by J. J. Bella
She ignored the chuckles and walked down the stairs to the front desk. She gasped loudly when she saw Sebastian standing there, watching her. Her face went hot and she considered running.
“What are you doing here?” she asked.
“Get your things.” He wasn’t smiling, and he didn’t look happy.
“Huh?”
“Get your things. You’re not staying here tonight.”
“But…” She looked at the director, who shrugged. “I don’t understand.”
“You’re moving into my guest house until you get a place of your own.”
“No, no. I can’t do that.”
“I wasn’t asking.” He crossed his arms and gave her a challenging look.
She didn’t want to take orders from him. That was too much like the last relationship she’d been in. But she couldn’t help feeling guilty. The waiting list for the shelter was long. Her staying meant someone else couldn’t. If she had another place to go—and she was sure it’d be a much nicer place—then it would be selfish for her to stay there.
She looked over at the director. “It would free up a bed if I left.”
The director nodded.
“I’ll go with you,” she said. “But only because I want to give someone else a place to stay who needs it. You’ve already done too much for me. You can’t keep doing this.”
He didn’t say anything, but kept looking at her with his arms crossed, waiting.
“I’ll be right back.” She dashed up the stairs and quickly yanked her clothing from the drawers and stuffed them into her bag.
“Well, well,” Dina said. “Leaving?”
“I have a place to stay.”
“Lucky you. Got you a sugar daddy?”
“No. Just a friend.” Though, as she said it, she hoped that maybe this meant it would be something more. She didn’t want to read into it, but it seemed that Sebastian kept coming to rescue her. There had to be a reason.
She went back downstairs and hugged the director. “Thank you for everything.”
“It was good to have you. I’m happy you found a place, and congratulations again on your new job. Good luck.”
“Thank you.” She smiled, then turned to Sebastian. “That’s everything.”
He eyed up her duffle bag before taking it from her shoulder. “This is all you have?”
“That and my car.”
“I’ll have someone pick it up.”
“Oh. I can just drive it, really. I’ll follow you.”
They walked outside and over to her car. His mechanic had done so many things to it that it ran better than it ever had. She hoped it would last a long time now. She couldn’t imagine what the bill had been for it.
“This is your car?”
“Yes?” Hadn’t he just seen it the other day?
“I guess the rain made it look… like it was in better shape.”
She pressed her lips together, but felt her face grow warm again. Was she always going to feel like a loser around him? “This is all I have. And it runs great now, thanks to your generosity.”
“We’re taking my car.”
“It runs great.”
“Is there anything you need to get from it?”
She opened the door and took out an old school bag and a small, beat-up suitcase. They had off season clothing and a few other personal things she wouldn’t need all the time, like books and some jewelry.
“These three bags are all you have?”
“Yes.” She said it a little more sharply than she meant to, but she was starting to feel defensive. Did he just come here to judge her and make her feel bad?
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to embarrass you. I just don’t understand how someone who’s 22 has so few possessions.”
“Well. First you find a complete asshole, then you date him for a while until he dumps you, kicks you out, and burns all of your things. I’m lucky I have this stuff. This was what I grabbed the night he kicked me out, and everything else, he burned.”
“I hope you pressed charges and that he’s in jail now.”
She laughed. “Right. Yeah, no.”
“Why not?” His expression changed to one of anger.
“There’s no point. It wouldn’t get my stuff back, and when he got out, he’d be pissed and probably come after me. I was trying to keep things on decent terms so that—”
She was going to say so that when the baby came he might be involved and at least help her out and pay some child support once in a while, but she didn’t want to tell him about the baby. Not yet.
“So that you could go back to him someday?”
“No. Just so that I didn’t have to worry about him later. About him coming after me.”
“Did he hurt you?”
“Not badly.”
Sebastian growled under his breath and stormed off toward his car, his hands full of her things. She followed him and got into the car.
“I’ll never understand that,” he said, still a sharp edge to his voice. “Why would you put up with that and not make him pay for what he did to you?”
“Sometimes it’s just not worth the hassle. I don’t expect you to understand.”
“Well, I don’t. This is why we have laws and a legal system.”
They drove the rest of the way in silence, until he pulled up to a mansion.
“Whoa,” she said. “This place is huge.”
“The guest house is much smaller, but I thought you’d feel better with some privacy. A place that felt like your own.”
He drove around the house, down a smaller driveway and pulled up a house that was still big, but was smaller than the main house. It was still much more than she ever could have imagined. Much more than she deserved.
She got out and wandered through the house in awe. “You’re really letting me stay here?” Everything about it looked new and expensive.
“Until you can get your own place, yes. The housekeeper comes twice a week, and you can come into the main house for meals.”
“Can I cook out here?”
“If you want to.”
“I like to cook.”
“Do whatever you want.” He pointed to the dining room table, where several documents were spread out. “I’ve set you up with an expense account. You’re obviously going to need a lot of things.”
