The Perception

by Adriana Locke

  I made my way through the book section and grabbed a couple of paperbacks and a really cute picture to hang in the kitchen that said “Kiss the Cook.”

  I couldn’t help but feel giddy. As much as I didn’t know if moving in and taking that next step with Max was the right decision logically, it felt right. Nothing had ever felt more right, actually. I just needed to keep my cool and remember the proverbial lines in the sand. I couldn’t get too used to living together. I needed to be prepared for the moment I’d have to leave, keep that little bit of my heart held back.

  I loaded up my car and jetted home. I purchased everything to make him chicken and noodles for dinner. I was pretty sure I could do it without Fern’s instructions.

  I rounded the corner towards the house and saw a car parked in the driveway. The car was vaguely familiar but I couldn’t place it. Confused, I pulled in beside it and walked to the front door, my phone in my hand.

  Surely a thief or murderer doesn’t pull in the driveway at noon, right?

  I turned the door handle and it popped right open. I unlocked my phone and walked in and looked around nervously. I heard a noise from the top of the stairs and looked up to see someone coming out of our bedroom. I screamed and walked backwards as the figure came into view.

  “Kari! It’s me!” A set of blonde curls came bouncing down the staircase.

  Samantha.

  I pressed my hand to my chest, feeling my heart beating spastically.

  What’s she doing in my house?

  I took a deep breath to steady my nerves. “What are you doing here?”

  “Hi,” she said, smiling widely, “Max sent me over here to get a spec book.”

  “Why didn’t he call me?”

  “He said you’d be here, but you weren’t, so I came on in.” She batted her eyelashes. “I hope you don’t mind.”

  “Yeah, well, I kind of do. Why were you in my bedroom?”

  “I was looking for Max’s office.”

  “You haven’t been here before to know it’s right there?” I pointed to the door on the other side of the living room. I leaned against the wall, my nerves on high alert. Since Jada was attacked at Cane’s house a year or so before, I was a little edgier than I normally was.

  She laughed it off. “It’s been awhile since I was here. Look, the book is on the chair in his office. Do you wanna get it or do you want me to?”

  “You’ve already been through my house, so why don’t you do the honors?” I bit out, having a hard time staying calm.

  “Kari, I’m sorry. I was just trying to help Max. He’s had a surprising day with Lucy being back and everything.”

  “Lucy’s back?”

  “Yeah,” she smiled coyly.

  “So what are you doing?”

  She grinned and walked towards Max’s office. “I’ve been reassigned to Max’s personal secretary.”

  There was something about the way she said it, the way she flaunted herself as she walked through my house that set me off. I started to rip into her when her phone went off.

  “Hey, Max,” she said in a singsong voice as she entered his office. I followed her, my blood boiling hot. “I have my hands on it now and I’m on my way back.” She looked up at me, her eyes gleaming. She let out a giggle, “Of course I will. Whatever you need.” She held the phone to her ear, her eyes never leaving mine. “Yeah, I’ll grab us some lunch and I’ll be back to the office in twenty. See ya soon.” She pursed her ruby red lips together, “No worries. And you’re welcome.”

  She clicked her phone off and walked by me, a trail of fruity-scented perfume in her wake. I felt the incredible urge to rip her eyes out. Although I told myself a million times over that I couldn’t get head-over-heels in love with Max, her little show just told me that I was a fool for thinking I already wasn’t.

  “Hey, Samantha,” I called out. “It would behoove you to not come into our house again without someone being here.”

  She tossed her hair over her shoulder and laughed, turning to look at me. “I didn’t mean to upset you.”

  “You don’t just break into someone’s house!”

  She dangled a set of keys off a well-manicured finger. “I have a set of keys, Kari. It’s not like I picked a lock.” The look on my face registered on hers and she backed down. “But I see your point and I’m sorry. I’ll make sure I call next time.”

  “You do that.”

  She nodded, cast me a final smile, and walked out. I heard her car start and back down the driveway.

