“And now he might be my boss.” Madison slapped her hand down on the countertop. “Who’ll probably fire me after he sees my design.”
“Any idea what kind of house you’re going to draw?” Charlie asked, digging into the saucepan for more mac and cheese.
“I’m not good with houses, Charlie. In school I was always better with big buildings that had lots of light and windows. I could never get the feel for houses.”
Charlie tossed the wooden spoon into the macaroni. “Now you’ve got me eating this crap, and I’ve got a wedding dress to fit into.” Glancing over at her friend, she smiled. “You’ll come up with something great, Mads. You always do. Your designs are good, really good. You wouldn’t have gotten the job with Parr and Associates if they weren’t. And I think it’s exciting that your hottie boss is giving you such a great assignment.”
“You should have seen this piece of property, Charlie, it was beautiful. I just hope I can make something to complement it.” She frowned and dropped her eyes to the white countertop. “But what am I going to do about a dress?”
“There is someone we can ask.” Charlie’s blue eyes twinkled with devilish delight. “She probably has tons of fancy dresses you could borrow.”
Madison instantly knew what her roommate was thinking and started shaking her head. “No way. I’m not going to ask her.”
Charlie jumped from her stool and went around the breakfast bar to take Madison’s hand. “Yes, you are. Now come on.”
Three minutes later, they were standing in front of an apartment door not far down the hall from their place.
“This is such a bad idea, Charlie,” Madison griped.
“No, it’s not.” Charlie raised her hand and knocked on the door. “She owes us for eating all of her tuna casseroles.”
“Well, if it isn’t my two favorite tenants,” Mrs. Leder commented after opening her front door. “What happened? Did you set off the fire alarm in your kitchen again?”
“No.” Charlie smiled sheepishly. “We have a favor to ask you.” She gestured to Madison. “Actually, Mads needs the favor.”
Mrs. Leder leaned against her doorframe, the folds of her bright red muumuu clinging to her slim figure. “Go on. What is it?”
Madison twisted her hands together as she peered into the Coke-bottle glasses of her landlady. “Do you have a gown I could borrow?”
***
Standing in front of a long, antique mahogany-framed mirror, Madison gazed at her reflection. The gold ribbons woven throughout the white satin, off the shoulder gown danced in the lamplight of Mrs. Leder’s oversized bedroom.
“It’s a little big in the waist and needs a few darts sewn into the bust line, but I think the length is perfect,” Mrs. Leder suggested as she stood beside Madison.
As Madison took in the flowing gown in the mirror, she caught a glimpse of Charlie’s scowling expression behind her.
“You don’t like it?”
“No, I love it.” Charlie gestured to the dress “I was just trying to picture what your boss is going to do when he sees you in it.”
Mrs. Leder’s cackle permeated the air. “He’ll want to get her away from the party and into bed if he has any sense.” She went to a mahogany dresser and opened a small wooden box on top of it. When she returned to Madison’s side, she was holding a red pin cushion. “When is this party?”
“Saturday,” Madison told her.
“Well, I will have to work quickly to make some alterations for you.” She removed a pin from the red cushion and reached for the dress.
“Thank you so much for doing this for me, Mrs. L.”
“This old dress needs a night out.” Mrs. Leder pinched a section of the dress about Madison’s waist. “Where is the party?”
Madison watched the woman’s deft hands expertly pin the dress. “At Turtle Creek Mansion.”
“Turtle Creek?” The older woman smiled. “I haven’t been there in years. When my Duncan was alive we used to go there quite a bit for dinner.”
“We need to find you a man, Mrs. L,” Charlie spoke out, sitting atop Mrs. Leder’s massive oak king-sized bed. “You need to go out again.”
Mrs. Leder pinned a small dart in the waistline of Madison’s dress. “No, my dating days are over.”
“You still miss Mr. Leder, don’t you?” Madison gently inquired.
