“It’s a piece of cake!”
“For you, maybe. I didn’t take a degree in corporate law as you did and I’ve a family to take care of. I certainly can’t deal with everything.”
“Put Melissa to work.”
“Marc, Mel is pregnant! Do you get it? She’s soon having a baby to take care of.”
“Why? Can’t she breast-feed the baby in the office?”
“Marc, don’t be boorish!” intervened Berenice furiously. How could he be so tactless?
“Well, you go working as a secretary!” shouted Marc in return, then he calmed down and gazed at her intensively. “Berry, you’re jobless. Why aren’t you dealing with these administrative matters?”
“I’m not sure I’m able to,” answered Berenice, flushing for being considered for that position by Marc.
“Melissa will teach you anything.”
“You forget I live in Brocketville. I should look for a house…”
“You can stay in the guesthouse,” suggested Marc.
“ Your guesthouse?” was surprised Arthur, knowing how that place was off limits. Marc considered it his secret hideout.
“Why not!”
“Marc, I don’t know what to say,” whispered Berenice, embarrassed.
“Say yes.”
“Marc, are you really sharing your hideout with a woman? You’ve always said…”
“I remember what I said, but Berry is different.”
“Does ‘different’ mean I’m not a woman?” asked Berenice, offended.
“That’s right,” pontificated Marc.
“So what would I be?”
“You’re a funny and clumsy small animal causing damage to everything in its path.”
“So would you be my master?” asked Berenice, repenting immediately after looking at the man’s self-important and evil face.
“That’s right.”
She had any kind of insults and terms of abuse on the tip of her tongue, but before they came out of her mouth the two boys’ mother joined them and invited them to have a snack at home.
They all obediently accepted her invitation and went back in, finding Melissa serving the second slice of blackberry and raspberry cake in a small dish.
“Your favorite one,” exclaimed Leny hugging Marc happily.
“Marc doesn’t need to eat this cake. Now he has his own berry,” laughed Arthur scornfully, reaching his wife.
“This cake is for Marc,” clarified the mother at once. “He loves wild berries and I’ve made it in his honor. In your honor too, of course, Berry. I hope you’ll come back to visit us soon.”
“Berry’s moving in. She’s replacing Melissa in the family business,” informed Marc, leaving everybody present speechless.
“Actually I haven’t accepted yet,” hissed Berenice, ill at ease.
“You will.”
“How can you be so sure?”
“Because I’m the one who’s asking you.”
“What an arrogant and conceited man!” she insulted him, irritated.
“Let’s see if you’ll dare speak to me like that again once I became your boss,” challenged Marc, taking her face in his hands, forcing her to stare at his magnetic look.
“I thought the boss was your bro.”
“I’ll replace him when he becomes a father.”
“What about your artistic career?”
“I’ll take some time off,” answered Marc pronto. He looked forward to subduing Berry to his will.
“I’ll never work at your command.”
“Why not?” asked Marc innocently.
“You’re insufferable, conceited, domineering and you’d just enjoy enslaving me and making me do all that you want.”
“Would you find being enslaved by me and my irresistible charm so unpleasant?”
“You’re… you’re…”
“Adorable,” concluded Marc, before stopping her mouth with a kiss.
“Get a room!” jested Arthur in front of their passionate kiss.
“We’d better go,” whispered Berenice as soon as she caught her breath, totally embarrassed.
“Why aren’t you staying here till tomorrow?” suggested the mother hopefully.
Berenice finally accepted, shyly.
At dusk Marc took her to the guesthouse.
“If you take the job, this could be your new home,” said Marc, taking her in his arms once they were alone.
“Do you really want me to stay here? In your house? With your family?”
“You still have to give a gift to me, haven’t you? Berry, please, accept. Give me this.”
“Give me a good reason why I should leave my family, my home, my town to come here.”
“Because I fell in love with you and I don’t want let you go,” confessed Marc, hugging her tightly.
Berenice felt herself the happiest woman in the world. Her feelings were returned.
“I want to be with you too,” exclaimed enthusiastically, placing her lips on his.
Epilogue
“I quit!” burst out Berenice, stepping into the office.
“Forget it,” muttered Marc absent-mindedly. He was busy examining the supplying costs he had requested some days before.
“I’ve already made my decision.”