  I sat on the couch, pulled out my phone, and dialed Max. My hands were shaking as I held the phone to my ear, my blood gushing past my eardrums. He answered on the second ring.

  “Hey, sweetheart.”

  “Hey. Does Sam have a key to your house?” I cut right to the chase, needing an answer sooner rather than later.

  “No. Why would I give her a key to our house?” he asked, obviously a little taken aback by my brusqueness. “And it’s our house, by the way.”

  “I don’t know why you’d give her a key to your house, but I came home from the grocery store a few minutes ago and she was walking out of our bedroom.”

  I heard his chair squeak. “What? Why? What are you talking about?”

  “That’s what I want to know. I walk in and she’s walking out of the bedroom like she owns the place. She said you sent her here for a spec book.”

  “I did. But she was supposed to have you get it for her.” He sounded as confused as I felt, his voice lacking its usual control. “How’d she even get in?”

  “I don’t know, but I’m not okay with it Max. She has a key—she showed it to me and that’s not cool on any level. I’m not living in a place where another woman has a key! It just . . . gah!” I covered my eyes with my hand, my temples throbbing. I was furious and embarrassed and confused.

  “Sweetheart, calm down. I’m not okay with this at all, either. I’m just as confused as you, but you can bet your ass I’ll figure it out.”

  I sighed. “You need to get a handle on her. I understand your friendship with her, even though it goes against everything my womanly instincts say. But I draw the line. Your personal secretary is crossing the Rubicon.”

  He groaned. “Lucy came back unexpectedly. Things are a mess back here and I could use the help. Sam’s good at entering data and that shit takes up half of my day.”

  “Bring it home and I’ll do it for you,” I said through clenched teeth. “I’m sure her skirt today violated the office dress code, too. And if it doesn’t, I need to talk to Cane about revising it.”

  “You’re letting this spiral, Kar, workin’ yourself into a frenzy. You don’t have to talk to Cane about anything. Just relax—you’re overreacting.”

  “I better be.” I paused, feeling the fight start to wane. I could hear in Max’s voice that he was telling the truth, but seeing her in my house had tapped into insecurities that were deep-seated. “I don’t like feeling this way, like there are no boundaries all of a sudden with her. Now that I’ve moved in, I . . .” I cleared my throat, feeling it constrict. My voice came out a whisper, “Seeing her in here makes me feel . . .”

  “Vulnerable?” Max asked, his voice tender.

  “Yeah,” I whispered back. “I won’t compete with anyone, Max.”

  He chuckled through the phone. “Compete with someone? Hell, sweetheart. No one can get close to competing with you.”

  MAX

  After saying goodbye to Kari, I sat the receiver on the hook and massaged my temples. I didn’t get overwhelmed very often. As a matter of fact, keeping calm was a trademark of mine. But I was almost at my breaking point. The weight on my shoulders felt like it was getting heavier and heavier. I was trying to keep as much stress off of Cane as possible, but something was going to have to give. Between the bid issue, the asphalt debacle, now this thing with Kari and Sam, I’d about had enough. So, I did what I always did when I felt shit pilin’ up—I broke it down.

  I’d make things up to Kar
i, explain that there was nothing to worry about. I knew, down deep, someone had burned her, although she’d never talk about it. Her moving in with me had been a huge step and I could sense her fear that it had been the wrong one. She seemed to be waiting on me to decide I didn’t want her anymore.

  The hell if that was ever gonna happen.

  The work stress would even out as soon as we got another good job. We had a lot of employees at Alexander Industries—somewhere near 300—and I felt an obligation to keep the men working. They had families and bills and their own responsibilities. They counted on the work and the paycheck. I had to keep the work coming in so their families could eat. Although we lived in the United States and it was 2015, people still got by living paycheck to paycheck and I was determined to keep our men working.

  The only thing in the equation I couldn’t quite figure out was Sam.

  Why would she just go into my house like that? And in my bedroom? I shook my head. Could she just have been confused?

