Page 63 of Unforgiven in Cheshire Bay

My best guess was he was avoiding me, plain and simple, and possibly watching me from his office, and that was the one area I gazed up to as I lumbered from the reno area back through the dining room and out the door. My shoulders sagged, and I was curled around my middle more than normal; the weight of being a raging disaster was a tough burden to carry.

When I set the last piece down, I took a final, empty-hearted look around. To my surprise, the booth pieces were already hanging, and dang it, I had to admit they looked great. There was a sense of pride seeing my artwork on display, knowing I had created it with my bare hands and it was hanging for all to see. I’d half expected him to have changed his mind, but then again, based on the cost…

A shadow crossed my left field of view.

David walked around the dining room and stopped a few feet from me. His voice was as chilling as a winter’s breeze. “Do you have a minute before you go?”

My mouth was as dry as the desert, and I stiffened in response, but my heart hammered so loudly, I barely heard him. “Of course.”

“Come to my office please.”

Nodding slowly, I removed my work gloves and gave myself a quick dusting before I followed him through the dining room, in through the kitchen where several staff stopped what they were doing to watch me follow behind like a dog with my tail tucked between my legs. One heavy step at a time, I ambled up the curving stairs.

He sat at his desk, rubbing his temple with his left hand, while he motioned to the door with his right. “You can close that.”

My chest tingled and my fingertips turned as cold as the room felt. I sat on the only other chair available, and it was firm and uncomfortable, much like me. A sour taste formed in the back of my mouth. “Before you say anything, I want to apologize.”

He cracked his lips apart, but I lifted a finger to stop him.

“I didn’t mean for things to get so out of hand with regards to the reviews. That was low, and really, the first couple should’ve just been enough.” My hands clasped together, and a razor-edged lump formed in the back of my throat. “I’ve hired a service to help in removing those malicious reviews since I can’t do it on my own.”

“Mmmhmm.” He tore his eyes off me just long enough to pick up his phone and type into it.

I tugged at my shirt collar and as I moved my arm, I caught a whiff of myself. Damn. Could he smell my body odor too? Jesus, how embarrassing. A swatch of sweat bloomed across the nape of my neck, tightening and curling the little hairs dangling from my low ponytail.

Clearing my throat, I shifted in my seat. “Yes, I did wrong, and wholeheartedly accept that, however, given the circumstances, I think I deserve some understanding and forgiveness too. I was not myself. And neither were you.”

“I see.”

Jesus, that was the wrong thing to have said.

Scorn shadowed his face as he aggressively rubbed his beard, and as his eyes burrowed into my soul, which I let him penetrate. I no longer had anything left to hide.

“And for all that, I’m sorry.” My breath strangled me, and my voice lost some of its power. “I know my apology means dick in the grand scheme of things, but I’m open to ideas on how to fix that and make things better with you.” I broke our connection and focused on the edge of his immaculate desk. My voice fell further, barely audible like a breath in the wind, but somehow it managed to stay together without completely shattering, unlike my heart. “And about the money and the cost difference.”

“I’m not even concerned about that.”

Did I—What?

I shook my head as I wasn’t sure how to respond. I’d mentally played over a dozen different scenarios, but none of them had him saying anything close to not being concerned.

“You brought all the pieces in today?”

I nodded, wondering if I should’ve brought in Vera’s hearing aid as I still wasn’t sure I was hearing properly.

“You’re what, eighteen days ahead of schedule?”

“Something like that.” Closing my arms, and trapping my sweaty scent firmly in my armpits, I inhaled a lung full of fresh air, and with it a little more confidence. “I finished before the originally scheduled completion, and just a few days prior to the amended version.”

I hadn’t slept much over the past few days and every single minute I wasn’t with Vera, I had been in the shop.

“It’s all there?”

“Complete with instructions for the reno guys to snap it all into place. Easier to put together than furniture from Ikea.”

At least that caused a weak smile to start.

The desk rattled and he retrieved an envelope, sliding it in my direction. “Payment in full.”

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