“I’m the one who decides who goes and who stays… and you stay,” pontificated Marc severely, now paying attention to that woman who was looking askance at him, always ready to oppose him. Why was it so hard to make her do what he wanted?
“Marc, I can’t stand it any longer! You’re insufferable!” snapped Berenice.
“But last night you told me you couldn’t stand it any longer and, as far as I know, you didn’t flee my bed,” reminded Marc, making her blush. He knew how she could be embarrassed at hearing about their nights of love in that place she claimed was a public workplace where someone could be always listening.
“Stop it! Marc, I’m serious. Since Danny was born and Arthur put you in full control of the farm, going to work has become a nightmare,” she explained to him, frustrated. For two months she had been learning from Melissa and Leny how to manage the accounts, the arrival of the goods, the consignments and all the rest. In those two months she had been treated as a princess and constantly praised by the whole Hailen family for her excellent work. She had been working hard for two months in order to make the only person she really cared about proud of her, waiting for him every weekend between a movie shooting and an interview.
She still remembered their celebrations after Marc declared on live television that he would have left the showbiz indefinitely to help his family and work in his brother’s farm.
The embrace between father and son as a peace sign, when Marc came back, was unforgettable too.
Berenice had felt like living in a dream.
Each time Marc had come back to her, her heart raced even more, and each time he had to leave, it skipped some beats.
They had spent beautiful days. That summer had been the best of her life.
All she needed was a small detail: Marc had not yet told her to love her and she had bitten her tongue several times to not declare herself to the man. She didn’t want run the risk of keeping him at distance or forcing him to do the same with such declaration.
However their story apparently was going better and better and when he informed her that time he would not be leaving ever again, she was in the seventh heaven.
The real problems had started a week before.
After three-day celebrations for the birth of Arthur and Melissa’s son, Marc had taken full control of the administration office, calling himself ‘Berry’s only boss’. She was supposed to account to him for anything, so each piece of work from her that once was considered excellent had suddenly turned to be second-rate or no more than OK.
Marc did not miss any chance to reproach her.
“Working is a nightmare to me,” stressed Berenice, seeing Marc pay little attention to her complains.
“
That’s impossible! I’m a perfect boss and I’ll increase the three-monthly sales by 6% thanks to the changes I’m making soon.”
“Arthur was a perfect boss. You’re a despot.”
“Arthur has never reached 6% that fast.
“Maybe you’re right, but at least he knew how to make a workplace healthy and calm for his employees.”
“So do I.”
“But if only yesterday you insulted two employees who were smoking in here and the day before yesterday you slammed the door in Kirk Mason’s face, because he dared ask you an advance on wages?”
“I’m a boss, not a benefactor. Do you want to blame me if I expect the work is done well?”
“A good boss not only has to berate his employees in the face of difficulty, but he also has to learn to thank and compliment them on their success .”
“Berry, do you feel… berated by me?”
Every day!
“I wasn’t talking about me… not only about me. I’m just saying you should also start appreciating what is done, since if you reach your 6%, it surely won’t happen only thanks to you.”
“I didn’t think you were so populist,” laughed Marc scornfully, struck and amused by her talking-to. “I’m sorry you can’t understand my methods. I’m just trying to spur all the employees to do their best.”
“You’re just spurring everybody to resign. At that point, are you going to work in the fields instead of them?”
“I’m a businessman, not a laborer,” clarified Marc at once, annoyed.
“Well, businessman. Remember that your ‘labor secretary’ has just given the advance to Kirk Mason and promised all the employees that if we reach your 6%, all of us will get a bonus on salary in acknowledgement of our dedication and hard work.”
“I haven’t authorized you,” hissed Marc, unprepared. How could Berry have gone over his head like that?
“I know, but I think Arthur’s signature on a proxy in my favor has some value after all,” said Berenice with a velvety voice and a false nonchalance, which made him fly into a rage.
“You are laid off!” shouted Marc.
“Are you writing my letter of reference or do I have to ask Arthur?” she asked him, triumphant for obtaining what she wanted.
For the first time Marc’s face got slightly purple for the repressed anger that shortly after he vented in a wave of curses. But Berry left them behind when she rushed out the room.
That day she did not set foot in the office again and took the opportunity to walk around the town, but at dinner she could not avoid his homicidal look that had been mentally torturing her all day.
