Conklin's Blueprints (8 page)

“Hi Roger, you remember Jamie Rae?”

He put his hand out to Jamie, “Of course.  How are you ladies doing this afternoon?”  He was polite as always.  We all went down the elevator and hopped into the Navigator.  I was fidgety the entire time.

“Would you relax?  Your mother can’t possibly say anything to embarrass you in front of me.  I have heard everything from that crazy woman.” Jamie frowned.

“I’m just hoping she hasn’t heard about Ashlynn and Connor,” I whispered.  My mother was livid when she found out what happened between the three of us.  For once she took my side.  She was still good friends with Ashlynn’s mother and even brought it up to her.  Ashlynn’s mother was just like her daughter and tried to make it sound like it was bound to happen because Connor and I weren’t a good match.  My mother couldn’t believe Ashlynn’s mom was defending her actions.  I guess she hadn’t talked to her ever since they fought about the infidelity.  It made me happy she was on my side, but like Jamie, she was furious I let Ashlynn still be in my life.  But she wasn’t in my life, not really.  I tried to block her out, at least mentally.  I never talked to her the same way, rarely answered her calls or text messages.  But whenever I would, she would act like nothing had changed.

We pulled up to my parent’s estate and walked to the front door.  My mother was there instantly to greet us with open arms.  “I’m so glad you girls could make it!  Wow Becca, you are almost to your goal weight finally, aren’t you?  Jamie, you look sensational as always!”  Jamie grimaced at my mother’s crude comment to me.  I just shook my head and let it slide.  I was used to her opening her mouth and not being able to control what she said.

It looked like Jamie and I were the only ones who would be joining my parents for family dinner.  My brother was sick and Heather and Ray were still on vacation.  My parents were watching my niece, Josie. 

We all sat down in the living room while Josie played with her toys on the floor.  My father opened his arms for me to come hug him as he sat in his chair reading the newspaper.  He always looked so peaceful; you would never know he rarely slept and practically ran a city.

“So darling, how are you doing?”  My mother asked me as if I were a small child.  The tone she took with me told me she knew about Connor and Ashlynn and didn’t know if I had heard.

“I’m fine mom.  Work is keeping me busy, and now Jamie is here.  I have nothing to put me down.”

My mother’s face went pale.

“Mom, I know about the engagement.  You don’t have to walk on eggshells around me.  It’s fine, I hope they are happy,” I whispered.

Jamie let out a loud groan, “I hope that bitch trips and falls down the aisle!”

My mother winced at Jamie’s curse, but then agreed, “Yes, she doesn’t deserve Connor.”

Oh gosh, not this rant again.

“Connor is a well-respected young man; he doesn’t deserve to be with a prissy selfish girl like Ashlynn,” my mother said matter of fact.

“He doesn’t deserve to be with anyone!” Jamie sneered.

My father tried to suppress his laughter while my mother looked sheepish.  Seeing this conversation was going nowhere, I stood up and said, “Is dinner ready?  Can I help with anything?” 
Can I do anything besides talk about Connor?

~

“Well, nothing beats a dinner at the Stine household,” Jamie sighed.  “How did you live with that?”

I shook my head, “You wondered why I was so reserved.  I had to hide under the rug in that house.”

“Well Becca, your siblings skipped out on dinner, so we can skip out now, too!” She said, hitting my thigh.  “You just need to learn how to say no, Bec.”

Roger dropped us off at the condo and said goodbye.  It was only 4:00pm, and I wondered what Tyler was doing.  He said he slept all day on Sundays, but maybe he meant he just lounged? 

“I’m going to go lay down for a bit,” I said to Jamie, wandering to my side of the condo.   She shrugged her shoulders and went off to her hallway.

I laid on my bed and stared at my phone.  Should I text him?  Call him?  It’s less invasive if I text, so if he were sleeping he wouldn’t hear it. 
Oh what the hell
.  I grabbed my phone and started to text.

I hope you are enjoying your lazy day :o)-Becca

I sat and stared at my phone, willing it to buzz with a text from him.  I sat, and sat, and sat.  Nothing.  I sighed and decided to jump in the hot tub and try not to daydream about him.