  My office door swung open and Cane burst through.

  “What’s up, Alexander?” I asked blandly.

  He shut the door behind him and sat across from me. “What time do you want to go over the bid for tomorrow?”

  We always sat down together in the conference room before a bid. We laid all the plans and specifications on the table and evaluated the job from one end to the other, inside and out. In the early days of us running Alexander Industries, I was shocked by Cane’s attention to detail on bids. He was always a run-and-gunner type of guy, shoot from the hip. But when he took over his father’s company after his death, when we were working, we were working. Very little got by him.

  “In the morning. Have you been looking at it?”

  Cane looked at his watch. “I’ve been going over it at the house. Jada is still sick as fuck and I don’t know what to do. I feel so helpless.”

  “She’ll be okay. Pregnant women are supposed to be sick.”

  “Thank God I’m a man. I couldn’t do it. She throws up and sleeps. Throws up and sleeps. Can that be normal?”

  “Yeah, man. It is.”

  I could see the exhaustion in his eyes. “I’ll bring my notes in early. Say, five in the morning? And we can go over it then? The bid is due at noon.”

  “Five is good.”

  A knock sounded lightly on my door and it opened a sliver. Sam’s eyes peeked around the corner. “Am I interrupting anything?”

  Cane didn’t turn around but rolled his eyes at the sound of her voice.

  “I think we’re done,” I said, looking at Cane. He rose from his chair and walked past Sam, not saying a word. She entered and closed the door behind her, sitting the spec book, a bag of food, and a drink on my desk.

  “There ya go, boss,” she smiled.

  I didn’t smile back. “Thanks. Take that spec book to your desk and enter the bid items and quantities in the system. Let me know when you have it done.” I shoved the book towards the end of the desk.

  She picked it up but didn’t leave. After a few seconds, I looked to her and raised my eyebrows.

  “I think I made Kari mad,” she said softly. She chewed on her bottom lip. Anyone looking in would think she was contrite, but I had seen her play that card with my parents a time or thirteen growing up. She was anything but sorry.

  “Rightfully so. What in the hell made ya think it was alright to walk into our house?”

  She released her lip from between her teeth. “She wasn’t home and you needed the book. I was just trying to get the job done.”

  “How’d ya get in the house, Sam?”

  She didn’t respond for a minute. She just watched me warily before opening her mouth. “One of the keys I had made yesterday worked in the lock.”

  “I told you yesterday to only copy the blue keys.”

  “Apparently the hardware store didn’t listen to my instructions,” she shrugged, exasperation lacing her voice. “Look, I’m sorry. I was only trying to do what was right. You are so stressed out, Maxie. I can see it all over your face. You need someone to help you and that’s what I was trying to do.”

  I leaned back in my chair, my arms crossed in front of me. “You knew where my office was and you had no reason to be in our bedroom. I don’t find this amusing in the least.”

  She pouted again. “I’m sorry. I really am. Your little puppy took off up there and I followed him. Oh my God he’s so cute!” Her face lit up. “He took the tip of his nose and rolled his little ball towards me. I tossed it across the room and he ran to chase it and fell head over heels. He’s adorable!”

  “Yeah, he is.” I gauged her mannerisms, trying to decipher her intent. She seemed nervous, her blue eyes wide. “I’m gonna need my keys back, Sam. And you’re gonna need to remember what I said. Just because I’ve known you for practically—”

  “I know,” she said, swinging her head side to side, her blonde curls bouncing. “I work for you. End of story. But today’s incident was the puppy’s fault, not mine.” She cast me a huge, silly grin and I couldn’t stay mad at her.

  “I’ll be sure to have a talk with Titus when I get home. After,” I groaned, “Kari has a talk with me.”

  She gripped the back of one of the seats across from my desk. “Want me to call and apologize to her? I know I scared the crap out of her. I talked to Brielle on the way back here and she told me that Kari’s sister was almost killed by an intruder last year. I’m sure she was shaken up. I just feel so bad. Truly.”

