AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“I’m not one for doing work on a holiday, but it sounds good. I guess I can give you a friend rate, as well,” Beth joked as she hugged Jessica. “We’ve got this, Jess.”
Jessica heard her and hoped she was right.
Twelve hours later Jessica realized that this plan was a bit more ambitious than she had thought. She was right that Beth had lots of ideas on how to decorate the Shell. Jessica knew what was needed was an office for Clay. A meeting place for the board members and a relaxing place for the people of Peace. She could do this; she knew she could. It would show Pilar she knew what numbers meant. Great plans didn’t get done by themselves.
The floor was rustic, so Beth said. Jessica just heard they didn’t have to renovate it. By the time the afternoon had rolled around to the next day, Jessica knew more about construction than she ever wanted to. They were waiting for the man to come and finish the walls in the blocked-out area of the Shell. When the temporary door opened, in walked Brian.
That man was sure a distraction. What was worse, he was walking in with donuts if her nose was accurate and still he said they weren’t friends. This man had her thinking in equations before he even spoke.
“Looking good in here,” he said.
Jessica smiled and started counting prime numbers. (3,5,7….). She had taken her ring off, so, so much for that stress reliever.
“Thanks, I’m doing my best, “Jessica said.
“So, I heard.”
Jessica wanted to ask where he had heard all of that. She had just come up with the idea yesterday. It took her most of today to finalize it. Unless he had a direct pipeline to Beth or her dreams, she had no idea where he was getting his information. Jessica didn’t think he was here to scope out the competition. So why was he here?
“So, are you going to share the donuts or just dangle them and tempt us?” Beth said as she licked her lips.
“No, they’re for you,” Brian said as he placed the donuts on the table.
“Real considerate of you,” Jessica said, still not taking a donut. Beth on the other hand had dived in and was making inroads as if she hadn’t eaten all day. When Jessica looked up she saw Brian watching her like a hawk. For a moment Jessica wanted to look in the mirror and make sure nothing was wrong or on her face. Her heartbeat sped up and her throat was dry. What was wrong with her? This was her competition and nothing more. Now when she really looked at Brain it was all clear. He was right, she wasn’t his friend. Jessica wasn’t sure what that made them, and she didn’t want to look too closely at it, either. She wasn’t ready to look at the other options, she had an executive to impress.
“If you two don’t join me, I’m going to eat all of these donuts. Where did you get them, they are —” Jessica saw Beth stand up and look at them both. “Hello! Remember you two are the official Hatfield’s and the McCoy’s, you know the real live Romeo and Juliet. I could find two people who were more against each other.”
Jessica nodded. “Yeah, we are at war.”
Brian smiled. “War? No, I don’t think so. I think we need to show how well we work together. We still have a job to do, and I won’t get in your way with Pilar. Besides, I spoke to her, and she thinks it’s a great idea that we are working together.”
Jessica sputtered. “Working together?!”
Brian smiled and crossed his arms over his chest. “Yes, working together on our plan.”
Beth dropped her donut into the box and then charged at Brian. Jessica put her body between them at the last moment and stopped Beth. Even though her body had stopped her temper hadn’t.
“I knew I was right about you. You are nothing more than a good-looking snitch. I told Jessica from the very beginning that —”
“Well, at least she said I was good looking,” Brian said with a smile. Jessica turned to face him once she was sure Beth wouldn’t jump.
“In this case, good looking is not a compliment. However, if you are going to help, you can help with the outside.”
“The outside?”
“Yes, we have the interior done. What I’d like to have outside are cabanas.”
“Cabanas? Tell me, do you know I can do that or are you suggesting a task that you think is beyond me?”
Jessica smiled sweetly. “When you work for me, you’ll understand I don’t set my employees up to fail.”
Brian leaned down and spoke, so his breath fanned her ear. “I don’t mind working for some people, especially those I have to manage. You know some bosses think they know what to do but when I’m done with them, it’s hard to tell my ideas from theirs.”
With that, he stood up and said he’d be back in a fake Arnold Schwarzenegger voice. When he was gone Beth looked at Jessica and then tsked.
“Weasel through and through.”
Jessica shook her head. “He won’t be back. So, let’s just let it go. We have work to do.”
