by Adler
“Bradley, I appreciate your call and wish you nothing but the best. I’ve moved on and in doing so, I’ve learned to forgive you. I give you permission to seek out happiness in life but now you need to give yourself that same freedom.”
Another long silence.
“I never deserved you, Dani. I never did. You were the best thing in my life and I completely fucked that up. I really am sorry for, well everything.”
Whoa, who is this guy? He was never this humble in all the years I knew him. He was always so pompous and beyond reproach.
“Thank you, Bradley. I just said that I’ve already forgiven you, but now you need to move on and forgive yourself.” Wow, now I sound like a self-help guru.
“Thanks, Dani that means a lot. So, I’m going to be back in town the week after next. Would you consider meeting me for coffee?”
Oh, shit. No way do I want to be all chummy with my ex. Not now. I don’t need his baggage. As much as it sounds like he has done some growing up and really wants to make amends, I just can’t be a part of his life again.
“Uh, Bradley, as much as I would love to meet up, I think I’d like more time. I’ve only just gotten to the happy place I’m in and I had to fight myself to get here. I hope you understand.”
“Oh, okay. Um, well I’ll let you go. Take care, Dani, hope to talk again soon.”
I can hear the utter disappointment in his voice, but no matter. Not my problem.
“Bye, Bradley.”
“Bye, Dani.”
Chapter Five
It’s Friday morning at precisely 9:54 AM and I find myself in the biggest heap of nerves and have managed to twist my hair around my finger into a knot. I have to calm down. I’m sitting in front of the Columbia building in my Jeep Cherokee. I flip down the visor and open the mirror to give my makeup one last look before I head in. Oh geeze, good thing too, my lips look flat. Without looking, I reach over to find my handbag on the passenger seat. I can’t feel my bag. I look over and I realize that it slid off the seat when I slammed on my brakes to avoid the bicyclist cutting me off. What is it with this damned town and all the bicyclists anyway? I mean this places rains like 9 months out the year, why would you want to commute to work on a bike in monsoons?
It’s usually in the upper 80’s or 90’s this time of year, but not today. Of all days, it’s raining and feels like it’s in the upper 60’s. I just hope my hair survives this drizzle long enough to get inside without going limp and lifeless. Okay, contents of my bag restored, lip gloss in place, now time to get this over with. Note to self: take a deep breath.
After all the research I did on this man, I’m in awe of Harrison Towers. Professionally, he is a genius. Not only is he a real estate mogul with commercial and residential projects that his company has developed throughout the US and in Montreal Canada, but he is self-made. While his family is old money and power, he came to the US to pave his own way and make his own name. According to an article in Newsweek, he’s been focusing on the Pacific Northwest and Western Canada in British Columbia for the last four years. He recently built the Glass Towers on the west banks of the Willamette River on reclaimed land. He named the development the Three Rivers Project, but it’s better known as Glass Towers. He is now nearing completion, and that is why he wants me to bid on the decorating of the lobbies in all three buildings and the penthouse in the tallest building.
As I walk from my car to the building, I look up and feel an overwhelming sense of calm come over me and a strange sense of coming home. I straighten my back and walk with purpose to the front door and into the lobby, where a man dressed in a pair of camel colored Carhartt pants, work boots, and an oversized camouflage print jacket is exiting.
I check my reflection in the glass door and then enter. I like what I see and I feel confident after updating my wardrobe. Today I chose to wear a pair of black flared slacks with a cream silk blouse tucked in and a chain belt of gold and pearl at the waist, with a pair of black suede pointed toe pumps and a short brick red trench coat. With my new Kate Spade briefcase that my parents bought me, I feel like I look smart and prepared. I decided to leave my purse in the car though. No sense in looking like a packhorse in front of Men’s Style Magazines’ most eligible.
I stop and stare. There he is standing in front of a window that looks out over the river. Oh my, I feel like I’m going to faint… No throw up, no maybe I should just run back outside. He is THE most stunning man in the world. Holy shit, he’s wearing a suit that looks like it cost a fortune, presuming it’s an Armani or something of that ilk. It’s a slim fitting retro style in a charcoal grey. The old look must be his thing. He’s wearing a button up shirt beneath it in the most vibrant cobalt blue that I bet makes his eyes look like pools of sapphires. His sandy blond hair is rather mussed up at the front but at second glance, I realize that not a hair is out of place. Kind of like that intentionally messy look. Someone that good-looking and successful and over 40 must be a womanizer. Nobody who looks and dresses like that and is single can be a straight shooter. He probably has a woman in every city across this country, and probably in Canada too.
