“I’m her boss.” I looked back at her one last time before saluting them both and heading out the door.
All the way down in the elevator I felt like a bastard. I hated leaving her there, but what else could I do? For now there was nothing, but I meant to change that soon enough.
I had a lot of work to do and not a hell of a lot of time. When I woke up this morning I had no idea my life was going to take this turn.
That it happened so effortlessly was neither here nor there, I’m not one to question fate, or as gramps use to say, ‘never look a gift horse in the mouth’.
Back at my place I walked through trying to see it through her eyes, imagining her there. There was no doubt in my mind that I would make it so no matter what.
Convention might call for me to take a step back and make doubly sure that this was what I wanted, that she was the one. I’m pretty sure that she’s not the type to go for a quick fling, but I knew in my gut that this was it; it had to be.
Chapter 4
GABRIELLA
“So where have you two been?”
“Oh Cal took me out for a burger since I hadn’t had anything to eat on the train but some crackers.”
“Cal, he’s Mr. O’Rourke to you.” Was she angry? No I must’ve mistaken that tone in her voice.
“Sorry, um he took me out for a burger.”
“Do you make it a habit to go gallivanting all over a strange city with a strange man? Don’t you find that a little…sluttish?”
I felt my mouth drop and my face heat up. Had she picked up on my feelings for him? but how? I’d been so careful the whole time he was here.
“I’m sorry aunt Marion, I thought it was okay since he said you sent him after me; it won’t happen again.”
“See that it doesn’t, Cal and I are very close but I don’t think he’d appreciate my little hayseed ward taking up too much of his time. I’m sure he was just doing it to get back in my good graces.”
She smiled, but it wasn’t like any smile I’d ever seen before. There was no warmth to it, and she looked almost, feral. I felt a shiver go down my spine. I might be green, but I’m not that green. I know venom when I see it.
I had the feeling that there was something more going on with those two but what? She seemed almost jealous of the time we spent together which made no sense. Hadn’t she been the one to send him after me?
“You must be tired, why don’t you run along to your room and go to sleep. Tomorrow is going to be a long day.” I left the room feeling chastised for some unknown reason and not at all welcomed like I’d expected.
It was a great letdown after the warm welcome I’d got from Callan. Just the thought of his name gave me butterflies. I’m such a ninny, mooning over a guy like that. Aunt Marion was more his type I’m sure.
I walked over to the mirror and took stock of myself. I looked the way I always have, too tall, too thin and too much unruly hair.
It might’ve helped if my hair was a better shade, but it was just a drab, reddish brown. Some had called it copper, but all I saw was a frizzy mop.
Looking down at my clothes I felt my face heat up. I looked like just what I was, what had she called me, hayseed? That’s exactly what I looked like and probably what he saw as he sat down across from me.
No wonder he had been so nice, he probably felt sorry for the poor little country hick who was so gauche as to tell him she only had crackers for lunch.
Mortification began to set in and I threw myself across the bed, reliving every moment spent in his presence. For whatever reasons he’d been kind to me, I’ll hold onto the memory of the best few hours of my life. It didn’t last long, but it was nice while it lasted.
Gabriella O’Rourke, stop it Gabby, you’re being silly and anyway he wasn’t for you. He obviously had something going with aunt Marion.
But that look he’d given me while she was running her fingers over his chest…he’d seemed uncomfortable. Oh it was too much to think about now, I’d just make myself miserable pining after something that could never be, the story of my life.
I started to unpack as I took in the room that had been given to me. It was a nice room, a little bigger than the one I had at home.
I walked around being careful not to touch anything and then I saw the window and the view beyond. A little bit of my excitement returned.
I was in New York City. Hugging myself I turned around in circles until I remembered that I hadn’t called momma and daddy to let them know that I’d reached okay.
I was a little hesitant to go back out there and ask her if I could use the phone. If I didn’t they would worry all night long though, so I squared my shoulders and headed back out.
There were pillows strewn all over the living room floor and she was in the process of tearing apart another one when I reentered the room.
I was too shocked to say anything and so she caught me standing there with my mouth hanging open like an idiot. I couldn’t quite make sense of what I was seeing, but instinctively I knew it wasn’t good.
“WHAT’RE YOU DOING OUT HERE? Didn’t I tell you to go to bed?” I jumped a mile in the air at her first shout.
“I…I’m sorry I just wanted to use the phone to call home and let them know I got here safe.” She picked up the handheld and threw it at me before storming past me.
I heard a door slam seconds later and felt my heart deflate. What had I done wrong? Was it because I’d gone to dinner with Cal…Mr. O’Rourke?
Just thinking of him made my tummy hurt and I felt a sense of lost. Maybe I shouldn’t have come here after all. I hate confrontations they make me very nervous and always leave me feeling inept.
Aunt Marion sure wasn’t acting too happy to see me, and I wondered if maybe she was just having a bad day. That had to be it, I mean why else would she have told momma it was okay to send me here if she was going to be this way?
