them up but Hyde stopped him with a hand on his shirt. April saw Joseph close his eyes and was about to say something when Ted stepped out of his office.
“Gerry!”
Hyde looked up, letting go of Joseph. The younger man immediately began straightening his shirt, backing away.
“Hey, can you help me with something for a second?” Ted said.
Hyde followed Ted into his office and the door shut. She walked over to Joseph, who was collecting his papers f
rom the floor. She bent down to help him.
“What happened?” she asked.
Joseph glanced at Ted’s office door, obviously afraid Hyde would return before his task was finished.
“I have no idea,” he said, “That’s the third t-time this week he’s lost it on me…I-I-I’m not even in this department. It’s when I’m d-d-delivering files.”
April frowned. “Delivering files to who?”
“Mr. Bradley mainly. And Mr. Hyde is always t-t-there.”
They stood up and April handed Joseph the papers she had picked up. He looked at the name at the top of each and sighed.
“These are for Mr. Bradley.”
April gently took them from his shaking hands. “I’ll take them to him if you want.”
“Are you sure?”
She nodded. “From now on, just put Ted’s files on my desk and I’ll make sure he gets them.”
“Thank you.” Joseph’s eyes were filled with gratitude.
April returned to her desk, placed the files in her top drawer and opened her email. Ted had sent her an assignment and she got to work on it, but she couldn’t forget what had just happened. She didn’t understand why everyone in the office seemed to have unwavering respect for this creepy man. To her, Gerald Hyde just seemed like a bully, with a convincing face.
After a few minutes, Ted’s door opened and he and Hyde stepped out, heading straight for her desk. April closed the document she was working on and retrieved the files from the drawer. She stood up when the men reached her.
“Sir, I have the mail Joseph was delivering. We didn’t want to disturb you.”
Before Ted could answer, Hyde stepped forward. “Where is he?”
“Like I said,” April said, turning her attention to Hyde, “We didn’t want to interrupt, and I know how busy you both are, so from now on Joseph will deliver Ted’s mail to me, and I’ll make sure he gets it on time. That’s what I’m here for after all; to make things easier for everyone.” She looked boldly into Hyde’s cold expression.
His icy stare turned suddenly to a smile that didn’t quite reach his eyes. If April hadn’t witnessed the abrupt transformation, the friendly expression would have been extremely convincing.
Dear April (Sunshine & Shadow Book 2) Page 2