Well, never mind anyway, I’m here to do business. This will be an enormous accomplishment if I land the Towers account. I saw something else on the internet that said he was about to break ground on a new project on the Southern Oregon coast. Apparently, his company also develops resorts throughout the world and his next project has my interest. This kind of project could give Danielle Pyne and Associates a boost in the design community and maybe land me an article in a magazine. The possibilities are exciting but I can’t get ahead of myself; I need to secure this deal first.
I’m busy envisioning the possibilities when I realize that the object of my attention has advanced toward me with the most breathtaking smile on his face. Oh no, my knees feel weak and my legs won’t move. How are his teeth so white? He closes in on me and says, “Hello, Ms. Austen, thank you for meeting me today.” Ooh, his voice is so smooth and that French accent is enough to weaken my soul. “Ms. Austen?"
Oh gosh, snap out of it, “Oh, please call me Danielle. Thank you for asking me here.”
“Well, my pleasure, Danielle and in that case, please call me Harrison. May I take your coat?” he says this while his capable hands are reaching over to assist me in taking my coat off.
As he is doing this, I fumble with my briefcase and then drop it with a loud THWAP that echoes through the cavernous lobby. There goes my face, ten levels of crimson red that matches my coat, no doubt. “Oh sorry!” I blurt out as he reaches down to retrieve the leather case. “I’m so clumsy sometimes!”
“Not to worry,” he replies as he trades me my case for the trench coat that I managed to remove.
He hands it off to a short dark-haired man who seemingly appears out of nowhere.
“Philippe, please take Ms. Austen’s jacket and bring us an espresso to the penthouse in about 20 minutes.” Then he speaks to him in what I assume to be French.
The strange little dark-haired man, Philippe, responds with a nod says, “Oui.” Then he disappears through a side door off the lobby.
Harrison turns to me with a smirk on his face and says, “Shall we begin?” I nod as he urges me forward with his hand on my elbow and we head over to wall of windows that look out over the murky river. The seamless floor to ceiling windows allow for an unobstructed view of the river and all the natural scenery.
“I wanted to frame the beauty and serenity of the river,” he says, and I nod. “I would like to see the water theme carried out in the three lobbies and the penthouse.” He turns to look at me with his bright blue pools of water.
I realize that I’m staring at him.
He smirks.
I take in a quick shallow breath.
He smiles this time.
“Danielle?”
“I’m sorry; I’m just taken with the view.” I finally breathe out. “I can certainly work with your water theme. Did you have anything in particular that y
ou had in mind?”
He studies me for a minute then turns and begins to walk away from me toward the other side of the lobby. He says in a loud voice, “Why don’t you give me some suggestions?”
I find myself caught off guard and wonder if I might be in a bit over my head. What am I going to suggest on the fly here that will impress an international mogul?
Without any real thought, I blurt out, “I think a water wall feature over here would be perfect.
I think a privacy glass wall with waves to emulate water over there. The color palette will bring the outdoors in with earth tones and a touch of brightness to counter gray skies such as today.”
He turns back to face me minus the smirk and says, “Danielle, I think we are going to work well together. It seems you get the aesthetic I am going for here.”
After we discuss some more details of the lobby and the other two building lobbies as well, he ushers me to a private elevator in a small hallway near the public elevators. He swipes a solid white credit card looking piece of plastic in front of a flat pad on the wall and the doors open. He guides me into the elevator and as the doors close, he once again swipes the card against a flat pad and the elevator begins its flight to the penthouse.
The doors open up to a raw but breathtaking space. The windows are the same as in the lobby, floor to ceiling with no visible seams. The floors are raw gray cement, the ceiling is still open and although the walls and doors are in, the rest of the space needs to be finished from what I can see.
I follow Harrison to the main living space that has the same floor to ceiling windows as the lobby that boast sweeping panoramic views of the city on one side and a complete wall of windows that overlook the river on the other.
In the wall of windows facing the river are pairs of doors that lead to a magnificent outdoor space. I hesitate to call it a deck, because it’s much more than that. A spacious terrace appears to be floating in the clouds.
I turn back to see his gaze travel back up to my eyes, was he looking me up and down? I blush another ten shades of red. I hear a faint ding followed by the sound of someone’s feet shuffling on the cement. As I look toward the elevators, I see the strange little dark-haired man walking in our direction with two steaming demitasse cups of espresso on a bamboo tray. He sets the tray down on the floating cement fireplace hearth. He hands Harrison and then me a cup and saucer. “Mademoiselle, would you care for milk or sugar?” he says in a heavy French accent as he picks up the bamboo tray.
“Thank you.” I say as I drop a couple cubes into my cup along with a stream of milk.
Harrison has already downed his coffee and placed the cup and saucer back on the tray.
I look around and wonder what he has in mind for this space. Is it going to be a model home or does he have it slated for something or someone else?
“What do you think?” he says nonchalantly.
I shrug my shoulders and reply, “What can I say? It’s breathtaking, well minus the unfinished floors and zero furnishings. It has so much potential though.”