She stared at him, blankly. “An expense account?”
“Yes. And I want you to drive one of my cars. Yours is far too unreliable and unsafe.”
It took her a long time to answer. “Why are you doing all this?”
“I want to help you.”
“This is a lot.”
“Look.” He turned to her and crossed his arms again. “I have more money than I know what to do with most days. I give plenty to charities and other causes. What I’ve spent on you so far is much less than I would give to a charity or spend on a girlfriend. I know it’s a lot to you, and I don’t want to sound like a complete asshole, but this is nothing to me. It’s pocket change. So don’t feel like I’m giving you a lot. It’d be like you giving a man on the street $20.”
Right now, $20 was a lot to her, but in the long run, she knew what he was getting at. It didn’t make her feel any better about it or any less indebted to him. Now she felt much smaller in his sight and more inferior than she’d ever remembered feeling in her life.
She swallowed hard, and a tear rolled down her cheek. “Well, whether it’s nothing to you or not, it is a lot to me, so thank you. I could never dream of something like this happening, but you keep showing up to save me. It’s a nice change from the rest of my life.”
He reached out slowly and wiped the tear from her cheek with his thumb. For a moment, the way he looked at her, she thought he might kiss her. Her heart raced. Then, he dropped his hand and stepped back.
“Let me know if you need anything.”
“I will. Thanks.”
Sebastian
Sebastian found himself looking out the windows on the south side of the hous
e more than usual. He wanted to catch a glimpse of her. See her walking around or passing by a window. Something. He saw lights on and movement, but that was it. She’d gone grocery shopping. He’d seen her take the car he put at the guest house and return with grocery bags. She must be in there cooking.
It was killing him not to go over there. He wanted to knock on the door and see what she was up to. What had she cooked? Somehow, everything about her fascinated him. He’d managed to resist going over to knock on the door, but in the morning, he thought he’d go over and offer to drive her to the office. Carpooling was something people still did, right?
When he was ready, he went over to knock, but saw the car gone. She must’ve gone in early. Impressive.
From his office, he almost called down a few times to see how she was doing. But it’d only been a few days. Not long enough for Jacob to have any sort of report on her performance. There was something else he could do, though. He picked up his phone.
“Hi Jacob,” he said. “Can you tell me what time Miss Foley’s lunch break is?”
“11:30.”
“Thank you.”
At 11:20, Sebastian took the elevator down to the floor where the accounting department was. He walked to Amelia’s cube and knocked on the wall. She looked up from her computer’s screen, then jumped when she saw him.
“Hi Sebastian,” she said.
“I was hoping you’d join me for lunch.”
She hesitated, then smiled and said, “I’d love to.”
He drove her to one of his favorite lunch places in the city. It had a two-month waiting list to get in, but they always got a table for him, even with no notice, like today. They were seated shortly after arriving and placed their orders.
“This is really nice,” Amelia said. “Fancy place.”
“It’s one of my favorites.”
She looked around the decor, then back to him. “You’re really something, Mr. Farrelli. You sure know how to charm a girl.”
He chuckled, but her statement worried him. Did she think that’s what he was doing? Charming her?
“How are things in the accounting world?”
“Great. I love my new job. Thank you for helping me get it.”
He shook his head. “You got that all on your own. Jacob said he would have hired you even if I hadn’t recommended you.”
“Really?”
Their food arrived and they took the first few bites in silence.
“This is so good.” She closed her eyes and chewed.
Her simple pleasure of it made him smile. When she opened her eyes again, she caught him smiling at her.
“I just hope no one thinks that I got the job through other means,” she said.
“I wouldn’t worry about that.”
“Well, if people find out we’ve been out to lunch and I’m staying at your house… It looks like something is going on, you know?”
“I can see that. But nothing is going on. I think most people who work for me know my reputation.”
“What’s that?”
“That I don’t do relationships. Not in the traditional sense.”
She pulled her eyebrows together and her face fell slightly. “What does that mean?”
“It means, I have ladies that go to events and things with me, but I don’t get emotionally involved with anyone. Ever. It’s too messy.”
She nodded slowly and continued to chew her food. “So, I don’t have to worry about anyone thinking we’re in a relationship or anything.”
“Right.”
“Good to know.”
He thought she sounded disappointed. And looked it, too.
“It’s nothing personal,” he said. “I don’t let myself form interest in anyone like that. If there are never any feelings, it keeps things simple. I need simple since so much of my life is complicated.”
“Right,” she said again.
She didn’t say much the rest of the meal, and he was sure he’d upset her. Which also meant she was thinking about and hoping for more with him. He had done exactly what he hadn’t wanted to do. He’d made her think he had feelings for her, or at least some sort of interest. She’d thought something could happen between them. And it never would.
