A Second Chance (26 page)

F
inally
he looked up, his dark eyes
mischievous.
‘
Great
.
No
need to be tied in such knots, Jade. Looks wonderful to me.’

‘
Nothing
amiss?’
S
he
stared at him, the soft breeze coming from the ocean ruffling up her hair
.
‘
Y
ou
know, you
’
re putting me under a lot of pressure, Liam. You can’t tell me that our tastes are so overlapping
;
that’s just impossible. Yes, you gave me a good idea of what you like, but still these
—
’ she pointed to the sketches on the table
,
‘
—
are my ideas and proposals. Now is whe
n
we should discuss it
.
Y
ou
’
re my client
,
and I am waiting for you to give me a direction to go from here
.
’

‘
So
far
,
so good
,
’ he smiled soothingly, his hand covering hers in a momentary gesture
.
‘I can’t hel
p if I like everything you do
. I told
you,
I
’
m not good with home reno
vation
s
.
T
hey
’
re just to
o
exact.
’

‘
Yeah
, like designing an
advertis
ing
campaign for a new
art
center or
a festival is so much easier
.
’
S
he
was feeling
annoyed,
his lack of criticism leaving her too much free
dom
for her own
liking.
‘
Tell
me about it
.
’

‘Actually
,
it is
.
’
H
e
grinned and bit into a sandwich
.
‘
T
here I
'
m free, not really worrying about things
fitting
perfectly or
collaps
ing
if I measure them wrong. I just design the skeleton of it, if you like, leaving the mundane work for specialists.’

‘Sounds like fun
.
I would like to see you working on it some
time.
It m
ust
be a blast just to plan things and have your magical people come and execute your ideas.’

‘
That’s
good
.
’
H
e
nodded, his eyes squinted against the sun
.
‘
B
ecause I would like you to come and visit my office. We
’
ve been dating for almost a week now, so it
’s
high time you show some interest in my work, my dear
.
’

‘I
’
m up to my elbows in the kitchen reno
vation
now
.
’
S
he
knew she was looking for excuses, but the thought of
going
with him
to be
introduced to his
co
-
workers
scared her.
Th
at
would make their pretend relationship more real
;
so far
she
had
managed to spend
her
time at his place
,
the
work on the transformation saving her from other obligations.
The rest of her
time she spent with Laura, helping her to get ready for the rapidly approaching surgery. She
found it
beneficial to engage in her work, giving her
the
purpose and
distraction
that
she so desperately needed.
Liam had provided her with a whole team of workers that
was
making the reno
vations
go as smooth
ly
as possible. She was used to direct
ing
a much smaller
group
at her projects back home, but would rather die than admit it to anyone out here. So far
,
delegating a bigger group of workers wasn’t that different from her previous experiences, the men polite and efficient in their
execution of
whatever plans she had.

She thought about her stubborn friend
, Laura
, who
had
insisted
on
not tell
ing
Rocco
anything
about her illness
, her face as closed as Liam’s as she admitted
that she would
hat
e
to find out he pitied her.
They chatted about it while
at Liam’s
or at Laura’s place, where
Jade
still stayed. She had suggested moving out, realizing that crashing at
Laura’s
home for too long wasn’t a viable option.
The loft
, with its
small bedroom adjacent to the main open space
,
was
not suited for constant cohabitation. The commission that Liam
paid
her for the project was more than enough to rent a place for the time she
would be
in San Francisco. However
,
Laura
had
practically forced her to abandon
that
plan,
argu
ing
that she enjoyed
Jade’s
company way too much to see her leave. Plus, she added with a devilish sparkle in her eyes, it was her first
chance
to use the ‘Cancer Card
,
’ as she playfully called it.
Jade found it
difficult to refuse her as she talked about the benefits of having her best friend over while waiting for the dreaded surgery that
quickly
approached. In the end
,
Jade had
relented
but
forced Laura to accept a
portion of the
rent she would pay
elsewhere
.
Faced with the choice of Jade moving out if she refused the money or accepting it, Laura grudgingly agreed, making her promise
that
she wouldn’t mention it to her brother.
Liam would
have
a fit if he found out about the arrangement, his sense of family and fri
ends helping each other not allowing for any monetary issues to come between them.

‘
The
kitchen can wait
.
’
Liam
was watching her, his observant gaze making her want to cringe and hide behind one of
th
e
huge containers they had ordered to dispose of rubble and
other renovation
-
related waste
. ‘Mel will be there tomorrow. She
’s
been
away for a few days now, working out a deal for me in New York
,
and is returning tomorrow. Knowing her
,
she
’
ll jump
on the
opportuni
ty to show up
at
the office right away. Which I
w
ill
spoil for her, tactfully
,
of course. But
since R
ob’s surgery is literally days away
,
I can’t do it if I don’t want her
to
run to him
,
crying.
’

‘
Have
you ever wonder
ed
why she
’s
so obsessed with you?
After
all
,
if I was
rejected
so many times and told how little a man cared, my
pride
—
if nothing else
—
would kick in and keep me away from repeating my mistakes.’

‘
Of course
I have
.
’
H
e
smiled, his fingers playing with the wrapping of his sandwich
. ‘I
’
m not that vain, you know.’

He looked
past her
, somewhere over the
water where the outline of the G
olden Gate
Bridge
rose
from sparkling
mist.
‘I know that she has a
history of
being easily obsessed with things and people
,
’ he said finally, his eyes returning to her. ‘
Her
father told me. He was very worried about her and her passionate reactions in high school, where she pursued a relationship that existed only in her head. Blackmailed a teacher and threatened to tell his wife
that they’d
had an affair
.
I
t
turned
out
that
she
’d
imagined it all and was transferred to another school
.
Fortunately
her dad’s good reputation
help
ed
to hush
the
scandal.’

‘Isn’t she dangerous?’
S
he
felt uneasy discussing it with him, the fact that he had slept with
Mel
not forgotten. ‘I mean… you encouraged her and all
.
’

‘
No
, she is absolutely harmless
.
’
H
e
smiled again, shrugging his broad shoulders in a
nonchalant
gesture
.
‘
A
t
that time
,
though
,
I
had no idea she had the
s
e
issues, J
ade. It was afterwards that she started acting up, and her father told me about the past
.
B
ut
she is doing some counseling and seems to be
in better
control
;
at least th
at’s
what her dad thinks.
He was the one,
actually, who came up with the idea of me dating someone else
“
to speed up the process
,”
as he put it. He knows very well that
I
… I
’m
not interested in relationships now, and it was pretty awkward for him to ask me for this favor. Supposedly the shrink she
’
s seeing advised him to make her face her own obsession and realize its futility
. Which includes me, unfortunately.’

He grinned wryly, watching her doubtful face
.
‘I know, it sounds crazy… but this is
a
small
price to pay, if it will make her stop following me like she has done so far. I
also
know it
’
s no fun for you
.
’
H
e
shook his dark head in remorse
,
and she swallowed hard, stopping herself just in time from blurting out that it wasn’t as hard as he thought it
was
.

‘
You
think our being together at the gala will be enough?’ she asked instead, avoiding his eyes
.
‘I was wondering how
it would
work, since a short time afterwards I
’
ll move back home
,
and you
’
ll be single again. What makes you think she won’t consider it a
s
nothing more than a setback and try again?’