“Sure I miss him.” Mrs. Leder removed another pin from the cushion. “Been almost ten years since he’s been gone, but I have my boys and my grandchildren to keep me happy. Love comes into your life in many different ways, girls. First, you have the love of your parents, then the love of a mate or partner, and in your golden years, if you’re lucky, you learn to appreciate the love of your children, friends, and family. When we’re young, we think falling in love is the most important thing, but as you get older you realize, it’s only a part of real love. The art to loving is realizing that it never stays constant, you must embrace every dimension of it. Otherwise, you will miss out on the essence of happiness.”
“Yeah, but what about sex?” Charlie implored, standing from the bed. “Don’t you miss that?”
Mrs. Leder grinned. “I never said I wasn’t getting laid, Charlie, just not dating.” She winked at Madison.
Madison giggled as Charlie let out a low whistle.
“Mrs. L,” Charlie chuckled, walking across the bedroom, “you’re a bad ass.”
Mrs. Leder secured another pin in the dress. “I’m old, Charlie, not dead.”
“Who’s the lucky guy?” Charlie pestered as she perused a collection of pug figurines on Mrs. Leder’s dresser.
“So you can tell the whole building?” Mrs. Leder replied. “I don’t think so. You’re a hopeless gossip, Charlie Tonti.”
Charlie spun around. “I am not!”
Madison turned to her roommate. “Oh, please. Who is the one that told everyone about Mila Jacobs being pregnant in 210?”
“And about Mrs. Hubert hiding a monkey in 516?” Mrs. Leder chimed in.
Charlie folded her arms over her chest and shifted her hip against the mahogany dresser. “Some minor indiscretions,” she conceded.
Madison looked down the folded skirt of the gown. “It wasn’t minor to Mrs. Hubert. She still won’t talk to me.”
“Yes, well, at least Lester the monkey is happy with my granddaughter,” Mrs. Leder reported. “I hated taking Mrs. Hubert’s monkey away, but if I let one tenant have a monkey then every tenant will have a monkey, and soon I won’t have a building, I’ll have a zoo.”
“What about a guinea pig?” Charlie questioned. “Are we allowed those?”
“You hate guinea pigs,” Madison asserted.
“Not for me…for you. So you won’t be lonely when I move out.”
Mrs. Leder pulled at the waist of the dress. “If you do get a guinea pig, I don’t want to know about it.” Mrs. Leder looked down at Madison’s bare feet poking out from beneath the dress. “What about shoes? Do you have something to go with this dress? Something gold and in a high heel I think would be best.”
Madison gazed down at her feet, wiggling her toes. “All the shoes I own are black, blue, or brown, and are flats. I never wear heels.”
“Too many years up on ballerina blocks, huh?” Charlie joked.
Mrs. Leder grinned into Madison’s beautifully carved face. “You were a dancer, Madison?”
“Not just a dancer, a ballerina,” Charlie responded.
Mrs. Leder motioned to Madison’s figure. “Explains why you stay so slim.” She handed her the pin cushion. “I have a pair of heels you can wear. Might be a little big, but you can stuff the toes with tissue paper to make them fit.”
“I can’t take your shoes, Mrs. L. The dress is more than generous.”
“Nonsense.” Mrs. Leder shooed off her comment. “You need to look like a princess for your boss. We have to make sure he can’t take his eyes off you the entire evening.”
“Ooohhh,” Charlie squealed. “This is so exciting.�
��
“Better put your hair up, too,” Mrs. Leder suggested, going to her closet in the corner of her room. “Pile it atop your head with a few strategic wisps coming down; that’ll float his boat.”
“Mrs. L, you are good at this,” Charlie piped in.
“Years of practice,” Mrs. Leder shouted from inside her closet.
As Madison listened to the two women chatting, a cozy sense of contentment swept over her. Never before had she likened herself to a character in a fairy tale—she had been too practical to waste her time with such daydreams—but now, as she stood at the threshold to some mystical story of enchantment, Madison began to allow her mind to embrace the promise of what could be. Perhaps Hayden Parr would turn into her Prince Charming, and with Mrs. Leder and Charlie as her doting fairy godmothers, happily ever after might only be a few days away.
