by Trisha Grace
She hurried after Evelyn, hoping and praying that nothing disastrous would happen.
“Hey! She’s here,” Evelyn hollered across the office, capturing everyone’s attention.
“Joanne, please. Please leave while you can,” Kate pleaded, extremely conscious of all the stares on them.
Joanne squared her shoulders and stuck out her chin. “I’m here to tell you that I love Ty. I’ve loved him all my life, and I’m not going to let this go without a fight. If you think I’m just a spoiled brat, then you’re wrong.”
“Oh, please. That’s all you are. That’s why Tyler never took you seriously. That’s why he never took you to his company dinner—the same company dinner he took Kate to last night.”
Kate glared at Evelyn, wondering if she’d gone out of her mind.
“I’m not a spoiled brat,” Joanne repeated.
“Then tell us, since you stomped in here so gloriously, tell everyone here what you’ve achieved in your life.”
“I’m not a spoiled brat.”
Evelyn nodded condescendingly. “Right. You’re just Dan’s sister, then. That was what Tyler said to you: all you are to him is his pal’s sister.”
“Eve, please,” Kate said in hushed tones. “I think she’s gotten your point.”
“I’m not just Dan’s sister!”
Kate cringed at Joanne’s outburst.
“Prove it,” Evelyn said in a supercilious tone.
Kate’s brows drew closer as she turned to Evelyn. Those two words sounded ominous.
“Fine.”
Evelyn smirked and nodded. “Good. Starting tomorrow, you’ll have a real job. You’ll be Kate’s assistant for the next few months until some of our staff complete their probation. If you can stick through it and do a good job, I’ll admit that you’re not just a spoiled brat. I’ll even put in a good word for you in front of Tyler.”
Kate’s jaw dropped, and she sighed a breath of disbelief.
Evelyn issued the challenge, Joanne accepted it, but she got stuck in the middle of it.
“Between the two of us, I think you need an assistant more than I do,” she said.
“But if Barbie loses, she’ll say that I was too harsh on her. There’s no way she can say that about you.” Evelyn glanced over at her. “Don’t worry, she won’t last.”
“I’ll be here tomorrow morning,” Joanne said and straightened her dress before storming out of the door.
Trying to contain the frustration that was threatening to erupt, Kate strode into her office without another word.
She could hear Evelyn’s steps following her, but neither spoke until the door to her office was closed and the windows fogged.
“What were you thinking, Eve? I’ve already got enough things to handle. If you want to play her for a fool, then do it yourself.”
“You can’t have her harassing you all the time, right? Let her do this. And when she fails, she’ll give up on Tyler, solving your problem once and for all.”
Her head swayed as she listened to Evelyn. “And during? Eve, I don’t mean to be rude, but it’s a stupid idea.”
Evelyn laughed.
Kate’s brows rose, and her frustration inched up another notch. “Is this supposed to be funny?”
“Listen to yourself, Kate. You’re completely pissed off with me, but you’re still afraid of hurting my feelings. You need Tyler.”
Running her hand through her hair, she finally asked, “And if she succeeds? What are you going to do?”
“I’ll apologize; I’ll tell Tyler that she was tougher than I thought. But he only has eyes for you. I don’t know if you’ve noticed it, but his eyes are always on you. The first thing he did when he came sprinting out of the house that night was to put himself in front of you. It won’t matter to him whether she succeeds or not.”
“But it will matter to her,” she said, enunciating each word. “Don’t you see how naive she is? She’s going to think that by succeeding, she’ll have a chance with Ty. She’ll be crushed.”
“Someone’s pretty confident of herself,” Evelyn teased.
Kate pinched her lips together, then breathe in slowly through her nose. “You know what? I think I’ll finish up your paperwork at home.”
“Oh, come on, Kate.”
Gathering her things, she left Evelyn in her office and strode toward the parking lot. She got into the car with the intention of driving back to the mansion, but she had to tell Tyler what happened, and she didn’t want to wait until dinner.
Taking out her phone, she called him.
He picked it up on the second ring. “Kate? Is everything all right?”
“Are you busy?”
“No.”
“You want to meet for lunch? I’m already in my car. I can meet you at your office.”
“Are you all right?”
“Yeah.”
He was silent for a moment before he gave her the address to his office and waited for her to key it into her GPS before hanging up.
When she entered the office, she nodded as she saw the few familiar faces. She glanced around, uncertain of the way to Tyler’s office.
“Miss Mitchell?”
Kate turned toward the voice, seeing a young lady in a peach-colored blouse and black hugging skirt walk toward her.
“Miss Mitchell?”
“That’ll be me,” she answered as she racked her brain for a name. She was certain she hadn’t met the lady at the dinner, but the young lady greeted her with such familiarity.
“I’m Ella Price, Mr. Hayes’s assistant.”
Kate relaxed. “Just call me Kate. For a moment I thought I saw you last night and forgot your name,” she said with a warm smile.
“Oh, I was in charge of the event last night so I was running all over the place and didn’t get the chance to meet you. But Adrianna told me all about you,” Ella said.
