by Trisha Grace
Only when the light from her cell phone hit her face did she realize that whatever she heard wasn’t just a sound in her dream or from her imagination.
She directed her glance up toward the ceiling when she heard another ‘thud’ from above her.
Gingerly, she stepped out of bed with her heart pounding away.
She stood beside her bed, waiting and listening for another sound. But instead of a ‘thud’, she heard low, muffled voices humming along to a tune.
It was a song.
It sounded as if someone was playing it on the radio.
She moved toward her door and the music grew louder, clearer.
Stars shining bright above you
Night breezes seems to whisper ‘I love you’
Birds singing in the sycamore trees …
She smiled and followed the music, thinking Tyler was playing it.
She got out of her room and went over to Tyler’s room. The door to his room was ajar, but he wasn’t in it. The music wasn’t coming from his room either.
She continued trotting forward, listening out for the source of where the song was being played. She stopped in front of the long window and looked out.
The song continued playing, and right outside the house, on the empty space before the trees, a couple stood dancing along to the music.
The lady wore a green sleeveless retro dress while the man wore a gray button-down shirt.
Something about the couple seemed so familiar to her, but she couldn’t figure out what it was.
She watched and smiled as the blissful couple danced to the song.
“Kate?”
She jumped and spun around, then sighed as she saw Tyler.
“What are you looking at?”
“There’s a couple dancing,” she said, turning back to the window.
“There’s someone outside?” Tyler asked and strode forward, pulling her behind him.
That was when she realized how quiet it had become.
“There’s no one out there.”
“What? But I saw …” She stepped forward and gazed out. “Okay. This is …”
Tyler laughed softly. “Were you dreaming?”
“Maybe. But I was wide awake that day when I heard someone playing the piano.”
“You heard someone playing the piano? When?”
“A while ago.” The more she thought about it, the more she was scaring herself. “You know what, forget it. Like you said, I was probably dreaming.”
“It’s okay,” Tyler said softly. He must have realized the state she was working herself into. He ran his hands down her arms. “Next time you hear something, tell me.”
“I heard some noise upstairs, too.”
“And you decided to check it out alone?”
“I went to your room, but you weren’t there.”
Tyler grinned. “Because I was the one making the noise. I was packing up the attic. But if it ever happens again and I’m not in my room, wait for me before you check anything out.”
She nodded. At least she wasn’t completely crazy. “Why are you packing up at this time?”
“I don’t want to be like my grandfather.”
“I don’t understand,” she said. Her eyes flickered out the window again, looking at where the couple was.
“I couldn’t sleep.” Tyler took her hand and headed up to the attic. “I don’t want the accident to shape my life anymore. I don’t want to remain trapped.”
“I’m awake now. I can help.”
“What was the piece you heard? The one from the piano.”
“The same one we were playing: Heart and Soul.”
Tyler nodded, then changed the subject. “I was thinking. I know you’re busy, but would you like to help me redecorate or redesign the house? You said you like to work with old houses.”
“Why did you ask about the song?” She saw him hesitating, so she urged, “Tell me.”
“It was the same song my mother taught me.”
She drew in a deep breath. She shouldn’t have asked.
“So,” Tyler said, seemingly as interested to change the subject as she was. “Redecorating the house.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah. Will you help?”
“Of course.” Her eyes swept the attic.
The attic was huge. The ceiling was painted baby-blue and decorated with wispy white clouds. Against one of the walls, over a dozen large boxes were stacked up on each other and a few opened ones were on the floor.
“This was your room, right?”
He nodded as he sat on the floor, before one of the opened boxes. “I’m sorting through everything to see what I should keep or discard.”
She looked into one of the opened boxes filled with brushes and paints. “Your grandfather said your mother loved painting. Did she paint these clouds?”
“Yeah. She painted the walls inside the shed, too. Flowers and hummingbirds. We’ll go back when we have time.”
She nodded while her eyes scanned the open boxes.
She was glad that he’d decided to move forward and not remain locked in the time capsule just as the late Mr. Hayes had. But looking at all the things within the boxes was depressing.
She pulled out one of the brushes that still had paint on it. She stared at it as a tear rolled down her cheek, falling onto the floor.
Tyler jumped to his feet. “What’s wrong?” he asked, wiping away another tear hanging on the corner of her eye.
“I’m sorry. It’s just heartbreaking that your parents left so suddenly. There’s still paint on the brushes.”
Tyler pulled her into his arms. “Don’t be sad; she wouldn’t want it. My grandfather and I spent twenty years mourning their deaths, that’s enough.”
“In the shed, is there a drawing of a train?”
“Yes, why?”
“Your grandfather and father said that all the flowerpots and paintings on the walls were too feminine for it to be a boy’s playhouse, so your mother drew a train on the lower half of the walls to appease them. She drew you as the driver.”
He ran his fingers down her hair. “I remember. I remember being really proud about it even though I wasn’t the one who drew it. Mentioned it to everyone I saw.”
She chuckled. “You were so cute when you were young.”
