by Aubrey Rose
“My dad’s always been a scotch drinker,” Robbie said as he poured, “but my mom taught me to appreciate fine wine.”
“How are your folks?” Claire asked, even though she knew they were still going strong as the toast of the small town where she and Robbie grew up.
“They’re good. My dad is still working at the investment firm and my mom is still the queen of the country club set. I don’t get home to see them very often, but when I do, she always rides me about giving her grandchildren.” Robbie laughed in a way that reminded Claire of his mom. Back when they were friends, Mrs. Halliday had treated her like part of the family.
“Do you want kids?” she asked.
“Maybe. Someday. I don’t know.” Robbie paused to refill their glasses.
“I didn’t mean to put you on the spot like that,” Claire said.
“That’s okay,” Robbie said, staring at the wine swirling around his glass. After a few moments, he looked at Claire. “Until recently, I haven’t met anyone who made me think about starting a family.
Claire’s heart sank. Robbie had recently met someone he wanted to have babies with? “That’s great,” she said, turning her attention to the food that was finally ready to eat. “Since I’m just starting a business, it’ll probably be years before I think about settling down.”
“Years?” Robbie asked. He sounded surprised.
“Uh-huh. Didn’t you say that you’re married to your work? I imagine that’s what my life will be like for a while.”
Robbie pulled out Claire’s chair before taking a seat across from her. “I guess I did say that.”
“I wouldn’t be surprised if Abby and Stephen have a baby sooner rather than later, though. Too bad you don’t have a brother or sister to give your mom the grandchild she wants.”
“I was always a little jealous that you had Abby,” Robbie said.
“No way!” Claire exclaimed. “I always wanted to be an only child, like you. I hated competing against Abby. She was always smarter, prettier, and more outgoing than me.”
Robbie leaned across the table and brushed his fingertips across the back of her hand. “Except for the outgoing part, you’ve got it backwards, Claire. Abby’s got style and character, no doubt about it. But you’ve always been the pretty one.”
Claire pulled her hand back as if his touch burned her. After telling her that he recently met the future mother of his children, why would he say something like that?
~~~
Rob didn’t understand Claire’s reaction to his compliment. Instead of thanking him, she had recoiled from his touch. What did he say that was so offensive to her?
“Sorry to get so personal,” he mumbled, focusing on his food.
“That’s okay,” Claire responded, doing the same. “Since we’ll be working together, it’s probably better to keep the conversation a little less personal.”
Ah, that was it. She felt like his compliment threatened her new business venture. “No problem.”
“Why don’t you tell me more about your business and how I can help,” she said.
Claire didn’t know it, but she had just steered the conversation toward one of Rob’s most personal, and most favorite, conversation topics. His work was everything. At least it was until she showed back up in his life. “Where should I start?”
“How about at the beginning? What made you go into business for yourself?”
“After college, I looked for a job. But all the entry level positions were just that: entry level. I had all these ideas, but nobody wanted to listen to a green kid who hadn’t paid his dues. So my dad talked me into getting my general contractor license and venturing out on my own.”
“How did you find clients?”
“I basically called every single person I knew in the city and begged for work. At first, the jobs were small. I built a deck for one family, re-did the bathroom tile for another, installed a custom closet organizer for one of my college professors. Eventually, word got out and people started calling me for estimates.”
Unlike the last few women he had dated who had merely feigned an interest in his work, Claire had a rapt expression on her face as he told one client story after another. Her elbows were on the table and her chin was resting in her palms as she listened intently, asking questions along the way.
Her interest in his work reminded him of their childhood friendship. She always was a good listener. “Are you sure I’m not boring you?” he asked, pouring the last of the wine into their glasses.
~~~
Claire wasn’t sure how to respond to Robbie’s question. He was anything but boring, but she didn’t want to come across like an infatuated schoolgirl. He could have been talking about the weather and she would still be hanging on his every word. His stories about work were exciting because he was the star of the show.
“I like hearing about your work,” she said. “After all, if I’m going to be your office assistant, it’s helpful to know the ins and outs of your client relationships.”
“That’s right, this is all about business,” Robbie responded before emptying his glass. “Look, the wine has made me kind of sleepy. Would you mind if we set up your office in the morning?” He stood up and carried his dishes into the kitchen.
“That’s fine,” Claire said, hiding her disappointment at Robbie’s rather abrupt change in mood. “There’s not much to clean up here. I’ll take care of the dishes if you want to head out.” She walked him to the door.
“Then I guess this is good night,” Robbie said.
“Good night.” She watched him walk toward the pool, stop, and turn around.
“I’m looking forward to working with you, Claire. We always did make a good team.”
He flashed a smile that made her knees weak, and she couldn’t help but smile back at him. “Yes, we did. See you tomorrow.”
“Bright and early,” he said before disappearing through the French doors.
Chapter 6
When Rob arrived at the mansion at 7:00 AM sharp, Claire was already up, dressed, and looking over his business paperwork.
She was sitting behind the desk and greeted him with a bright, energetic smile. “Good morning, Mr. Halliday!”
