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A couple of burly guys to do the heavy lifting?I joked.
Done. I’ll see you tomorrow.
A.
Wait, what? Was he serious?I was just kidding about the burly guys…
I wasn’t. Don’t lift anything heavy. You can lift cushions. Maybe some books. I draw the line at furniture.
A.
I grinned, finding his overbearing behaviour amusing where once it would have driven me crazy.You’re being ridiculous.
Yes, I’m aware of that. I’ll see you tomorrow.
A.
Before I could type out a response, my desk phone rang. I threw my mobile in my desk drawer and picked up.
“Rosie’s Nursery and Boutique.”
“Lola?” I recognised the voice immediately. A cold sweat sprang up on the back of my neck.
“Don’t hang up.” I should hang up, I really should, but I felt stuck, the phone frozen to my ear as Adam spoke again.
“How are you?”How am I?I took a deep breath, refusing to get riled up.Do not engage.When Adam had first started up with this craziness, that had been the advice from every police officer and online information site on stalkers that I could find.Do. Not. Engage. It was stupid advice, though. How the hell do you avoid engaging with someone who’s haunting every waking moment of your life?
I hadn’t spoken yet but Adam was used to that. He was always able to direct an entire conversation with little to no input from me. He’d always said I didn’t need to speak for him to decide what I wanted.
“I need to see you.” He spoke in a low voice that he probably thought was seductive.
“Adam, I’m not doing this. I don’t want to speak to you, I don’t want to see you. You need to leave me alone and—” I was on the verge of threatening to call the police when the door opened and Mark entered, looking pissed. Were all the men in my life crazy? Bradley’s kind face popped into my brain before I kicked him back out again.
I hung up on Adam’s rambling and turned to face my new drama.
“Mark!” I smiled brightly. “I wasn’t expecting you today, I thought you’d be at Harrington again.”
“Yes, well as much as I admire yourboyfriend’sefforts to keep me away from you, I do still work here.” He glared at me.He knows. I didn’t know how he’d figured it out, but he had, and he was pissed.
“I’m sorry.” I didn’t know what else to say. Mark had spent the last few weeks being a Grade A dick to me but that didn’t make it okay for Alfie to mess with him.
“It doesn’t matter. I’m here because I wanted a word with you.” Oh, this wasn’t going to be good.
“Okay.” I put down my pen and waited. Mark crossed his arms as he stood over me, his watery blue eyes mean behind his thin-rimmed glasses.
“I spoke to Riley Fitzpatrick on Friday. He wasthrilledwith your plans.”
“And you’re angry with me because…?” As far as I knew, a happy client was a good thing.
“Because I thought I’d made it clear that you were to run them by me first. I am your mentor?—”
“You could’ve fooled me,” I muttered.
“What was that?”Oh crap, Lola.I hadn’t actually meant to say that out loud. I looked up at the man I’d once admired, the man whose face was twisted up in so much bitterness that I barely recognised him.
“I said you could have fooled me,” I repeated clearly. “Look, I’m sorry if you’re angry, but you have given me absolutely no guidance on this project. In fact, you haven’t taken an interest at all other than to imply that you don’t think I deserve the opportunity. So I took matters into my own hands. My designs?—”
“Were juvenile,” he snapped. Any respect I’d had for him died in that moment and I sat back in my chair, feeling calm in front of him for the first time in weeks.