Chapter 5
Friday morning, Madison was in her office, attempting to lay out her design for the house in Turtle Creek. Unfortunately, as she stared at the blank computer screen, nothing came to mind. She had spent two days volleying her eyes from her blank computer screen to the wide window overlooking the skyline of downtown Dallas. With thoughts of the party enlivening her panic, Madison considered what she would say when she met the clients. How could she get her design across if she had nothing on paper to demonstrate her ideas? The scratch of a computer mouse roused her from her worries, and she glanced over at Adam.
Hunched over his computer, with his jacket strewn about his chair and his white shirt sleeves rolled up, he was entranced by what he had drawn on the computer. In fact, he had never stopped working since they had returned from the property.
“Still not getting anything?” Adam queried, never taking his eyes from the drawing on the screen.
She sighed and sat back in her chair. “I can’t wrap my head around it.”
“Perhaps you just have the wrong concept. Why not try for something else…something a bit more mainstream?”
Madison wanted to snicker with contempt at his suggestion. She knew she was on the right track, but visualizing what she wanted for the property, while encompassing all the beauty the land had to offer, was turning into quite a challenge.
“No, I have the right concept, Adam.”
He looked up at her, donning his boyish grin. “We’ll see tomorrow night if the clients agree with you.”
“Yes, we will.”
“What are you two still doing in here?” Don Worthy admonished as he entered the open office door. “There’s a staff meeting in the conference room on thirty-two. Better get down there before the donuts are gone.”
“Thanks, Mr. Worthy.” Adam stood from his chair. “We must have been so preoccupied in our work that we forgot.”
Don Worthy clapped his hands, urging them into action. “Get going, both of you.”
Madison was following Adam out of the office when Don Worthy stopped her. “How is your design coming along, Madison?”
“Good,” was all she offered before darting out the door.
They took the elevator with a few of the other seasoned architects to the thirty-second floor. Madison rolled her eyes as Adam happily bragged about his newest plans to everyone in the elevator.
When the silver doors opened, the group made their way across a darkly paneled reception area and through a pair of double doors that led to the conference room. After grabbing a donut and a glass of water, Madison got comfortable in a red leather chair at one end of the oval mahogany table and waited for the meeting to begin.
“I hate these things,” confessed a hushed, masculine voice taking a chair beside her.
Turning to the side, she met the deep brown eyes of Garrett Hughes, chief architect for Parr and Associates. “Don makes us come to these stupid meetings and then spends an hour talking about himself,” he grumbled.
Madison noted the man’s aquiline profile, dark stubble on his chin, and the cut of his expensive suit jacket. “Then why don’t you take over the meeting, Garrett? After all, you’re the man in charge of the architects.”
Garrett reached for his cup of coffee on the table. “Everyone knows who is really in charge at Parr and Associates, and it isn’t me or Don Worthy.”
“Then who is it?”
Garrett turned his liquid eyes to her. “The same man who has taken a fancy to your…talent.” He took a sip of his coffee. “Harry has great plans for you.”
“You call Mr. Parr ‘Harry’?”
He nodded, replacing his cup of coffee on the conference table. “Ever since we belonged to the same fraternity in college and discovered we shared a common interest.”
“What interest is that?”
Garrett just grinned at her. “How did you like UT at Arlington?”
“I liked it a lot. Good school.”
“I know. Harry and I graduated from there.”
Madison sat upright in her chair. “Hayden Parr went to UT in Arlington?”
Garrett’s brow furrowed. “I thought you two knew each other from there. I assumed that was why you applied here.”
Madison stared at the man in disbelief. “Are you saying Mr. Parr mentioned knowing me before…that he remembered me from UT Arlington?”
Garrett shrugged his wide shoulders. “He never said so. I just assumed you two were—”
Don Worthy’s bellowing voice echoed about the room, interrupting Garrett. “Okay, let’s get started everyone.”
