His Absolute Authority: A Scandalous Billionaire Love Story (Jessika, #3) (21 page)

I saw a cute little boutique on the left and decided to check it out.  Taking my time, enjoying the quieter country life, I slowly walked towards it.  When I reached the front and opened the door, a little bell at the top tinkled my arrival.  A younger woman jumped up and out of the backroom behind a clerk's counter, rushing to attention.

"Hey," she said.  "Welcome.  You just come in on the train?"

"Yes," I said.  "It just got here."

"You visiting for awhile, or passing on through?" she asked.

"Visiting, sort of?" I said.  "Not for long.  I guess it's more like passing through."

She nodded, saying nothing for a few seconds.  That didn't last long, though.

"Where you from?  Anywhere big?" she asked.

I laughed.  "Um... yes, sort of?"

I didn't want to explain everything, but her candid and genuine curiosity had me charmed.

"I wish it was big here," she said.  "It's not bad or nothing.  Just... boring?"  She pondered her words.  Her eyes widened, startled.  "Not too boring or nothing.  This store isn't.  This is the best store here, probably.  We have some great stuff.  You looking for anything particular?"

I laughed again.  "No.  I don't know.  I know what you mean about boring, though.  Don't worry.  Everyone needs a change of pace sometimes, you know?"

"Yeah," she said, nodding.  "Yeah, I know what you mean."

I smiled at her, then started poking around the shop.  Shelves filled with small trinkets and gifts covered the walls, with racks of postcards and stationary more towards the center.  All in all, the entire boutique shop wasn't much of anything, but it was cute and quaint and some of the items looked local and handmade.

I found myself drawn towards a back corner.  On the shelves were a myriad assortment of tiny snowglobes.  Each one looked different, special and unique.  I placed my bag on the floor and picked one of the snowglobes up, turning it around in my hands.

"We make them here," the woman behind the counter said.  "I don't, but there's an older man who makes them.  John.  He's nice.  He's lived here forever, I think.  Not really, but he's been here for a long time.  He lives by the lake.  Retired, I guess.  I'm not sure what he did before, but now he makes those, and we sell them."

"They're beautiful," I said.  "They're all handmade?"

"Yup!" she said.  "Mostly.  There's some parts he has to have shipped in, but he makes the base himself.  It's from wood, cut locally.  He even spins the glass globes.  I don't know how he does it.  Whittles the little pieces on the inside, then puts everything together.  Every single one is one of a kind.  Some are similar, but you'll never see the exact same one twice."

I really liked that.  After being surrounded by a city filled with uniformity and commodity, I liked the idea of a unique and special snowglobe that was one of a kind.  Not just because it was unique, but because it reminded me of the fact that there was uniqueness everywhere.  Everything was special in its own way.

I wanted to give one to Asher.  Not the one in my hand, though.  Hm... what would he like?  I scanned through my options, and landed on...

A snow ballerina.  She wore a ballerina's outfit of pure, frosty white.  Even though the flakes of the snowglobe buried her feet, she stood with such absolute poise and proud grace that I thought she looked so beautiful.  I tilted the globe upside down, sending the glittery snowflakes to the other side, then tipped it back.  Frost and ice fluttered around the ballerina, but she continued her elegant stance, standing on tiptoes, legs and back straight, chin up, arms bent as if she were preparing to leap high up into the air.

I liked this one.  I liked it a lot.  I hoped Asher would like it, too.

I picked up my bag and then went to the front counter, snowglobe in hand.  "How much is this?" I asked.

"They're all twenty dollars," she said.

"How much does that man get?  John?"  I assumed he got paid a commission of some sort.

"My dad's got a deal with him.  We keep twenty-five percent and he gets the rest."

I had no idea if this was a fair deal or not, but I nodded nonetheless.  "Does he come in often?  Or do you go and pick up the snowglobes from him?"

"Oh, he comes in.  He usually stops by every day, just to see.  He likes to look at them.  He really likes when someone buys them, too.  It's kind of funny.  He gets excited.  Always asks what kind of person got it, like it's the most important thing.  It's nice."

I smiled.  "That sounds really nice."

While she carefully packed my new snowglobe in a brown paper back, I searched for money in my purse.  I found a twenty dollar bill and gave it to her.  She punched some things into a manual register, neatly placed the money into the till once it opened, and waited while my receipt printed out.

