Overcoming Fear (Growing Pains #2) (3 page)

“Oh, Krista, I had a question,” Ben said,
getting up and crossing to the kitchen.

“Yup?” Krista asked as she dug in the
fridge.

“Okay, well, I didn’t understand what Sean
was saying about Marcus’s latest idea.”

“You think I’ll know better?”

“Well, you are slightly more perceptive.
He…”

“What was that, Ben?” Sean asked,
interrupting Jasmine.

Kate and Jasmine looked up from their
portfolios in confusion.

Ben turned toward Sean with a red face.
“Sorry Sean, it’s just that you’re better with the bigger picture,
Krista is better with the actual…” Ben paused, looking for the
right word.

“Work?” Kate asked with a smirk.

“No,” Ben said, scratching his chin. “…the
route to the goal.”

Sean cocked his head, looking between Krista
and Ben. “Which idea?”

Ben looked uncomfortable. Krista stepped in.
“Sean, Ben doesn’t like conflict, and he knows I don’t like
micro-managers…”

Sean looked at Krista for a beat before he
smiled. “Understood.” He turned back to Jasmine. “Sorry about that,
what were you saying?”

Krista regarded Sean for a brief minute
while his attention was elsewhere. He was wearing shorts and a polo
shirt that always did great things for her eyes. Having seen his
pecs earlier, and the marvel that was his shoulders and stomach,
Krista turned away before he could notice she was staring.

She opened a bottle of white wine and poured
everyone a glass while Ben laid out his problem with Marcus’s new
idea. Halfway through, and while the other three were talking about
Kate’s accomplishments, Krista stopped him. “He was talking about
gifts for lovers, not husbands and wives, Ben.”

“—
what?”

Krista leaned up against
the countertop. “Marcus wasn’t talking about seducing your husband,
he was talking about seducing your
lover.
Maybe boyfriend or
girlfriend, but most likely someone without a face. A high-profile
someone seducing a stranger, maybe. Something like that. He’s
probably daydreaming with that idea—he probably wants to be the
seducer.

“And I can tell you right now, numbers won’t
pan out on that one. That market would be tiny, and those types of
people don’t want their habit of mistresses exposed by media. Tell
him to stop wasting your time and move on.”

Ben looked at his notes, “Oh.”

“But I thought you gave two weeks? Are you
already working in our company?”

Ben, still looking at his notes, answered,
“I did give two weeks, but Marcus is so interesting. I find myself
working on his ideas without meaning to.”

Ben was talked into working for Krista’s
company after helping with a few presentations. As soon as Sean got
an introduction, he started working on the move immediately. It
only took a week for the top salesman at Krista’s company to
convince her friend and roommate.

Krista looked at Sean in accusation, and he,
unexpectedly, was looking back. “You have Ben talking to Marcus
when he isn’t even on the clock?”

Sean didn’t even blink in guilt. “He is paid
contractor’s fees, which you agreed to, for all communication.”

Krista shook her head. “Well, Ben, you don’t
speak all of Marcus’s language. You might be art, but you aren’t a
pretty boy slut. You might be able to spin the idea of wooing
somebody. I’ll look over the notes with you tomorrow or Monday,
okay?”

Ben nodded his head and wandered away.

“I was wrong,” Sean said.

“Bullshit!” Kate answered,
not looking up from her portfolio. “If you can find someone who did
better—
besides
Krista—I want to meet her! Or him!”

Sean’s smile grew. “I thought Ben was solely
responsible for Marcus’s success. At least where communicating his
ideas were concerned, I was wrong.”

Kate looked around, trying to figure out
what Sean was talking about, then shrugged. “Never think Krista
doesn’t have her hand in most things to some degree or other. She
mothers.”

“Helping communicate
is
not
mothering
,”
Krista said with a sulk as she poured glasses of
wine.

“So
you
say,” Kate retorted.

“What do you think?” Sean asked Ben.

“Oh, Krista doesn’t mother so much as check
in.”

“Check-in is another way of
saying
nag,”
Kate
said, sitting back from her portfolio.