Kate wasn’t sure how she felt about being discussed behind her back, so she just smiled politely. “I’m looking for Ty, I mean, Mr. Hayes.”
“I know, he has informed me. I think he’s expecting your call. But it’s all right, I’ll take you to him.”
She followed Ella, and everyone at their desks looked up at her when they passed by.
“Is he busy?” she asked, trying to distract herself from the curious looks. “If he is, I can wait. There’s no need to disturb him.”
“He’s free. He’s just waiting for you,” Ella replied.
“You ran the event last night, but he still made you work today?”
“No, no. Mr. Hayes usually lets me take the rest of the week off, but I wanted to go on a vacation with my fiancé, so he allowed me to have a longer holiday at a later time instead. A lot of people think he’s aloof, but he’s extremely understanding.” Ella stopped by the desk in front of Tyler’s office. “He has never brought anyone to the company dinner before, and he never stayed throughout the dinner either,” she added.
“He never stayed throughout dinner?”
“Yeah. He usually stays for an hour or so, that’s all.”
She couldn’t stop the grin spreading across her face as she nodded. So much for the risk of dragging over midnight. “Thanks,” she said.
Ella smiled and left her outside Tyler’s office.
She knocked on the door, but there wasn’t an answer from within. “Busy?”
Tyler looked up from his desk, surprised to see her.
“I was waiting for your call,” Tyler said as he stood.
“I know, but I was afraid that you’d rush if you knew that I was waiting in the car.”
“What’s wrong?”
She closed the door behind her. “Joanne came to the office.”
Tyler’s eye widened. Placing his hands on her shoulders, he gave her a look over. “Are you all right? Did she hurt you? What did she do?”
She laughed, amused by his reaction. “It was more of what Eve did.”
Tyler looked at her, waiting for further explanation.
> She told him everything. When she finished her story, his response was immediate.
“No. Give me your phone, I’ll call Evelyn and tell her to forget it.”
She smacked his hand away. “Even if you can get Eve to rescind her challenge, Joanne won’t back out of it. She seems determined to prove herself to you.”
“I’ll call Joanne and tell her to stop her nonsense.”
“No, don’t. She’s already upset enough. Eve was awful to her. I just …” She paused and sighed. “I just want to go for lunch.”
She could see Tyler’s hesitation. For a moment, she thought he wouldn’t back down until the situation was resolved to his satisfaction. But instead, he smiled and headed out of the office without another word.
They had lunch at a restaurant nearby where Tyler chatted with her about everything under the sun. They discussed the novels he’d read, many of which she had read as well. Despite his constant teasing about her interest in crime novels, he was a fan as well.
They chatted about everything and anything, except about Joanne and Evelyn.
“What do you want to do next?” he asked as they stepped out of the restaurant and back into her car.
“Don’t you have to go back to work?”
“I’ve nothing on. What do you want to do?”
She contemplated on that question, but she couldn’t find an activity that both of them could enjoy together.
“What do you like to do when you’re free?”
“Play the piano and watch movies.”
“We can rent The Notebook,” Tyler suggested.
“Did you watch the movie before?” she asked.
“No, why?”
“Do you know what is it about?”
“Some love story?”
“You won’t want to watch it.”
“I don’t mind. It’s just a movie anyway.”
“That’s really sweet of you, but I don’t want to bore you. Besides, I always cry when I watch it.”
“Then why do you still watch it?”
“Because it’s a really romantic story.”
“Good ending?”
“Yes and no …” She knew her answer was confusing, so she told him the gist of the story. “He loved her so much. The heartache he put himself through just to get that few minutes with her.”
“Kate,” he said with an indulgent smile. “You really should stick to movies with absolute good endings.”
She laughed at herself. “I know, I’m ridiculous. Still, it’s one of my favorites.”
“So which movie tops that list?”
She twirled her chain around her finger. She’d never told anyone what her favorite movie was. She loved watching it from time to time, but it was a secret that even Evelyn didn’t know of.
“What could be so embarrassing about a movie?”
“It’s not exactly a movie … more of a cartoon.”
“You like cartoons?”
“No, it was a movie.” She rolled her eyes. There wasn’t any point in beating around the bush. “Beauty and the Beast.”
“Disney’s Beauty and the Beast?”
“That’s the one.”
He shrugged. “It does have a happy ending.”
“Yup.”
“Let’s watch it, then.”
“Really?” she asked. “You’re going to watch a cartoon with me?”
“Why not? It’s better than one that makes you cry.”
Tyler drove them back to the mansion and pulled out his keys to open the door. She smiled, realizing that she hadn’t been using the keys much.
She was always back around dinner time, and the door was always unlocked then.
They watched the movie on the second floor, munching on the popcorn they’d bought.
“You really like this movie,” Tyler stated as he watched her.
She didn’t reply. Instead, when Belle burst into a song, she sang along, getting every single word to the lyrics right. She even mouth some of the dialogue that the various characters spoke.
By the time she was done with her demonstration, Tyler was laughing so hard that his arms were cradling his abdomen.