"Can you do me a favor?" I asked her.

"Huh?  Yeah, what's that?" she asked.

"I can tell these are really special," I said.  "I was just wondering if you could give John something extra from me?"

She lifted one eyebrow at me, curious and confused.

I pulled my checkbook out of my purse in my bag, along with a pen.  Quickly, I wrote a check.  "What's his last name?" I asked.

She told me; it was familiar but I couldn't place why.  I wrote the check out to him.  In the "For:" section, I wrote "Your snowglobes are beautiful."  Then I handed her the check.

"Can you give this to him when he comes in next?" I asked.

She nodded.  "Sure, that's not a problem—"  Right about then, she saw the amount on the check.  "Um, Miss.  I think you made a mistake with your writing?"

I smiled and laughed.  "No, it's correct."

"Er... really?"

"Mhm."

"Because that's a lot?"

"No, it's fine."

"Alright... I guess if you say so."

"I have something for you, too," I said.  "It's not the same, but maybe you'll like it."  I found a spare Landseer Enterprises business card in my purse and wrote my work number and extension on it, then handed it to her.

"What's this?" she asked.

"I don't want to steal you away from your shop.  It's your father's?" I asked; she nodded.  "I don't want to steal you away, but if you ever want to come do some work in a big city for a little while, then feel free to call me, alright?  Um... in a couple of weeks, though."

"Because you're on vacation," she said with an understanding nod.

"Yes," I said.  It was kind of true.

"Can I really?" she asked.  She read the front and back of the card.  "Is this for those big hotels and vacation places?"

I laughed.  "Yes, sort of.  There are a lot of resorts.  My husband works there.  He knows some people, so we could find you something to do.  Like an internship?  It might be good for your shop, too.  We could find someone to help teach you some business management skills if you'd like?"

She shrugged, noncommittal.  "I guess."

"Or...?"  There was something there.

"I'm not good at it or nothing.  It's just something I like.  I want to write books, though.  I never really wanted to be a store manager.  I like it here, but I'm hoping I can write books some day.  I know it's nothing but a dream, but it'd be neat."

"Do you write anything now?" I asked.

"Oh, yeah.  All the time.  I used to write in notebooks, but I saved up and got a laptop and did some typing lessons.  I'm good at it now.  I..."  She paused.  "Might sound weird, I guess.  I write a few hours a day, though.  Uh... every day?  Most days.  I write a lot.  I think my dad thinks I'm crazy, but he's nice about it, too.  Doesn't say nothing."

"I don't know the specifics," I said.  "Not everything, at least, but that place, the one on the business card, has a new book publishing segment they've just started."

Obviously this was a lie, because I knew exactly what the specifics were, but I needed to remain somewhat incognito if I could.

"Books?  And vacation stuff?  How's that work?"

I shrugged.  "Who knows?  I think they're trying to figure it out as they go."  I said all this while trying not to give myself away by laughing.

"You think I could do that?  Do the intern stuff whatever at the writing part?"

"If you call me in a couple of weeks, I'll see what I can do," I said.

"Sure!"

She ripped my receipt out of the machine and handed it to me, along with my snowglobe bag.  I took them both and smiled.

"Please tell John thank you for me, too.  I'm going to give this to my husband.  I think he'll really like it."

"Yes, miss, I will.  Thank you about the intern stuff, too.  I'll talk to my dad about it.  It sounds neat."

I smiled.  "Hopefully you'll be able to come visit."

***

I
stepped outside the shop and took in a deep breath.  This was it, wasn't it?  It was now or never, and... well, it was now.  I refused to accept the possibility of never.  I wouldn't give up, accept defeat, or anything like that.

I'd done enough of it, to be honest.  I let things get to me too much sometimes.  Yes, I thought I had a good reason for it, because who wouldn't?  Being harassed by the media wasn't exactly something someone should blindly accept.

I wouldn't accept it, but I needed to learn how to ignore it; at least somewhat.  Not forever, no, but...

I took out my cellphone and dialed the familiar number.  The phone rang a couple of times before he answered.

"Hey, what's up?"

"I'm here," I said.  "Maybe about a block or so away from the front of the train station?  There's a boutique.  It's really cute.  Just small trinkets and such.  Kind of a tourist place."  I laughed at that; for anyone that knew me, it was exactly the sort of place that would catch my eye.