“I meant about Kate and Jasmine’s ability to
work on our team,” Sean clarified. The smile wouldn’t leave his
face.

When did Sean become so
attached to Ben?
Krista thought as she
delivered wine glasses. The two talked like they’d known each other
forever. Like they were the best of friends.

Krista returned to her wine glass in the
kitchen and leaned against the counter, happy with the distance
between her and Sean. Everything was starting to get too close to
the effervescent salesman. There he sat in her dining room,
perfectly at ease. He was the master of his universe. And now he
was trying to take over hers. He was even enchanting her friends,
which was exactly what Jim had done in the beginning…before
everything went pear-shaped.

Yet even knowing that, even sitting there
thinking it, she wanted to cross to him and put her hand on his
shoulder. Or sit next to him. Or just give him a wink. She wanted
to be near him, and the result would detonate the bomb that blew
her life to bits. Again.

“
Kris?”

Krista blinked and switched her gaze to a
worried Kate. “What’s up?”

“Jaz asked for a glass of water.”

Krista looked at Jasmine, who was also
looking at her worriedly.

“Water is for lightweights, Jaz,” Krista
said, crossing to the table and sitting down next to Ben, who was
still analyzing all the materials.

Ben cut through a tense silence with, “Well,
they aren’t your classic workforce. What I mean is, they are
prickly people who don’t ‘yes sir’ and will tell you when they
think your idea is stupid. They don’t play the game, and they can’t
schmooze people the way Krista can, but they work hard and do what
they do well. If you can live with their personalities, you’ll
probably have a good thing in them.”

“When did you become a work philosopher?”
Jasmine said in a huff.

Ben raised his eyebrows at
Sean with a “
See?”
expression.

Sean was looking at Krista quizzically.
“Krista?”

Krista sighed. It was her reputation, too.
She shifted from her ghosts to work mode before she heard the
“ttthhhhuuuu, tttthhhhuuuu, tttthhhhuuuu—“

“Jasmine,
do
not
thump me in front of my—“ Krista was cut off by
Jasmine flicking her in the head.

“No more sighing!” Jasmine said to
everyone.

Sean started to chuckle helplessly.

“Anyway,” Krista gave Jasmine a look of
death. “I wouldn’t have recommended the girls if I didn’t think
they could do a good job. I also work well with both of them, even
though they irritate the ever-loving crap outta me. We’ve had a lot
of experience on projects together. But Ben is right, they aren’t
everyone’s cup of tea. For me, good. For Mr. Montgomery, who’s to
say?”

“Can they take direction from you?” Sean
asked, purposely not looking at the girls.

“Who do you think was their leader even when
it was supposed to be their project?”

Jasmine snorted and nodded. Kate shrugged,
unembarrassed.

“So, not leaders of the company, but great
worker bees,” Sean summed up.

“Yup,” Krista said as Ben said,
“Exactly.”

Sean turned back to the girls, who had looks
of determination on their faces now. “I’ll talk to Ray, see what he
says. If he agrees, I will want to try you out for a week. I will
pay you, of course. Can you get a vacation from where you currently
work?”

Both nodded, wanting to prove
themselves.

“Okay, I’ll talk to Ray.”

“Whoa, wait a minute,” Kate said, holding up
her hands and leaning back. She looked at Jasmine. “My bullshit
meter is going off. He’s playing us. Before we even go to this
fucking Ray guy, we need to know if this is even viable. I don’t
want to waste my vacation if I’ll hate the job, or if the money and
benefits are less than I am making now.”

This was that personality Ben was talking
about. Krista sipped her wine. She refused to feel anxiety over
this. Sean needed to know what he would be working with, and Kate
needed to learn to control herself if she ever wanted to get
anywhere.

“Good point,” Sean said. It sounded like he
expected this. He had his chess pieces lined up. Krista wondered if
she’d ever see the game before he was playing it out.

“I’ll say this,” Sean leaned back and
surveyed the two girls, ”If you work out and I don’t think you’ll
let me down, I will exceed your current salary by 10%. Our company
has excellent benefits so I’m not worried there. Is that good
enough?”