Rob returned her smile. “Good morning, Miss Branson.”
“I couldn’t wait to get started,” Claire said with a giggle. “I hope that’s okay.”
“Okay by me. I like my office assistant to be enthusiastic about my business.”
“I set up the computer, but couldn’t log in since it’s password protected. I do have a lot of office skills, but hacking computers isn’t one of them. ”
Rob laughed. “That’s probably a good thing. Here, let me help.” He moved behind her and reached around her body to type the password on the keyboard. He noticed that the subtle contact caused her mostly-bare arms to erupt in goose bumps.
He stayed behind her longer than necessary, his hands resting on the desk, his chest brushing against her back, his warm breath on her neck. Her perfume was light but alluring and her soft hair tickled the stubble on his chin. He glanced down and his gaze landed on the subtle V-neck of her blouse, which gave him a glimpse of cleavage where her round breasts came together.
“Maybe you should write the password down for me,” Claire said with a breathy voice.
He swallowed hard. “Sure. Here you go.” He wrote down a series of letters, numbers, and characters, although he would have preferred to have an excuse to help her log in each day. “I should pull up a chair and show you the software I use for bookkeeping and scheduling.”
“Good idea.” Claire scooted her chair off to the side so he could sit in front of the computer. As he walked her through the various software programs his business relied on, she leaned in to watch intently, occasionally brushing her breasts across the back of his arm, which sent white hot pleasure coursing through his veins. When he couldn’t take it anymore, he stood up brusquely and moved away from the desk.
“Is that enough
to get you going?” he asked gruffly. “I need to get started on the work upstairs.”
Claire looked at him questioningly. “Yeah, I’ve got this. Besides, I know where to find you if I have any other questions.”
~~~
What was that all about? Claire wondered after Robbie had gone. One minute they were having a lively discussion about his business operations and then next it seemed as if he couldn’t wait to get away from her. Doing her best to shrug his odd behavior off, she turned her attention to the piles of paperwork on her desk. She was excited to get to work!
The hours flew by and lunchtime arrived before Claire knew it. She had made some interesting discoveries about Robbie’s business, which led to a few questions, and was eager to discuss her findings with him. She got up from her desk and stretched her legs before heading upstairs to the mansion’s master suite wing.
“Hey Robbie, I—” When she saw him, shirtless, laying tile in the enormous shower, all words vanished from her mind. All she could think about was how amazing he looked. A fine sheen of sweat covered his torso and his muscle flexed as he put each tile in place, making sure that the spacers were inserted to ensure perfection.
When he heard her enter the master bath, he turned his head and smiled. “How are things going, office assistant?”
“I, uh, h-ha-have some things to talk to you about,” Claire stammered before finding her voice. “I could whip up a little lunch in the guesthouse if you can take a break soon.”
He used the back of his arm to wipe the sweat from his brow. “I’m almost at a stopping point. Can you give me 10 minutes?”
“Sure. I’ll meet you downstairs.”
Once she was out of the master suite, she leaned against the wall to calm her racing heart before heading to the guest house. It should be illegal to look that good! She needed to get a grip on her emotions if she was going to work with Robbie every day. It wasn’t professional to practically collapse at his feet every time he was near.
When she could breathe normally again, she went to the guesthouse to find something for lunch. She decided on sourdough turkey sandwiches with cranberry sauce and veggies with dip. Robbie arrived just as she was putting the food on the table. Thankfully, his shirt was back on.
“Looks great,” he said, sitting down and taking a big bite of his sandwich. “I have a bad habit of working through lunch. If you keep this up, Miss Branson, I might have to hire you as my permanent office assistant.”
“That might not be a bad idea, Mr. Halliday,” Claire responded. “I was going through your books this morning and noticed some alarming things.” She pointed to a list of items she had jotted down on a piece of paper.
“Oh yeah, like what?” he asked, chomping away on a carrot stick.
“For starters, many of your accounts receivable are past due and some are even 90 days old.”
“I’m not very good at hounding my clients for money. They all pay me. Eventually.”
“That’s a terrible way to manage your collections!” Claire exclaimed. “It also teaches your clients that it’s okay to take advantage of you.” Being taken advantage of was something that she had firsthand experience with.
“Are you going to eat that?” Robbie pointed to the half of Claire’s sandwich that she had pushed aside.
“No, help yourself,” she said. “I’d like your permission to reach out to the clients who are in arrears and ask them for payment.”
“You don’t need my permission, Claire,” Robbie said with his mouth half-full of turkey sandwich. “I trust you to do what you feel is best.”
“Thank you,” she said, pleased with his response. She checked that item off her list.
“What else is wrong with my books?” he asked, washing the rest of the sandwich down with a Diet Coke.
“Your accounts payable. You’ve got plenty of money in your checking account, yet you never pay your invoices early enough to take advantage of vendor discounts. With a few changes, you could save hundreds of dollars every month.”
His eyebrows shot up in surprise. “Is that so? Well then, why don’t you go ahead and make those changes.”