“I think so too. I am so taken with the view and the overall feeling of this space that I decided I would take this unit as my own Pied-à-terre.” Then he flashes me that mega white smile while his eyes turn dark blue and smolder. Wow, I wonder what that look is about. I feel my temperature rising and my mouth going dry. He walks by me and brushes his hand against the silk of my arm. I swear every hair on my body stands at attention, as if I have just been struck by lightning. He looks at me out of the corner of his eye and gives me that knowing smirk again.
Holy shit this man is turning me on just by the looks he gives me alone. I could just throw down with him right here on this cold dusty cement floor. Slow down Dani, slow down. It must be my celibacy catching up with me. Since swearing off men, I haven’t been with anyone aside from that horrible night of ex-sex with Bradley. After that debacle, being left to my own devices has been more than sufficient. Until now, that is.
Mr. Harrison Towers is hot and tantalizing and I’m now regretting having sworn off men. This man could definitely change my mind.
While I continue to relish in my dirty thoughts, I hear, “Danielle?”
Oh shit, here I go again; he must think I’m a real ditz. I recover myself quickly.
“Yes, um, well, I think you should carry the water wall idea up here too, like right over there where the elevator is. Then, so the views remain unobstructed, you can have mechanized window coverings. They retreat into the ceiling so you don’t even see them when open. I envision a monochromatic color scheme in here of white with touches of ice blue and silver. The floors should be something like travertine and how about a kitchen with floating upper cabinets and clouded glass doors and poured concrete counters.”
He smiles. “Come; let me show you the rest of the space.”
In all he has 3600 square feet of space to design and decorate. It has four bedrooms, a den, media room, and a huge master bedroom with its own balcony, two walk in closets and a sunken Greek bathtub that still needs tile. All of the rooms have some kind of unobstructed view of either the river, city skyline or the foothills. It’s simply amazing.
As we finish our tour of the penthouse, we end up back at the elevator.
He glances at his watch then looks down at me. “Danielle, I have another meeting to get to.” With that, the elevator door opens as if on cue. We then descend back to the lobby.
Once we are back in the lobby heading toward the doors, the little dark-haired man, Philippe, helps me on with my short trench coat.
I turn to Harrison and see that he is watching me with that smirk on his face. “I’d like to get your ideas by Tuesday of next week. I can meet you at your office. What time works for you?”
I pull out my phone to pretend that I have to consult my calendar. I swipe unlock and see that that Simone has sent me ten text messages and my mom has sent me two. Geeze people!
I look at my empty calendar and look back up at him to see a bemused smile on his face and his piercing blue eyes gazing down at me. Not now, I think as I can feel my face turns its usual crimson.
“How would 10:00 AM again work for you?’
“Perfect.”
I reach into the outside pocket of my briefcase and fish out a business card. I reach out to hand him the card, “Oh that’s okay, I already have your number and I know where your office is located. Thank you again for meeting me today. Until Tuesday.” He grabs my hand, gives it a firm shake, and then drops it and turns to walk out the side door of the lobby.
I stand there with my hand still outstretched, my mouth agape, and my heart pounding quickly.
I head out to my car with my heart still racing and my palms growing sweaty. Since when do my palms sweat?
Once I’m seated in my car, I pull out my phone. I open it up to look at the text messages. Oh geeze, now there are twelve from Simone and three from my mom and one from my dad. Seriously, they all need to get a life!
Simone Clarke and I have been lifelong friends. I don’t have any memories from my childhood that don’t include her. I never had any siblings so she filled that void for me. About the time I got married to Bradley, her career began to take off as an on-set stylist for movies and TV shows. I hardly get to see her much as she is always traveling. I miss that petite fiery redhead but at the same time, I am so proud of her and the life she has made for herself.
9:19 AM
Simone’s Cell
Hey girlie, what did you decide to wear after all that?
Simone’s Cell
9:21 AM
BTW, that hot guy I met on set last wk, he just txt me to go concert on the waterfront. Yay!
9:23 AM
Simone’s Cell
I said yes
9:28 AM
Simone’s Cell
Um, are you going to msg me bk? What are you wearing?
9:29 AM
Mom’s Cell
Good luck honey, knock them dead!
9:32
AM
Simone’s Cell
He’s the one who is the screenwriter guy on set
9:36 AM
Simone’s Cell
OK…are you ignoring me?
9:42 AM
Simone’s Cell
Ok guess you are heading to appt. Call me the min you are done.
I scroll down some more.
9:48 AM
Simone’s Cell
Good Luck!!
9:49 AM
Simone’s Cell
Don’t forget to breathe
9:50 AM
Simone’s Cell
Seriously
9:51 AM
Simone’s Cell
Xoxo
9:59 AM