“And I know nothing about the younger you, doesn’t seem fair.”
She stepped out of his arms and peered into another box. “You need to stop hugging me each time I scream or get upset. I may get used to it.”
Tyler grinned. “You’re trying to change the topic. Tell me something about yourself.”
“What do you want to know?”
Tyler asked her a series of question about her family. One question led to another, and Tyler suddenly asked, “Have you told Lydia about Detective Cooper?”
She blinked, realizing that she’d forgotten about it. “No, I haven’t even taken it out from my purse. Are you free this weekend? Once I tell her, she’ll insist on going immediately.”
“Anytime.”
Her head bobbed up and down as she considered her own schedule. “Okay, we’ll go this weekend, then.”
Time always flew whenever she was with him. They had barely gone through two of the boxes when she noticed sunlight streaming in through the window.
She sighed. It was time to get ready for work and face Joanne.
“Are you going to work? I’ll drive,” she said. She was the reason why his car was back at the office anyway.
“Yeah.”
Back in her room, Kate took out the piece of paper and sent a text to Lydia, letting her know about Detective Cooper. Lydia called back almost immediately, trying to pry more information out of her.
Kate refused to give Lydia the address.
That was the only information keeping Lydia from going to Detective Cooper’s house on her own.
Eventually, Lydia gave up trying to get any further information from her, but she did extract a pro
mise that they would head over that weekend.
Kate showered and changed into a pair of denim jeans, then pulled on a black satin shirt. At the last minute, she changed into a black cotton shirt.
She loved that satin shirt and wasn’t going to risk wearing it around Joanne.
Then she picked out a pair of comfortable heels; one that she wouldn’t have problem running around in—just in case there was a need to.
If she could put on an armor without looking weird, she probably would. Since she couldn’t, she headed down for breakfast dressed as she was.
Tyler didn’t mention a word about Joanne during breakfast or on the drive to his office. Instead, he went on and on about the shed, telling her everything he could remember.
Only when he was getting out of the car did he casually tell her to call him if she needed anything.
She nodded, then headed over to her own office. She couldn’t remember ever dreading the sight of her office that much.
As Kate plodded into the office, not a single one of her staff glanced up from his or her desk. All of them kept their heads low and their eyes on whatever was on their tables.
She stopped in her tracks when she saw Joanne sitting at Laura’s desk.
Seeing her, Joanne stood and walked over with a cup of coffee in her hands. “Good morning, Miss Mitchell. Miss Jordan says I should get your coffee ready and ask you what I should do.”
Kate took the coffee, but she didn’t dare to drink from it. She took out Evelyn’s wooden box from her bag and handed it to Joanne. “These are some receipts from a few of our previous project. Find out which project the different receipts belong to. Do you know how to use excel? Categorize them, then tabulate it and send me a copy. If you don’t know what to do, ask any of them,” she said. “Also, I need to meet a client later. I’ll e-mail you a list of all the forms I need. Get them ready for me before lunch.”
She wasn’t sure if Joanne could do any of that, but she figured she might as well flood her with work than let her be free to cause mischief.
Joanne nodded before adding, “Miss Jordan says I need to go meet the clients with you.”
“All right.” Kate turned and walked toward her office, reminding herself never to speak to Miss Jordan again.
“Good morning.” Evelyn sang her words as she entered her office, clearly trying to cheer her up.
She didn’t bother to greet her; she didn’t even bother to look over at her.
Evelyn sat on the chair across her table. “Don’t tell me she’s already screwed something up.”
Kate pushed her coffee over to Evelyn. “She made this. I don’t intend to drink it, but you should definitely give it a try.”
“This isn’t like you. Do you distrust her that much?”
“No, I have absolute trust in her. I have no doubt of her determination to win Tyler’s heart and of her hatred of me.”
Evelyn leaned forward. “Are you jealous or worried?”
She continued as though she hadn’t heard a thing from Evelyn. “Have you set up the e-mail for her? I need it.”
Scrawling on the notepad on her desk, Evelyn pushed it across the table and took her cup. She took a sip of the coffee before standing up. “Taste pretty normal to me.”
“I almost forgot. Ty asked me to help with redecorating the house and I agreed.”
“Just let me know when you need me,” Evelyn said and walked out.
Kate switched on her laptop and checked her e-mails before she began working on one of the four projects on hand. She went through the designs, noted down the details of the furniture she wanted, then e-mailed them over to Evelyn.
She tried clearing as much of her work as possible, but there was too much to do. She had the drawings, but there were still the quotations, the presentation, the forms to fill, and the contracts to prepare.
With so many things to do, she doubted she could begin working on the design for the mansion until another month or so.
It was time to delegate some work.
So she e-mailed those on probation, telling them to get all of that done by the end of the week.
She was just reaching for her phone when the alarm rang, reminding her of the meeting; the meeting that she had to bring Joanne along.
She sighed and picked up the phone, informing Joanne that they would leave in five minutes.
Kate sighed and packed up her things, dreading her time alone with Joanne.