I pushed it aside for now and put on a bright cheery voice as I called home. Everyone was very excited that I’d made it here safe and sound.
No one in my family had ever been this far away from home before; to my younger siblings it was as if I were already a star.
We chatted for a bit and not once did I let on about my misgivings concerning momma’s friend, they’d just think I was sassing anyway so I said nothing.
I had a restless night what with all the new feelings running around inside my head.
I thought for sure my every thought would be of my new home and getting started on the new life I’d been dreaming about since the day momma and daddy told me it was okay to come, but no.
Instead my dreams were filled with green eyes and an enigmatic smile. A soft drawl that made me feel weak even in my slumber and all the things we would do together if only it were real.
The next morning I woke up full of excitement, my first day in New York. I wore the nice knee length skirt momma had made me and the second hand cream silk shirt I’d found in the thrift shop back home. I was very proud of this outfit because it made me look so grown up and a little sophisticated.
When aunt Marion had offered the job as her assistant momma had thought it right that I have some office type clothes.
Daddy said he could afford to send me to the mall to get some things but I knew that the farm had only just started to turn a profit and there were still my brothers Sam and Virgil and my little sister Hayley, so I went to the second hand store.
My best friend Melanie went all the time and swore that if you took your time you could find some really good stuff.
I was never too good with makeup so just a few strokes of the brush through my hair and a touch of gloss over my already pink lips and that was it for my grooming.
Of course I thought of Callan and what he would think of my outfit and me in general.
I touched the blush on my cheek as I remembered some of the more torrid scenes from my dreams the night before.
I wondered if I’d see him today, would he say hello, or would he ignore me?
Had aunt Marion been right, had he only been showing me kindness because she’d asked him to? And what exactly was their relationship?
All questions that I had no answers to and would probably be crushed if I did.
Better to leave that alone Gabby, you didn’t come here to get your stupid heart broken and there was sure to be heartbreak if you kept thinking about him. Besides, you wouldn’t know what to do with him if he did show an interest in you.
I wish I had Melanie here with me, or that I could just call her up and have one of our gab sessions.
She was so much worldlier about these things than I was, having gone steady with her boyfriend for four years.
I had no experience with relationships with boys my own age furthermore a man of Callan’s caliber. I just wish I could get him off of my mind as I’m sure I was already off of his.
***
I went out to the kitchen and found aunt Marion there with a cup of coffee and the morning paper. She smiled at me and I felt my shoulders relax a little.
She seemed to be over whatever had been bothering her the night before. “Don’t you look like the perfect little assistant? Grab yourself some coffee or juice we’ve got to get going soon I don’t want to be late.”
I grabbed a cup of bitter coffee and gulped it down not wanting to set her off again.
I was tense all the way in the car, but thankfully it was only about a five-minute drive, which made me wonder why she’d even bother.
I looked out the window at the early morning traffic as the driver made his way through the streets of Manhattan.
Aunt Marion looked so posh, like one of those women you saw in magazines, and her blonde hair was perfectly coiffed, not a strand out of place.
If I tried to roll my hair the way she’d done hers it’d take me a hundred pins and then some to hold it together.
I kept stealing peeks at her out the side of my eye as I sat stiff as a board next to her. She was thumbing through a folder and I noticed even her nails were perfect.
I folded mine in my lap with their chips and ragged edges, feeling more inadequate by the second. “We’re here.” She put away her reading material as the car came to a stop.
“Now remember, try not to act like the country bumpkin that you are, these people are my colleagues and I don’t need them thinking that I’d associate with anyone that was less than average.” She actually sniffed after she said this to me.
As if I wasn’t feeling out of my depth enough as it is as I looked up at the building we were approaching.
It had to be the tallest building in the world. I had to literally crane my neck just to see up to the top and even then I could barely make it out. The tallest building back home was three stories high, and that was considered a big deal by the locals.
“Well come along don’t just stand there gawking like a fool.”
I was beginning to think that maybe she had a mental unbalance of some kind. My great aunt Nettie was like that. She could be fine one minute and the next the most obscene things would shoot out of her mouth.
Momma and daddy always said just to be kind to the pitiful old soul because she didn’t know any better.
With the new thought set firmly in my head I decided to not look at aunt Marion as some sort of ogre, but more like someone who was to be pitied for her condition.
It was sad really, because momma was the same age and she was fine. It must not be easy for aunt Marion to be going through this at her young age with her whole life ahead of her.
I didn’t have much time to dwell on my new discovery however, for as soon as we entered the high rise building things seemed to be constantly in motion.
Aunt Marion introduced me around the office and everyone seemed so nice, though I did catch a few of them giving me pitying looks. I wonder what that was about?
They couldn’t have realized that my clothes weren’t of the highest order, momma was a great seamstress; in fact she made good money sewing for other people in our small town and even some in the next town over.