From now on, he’d have to limit his interactions with her. He didn’t need to discuss anything work-related with her, since Jacob was his contact in her department. When it came to her staying with him and her expense account, there shouldn’t be much there that he needed to discuss. If he cut off contact with her, it would be better. Before he did start to feel something that he shouldn’t.
Amelia
Amelia sat in her cube and stared at the blank wall for a moment. The lunch had tasted amazing, but the conversation had confused her. What was she meant to think about all this?
A rich man stops to help her when her car breaks down, spends a ton of money to get it fixed, all while making sure she kept her interview with his company. Then he recommends her for the job, and she gets it. He shows up at the shelter she’s staying in, takes her to live in his guest house and gives her a large expense account and a fancy car to drive. He takes her out to lunch. All this happens in a matter of a few days.
And she wasn’t supposed to think he had some sort of feelings for her? She told herself earlier that she wasn’t going to read too much into it all, but apparently, she had. She had gotten her hopes up more than she realized. He must have some sort of commitment issue or something.
She used her computer to do some quick searching of Sebastian’s past relationships. She didn’t find much. There were photos of him with beautiful women at things like charity dinners and other events. But he didn’t seem close to them. There were no photos of them kissing. One article she read even wondered if he was gay since he was never seen kissing a woman. She didn’t think that was true, but she couldn’t deny the facts.
He wasn’t into relationships, and he wasn’t into her. Well, he’d still helped her more than anyone had. Nothing changed that. Nothing else had to happen with them, and she’d still be indebted to him for all he’d done. Now that she understood the relationship, that’s all there was to it. It upset her, and she was sad about it, but now she could move forward.
She wanted to find a way to repay him. She’d been thinking about it for a few days now. She didn’t know him well enough to buy him a gift, and using his own money to buy him something felt strange anyhow. Her biggest love in life was painting. She decided she would paint him a landscape. She painted one of her favorite nature sights—a beach at sunrise.
After work, she went to the art supply store and purchased everything she would need. Over the next few evenings, she painted. The joy of doing it brought back the years of painting and how she loved it. It had always brought her so much peace. But with her last boyfriend, Jay, she wasn’t able to do it much. He hated her paintings, put her down for doing something so “pointless,” and wouldn’t give her space to set up an easel, let alone purchase art supplies.
Now she could buy all she needed and good quality items at that. She’d also started buying a few baby items. She didn’t want to take advantage of Sebastian and his generosity, but she’d come across a few things on clearance and couldn’t pass them up. She’d also expanded her wardrobe and purchased several personal care items, like shampoo and makeup. All were things she felt like she hadn’t had in years. It was luxurious to stand in a hot shower for as long as she wanted to, letting shampoo that smelled like vanilla and lavender lather thickly in her hair.
She was careful to buy what she needed only, and not to spend too much. Whether he had tons of money or not, she hadn’t earned it, and it wasn’t hers. He was being more than kind to give it to her, and she wasn’t going to use it to go on a huge spending spree.
But she was also done suffering. She’d done enough of that with Jay. Not being allowed to spend money at all, not being allowed to have what she needed. She wasn’t going to let that happen to her ever again.
Se
bastian
“What’s this?” Sebastian pointed to a large painting of a beach at sunrise, sitting in his foyer.
His housekeeper, Alice, answered. “Amelia dropped it off. With this.” She handed him a small envelope with his name written on the front.
He opened it and read the short note. “I wanted to find a way to thank you for all you’ve done. - Amelia.”
He looked at the bottom corner of the painting, where a small signature reading “A. Foley” was scrawled. “She painted this?”
“She did.”
Sebastian stared at the painting for a long while. He had a modest art collection. Mostly because he was so picky about the things he chose to look at every day. But somehow, he found this painting captivating. It wasn’t just the colors, that she’d perfect reproduced the fire that is the sunrise over the beach, but that she’d managed to add emotion into the scene. It felt peaceful. It felt alive.
“She’s quite good,” Sebastian said.
“I thought so as well,” Alice said. “But I’m no art buff.”
“I wonder how she knew,” he mumbled. This was one of his favorite sights. Anytime he went to the ocean, he made a point of getting up early to run at sunrise.
He glanced out the window and saw that her car was at the guest house. He immediately went to knock on her door.
“Hi Sebastian.” She opened the door with small smears of paint on her cheek, her hair pulled back in a messy bun.
“I got your painting. I’m a little surprised.”
“Oh.” Her smile faded. “You don’t like it?”
“It’s not that. I actually like it a great deal. That’s what surprised me. It’s very good work. I had no idea you painted. And that scene…”
Her expression lifted a little. “It’s one of my favorite sights.”
“Mine too. Did you know that?”
She shook her head.
“Are you working on another painting now?” he asked.
“Would you like to see it?” She opened the door more fully, then led him to the enclosed porch where she’d set up a studio with an easel and paints. She was working on another landscape—this one a majestic waterfall.