by Alison Ryan
“It’s too beautiful to actually use,” Nancy explained. “Maybe one day I can give it to Scarlet. When I’m dead and cold in the ground, of course.”
Scarlet was Michelle’s only daughter. She was everything that Michelle wasn’t; tempestuous, spunky, and incredibly opinionated. Sometimes Michelle wondered if maybe Scarlet was actually Nancy’s child but Michelle still had the C-section scar to prove she had indeed carried her beautiful daughter. Also she had Larry’s wavy hair and freckles. There was no doubt she belonged to them at one time. But ever since Scarlet had turned eighteen, she had belonged to the world.
When Michelle had found out Scarlet was dating Barrett, it caught her by surprise. When it ended just a month later, it didn’t surprise her at all. Scarlet had trouble committing to almost anything. But Michelle had her motherly intuition that there was more to the story of Barrett and Scarlet. She often wanted to ask her daughter what really happened, but any time the topic was broached, Scarlet completely shut down. So Michelle didn’t push.
But Michelle couldn’t think about that right now. Lately her concerns over Scarlet had distracted her from many a task and for now, that wouldn’t do. She had only one goal- get through this first day with Barrett. No hitches. No surprises.
Chapter Four
Scarlet Bloom was on her way to Las Vegas.
Not that anyone knew that. As with everything, Scarlet had decided to take the trip on a whim. Atlanta was boring her, as was her job, her roommate, her whole damn life. She was twenty-five years old and she had no clue what to do with herself. But she did miss her momma. And Momma was in Vegas now. So, to Vegas Scarlet would go.
She had hesitations. Scarlet knew her surprise visit would come with questions- and rightfully so. This would be the fourth job she had abandoned since graduating from Emory more than two years ago. It was not an aspirational trend that she was setting, and her mother and father made that very clear after leaving her second job.
“You can’t just leave things,” her mother lectured her. “I pulled some serious strings to get you hired-“
“Don’t remind me,” Scarlet cut her off, even knowing it was rude to do so. “I truly feel bad about it, Momma. But I can’t work in cubicle hell. I wasn’t born for it. No one was. It’s not natural to sit at a desk all day, hooked to a phone.”
“Well, it’s natural to want to have your bills paid. And it did that!” her father had scolded. “Some people would be grateful for such a thing.”
“I know,” Scarlet conceded. “But I was going crazy. Becoming physically ill. It wasn’t good for me. Wouldn’t you rather I be healthy? And happy?”
“That,” her mother said, “is a trick question. Of course we want both those things. But we also want you to be gainfully employed. You’re not a teenager anymore, Scarlet. And we’re not the Evers. We have to work.”
“Why would you mention them?” Scarlet’s anger flared. “What do they have to do with anything?”
Michelle, as usual, was perplexed by her daughter’s rage when the Evers were mentioned, “I was just using them as an example. We aren’t rich people, Scarlet. I wish I could give you the world on a platter and let you do whatever you desired, everything else be damned. But we don’t live in that world, sweetie. We have to work hard for the life we want.”
“And the life you want for me is not the life I want for myself,” Scarlet retorted. “And I can’t and won’t settle for one I can’t be excited about every day.”
“Well, la-dee-da, pumpkin. Welcome to the real world. Where people live lives they ain’t excited about in order to pay the rent,” her father said, rolling his eyes. “I didn’t raise such an entitled child.”
Scarlet, who adored her father most days, turned to him, “You raised me to have high expectations of myself and of others. If that’s entitlement than I guess I need to rethink my definition of it.”
Her father sighed, exasperated, “I don’t know what to do with you anymore.”
********
McCarran Airport was unusually dead that day. As Scarlet wandered from her gate to the escalators that would take her to baggage claim, she noticed the slot machines were mostly empty, save for a couple of tired looking travelers, probably trying to just kill time before boarding. Usually the airport in Las Vegas was hustling and alive with excitement and possibility. Behind her on the plane some sorority girls on their way to a bachelorette party had gotten completely hammered midway through the flight. People went to Vegas for weekends they never wanted to forget but ones they also would never speak about in polite company either. Scarlet loved that about the city.
Her parents had lived there five years now, something that Scarlet found hard to believe. This would be at least her twelfth trip out to the desert, though it had been a good long while since her last one. As she struggled to recollect when the last one was, her cell phone buzzed in the back pocket of her jeans.
She pulled it out and glanced at the screen. It was her brother Ben. She was tempted to hit ignore but she’d already done that a few times in the last couple of days and she didn’t want to worry him.
“Hey,” she said, exasperated, knowing he was going to lecture her on her lack of communication.
“Well, I’m glad to hear your voice. I was about to drive my ass to Decatur,” Ben said, his voice showing no signs of joking. “What the hell, Scar? You can’t return a text?”
“I’m sorry,” she said. “I’ve been busy. It’s a lousy excuse but you know me…”
She trailed off and he didn’t say anything for a moment. She could tell he was supremely pissed off.
“I worry about you,” Ben said. “I even texted your roommate. She said you had left for a trip? Where this time, sis?”
Dammit. Her roommate was such a narc.
