Page 81 of I Choose You
The two of them left together, leaving me in my empty house, alone. And just like that, I was missing my girl again.
26
Claire
Weak sunlight, mostly obscured by the gray clouds that blanketed the sky, filtered through the guest bedroom window, where I was hunched over my laptop. After my meeting with Andrew and the new designer, Gina, yesterday, I was given additional research tasks to help while she got acclimated to her new job.
Digging into the history of a certain building, viewing it through the eyes of the community as it was today and how it would have been in the past, was a part of the job that I loved. And I was good at it. That was why Andrew kept assigning me all of the research tasks. But I still had my own project to manage as well. I was getting all the research done today; that way, when I got back to Calla Bay, I could put all my focus on the Delano Library.
The hours whizzed by as I found myself down rabbit hole after rabbit hole.
A knock sounded at the door, pulling me from my recent trip.
“Come in,” I called.
Leon opened the door, looking more relaxed than usual in a pair of dress pants, button-down, and suit jacket, but no tie.
“Ms. DeLuca, your mother is requesting your presence in the den.”
“Thanks, Leon. I’ll be right down.”
I saved my notes and made my way downstairs, finding my mother already scowling.
“Hey, Mom,” I said.
She raised a single manicured finger, asking me to wait. I hadn’t noticed she had her phone to her ear when I walked in.
“I requested ivory chair coverings, not off-white. If I wanted to do all of the work myself, I wouldn’t be paying you to do it,” she said into the phone. “As interesting as that is, I expect ivory chair coverings by tonight.”
She put her phone down and sat back in her chair.
“I know what you’re thinking, and no, if I had been softer with her, I wouldn’t be getting the proper chair coverings.”
“I didn’t say a word.”
“I can see it written all over your face.”
That was interesting. It wasn’t a comment I was used to hearing, having spent so much of my life keeping my perpetual smile in place. I fixed my face into a mask of disinterest.
“We have to go by the venue this afternoon to oversee the setup for tomorrow’s gala,” she said.
“We do?” I asked. I knew that the annual leukemia research fundraising dinner was tomorrow night, but between my mother, her event coordinator Jackie, and the hotel’s event team, I was sure they had it covered.
“Yes, Claire.Wedo. This event is important to me, and Iwant to make sure everything is done properly. You’re here. You’re available. Is there something else that’s so important you can’t take a few hours out of your busy schedule to help put this event on?”
“Of course not. I’m happy to help,” I said. It was obviously a great cause, and I really didn’t mind helping. But it would have been nice to be asked instead of told for a change.
“Good. You’ll see firsthand what it takes to coordinate something like this for when you start hosting your own events one day.”
“Mom, please listen to me. I respect all the work you do to plan and host these events, but I don’t have that kind of free time since I’m working all day.” One day… maybe one day, she would really hear me.
My mother waved her hand away, dismissing my comments. “I don’t know why you insist on having that career. The man works you to the bone, taking you away from home for months at a time, and pays you a pittance. If you insist on having a career, you should have finished law school like your father wanted.”
“I don’t want to be a lawyer though. I want to bring new life to old buildings and preserve their history,” I sighed. “I don’t want to go over this again, Mom. Can we talk about something else?”
“Are you and that boy an item now?”
Okay, maybe I should have stuck with the career conversation. There was no way my mother would understand, and certainly not support, my relationship with Reid.
