Page 13 of Between Love and Loathing
I gnashed my teeth together and ground them back and forth. Even though tears pricked my eyes, I smiled through them. “Well, could I at least look at the appliances you ordered?”
He lifted a brow at my snark. I was beyond being polite though. “Is it a problem that I ordered those too?”
“I’d like to take a look at which models and brands specifically. I have certain tastes when it comes to the tools I use every day.”
“Clara, I assure you we’ve ordered the best.” He crossed his large arms over his chest. I tried not to glance down. I could list his accolades like most magazines did, but I would never repeat what they wrote about his appearance. They called him one of the most attractive men in the world next to Brad Pitt, and honestly, he’d probably beat him out. His dark hair had the perfect wave, his strong jaw had the perfect angle, and his large arms were perfect to have wrapped around a woman.
I took a step back so my body could distance itself. “Even so, if you happen to have a receipt for the appliances, I’ll look it over and confirm—”
He sighed and grabbed his phone from his pocket. Two seconds later, my phone pinged. I scanned the list from the picture he’d sent and couldn’t help but wrinkle my nose. Most of it was perfect, but none of it had a splash of color. Stainless steel, black, matte-black espresso machine.
“What’s wrong with it?” He was scanning my features when I glanced up. For anyone else I would have given in. I was used to rolling over and not causing waves. But not this time.
“I don’t like the colors of these appliances,” I blurted out and felt lighter immediately. I didn’t want to appease people here like I did in the past. So, I guess I was going to protect my new self at all costs.
“The color?” His question was asked in a higher pitch. “Jesus Christ.”
“It’smybakery, Dominic.” I threw back. “I have to work here. Do you understand that? Once you and Rita leave and move on to your next venture, I still want to be here. And I didn't pick the color scheme for any of this,” I pointed out and then turned to wave toward the walls and the tables that had been set up. “Although you have the structure of the blueprint spot on, the mock-ups that I approved had bursts of color. Rita’s changed every literal thing.”
“Well, Rita has a vision. And she fought for it.”
Was that a comment at how easily I’d given in to them? “Are you saying I should have fought more?” I narrowed my eyes at him. He knew the will’s stipulations just as well as I did and I’d been trying to accommodate them by giving in time and time again.
“I’m saying you and Rita handled it, and we’re here now.” He sighed like this was all below his pay grade.
“Okay.” I tried to pull back my feelings because lashing out wouldn’t solve anything. Yet it was another chip at my dream. I’d just heard him micromanaging someone’s flooring on the phone. There’s no way he hadn’t had a say in draining all the color from my bakery. “I’ll talk with her about it.”
“Keep in mind she’s handling the lobby design and suites this week. I’ll be covering some of the final construction and so we won’t have much more time to spend here. The grand reopening of the resort is in just a few months. You have the dates in your calendar, correct?”
I nodded slowly, trying not to nitpick at the way his question demeaned my intelligence. “I’ll be ready.”
“See that you have extra staff working with you during the grand reopening. Rita gave you the list of hires available?” I nodded. “A lot of people will be coming through just to see the place and try things out. Are you staying close to the resort?”
“Close enough.” I shrugged. If this was Dominic’s small talk and attempt at smoothing things over, he had a long way to go.
He hummed like he didn’t approve of my answer. I don’t think he approved of anything in regard to me. “Shall we get back to the group and continue with this ridiculous party tonight?”
“I’m excited about the party,” I told him, so he didn’t think the idea was stupid. Whoever had planned it and placed importance on us all getting to know each other was building a good team of workers. “We’ll all be much more helpful to one another if we hang out and are friends.”
“You would think that,” he grumbled and then waved me toward the door.
“It’s true, Dominic. Think about if you’d come to me about your resort designs and I came to you with my bakery designs. We could have maybe come up with a better outcome than—”
“Better?” He glared. “As in not a hospital setting? You do realize magazines have said this is a brilliant display of opposition balancing, the straight lines with the curves, the black with the white—”
“I really didn’t mean …” I glanced up at him to see the passion in his eyes when describing the place.
“Also”—a small smile suddenly played on his lips—“I don’t enjoy any sort of color. Not even on your dress.”
I instantly grabbed the fabric of my dress, completely affronted. I loved flowers on dresses, color, and light everywhere. Glancing down and then up again, he started to chuckle “You’re teasing me. That’s fine. Whatever. I think you know this resort is beautiful. You don’t need my approval.”
He rolled his eyes and opened the door for me so I could walk out into the lobby. “Oh good. We done throwing insults at me now?”
“Atyou? I didn’t say anything about you. I just said your resort—”
“My resortisme. We’re one and the same, Clara.” He said it with such conviction that I actually felt like we could relate for a second.
“Then you must know that me and my bakery are one and the same too. You realize that you and Rita upending my design was an insult every single time, right? If you change my design, you insult my bakery. And I am my bakery.” I squared up to him, willing him to disagree.