“I’m glad you’re enjoying yourself, but if you ever tell another soul about this, I’ll kill you,” she said.
“I think,” Tyler struggled to form his sentence amid his laughter. “This has become my favorite movie as well.”
“Well then, next time I’ll have someone to watch it with.”
“Any time,” he said, leaning closer against her, his arm resting across the back of the couch.
She pulled up her legs and sat cross-legged, her knee resting on Tyler’s leg.
Throughout the movie, she would hum along with the music and that never failed to put a smile on Tyler’s face.
After the movie, Tyler handed her the DVD. “You should keep this.”
“Thanks,” she said.
“Do you want to go for a walk with me?”
“In the woods?”
“I promise there’s nothing scary in it.”
She chuckled. “I’m only saying yes because you watched this with me.” She waved the DVD in her hand.
She returned to her room, keeping the DVD before going out for the walk.
Again, Tyler placed her hand around the crook of his elbow as they strolled along, pointing out to her all the bumps and rocks on the ground.
“Where are we heading?” she asked.
“What makes you think we’re heading somewhere?”
She shrugged. “You seemed to be directing us toward a particular way rather than taking a leisure stroll.”
He grinned at her and nodded. “There’s a shed, sort of like a play house for me when I was younger. I thought we could have a look.”
“Do you still know where it is?”
“I used to come out here every other day. We’ll do fine.”
In less than fifteen minutes, they reached the shed that Tyler was talking about. She was expecting a dilapidated shed with broken windows and maybe a collapsed roof. After all, she thought no one had been there for twenty years.
But when she saw the shed, it was nowhere near dilapidated.
A small white shed with a wooden platform extending out in front of it stood in the midst of the trees. Around it were pots of colorful flowers that appeared to have been well taken care of. She turned to Tyler, thinking that he’d already been here before, but the same look of bewilderment was on his face.
“It’s exactly how I remembered. I didn’t think …”
Exactly how he remembered.
The late Mr. Hayes must have been maintaining the shed as he had with the house. A time capsule that locked everything in its place before the accident happened.
“Your grandfather.”
“He didn’t mind getting rid of me, but he kept everything else exactly the way they were.”
“It wasn’t like that,” she said. She had to make him understand. “He thought that by removing you from all that you’ve known would help you to forget what happened and allow you to move on.” She waited for Tyler to say something, but he continued staring at the shed. “He’d always blamed himself. He said if he had been there, your parents wouldn’t have died. He was heartbroken, and he made a mistake; a mistake he regretted his whole life.”
Tyler said nothing. He sat on the ground, his eyes still locked on the shed. “I waited so long for him, but he never turned up.”
She took in a deep breath and fought back the tears brimming in her eyes. “Ty, he knew he was wrong, but he couldn’t find the courage to make it up to you. He thought that after so long, it was better for him to remain out of your life.” She sat next to him, pressing her shoulder against his. “As much as he wanted you to move on, he never did. Marianne said he’d sit in your parents’ room and cry, and if she hadn’t packed up the rooms and moved your parents’ things to the attic, it’d still be exactly where they were twenty years ago.”
“I thought he dumped
the things there because he didn’t want to see them.”
“He loved you very much. He used to tell me stories about you, and he’d show me all the photos he had of you. Not just you, he told me quite a few stories about your parents, too. Like this shed, I think your father built it originally for your mom so that she could sit and admire the plants she had. But you loved to hang around her, and it eventually became your playhouse.”
Kate waited for Tyler’s reply, but when his silence continued, she stood to leave, thinking he’d prefer some space and time alone.
Instead of allowing her to walk away, he stood with her and pulled her into his arms. One of his arms wrapped around her back while his other hand weaved its way into her hair. “Stay. Just for a while.”
She wrapped her arms around his back, holding him. “As long as you want.”
She sighed softly, holding him like he always did with her whenever she was afraid.
When they got back to the mansion, Kate could hear Evelyn and Dan talking in the kitchen.
At least she wouldn’t have to do the explaining to Dan.
She stepped in, and Evelyn immediately turned around. “I bought apple strudel! And when someone said she was going home, I assumed it was to her own house, not here,” Evelyn said. When Kate remained quiet, she continued. “I’ve drawn up the contract for Joanne, same pay as those on probation. And I promise I’ll keep my eyes on her, I won’t let her cause you any problem. If she tries, dismiss her.”
“Are you sure about this?” Dan asked.
Kate sighed. “What’s done is done. Let’s just see how it plays out.”
She didn’t want to talk or think about it. There was no way this would end up well, but there wasn’t anything she could do. So she’d rather not think about it.
Besides, Tyler had enough on his mind, and she didn’t want him worrying about her.
“Kate, my sister is—”
“I know. And truthfully, I didn’t have much choice. I was kind of dragged into it. But Joanne was really determined. I doubt anything can change her mind now,” she said. “But if anything happens, please remember that this whole thing is Eve’s idea.”
Chapter Sixteen
Kate’s eyes flew open to absolute darkness. She turned over and reached for her phone when she heard a ‘thud’.