Claire nodded in agreement as she checked that item off her list. “I’ll certainly do that. Your bank account hasn’t been balanced in quite some time, so I took care of that this morning. Really, Robbie, you shouldn’t keep so much cash sitting in your checking account when it could be earning interest somewhere.”
It was a lot of money. With that much cash on hand plus the large amount of money that still needed to be collected, his business was doing much better than he implied.
“It’s not like I’m a billionaire like Stephen Blake, but I suppose you’re right,” he said. “Would you be able to call my bank and find out what options they offer? Make sure they understand that I need access to the money without penalty in case I have a down month.”
“Sure,” Claire said, making a note on the bottom of her checklist. “Also, I found an appointment card for the supply showroom that wasn’t on your calendar. You’re scheduled to meet with a Don Hastings in a couple of weeks to look at fixtures for your personal bathroom project.”
“I forgot about that, so thanks for the reminder. Hey, you want to go with me? It’s kind of fun to look at all the cool tubs, shower enclosures, and vanities that they have to choose from. They have kitchen stuff, too, which will be my next project. Maybe you could help me pick something out.”
Claire loved the idea. “That sounds great.” She made a note on her checklist even though she didn’t need it. There was no way she would forget about the non-date with Robbie.
“What else is on that checklist of yours?” Robbie asked.
“That was it. I’ll start making collection calls this afternoon and will get your payables lined up to take advantage of all those vendor discounts.”
“I suppose I should get back to work, then,” Robbie said, pushing his chair back from the table and standing up. “You want help with the dishes?”
“No thanks. It’ll only take me a few minutes to clean up,” Claire said.
“You know, Claire, if you keep this up, I’m really, truly not going to let you head back home when the Blakes get back.” With a rascally wink, he headed out the door.
As she watched him head back toward the main house, her heart ached with joy...and sadness. Every minute she spent near Robbie brought her joy. But she knew that in less than a month, their time together would come to an end and she would head back to her home in her parents’ basement. And that made her sadder than she wanted to admit.
~~~
Rob was impressed. When he agreed to hire Claire as his temporary office assistant, he knew she was capable of doing the job because none of the tasks on his to-do list were all that difficult. But he was surprised at just how capable she really was. None of the other office assistants that had worked for him over the years had called his attention to the items on Claire’s first day checklist.
Knowing that she was handling the business stuff let him relax and focus on his project, which was slightly behind schedule. Still, he was a little conflicted by this new relationship dynamic. It didn’t feel right to put the moves on a woman he had hired to manage his business, even if she was his childhood friend. But he wasn’t ready to give up on the idea that he and Claire were meant to be together.
Back in the master bathroom, he absentmindedly jammed his thumb into a sharp piece of tile, making it bleed. “For crying out loud, Halliday, you need to man up,” he scolded himself, much like his electrician recently did. “Stop obsessing over Claire like an insecure teenage boy. You’re a grown man with a job to do. You need to take care of business first and let what happens with Claire just happen.”
After giving himself a stern talking to, he wrapped his thumb in electrical tape to stem the bleeding and got back to work.
~~~
It took Rob a day or so to get used to the idea of Claire working for him, but once he was able to take a step back
from the emotional side of the situation, he settled into the kind of work routine that he enjoyed, with one unique twist. The comfortable rapport he had with his new office assistant.
Without trying, they had fallen into an easy routine. They started each day by having coffee together and reviewing both of their to-do lists. Then, they would break for a quick light lunch at noon and chat about their day so far. Claire would have dinner ready by 6:00 PM so he could eat before heading home to work on the canoe or his own bathroom project.
Like regular coworkers, they spent weekends apart. Yet even though he had plenty to do at his own place, he couldn’t wait for Monday morning to roll around so he could see her again. When he tried to think up excuses to pop over to the mansion on weekends, he came up short. Besides, Claire deserved her downtime and the chance to go skinny dipping in private.
As the days passed by, Rob realized he had a front row seat to Claire’s awakening independence. As she became more confident in her work role and more comfortable with him, her entire demeanor changed. Although the transformation was subtle, she seemed happier and more relaxed. If it didn’t sound so clichéd, he would have said she was...glowing.
He kept his distance romantically, doing his best to keep their relationship professional. Not because that’s what he wanted to do, but because he felt that it was what Claire needed from him. Sacrificing his own desire seemed like a small price to pay for her happiness, even if that meant he had to settle for friendship rather than love.
On the positive side, with Claire taking care of business, Rob managed to get the Blakes’ project back on track. By the time his meeting with Don Hastings rolled around, he was ahead of schedule and looking forward to taking most of the day off.
Claire’s collection efforts had been nothing short of astonishing. In less than two weeks, she had gotten all of his accounts receivable up to date. His bank account was practically bursting at the seams, which gave him enough extra money to go high end on his own bathroom fixtures. Browsing the showroom with Claire by his side would be a little bittersweet. If she weren’t his assistant, maybe she would be helping him pick out fixtures for a house that she would one day call her home.