“Vegas, actually,” Scarlet confessed. “Thought I’d surprise Mom and Dad.”
“Vegas? Don’t you have to work?”
The silence after his question said more than she could presently think to say out loud.
“Fuckin’ A, Scarlet,” Ben sighed. “They’re going to be so pissed you quit again.”
“And you wonder why I don’t return your calls,” Scarlet said. “Because I have to deal with my third parent, bitching me out.”
“I’m your brother, not one of your friends who don’t give a shit about you so they don’t tell you what you need to hear,” he said. “I just want to understand you, Scarlet. You’re super smart, talented, and have the potential to do great things. But you have to stick to something. What are you looking for?”
There was an awkward silence as he waited for an answer she wasn’t prepared to give him. Or even capable of giving.
“I gotta go,” she said. “It’s getting loud in here and I need to find the carousel my bag is at. I’ll text you later.”
“I love you, Scar,” Ben said.
“Me too,” Scarlet replied, and hung up.
Chapter Five
When Barrett arrived at Elixir, he was pleasantly surprised at how calm the feel of the office was. He knew that would be changing in the coming months as they hired more staff and employees to fill the cubicles on the floor that accounting was using for now. There would be plenty of people in and out for interviews, meetings with executives, schmoozing with city officials, a big event for the mayor. But in this moment Barrett just enjoyed the calm before the storm. It was his first day back in the Las Vegas office in almost a year. So the first day being low key was just the right way for him to start off.
As soon as he stepped off the elevator onto the fortieth floor a familiar face greeted him.
“Mr. Evers! Welcome back!” Michelle Bloom’s round, sweet face had the biggest smile he’d seen since… well, the last time he’d seen her. Michelle was always smiling. She was possibly the happiest person on the face of the earth and Barrett adored her for how positive her energy always was. But seeing her reminded him of Scarlet, and his heart fell a little at the thought.
“Mi
chelle, we’re friends. You know you can call me Barrett,” he laughed, bending down to hug her. Michelle was on the short side, and Barrett was tall, so it was always a little awkward.
“At work, you’re Mr. Evers,” she insisted. “And you look so much older to me now. Like you’ve grown up this year.”
“Maybe I have,” he admitted. “I’ve been pretty busy.”
“Nancy has said as much,” Michelle said, taking his briefcase and his jacket. “I’ll put these in your office. Arista, our new receptionist, left your coffee and paper at your desk.”
Before he could be reminded of who exactly Arista was, a knockout of a girl with raven hair and a skintight dress, shimmied her way towards him from the front desk. This, he could only assume was Arista.
“Hello, Mr. Evers,” she purred. “I’m Arista Holmes. The new receptionist. Or at least, new to you. I’ve been here about six months now. It’s very nice to finally meet you.”
He couldn’t help but take in her curves. It was startling how covered up she was yet how naked she might as well have been at the same time. The dress left little to the imagination. She was pretty in that high maintenance way that made him wonder what was really under all the layers of clothes and designer makeup. She was definitely attractive but she was also not his type at all. But even he had to admit there were worse things to look at in the morning. He could only imagine what Jett Stanley must think of her. As a matter of fact, if he recalled correctly, Jett had been in charge of hiring her.
He smiled and offered his hand, “Nice to meet you, Miss Holmes. I’ve heard great things from Michelle about you. I appreciate your hard work.”
Her hand was soft in his, her handshake very limp. Not the most impressive he’d ever had but he suspected she wasn’t a handshaking type of woman. She held on to his hand a beat too long, making it a little awkward.
“I love working here,” she gushed. “And I’m willing to work even harder than I already have been.” Her voice was lower now and she looked up at him from wide set eyes. She had incredible lashes. He couldn’t decide if they were real or not.
“Anything you need,” she practically whispered, “I can provide. At a moment’s notice, Mr. Evers.”
Oh my. Well, this was something not many of his employees had offered him.
“Oh,” he said, suddenly off his professional game for a moment, “I appreciate it. I’ll be in my office for a while, catching up on things. Take messages for now, if anyone calls.”
She nodded and smiled, sashaying back to her desk.
Chapter Six
Scarlet had rented a car for the trip being that she wasn’t sure how long it would last, and taxis in Vegas tended to be pricey. She’d also run into an issue on her last visit where the driver had attempted to long haul her, making a 15 minute drive last 45 minutes in order to increase the fare. Scarlet, never one to take shit from anyone, had been close to pummeling him but instead threatened to call the police and the taxicab authority, making the fare suddenly go completely away.
So renting a car would be safer for her sanity.
Once she was in her economy sized sedan, she hit the 15 with the windows down, the desert air making her thick blonde hair swirl in the wind around her face. Something about Vegas always made her happy. She never had a bad time there and it represented her place of escape. Besides, she loved her parents, and despite her numerous disappointments, they were always happy to see her.
She considered texting them to let them know she was on her way but decided on something better; she would surprise her mom at work.