Kate and Jasmine looked at each other.
Jasmine said, “I will need a 12% increase over my current salary,
because I’ll be damned if I get paid less than Kate for doing the
same job.”

Sean looked a little surprised and laughed,
“Fair enough. Let’s see how far you get.”

“Oh, we’ll get there,” Jasmine retorted. She
never looked at the bright side, always thinking that if left to
chance, the world would let her down. But when it was in her hands,
she knew what she could do, and she did it. She might have to shank
someone, but she got what she wanted.

Meeting adjourned, everyone relaxed. Jasmine
learned that Sean surfed, and the next half-hour was spent talking
about it. Krista, knowing how long it took to get to the East Bay
from her house, kept her eye on the clock, and when it was time to
go, sounded the alarm.

“It’s still early,” Sean said as everyone
was getting up and getting their stuff together.

“The L is unpredictable, and the BART
doesn’t run as much on the weekends. Besides, Kate is a slow
walker,” Krista said as she checked her handbag, making sure
everything was accounted for.

“You are a speed walker,
and Jasmine has those giant spider legs. It is
so
not me!” Kate yelled from the
bathroom.

Sean stood and wandered toward the living
room with everyone else.

He looked at his watch in confusion. “Yeah,
but I drive.”

Everyone stopped and looked at him. They all
had been so long without a car that they forgot the lack of
planning that went with it.

“But, don’t you want to drink?” Jasmine
asked.

“I don’t need to drink. And
I am
certainly
not going to take public transportation that far. It would
take forever,” Sean said, looking around the living room in
interest.

Everyone looked at each other and shrugged.
They all headed back to the table except for Ben, who went to get
another bottle of wine.

“Where did you get this piece?” Sean asked
from the living room.

Thinking he was talking about one of Abbey’s
weird artistic choices, of which always had Ben scoffing politely,
everyone glanced over in interest. If Sean liked something Abbey
bought, they would all make fun of him mercilessly.

“Oh, so good of you to notice,” Ben said,
walking over. It was the painting he’d done based on the dream of
Krista’s emotions. At the time she had been struggling with her
job, her life, and with her constant desire of Sean. Abbey had let
Ben hang it in the far corner of the living room where it was
mostly hidden by an ugly Japanese screen and some giant, fake green
plants. One could only see it if they hit exactly the right angle.
Apparently Sean had.

“That is one of my creations. I did that
over the space of a few months.”

“You
did this?” Sean said in awe, his eyes traveling all over the
canvas.

“Yes. I did, yes. Got an A on it,
actually.”

“What did you call it?”

“Lost and Found.” Ben had his hands behind
his back, surveying the piece with Sean.

“Hmmm.
It’s…
fascinating.
That name gives it a certain...
tone
.
”

All three girls rolled their eyes and turned
back to their wine.

“Thank you, yes, I put a lot of time and
focus into getting it just right. I had to guess in a few spots,
and a few other things were tricky, based on the subject matter,
but I think it came out okay.”

Sean took a step closer, riveted. “Is it for
sale?”

The girls turned back to gawk.

“Oh,” Ben was taken aback. “I hadn’t thought
about it.”

Sean turned to study him. “If you will part
with it, I’d like to buy it from you. It…I can’t explain why, as
one never can with art, but it speaks to me. I’d really love to
hang it in a place where it will be the focal point of my living
room.”

Jasmine and Kate looked at Krista. Krista
looked at her wine.

“Well…” Ben looked back at the piece. “It
did take me a while to complete. I put a lot into it. I would hate
to part with it.”

Sean nodded, looking at the
canvas. “I understand completely, of course. An artist always has a
special connection with a piece he puts his heart and soul into.
But, and correct me if I am wrong, an artist usually wants to share
that heart and soul with the world. To share that subject with
others—to a
ffect
others. As the focal point in my house, many will be able to
view it. Here, hidden, it will fade and waste away until you fall
in love with another piece. Then, I fear—and again, correct me if
I’m in error—but then it might get left by the wayside. I’d hate
for that to happen to this particular piece.”