The whole family had noticed Marc’s restlessness and soon after dinner there was a general and hurried withdrawal, so Berenice found herself alone to face Marc’s irritation.
“Would you like some coffee… or better still, some chamomile?” she asked kindly, after finishing cleaning the kitchen up.
“Today you disappeared,” snarled Marc still angry, holding her by the arm.
“I was enjoying my jobless first day.”
“You spurred me to lay you off. I hated you for that,” confessed Marc, still annoyed.
“I’m sure you’ll find another secretary soon,” minimized Berenice, making him become even more irritable.
“I don’t want anyone else! Why is everything so difficult with you?” sighed Marc, clasping her in his arms. He did not stand the woman’s elusive attitude. He was always scared of losing her: at first it happened when he had to come back to Los Angeles for work, and now because he was afraid of being unable to keep her bound to him, which made him go crazy. Frustrated and angry for the sense of jealousy and possessiveness he often felt towards her, he kissed the girl so roughly and for a long time to take her breath away. “Don’t dare ever again go away as you did today.”
“I went to town to buy a present for you,” revealed Berenice, taking a small flat box out of the pocket of his large skirt. She gently handed it to Marc who saw it suspiciously.
She saw him open the packing gingerly.
In it there was a white golden pendant with a small black diamond in the middle, hanging from a black string that highlighted the brightness of the stone still further. According to its use, it could be worn as a bracelet too.
“What’s it?” asked Marc tense, without taking the small jewel out of the box.
“What does it look like to you?” got nervous Berenice, offended by his suspiciousness. She had used up her entire salary to buy that small gift. Even if she had board and lodging with all expenses paid, it had been a crazy purchase to her.
“You tell me,” became inflexible Marc, having a déjà vu. How could she have bought him another leaving present?
“Marc, this is a gift. You see?” she explained, spelling out each word . “This is a real diamond… and remember it cost me a fortune. This is white gold, not silver or steel. There’s also the manufacturer’s certificate inside, you see? And besides, since I didn’t know if you liked a pendant or a bracelet, I chose this one because it can be worn in both ways.”
No matter how Berenice did her best to point out that her gift was of great worth, Marc was not even listening to her. He was too worried that it might be just one of those leaving presents he had bought very willingly in the past to separate from his ex-girlfriends.
“I don’t want it.”
“What?!” shouted Berenice, offended.
“For all I care, you can return it to the shop.”
“ Are you kidding, aren’t you?” muttered Berenice, confused. “I don’t understand you. I buy you a miserable pendant and you reject it because it isn’t expensive and doesn’t have any diamonds. Now I buy you this golden marvel with a small embedded black diamond and you reject it anyway? What the hell do you want, Marc?”
“Have another go. Maybe you’ll be luckier on the third try.”
“There won’t be a third try!” she burst out, furious. “I had bought you this pendant thinking you liked it.”
“Give it to Arthur. Maybe he likes it.”
“This is a present for you, Marc. I can’t give it to anyone else. I also had something engraved on it,” whispered, broken-hearted, turning the jewel through her fingers to show the inscription:
I LOVE YOU. BERRY
As Marc read the small inscription, his face lighted up at once. It was not a leaving present, but a real love token!
“Berry, thank you. It’s beautiful,” he fondly whispered in her ear, hugging her tightly and clasping her hand that still held the small jewel.
“So you’ve changed your mind,” cheered up Berenice, seeing happiness in his brightened eyes she loved and knew inside out .
“Only your personal touch could turn a common object into something really special and unique,” admitted Marc, banishing all the fear with which he had been seized a few seconds before.
“I’m happy,” exclaimed Berenice, excited. She had succeeded in expressing her feelings for him at last!
Moved and worried that he could change his mind again, she adjusted the string and immediately put it on Marc’ right wrist.
“Me too. I’m happy because you love me and make every single day in that office more tolerable to me and to all the employees. If it weren’t for you, I know the half of them would have already gone away because of my unhelpful… character.”
“Marc, I love you, but…”
“I know. That’s why I’ll try to change and be less intransigent.”
“Really?”
“I’ll do it for you, because I love you. I don’t want to lose you. I can’t.”
“Will you stop giving me orders too?” attempted Berenice, moved by Marc’s words. He just answered her with his usual arrogant and despotic smile.
“Never.”
THE END
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A Star in My Life Page 14