Love Redesigned (11 page)

‘Sorry about that,’ trendy receptionist finished after a few more frantic seconds of hushed speak into her mouthpiece. ‘Welcome to Delamonte Developments. How can I help you?’ she asked, smiling brightly.

‘I’m here to see Daniel,’ Holly said, mirroring the smile.

‘May I take your name please?’ trendy receptionist asked, frowning at her computer screen.

‘I’m the architect,’ Holly offered calmly, ‘and no, I don’t have an appointment. Please just tell him I’m here,’ she said, exuding a calmness she didn’t really feel and striding off to the seating area. ‘I’ll just wait here,’ Holly called over as she sat down, attempting grace while the bemused trendy receptionist looked on.

‘But—you need an appointment,’ said trendy receptionist weakly. Holly didn’t bother with a response. She knew she’d won this battle. She smiled sweetly, pulled out her phone, and pretended to look busy.

Two minutes later, Holly’s shock-and-awe tactic proved successful as the receptionist tottered over to her.

‘Mr Madison will be with you shortly,’ she informed a triumphant Holly.

‘Thank you,’ Holly replied graciously.

‘Shortly’ turned out to not actually be—well, quite so shortly. Holly had enough time to read all her emails, reply to everything that needed immediate attention, check her Facebook page, and scrutinise her surroundings some more. The place seemed to be literally deserted. No one came in. No one went out. Holly didn’t hear a phone ring or the merest hint of audible voices once. Bar the elfin receptionist, there were literally no signs of life.

Just as Holly was beginning to feel her impatience transform into boredom, right on cue, Daniel walked into the reception area and stopped a few metres from where she was sitting. Holly pretended to finish typing something uber-important on her phone before she slowly looked up and smiled at him. He was wearing his trademark jeans and a smart grey sweater with a crisp white shirt underneath. However, his face was not wearing a smile. In fact, he didn’t look happy to see her at all. Holly stood up slowly and smoothed down her dress. Smile or no smile, she still clocked Daniel’s up-and-down survey of her. He might not be in the best mood, but he clearly hadn’t stopped being Daniel, after all.

‘Hello, Daniel,’ Holly said smoothly, looking him squarely in the eye.

‘This way,’ he said curtly, turning his back on her and striding off down the corridor from whence he’d appeared. He then disappeared through a glass door into a cavernous office with huge windows looking out across the city. It was impressive—there was no denying that, Holly thought to herself.

‘Nice office,’ she offered genuinely.

‘What do you want, Holly?’ Daniel asked, cutting to the chase as he sat down lazily in his big leather chair behind his big desk. He exuded his usual confidence like he owned the place. But then, Holly surmised, he probably
did
own the place.

‘What’s the matter? Don’t like it when someone turns up unexpected without an appointment?’ Holly teased as she began stalking around his office, surveying his kingdom. Like the rest of the place, it was pretty empty, no details or niceties to give much away as to Daniel’s personal tastes and likes. The furniture was finished in the same high white gloss of the reception area, and the seating was black leather. Black and white. Right and wrong. How fitting for someone like Daniel, who only ever believed that he was right—and if you didn’t agree with him, then you were wrong. In Daniel’s world, it was Daniel’s way or the highway.

‘I repeat: what do you want, Holly?’ The impatience was clear in Daniel’s voice. Holly smiled as she ran her finger slowly over the windowsill, then looked back at him with a fixed stare. Procrastination over.

‘Did you think I wouldn’t find out? That you stole my ideas? That you were getting rich whilst I was living an hour away, struggling?’ Holly said, a slight crackle in her voice. She chastised herself for sounding more emotional than she’d intended. When she’d rehearsed her lines in the car on the way over, she’d tried to sound cold, aloof, detached. Unaffected. Daniel looked at her with that same pained expression he’d had when she’d said she was sorry about his mother. Then he looked out the window, seemingly lost in thought.

‘I had to start again,’ he said eventually. ‘I’d lost everything. My business. My wife and unborn child. I guess you know I went bankrupt. I couldn’t get credit. Not even my mother would help me. Miranda was the only one who would listen to me.’

‘And I’m sure she helped you pick up the pieces,’ Holly interrupted. ‘My heart bleeds for you, Daniel. It really does. But none of that excuses the fact that you used my designs without my knowledge or consent. All I want is to be rightfully compensated and recognised for my work and ideas. By the looks of things, you’re not doing too badly here,’ Holly said, gesturing at the evidently expensive space she was in.