She knew for a fact Barrett wouldn’t be there because he hadn’t been there in almost a year. Last she’d heard he was in New York, working on an Elixir property. She’d been constantly nervous about running into him around Atlanta, and there had been a couple of close calls, but she eventually fixed that by gradually dropping every mutual friend or acquaintance they had between them from her life. Except for Ben, of course. But Ben was her brother. And she would never drop him. Not even for Barrett Evers.
********
Elixir’s new Vegas headquarters were swanky. They were just slightly off the strip on Industrial. It looked like they were possibly condos as well as offices, which would make sense. The Evers owned quite a few of the towering condo complexes that had been built up over the last couple of years in Sin City. Barrett’s brother Durham loved Vegas and she assumed he probably ran most of the operations here. Scarlet hoped she didn’t have to see him. Durham worked her last nerve. He always had. The man was way too in love with himself.
Barrett was very different. Despite the probability of him being a complete arrogant asshole, he wasn’t somehow. He’d avoided becoming spoiled and entitled like most men of his stature would be. And that’s why Scarlet had… Oh she couldn’t think about that right now. Better to focus on seeing her momma and explaining what she was doing in Vegas.
She parked in the garage attached to the building and took the elevator up to the fortieth floor. Last time she had visited the building had just opened. She was pretty sure the fortieth was the floor her mother worked on. She’d thought of texting Aunt Nancy to ask but decided to just go with it. Besides, Nancy was always busy and was probably with Barrett. She tried her best to avoid contact with her unless it was a true emergency.
The walls of the elevator were mirrored. She glanced in them to make sure she looked presentable. Scarlet had to admit, at least she looked good. Her wild blonde hair flowed halfway down her back. She’d worn some skinny jeans and an off the shoulder lavender sweater her mom bought her for her birthday. She’d stuck to Converse for the flight.
Now she was getting nervous. Maybe she should have texted.
The elevator finally stopped. Its doors opened and Scarlet stepped out into the main lobby and front reception area of Elixir Enterprises.
And the first person she saw was Barrett Evers.
Chapter Seven
Barrett’s heart stopped beating. Or at least, it felt like it as soon as he saw her.
What was Scarlet Bloom doing here?
He’d come out into the lobby to ask Arista to fax some paperwork to his father’s office in New York. And suddenly he’d heard the elevator doors open and there she was. His past come back to haunt him.
And she was still the most beautiful thing he’d ever seen.
“I’m sorry, can I help you?” Arista asked, walking from around the desk.
Scarlet looked at her, clearly speechless. He could tell she wasn’t expecting to see him. What was she even doing here at all? He’d just talked to Ben last week. Not that they ever talked about Scarlet but he definitely would have mentioned it if she was in Las Vegas.
“Scarlet?” he somehow managed to say.
“Yeah,” she replied, slowly. “I was here to see my mom. I had no idea…”
“Scarlet!”
Michelle was in the reception area now, her eyes wide. She looked back and forth between Barrett and Scarlet, not sure what to do. Michelle knew a little bit about their story, but not even close to all of it or even the most important parts. But she knew that Barrett was a topic that was off limits to Scarlet. You couldn’t even say his name without her leaving the room. And now here she was, unexpectedly in his presence.
So much for a day with no hitches.
“Hey, Momma,” Scarlet said. “I was hoping to surprise you. I’m sorry, I didn’t know that today would probably be a bad day for that. I should have texted.”
“Well, yes, that probably would have been smart,” Michelle said, briskly. “Come back to my office. We’ll talk about it. Mr. Evers, I am so sorry-“
“No need to apologize, Michelle,” Barrett said, still staring at Scarlet as she walked towards her mom. She wouldn’t even glance at him. Like he was a stranger or worse- someone she was scared of.
He suddenly found it hard to breathe. He hadn’t been in the same room with her for almost five years. And the last time he’d seen her was a day he had sp
ent years trying to move past. And suddenly here she was. And she looked fucking gorgeous, dammit. Her hair was longer than it had been, her body just as curvy, even in jeans and a sweater. And those eyes… He knew he’d be useless today, just knowing she was this close to him. Dammit, Scarlet.
He must have looked how he felt because suddenly Arista’s manicured hand was on his arm.
“Mr. Evers, are you okay?” she asked, her face clearly concerned. “Can I get you something?”
“I’m okay,” he said, smiling thinly at her. “I just feel like I’ve seen a ghost. That’s all.”
********
“Scarlet Abigail Bloom, what on earth are you doing here?” Michelle asked as she closed her office door behind her. She was completely confused as to what was happening and today was just not the day for it. She was worked up enough over Barrett being here.
“I wanted to surprise you,” Scarlet said, quietly. “I thought you’d be happy to see me.”
“You know I’m always happy to see you,” Michelle said, her voice softening. She took Scarlet’s hand, “I just don’t love surprises at work. It’s Barrett’s first day here and I… I just wanted it to go smoothly.”
“I feel terrible,” Scarlet said. “This was such a terrible idea. I should have called you. Or just met you at home.”
“Honey, if it was any other day it wouldn’t be a big deal. You just caught me off guard and- well, I’m just going to say it. I know how you feel about Barrett. This was probably the worst day for you to do this,” Michelle laughed. “But such is the way of a Bloom. We have the worst timing.”