~

The next morning, I still hadn’t received a text from Tyler.  I thought it was strange, but maybe he was sleeping and saw it then forgot about it?  Then I thought to myself, why do I care?  It’s not like we were dating or even good friends.  Maybe he just didn’t receive my text.

All day Monday and Tuesday I was very aware of my surroundings at work.  I kept hoping to see Tyler.  I saw Nathan once, but no Tyler following after him.  Then Wednesday morning on my way into the building I saw him standing and looking at the statue in front of the Conklin building.  Suddenly feeling nervous, I debated about walking up to him.  He still hadn’t answered my text or called.  I slowly approached him as his eyes were still fixed on the statue.

“Hey, did you have a good time in Chicago?” My voice practically squeaked.

He slowly turned his head to look at me then back to the statue with a blank expression.  “Business as usual,” he sighed.

The air was heavy, and I didn’t know what else to say.  Obviously he had things on his mind.  “Well… I guess I will see you around,” was the only thing I could think to say.

He gave me a nod then pulled out his phone.  I quickly walked into the building, wishing I hadn’t approached him. 

My day dragged on until lunch.  I decided to go sit outside and enjoy the crisp fall day.  Soon winter would be here and it would be too cold to be outside.  I sat on the bench, trying desperately to push Tyler and his bleakness towards me this morning out of my head.  Then I heard an ear splitting voice from behind me.

Chapter 5

“Becca!  I have been trying to get ahold of you!  Is your phone broken?” Ashlynn screeched.  People on the other side of the busy street could hear her she was so loud.

“Hey… Ashlynn.  What are you doing here?” I croaked.

“Oh Becca!  I’m setting up my shop!  My mom said you were working for Conklin, so since you weren’t returning my calls or messages I thought I would stop by!” she said to me as though I were a loon.  I tried to muster a smile. My stomach wanted to hurl out of my mouth and into her lap.  I hated that she looked perfect.  She had her blonde hair in an intricate braid, and she was wearing a light blue low cut blouse and tight white pants with extremely high blue heels.  She must have been six inches taller than usual.  I felt frumpy sitting in front of her.  I was wearing dark khaki pants and a burnt orange button up blouse.  I hastily threw my hair up and only had time to put on mascara, and slid my feet into flats instead of pumps.

“Well I have been trying to call you because,” she threw her hand out at me, “Connor proposed! Isn’t that exciting!” 

I tried to smile at her.  “That’s great Ashlynn.”

“I know, right?  Anyway, since we are engaged now, we both want to build a house together. ”

Oh no, where is she going with this…

“We both thought you would be the perfect person to do the blueprints!” She was overly excited.

My face paled, “Ashlynn, I don’t know.  I do commercial.”  It was a plea.

“Oh don’t be silly.  I know you would rather do residential.  I have seen your plans.  They are very good.  Please, Becca it would mean so much to me.” She pouted her lips.  Before I could even think, the words slipped out of my mouth.

“Okay, I guess I can help you out.”

Her grin was devilish, “Thank you Becca!” she exclaimed, giving me a hug. “How about Friday?  Can we meet you here?”

“Sure, but I have to get back.  My lunch is over,” I lied.

“Okay, I get it!  See you Friday,” she said, walking off swaying her hips.  I noticed a man sitting on a bench ten feet down from me watch her every move.  I was disgusted.

I practically ran inside into the bathroom.  I could hardly breathe.  Why the hell did I just say yes to that?  Tears threatened my eyes as I stared in the mirror.  My life couldn’t get any worse.

When I finally gained my composure, I went back to my cubicle and tried to focus on my current project.  I noticed I had an email from Will.

Becca,

Thursday morning we are going to visit a client in Ludington to discuss starting plans for Enterprise Yachts, a yacht warehouse and company building.  Management wants you to come.  Would you mind an overnight stay?  We would be back by Friday evening.

Will Summers

Head of the Commercial Architecture Department 

Conklin Architecture, Construction, and Design

Thank God!  An out!

Will,

I would love to come.

Becca Stine

Junior Commercial  Architect

Conklin Architecture, Construction, and Design.