And my top, though not new, was very well made and quite beautiful if I do say so myself. My shoes might be a bit scuffed but nothing too horrendous, so I put it down to my imagination.
I was going nonstop from the time we got there, but I was having fun. There was so much to do and all of it exciting.
My first real job and I was going to be paid and everything. By midday some of the girls in the office were chatting with me. I had my own little cubicle where I sat to work on the stuff aunt Marion had given me to go through, when I wasn’t running back and forth from one department to the next.
I got the feeling that aunt Marion wasn’t very well liked and some of the comments made me just a tad uncomfortable.
Like when I’d say that I was staying with her and the pitying or sometimes horrified looks would start, but I ignored it.
Momma did say that the young Marion had been a force to be reckoned with; maybe she was just one of those misunderstood types, the strong personality that people were more comfortable with in men but not so much when it came to women.
Whatever the case, she was a hard taskmaster and kept me too busy to dwell on much else except what she’d given me to do.
I felt a keen sense of disappointment as the day wore on and there was no sign of Callan. I’d thought for sure that since he was her boss that he would at least be here.
But I’d been keeping a secret eye out for him all day and he wasn’t here it seemed and I dare not bring him up to one of the others. I wondered at the feeling of loss that was almost overwhelming, when just one day ago I didn’t even know he existed.
I hoped no one noticed my ennui as the day wore on, most of all aunt Marion, I wouldn’t want to have to answer any leading questions as I’m sure my stupid face would give me away in a heartbeat.
I ate lunch alone at my desk while the others headed out to a local café. I didn’t have any ready cash except for the little bit daddy had given me for emergencies, so the apple I’d snagged from the break room earlier will have to do.
Tomorrow I’ll have to remember to bring something from home, if aunt Marion wouldn’t mind. All she’d asked me to get her was bottled water and a power bar for lunch. I don’t think she even noticed that I didn’t have any. Oh well, it’s not the end of the world and it’s just one day.
My first day on the job was winding down, and though it had been tiring, it had still been the most exciting day of my life, except for the pang in my chest from not seeing him.
Everyone was packing up to go and aunt Marion was still on the phone in her office, still hard at work. I just wanted to go home and hide out in my room to lick my wounds. I guess he’d really only been nice because of her, or because he felt sorry for me.
The thoughts in my head were confusing and left me feeling a bit lost and at sea. There was no one I could turn to for advice so I guess I’d just have to muddle through on my own somehow.
Back home, momma would wash my hair and sit with me while I cried my heart out over some boy that had overlooked me once again for one of the more popular girls.
She hadn’t done that since I was about fourteen I think, but there was a time there when that was a regular Saturday night occurrence in our home.
Only this time, I don’t think momma could wash this one out of my hair that easily. Somehow in the short amount of time since we’d met, he’d wormed his way much deeper into me than anyone else ever had.
“So Gabriella, a couple of us are going out this evening would you like to come with?” The voice coming out of nowhere made me jump in my seat where I’d been daydreaming as I waited for aunt Marion to finish up.
Robyn was one of the girls I’d met earlier; she worked in design or something I think. There were too many new faces to keep straight but I knew I liked her, she seemed fun and friendly, and she’d told me how beautiful my hair was so...
“I’m not sure if I’m allowed.” I kept my voice down so as not to attract aunt
Marion’s attention.
For the last five minutes she’d been yelling at someone on the phone and it had started to get ugly. Knowing that I was facing a long evening ahead alone with her in her apartment, I was trying to avoid another scene like the night before.
“What do you mean?”
“Well, I’m new here and I don’t know if aunt Marion would let me go out on my own.”
“Girl you’re eighteen plenty old enough to go wherever, you just can’t drink…legally.” She winked at me and grinned the most mischievous grin.
“Maybe I’ll ask, but don’t we have work tomorrow?”
“So?” She shrugged and walked away. “I’ll be at my drawing table if she says yes.” She rolled her eyes comically and I had to cover my laughter with my hand when I heard the phone in the other room slam into its cradle.
Of course aunt Marion said no, she had all kinds of reasons why I shouldn’t be on my own in the city. I was almost tempted to ask her about her first time on her own when she was my age, but thought better of it.
The others didn’t seem too put out when I told them I couldn’t join them so no harm done. I didn’t want these people thinking I was a total dweeb, not like back home when momma and daddy had been so overprotective that they hardly ever let me do anything on my own, but neither did I want to rock the boat.
***
“Well Gabriella, what did you think of your first day?” she was like a completely different person as she asked me this question on our way home in the chauffeur driven car. It was enough for me to let my guard down.
“Oh it was amazing, I never knew there was so much to do and you make it look so easy.” She preened under my praise and I felt the tension ease a little more in my tummy.
“That’s the only way to make it in this city, hard work and perseverance; now as to you hanging around with the others after hours, that’s just not the done thing dear. I understand that this is all new to you so I’d make allowances for that; but the boss’s personal assistant does not fraternize with her subordinates.
My Little Farm Girl Page 4