Garrett turned away and Madison settled back in her chair, her mind reeling from the disclosure. It was the first hard evidence she had to confirm her suspicions that Hayden Parr had been the man in the bar. Now what did she do? Confront him? Bring it up in passing conversation? Or should she ignore it all together? As Don Worthy’s monotonous voice began to drone on about quality control issues, Madison debated the proper course of action to take. However, no matter what she planned, Madison feared it would likely have the same outcome: unemployment. And that, more than confronting Hayden Parr, terrified her.
***
After the meeting concluded, everyone was filing out of the conference room when Madison spotted Hayden at the entrance talking to Garrett Hughes. The two men were laughing when she came toward the door. Hoping for a clean getaway, she lowered her eyes and quickened her pace.
“Madison,” Hayden called as she passed through the doorway, “do you have a moment?”
Shit.
She turned to him. “Sure, Mr. Parr.”
His eyes wandered up and down her plain green cotton dress and black flats. “Good,” he waved down the hall, “let’s talk in my office.”
She noted the smirk on Garrett’s face as he walked away. Going up to Hayden’s side she kept up her pleasing smile, hoping to hide the abject terror coursing through her veins.
A few doors down the hallway, they came to a modest pair of oak double doors, and Hayden reached for the handle. “There is something we need to discuss,” he insisted, opening the doors.
His office was not as grand as she had envisioned. With a slew of crammed bookcases, his diplomas, and a few framed accolades on the faded steel blue walls, it appeared cluttered and almost plain. The dark blue carpet beneath her feet seemed to match the sinking feeling in her chest. As Madison approached his black desk situated before an expansive picture window, he came up behind her and gently pressed his hand into her back, guiding her to a black leather chair in front of his desk.
The touch of his hand sent a shudder down her spine. The pit of her gut exploded with heat that shot to the valley between her legs, making her feel a little lightheaded. Never before had a man’s touch excited her so. Then, she remembered that night with him, the way he had held her while dancing and the white hot surges of desire he had awakened in her.
Don’t lose it now, Madison.
“Am I in trouble?” she asked, taking her chair.
“No, not at all. Don Worthy came to me before the staff meeting.” He casually rested his hip on the edge of his desk. “He w
as in your office and saw what you’ve been working on…or should I say what you haven’t been working on.” Hayden paused and waited for a moment before asking, “Is there a problem?”
She sat stiffly in the hard, black leather chair. “I’m just having trouble finding inspiration.”
He leaned back, appearing surprised by her statement. “You seemed pretty inspired the other day when we were at the property.”
“That was then. Now I’m desperately trying to find something that will do justice to the land. I know Adam is working away on some lavish design, but I want to—”
His hand cut through the air. “Never mind about Adam. This is about you and your idea.”
He stood from the desk and had a seat on the chair next to her. Unexpectedly, he reached for the arms of her chair and pulled it closer to him. The show of strength surprised her, and Madison was convinced her boss would notice the flush on her cheeks as he angled closer to her.
“When we were walking about the property the other day, what did you feel about the land?”
She swallowed hard and tried like hell to concentrate on the question, and not the tantalizing nearness of his lips.
“I remember liking how green and woodsy it felt. Kind of like an escape in the big city. You know, sort of like a woodland hideaway.” She licked her lips, suddenly feeling her mouth go dry.
His eyes focused on her lips, and he wiped his hand over his brow. “Anything else?”
She took in a deep breath, willing her heart to slow down. “It reminded me of when I spent summers at my grandfather’s horse farm outside of Arlington. There was a creek a lot like the one the other day. I used to love playing there.”
He crossed his ankle over his left knee, seeming a little nervous. “That explains why you were so comfortable in the brush…and with the snakes.”
She shrugged. “I was a tomboy growing up. I learned a lot about nature during those summers.”
“So use that. What did you like best about the property?”
That Night with You Page 6