‘Technically, you surrendered everything when you walked out on your marriage,’ came Miranda’s trill voice as she appeared out of thin air, strutting over to stand by Daniel’s side. Holly could instinctively tell that Miranda had enjoyed saying every word of that sentence. Call it women’s intuition or simply a highly developed bitch-radar. Miranda was dressed in an expertly cut white trouser suit, looking every inch the super-rich CEO she was. Holly was entirely conscious of the fact that with Miranda in her white suit and herself dressed in black, they totally matched Daniel’s office décor. Only Daniel was out of place in his grey sweater.

‘Miranda. How nice to see you again,’ Holly said coolly, not meaning a single word. ‘I came here to see my husband.
We
have things to discuss that I’m afraid just don’t concern you. I’m sure Daniel will fill you in later, though,’ Holly continued, making it abundantly clear that Miranda was intruding.

‘And I think you’ll find that you have nothing to say to Daniel that you couldn’t possibly say in front of me,’ Miranda replied, smiling a thin smile. ‘Isn’t that right, Daniel?’ she added, turning her head to look at him. Daniel nodded his agreement, and fixed Holly with a stern look.

‘Fine,’ Holly conceded, as she took a seat opposite Daniel, slowly crossing her legs. ‘If you’re sure.’

‘Absolutely,’ Daniel answered.

‘I wanted to express how shortchanged I feel,’ Holly said formally. ‘You’ve built this whole business on my drawings and ideas, which were obviously
good
drawings and ideas. And what have I received in return? Nothing. No mention. No recognition. And definitely no money. Without my work, you wouldn’t have this,’ Holly said, gesturing at the room.

‘Are you serious?’ Miranda said dismissively, semi-laughing. ‘The drawings and ideas you speak of were riddled with inconsistencies and inaccurate. We spent months, and a huge amount of money on an architect, to fix your flaws. What was eventually created was but a whisper of what you had imagined, once upon a time, long long ago.’

‘My solicitor thinks I have a good case,’ Holly said, trying not to sound deflated. Part of her knew that Miranda had a point.

‘You don’t have the resources to fight us,’ Miranda said confidently, placing a possessive hand on the back of Daniel’s chair.

‘Ah, you’ve got me there Miranda. I am but a pauper compared to you,’ Holly said melodramatically, placing a hand on her heart and leaning forward in her chair. ‘But there’s nothing to stop me from developing property and using the same format as your developments. Only, I can do it better,’ Holly said confidently, the idea suddenly popping into her head. ‘I mean, you’ve done an
okay
job with my original ideas, but from what I’ve seen, all your projects look the same. Carbon copies of the original. If I was paying your prices, I’d want something a little more unique and bespoke. And as for the interiors… guys, they’re all so cold. You’re creating clinical boxes lacking warmth and personality. Nothing on your website looked remotely like a home anyone I’d know would want to live in,’ Holly finished, hoping the threat of competition would ruffle their feathers, seeing as legal action hadn’t forced so much as a batted eyelid.

‘That’s precisely the point, Holly. You see, no one
you
know could afford one of our projects. People who
can
afford our houses happen to like our clinical boxes,’ Miranda sneered nastily.

‘I disagree, Miranda,’ Holly began, mirroring her nemesis’s use of her Christian name. ‘What do
you
think, Daniel? You’re being awfully quiet for a change. You know there’s nothing overly homely, and something ultimately lacking, in what you’re creating. That’s why you asked me to redo the interior design of
your
house. I know you didn’t offer me a job because you felt guilty that you have so much and that I don’t. It was because you wanted to use my creativity
again
to bolster your own business. Am I about right?’ Holly finished, feeling satisfied that she’d done a tad more than just ruffle a few feathers.

‘You asked
her
to work on the house?’ Miranda said, ignoring Holly completely and focusing all her attention on Daniel.

‘Didn’t you know?’ Holly chipped in unhelpfully. Her last comment was rewarded with a scowl from Daniel.

‘Daniel?’ Miranda asked him when he still hadn’t said anything. Her body language was on alert, as though she was ready for a fight. And it looked to Holly like it was going to be a fight with Daniel.

‘I think you’d better leave us to it,’ Daniel said eventually. Both women looked at each other, an air of triumph in both their eyes as they each assumed he was talking to the other one.