As expected, an awkward silence hung in the car throughout the whole drive to the new client’s home. Kate fiddled with the radio stations, playing some music to get rid of the silence, and was ever so grateful that the client’s house was a short drive away from the office.
The moment she stepped out of the car, the same song that she and Tyler had danced to played on her phone.
She’d loved the song so much that she downloaded it and set it as her ringtone that morning.
She picked up the call and answered, “What can I do for you, Mr. Hayes?” The realization that Joanne was right next to her came almost immediately, and she cleared her throat while turning away from Joanne.
“Just wondering how’s your day going so far.”
“Everything’s good,” she assured.
“You outside?”
“Yeah, meeting a client.”
“Has she given you any trouble?”
“Nope.”
“Please don’t tell me you’re with Joanne right now.”
“How do you know?”
“Your answers are extremely short.”
She laughed at how predictable she was. “Like Ryan said, you’re a bad influence.”
“Call me if you need anything. Anything.”
“I will.”
“Ty called?” Joanne asked once Kate hung up the call and returned the phone to the bag.
She nodded and continued moving forward, unwilling to enter into a conversation about Tyler. “Are you sure you brought everything?”
“Yes,” Joanne answered in a conceited tone, as though the things she was told to do were beneath her.
Kate let the attitude slip and pressed the doorbell to the Campbells.
Mrs. Campbell’s maid opened the door and ushered them into the living room where Mrs. Campbell was seated, her back straight and her eyes on the book she was holding.
A pot of tea with matching cup and saucer sat on the table in front of her.
Mrs. Campbell placed the book down and nodded at Kate, gesturing for them to sit.
Kate sat and went through the usual questions, finding out what Mrs. Campbell wanted to change about the house.
The conversations with clients were important to Kate.
She didn’t just listen to what the clients wanted. Through the way they spoke of the house, she’d know more about their personalities and be able to design something that would suit their characters.
In Mrs. Campbell’s case, it’d be easy to design her house. She was detached, and her imperious character was obvious with her words and demeanor. Grand and luxurious minimalism would suit her perfectly.
Beside Kate, Joanne sighed softly a couple of times. Kate stole a quick glimpse at Joanne and found her staring into space.
Having an attitude with her was one thing, behaving so unprofessionally in front of a client was another. A talk about manners was in order; a talk she wasn’t going to have until Evelyn was around.
Maybe she should leave the talking to Evelyn altogether.
Shelving that thought aside, Kate asked if she could take a look around the house. Since Mrs. Campbell shoved the responsibility of showing the house to the maid, Kate told Joanne to give Mrs. Campbell the forms that she needed to fill in.
Kate was away for less than five minutes when she heard Joanne and Mrs. Campbell erupting into a scream fest.
She turned to the maid, and after a moment of confusion, they hurried back to the living room to find out what was going on.
“How stupid can you be? You can’t even
get simple documents right,” Mrs. Campbell said scornfully, rolling her eyes at Joanne. “I don’t know why anyone would hire a bimbo like you. You are a complete disgrace to women in general.”
“Everyone makes mistake. Do you have to be such a bitch about it?”
Kate’s eyes bulged as her lips formed an ‘O’. “Joanne, that’s enough.”
“Did you hear what the old hag say about me?”
Just as Kate took in a deep breath, Mrs. Campbell picked up the few pieces of paper on the table and flung them in Joanne’s face.
“You’re too old to be behaving like a brat as well,” Mrs. Campbell seethed.
“Mrs. Campbell!” Kate hollered as she stepped in front of Joanne, putting herself between the incensed client and an enraged Joanne. “I know she was rude, but you weren’t exactly being kind either. You didn’t have to do that,” she said, looking down at the papers on the floor.
“I’m the client; I can do whatever I want.”
Kate turned away from Mrs. Campbell and said to Joanne, “Are you okay? What happened?”
“Ask her! It’s not as if you’ll believe me anyway.”
Speaking to Joanne was like speaking to a child, she really knew how to try Kate’s patience.
“Stop shouting,” Kate said calmly and softly. “I’m asking you what happened.”
“I brought the wrong folder; it was the expenses you told me to tabulate for the previous projects.”
She waited for Joanne to continue, but that was it. She couldn’t believe Mrs. Campbell blew a fuse over such a trivial matter. “Was that it? Mrs. Campbell?”
“Was that it? It was a complete waste of my time. Your assistant’s completely useless.”
Agitated, Joanne took a step forward, pushing herself against Kate, seemingly ready to continue the argument.
Kate took a step back, pushing Joanne along with her.
“Mrs. Campbell, I know Joanne was rude, but like I said, you weren’t particularly kind either. And there really was no need to make such a fuss simply because both of you were throwing words at each other. Since I doubt you’ll be willing to apologize to my assistant, I don’t think we can work together.” She bent down and picked up the pieces of paper on the floor. “Have a good day, Mrs. Campbell. We’ll show ourselves out.”
She dragged Joanne out of the house and asked again, “Are you all right? Do you want to go home? Or do you want me to call Dan?”