"Yeah," he said.  "I know.  Turn to your left."

I turned, looked, and blinked, confused.  "Um...?"

A car honked.  Startled, I jumped up and nearly dropped my phone in the process.  On the other end, he laughed.  This time I could hear the sound of laughter muffled from the closed door of a nearby car, though.  I slammed my finger on the cancel button to end the call and stomped towards the car.

The driver rolled down the window as I approached; it was Jeremy.

"Excuse me," I said.  "What do you think you're doing?"

"Why, nothing, miss.  Do I know you?" he asked with a grin.

"Shut up," I said.

"Yeah, sure thing."  And then he started to roll the window back up!  Seriously?  Ugh.

I reached for the driver's side back seat door and tried to pull it open, but it wouldn't budge.  I thought maybe it was because my hands were kind of full, sort of.  Or, one hand was?  It was hard to get a good grip.  I had my small luggage bag and the paper gift back held tight in my fingers, along with my tiny purse, and then my cellphone was in my other hand, which I was trying to use to open the door, but... no.

I put my bags down on the sidewalk and tried again, but it still didn't open.  Belatedly, I realized it was locked.  Jeremy spared me a glance from the front, smirking, trying not to laugh.

I kicked the door.  He unrolled the window again.

"Hey, lady, this car is expensive.  You going to pay for it if you cause some serious damage?" he said, taunting and teasing me, and in general just being an asshole.

I rolled my eyes at him.  "Can you unlock the door, please?"

"Unlock the door?" he asked, looking at me like I was crazy.  "Who are you?  I have no idea.  Some crazy lady just marches up to my car.  I was on the phone before you came over here, too," he added.  "Kind of an important call.  I'm waiting for someone.  A real VIP if you catch my drift.  She's not going to like it if some insane woman kicks down the car door."

"Jeremy," I whined.  "Please?"

"What's the magic password?" he asked.

I glowered at him and shrugged.  "I don't know.  Is it something about how manly and amazing you are?"

"That's not what I had in mind at first, but yeah, let's go with that," he said.  "Sounds good to me."

"Oh, Jeremy!" I said, acting excessively falsely feminine.  "You're just so manly and amazing.  Can you let me in the car now?"

"Ehhhh, I don't know.  Was that really it?  Seemed kind of lacking."

I furrowed my brow, trying to think of something else.  "And you have a big penis?"

He stared at me.  I stared at him.  We stared at each other.  Then he broke out in the loudest laugh I'd ever heard.  The sound of it practically echoed down the street, throughout the entire town, and into the town next door, however far away that was.  It was loud.

I laughed at him laughing, but then I stopped myself.  "Don't be so loud!" I said.

"Because someone's going to hear me, of course," he answered back.

"Someone definitely heard you.  You're laughing like a mad man."

"Yeah, well, it's not every day that your boss's wife says you have a big penis."

"I'm kind of like your boss, too, you know?"

"It's not every day that your boss says you have a big penis, either," he said with a grin.  "Where'd that even come from, anyways?  It was good, though."

"I'm glad you liked it.  Can you let me in the car now?"

"Yeah, sure," he said.  And as easily as that, he flicked the button on the armrest to unlock the back door.  I opened it fast and slung my stuff inside, paying careful attention to the snowglobe.  I kept that with me, along with my purse and my phone, then closed the door and hurried to the front passenger's side.

When I tried to open it to get in, it was locked.  Unintentionally, angry and frustrated for having fallen for such a stupid trick, I stomped my feet like a child.  Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the driver of a passing car look at me oddly.

Jeremy unlocked the door.  I went to open it, but he locked it again before I could.

I stared at him, giving him my most evil of evil expressions.  This involved scrunching up my nose, staring cross-eyed at him, and wrinkling my lips while sticking my tongue out.  He laughed again, but he unlocked the door.  This time I managed to open it before he locked it, but just barely.  He was really just being very annoying right now!  Ugh.

I threw myself into the car, pouting, bouncing on the seat.  With furious gusto, I slammed the door shut, hard.  Or, I wasn't actually that furious, because it was kind of funny, but I didn't want to let him know I thought that, because if I did, he'd just keep doing it, thinking it was alright, and it wasn't alright.  No, it wasn't alright, Jeremy!  I glared at him again for good measure.