‘You heard him,’ Miranda practically snarled at Holly when neither of them had made a move to exit. ‘You’ve been dismissed.’

‘Enough, Miranda!’ Daniel shouted as he suddenly stood up, using his height to tower over her, with the obvious aim of intimidating her. Then more gently, he added, ‘I’ll talk to you later.’ He patted her arm. Miranda snatched her arm away and marched out of his office, fuming.

‘This is not over,’ she said on her way out the door.

Daniel watched her leave the room before he strolled around to where Holly was sitting and leaned casually against his desk. He wasn’t touching her, but there were only centimetres between them. Electricity could have made the jump.

‘I think you’re right,’ he said, looking down at her. ‘We
should
be doing more to create homes. It’s not what all of our clients want, of course. Some are perfectly happy with their ‘clinical boxes,’ as you’ve so eloquently put it, but I think we’d do more business if we had a consultant who could understand people, their lives, likes, and loves.’

‘I take it Miranda doesn’t agree with you,’ Holly said, a hard edge to her voice.

‘That’s why I asked you to work on the house. I thought it could act as a prototype again, and she’d see it was a plausible new direction for the business,’ he replied. ‘If you do a good job, she’ll come around in time,’ he added, smiling to himself.

‘Nice way to get off track, hotshot,’ Holly said firmly, fixing him with a narrow-eyed glare and leaning back in her chair. ‘Doing your house is a completely different issue. First, I want the fact that you stole my intellectual property settled. As I see it, you’re going to have to do something to appease me. I’m not suggesting for one minute that you put my name on the door, but—I need something, Daniel.’

Daniel sat quietly for at least a minute whilst he seemed to run through various scenarios and options.

‘Fine,’ he said at length. ‘I’ll talk to Miranda
and
come up with a compensation settlement
and
put your name on the website
and
our promotional literature. That enough for you?’

‘Uh,’ Holly faltered. She hadn’t thought he’d agree so easily. Not in a million years.
Don’t count your chickens
, Holly silently reminded herself. ‘That sounds agreeable,’ she said eventually, recovering herself.

‘On one condition,’ Daniel added.

‘Oh, here it is. What do you want, Daniel?’ Holly said, rolling her eyes heavenwards.

‘Well, that’s an interesting question, isn’t it?’ he replied, smirking to himself. Holly felt her cheeks colour at his obvious innuendo. She huffed audibly at him and gave him one of her trademarked dirty looks. Trust him to steer a serious discussion onto sex.

‘Actually, I want to know something,’ he said, turning serious. He slowly stood up and retreated back to behind his desk. He stood behind his chair, seeming to want to put more distance between himself and Holly by adding the physical barriers of office furniture.

‘What?’ Holly asked impatiently. Now that what she wanted was within grasp, she wanted to get this discussion concluded promptly, before he changed his mind.

‘When you first saw the house, you weren’t pissed off that I’d built it,’ Daniel began, appearing to choose his words carefully. ‘You knew the instant you saw it that it had been plucked from your imagination—but you didn’t seem to mind. You seemed almost… happy. You only seem to have gotten a bee in your bonnet since you found out I was making my livelihood from it. Why is that?’

‘Why is what?’ Holly asked, a lost look on her face.

‘Why were you happy I’d built it?’ Daniel clarified. Holly didn’t know what to say. No lies, no exaggerations were forthcoming, and all she could think of to say was the truth.

‘I thought you’d built it in memory of me,’ she said as neutrally as she could muster. Daniel laughed. A full-on, uninhibited laugh. Not a chuckle or a giggle. An actual laugh. Holly was surprised at his reaction, and it stung her more than she thought possible that he found her honesty so hilarious.

‘Sentimental I know, but that’s the truth,’ she said, fighting to maintain her neutral tone and keep her true feelings from appearing on her face. ‘I know now that it was just a business opportunity for you,’ Holly continued, throwing her eyes skywards again, trying to emphasise her stupidity.

‘Oh, that’s funny,’ Daniel said as his laughter petered out and his visage returned to normal. ‘Did you think we were going to get back together?’ Daniel asked her more seriously.

‘No, of course not,’ Holly replied quickly. A little too quickly, to her own ears.
But why do you keep on kissing me if you’re so in love with Miranda?
she restrained herself from whining.