  I twirled a pencil between my fingers. “You probably scared the shit out of her and I can’t blame her. But you probably shouldn’t call her. Just let it be.”

  “You sure?”

  “Yeah. I’ll explain things to her and we’ll leave it at that.”

  “I don’t want to cause problems between you, Max. She really just seemed . . . angry.”

  “I’m sure she was,” I grinned, thinking back to Kari’s call. “This won’t cause any problems because I won’t let it. Kari is my world, Sam, and if things come down to the two of you—if you working here is an issue—I’ll pick her. Understand?”

  Sam nodded and placed her hands on her trim hips. “Of course I do,” she smiled, but without the usual twinkle in her eye.

  A strange sort of chill raced momentarily down my spine.

  “How’d you meet her, anyway?” she asked.

  “Her car was broken down and I came to her rescue.”

  “A knight in shining armor?” A shadow danced across Sam’s eyes and I knew immediately what she was thinking—that I was not her knight in shining armor when I should’ve been.

  “I’m no one’s knight,” I said, my voice low and steady.

  My office phone rang and I looked up at her again, her baby blues locking onto mine. I could see the hurt, the pain, swirling in them, the realization that I had come to someone else’s rescue when I had left her to her own devices.

  “I’ll grab your keys,” she whispered and walked out the door.

  KARI

  I was washing dishes when Max came in. I heard him, felt him, sensed him, but didn’t turn around. Sam’s appearance had rocked me pretty hard. After talking to Max, I had put away the groceries, but found myself leaving the decorations I had purchased for the house in my car.

  I knew it was silly and that I was overreacting. But overreacting or not, how stupid would I feel if I was packing those items back out in a couple of weeks? Days? Hours? Because if I knew anything, it was that things could be over in a split second. And seeing another woman in my bedroom, of all places, left me disconcerted.

  My emotions were all over the place. I was angry. Sad. Embarrassed. I was confused and worried. In a perfect world, I’d call someone, like my sister, and talk it out. But that never worked out for me. Everyone was always busy when I needed them.

  Max’s arms slipped around my waist, his breath hot on my ear. “Hey, sweetheart.”

  “Hi,” I said softly, rinsing the last cup. I breathed in his scent and b
riefly closed my eyes, taking comfort in the only things that had ever made me feel safe at a time when I felt anything but.

  “Are you still mad?”

  I shrugged, not really knowing how to answer. Is it even Max’s fault?

  “Don’t be.” He kissed the shell of my ear and down my neck, kissing a trail from my collarbone back up to my mouth. I turned around and caught his mouth with my own, my body working on muscle memory. Our lips found their way to each other instinctively, clicking together immediately. Max kissed me sweetly, gently, reverently.

  Finally, I pulled back and Max rested his forehead against mine. “You okay?”

  “Yeah.”

  “I’m sorry about today. I had no idea she had a key.”

  I rolled my eyes. “How’d she get it, anyway?”

  “I gave her my office keys to copy and she said the store must’ve copied the whole thing by mistake.”

  I moved away from him and poured myself a glass of wine. “Want one?”

  “Nah,” he said, grabbing a beer from the fridge. “I took her keys away, obviously.”

  I took a long drink of the Moscato, praying that it would calm my nerves in a hurry. I could feel myself getting worked up again and I really didn’t want to lose my cool. “Okay, so she made the keys. Let’s give her the benefit of the doubt and just say the store copied them all. Why was she in our bedroom?”

  He popped the cap on his Corona and hesitated. “She said she went to find Titus.”

  “Sure she did. I’m sure she’s an animal lover from way back.”

  “Maybe she did, Kari. It’s not completely unbelievable.”

  “She shouldn’t have been in here to start with!” I exclaimed, feeling my blood pressure rise.

  “You’re exactly right.”

  I rolled my eyes again. “You always think the best when it comes to her. Maybe Cane’s right and she’s a master manipulator.”

  “He told you that?”