Awesome!  We are meeting here at 7:00am tomorrow morning. 

Will Summers

Head of Architecture Department 

Conklin Architecture, Construction, and Design

I quickly pulled out my cell to text Ashlynn that I couldn’t meet with her on Friday.  I had no idea if I would make it back in time to meet with her.  She replied with a frown face and rescheduled for the next Friday.  I had a week and a half to loath over it.  Great.

When I got home from the gym Jamie was starting to cook dinner. 

“How was work, honey,” she joked. 

I smiled back at her, “Lovely, and your day?” 

“Eh, it was okay,” she shrugged.

Jamie wasn’t too sure about her new job at the marketing firm.  The whole 9 to 5 job wasn’t her ideal lifestyle.  “But, I did meet a few new co-workers.  They were telling me about the Crush night club in The B.O.B.  They invited us to go with them this Saturday, are you game?” She sounded nervous to ask me.

“Sure, but I’m going to be out of town until Friday night for work,” I said enthusiastically.  I didn’t realize how excited I was for the trip.  My mind had been on crazy Ashlynn.  I decided to not tell Jamie about my visit with her.

Jamie raised her eyebrow, “Ah… night away with the boss?”  I glared at her. 

“I doubt Tyler is coming.”

She smirked. “Who said I was talking about Tyler, isn’t he your boss’s boss?” I was stone faced.  Jamie laughed, “Why don’t you just admit you like him?  And go for it!  He is hot.  I saw the picture of him you left up on your laptop.” Shit.  I need to remember to keep my stuff on my side of the condo.

“I told you, he isn’t into me.  He said three words to me today, and that was it.  He wasn’t smiley and flirty like he was Friday night.” I blurted out.

“Um, you never said he was flirty.  When are you going to stop holding out on me?” She sounded wounded.

“Look, all he told me was he thought Connor was crazy for cheating one me.  And texted me a few times Friday night and left a message while I was asleep.” I tried to not sound interested.

“Hold up, you told him about Connor?  You never talk about that,” she whispered.

“I got the picture text while I was with him.  It all just sort of spilled out.  He was asking all these probing questions.  I was having trouble deflecting them,” I grumbled.

“Well, if he is going with you, I say you go for it.  What’s the worst that could happen?”

“It would be forever awkward with my boss’s boss.”  We both turned and laughed at each other.

~

Morning came fast, and I had my bag all packed and ready to go to Ludington.  I walked to work and froze when I got in the main lobby.  Will was standing talking to Corey, smiling and laughing about something.   Just past them was Tyler, leaning against the security check, his eyes fixed on me.  Was he coming with us?  Maybe he was just going to talk to Will before we left.  Then I noticed he had a small duffle bag next to his feet.  I was suddenly glad I woke up 20 minutes early to straighten my hair and spend time on my makeup and was really happy I decided to wear my black pumps instead of flats.  Maybe I should unbutton the top two buttons of my white blouse? 
What are you talking about?  You’re not here to impress him, you are here to kick ass at work! 
Right, I’m only supposed to care if he took me seriously as an architect.

“Hey, there you are!  Ready to go?”  Will said, his eyes sparkling.

Tyler looked at Will and furrowed his eyebrows. 

Before I could answer, Tyler opened his mouth to speak, “Ok Will, Nathan will take you and Corey in his car, Becca can come with me.  We should head out now so we aren’t late.  Jessica and Cooper already left.”

Will and Corey blanched at his bluntness.  I didn’t even see Nathan.  As if Tyler was reading my mind he said, “Nathan is getting the car.  He will be out front momentarily.  Becca?” He motioned for me to follow him.  Will urged me to go with him, as if to say it was okay.  I gulped and followed Tyler with my head down.  This was going to be awkward.

I hopped into Tyler’s black Maserati.  He took my bag from me and threw it in the back and gracefully slid into the driver’s seat.  We sat in silence.  It looked like he was brewing over something.  He finally broke the silence once we were on the highway.

“I’m sorry I didn’t text you back Sunday,” he mumbled. 

I didn’t know how to respond.  Why is he saying sorry for this?  It wasn’t a big deal he didn’t text me back, maybe a bit rude, but that happens.