The Cherry Blossoms (23 page)

“Daniella, did you speak with Garrett about a job for me?”

“Oh Michal, I have not, but I will.  I need to leave for Paris to close my shop and wondered if you wanted to travel with me?  If you are considering working in Denver, you’ll need to give notice, right?”

“I have already given notice to my employer that I will be moving to Colorado; however, I would love to travel back to Paris with you.  I will make all the arrangements.”

Did she hear him correctly?  Did this asshole just tell her that he was moving to Colorado?

“Michal, thank you, I would appreciate that.”

“Then I will bid you a good night, so that I can begin looking into flights.”

After he left, Danny felt the walls closing in cutting off her breath; she felt as though she was suffocating and needed air.  She made her way to the front porch, where she found Garrett leaning against the railing smoking a cigar.

“Garrett, did you offer Michal a job?”

“Why would I offer him a job?”

“That’s exactly what I want to know.  He just told me that he’s given notice to his boss in Paris and that he’s resigning to take a job in Colorado.”

“Danny, I assure you that I offered him no such job.”

“In that case, you won’t mind my asking him about the job at breakfast, will you?”

“Ask him whatever you want, but I have not offered him a job.”

“Well, we’ll solve this little mystery in the morning.”

Franktown, Colorado

Danny woke early the next morning; she lay in bed and stretched her arms and legs, letting out a loud yawn.  She rose from her bed, stretched her arms and legs once more and trudged into the bathroom to shower.  Her short naturally curly red hair required little to no maintenance.  She ran her fingers through her hair and dressed.   When she checked her reflection in the bathroom mirror, she thought she looked a bit pale, so she pinched her cheeks to make them appear rosier.  She figured she was all set for the day.

When she opened her bedroom door, Garrett was standing in front of her.  Danny let out a scream and jumped back knocking a lamp to the floor.  She picked up the lamp
as she hissed though clenched teeth, “What the fuck are you doing?  If your plan was to give me a heart attack you almost succeeded.”

Nana yelled up the steps, “Is everything okay up there?”

Garrett answered while smiling at Danny, “We’re just fine, Betty.”

Danny shouted down to her Nana, “No, we are not just fine.  Garrett just tried to kill me.”

Nana called back up the steps, “You two children need to play nice in the sand box.”

Danny was seething when she spoke, “Why the fuck were you standing outside my bedroom door?”

“I’m protecting my reputation.”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about.”

He raised his eyebrows and chuckled, “You have no idea what I’m talking about?”

“Will you step aside, so that I can go downstairs?”

“Of course, I can, but I’m sticking to you like glue.”

She pushed him aside.  “Have you been drinking?”

As he took hold of her arm, “No ma’am, I have not.”

Danny tried to pull her arm from his grip. “What the hell has got you so worked up?”

Holding her arm tighter, he said, “We have a little score to settle regarding Michal, so I’m not leaving your side until you ask him in front of me if I had offered him a job.”

Danny almost tripped over her foot, because she was laughing so hard.  “Is that what this is about?”

“Yes ma’am that is exactly what this is about.”

“Let go of my arm.  I told you that I would ask him.”

They were still laughing when they entered the kitchen.  “It’s nice to see that the two of you made up.”

“Oh Nana, we have not made up.  This man is such a freaking fool.”

“Betty, I am not a fool.  Danny and I have a bargain, and standing here, I can tell you, she’s not going to hold up her end.”

Danny put her hands on her hips and sneered at him.  Her voice raised an octave when she said, “Nana, I promised Garrett something and I intend to keep that promise.”

Betty put her hands up.  “I don’t want to hear what the two of you are talking about.”

Michal entered the kitchen, looking like a puppy that wanted a treat for being good.  Before Danny had the chance to ask about the job in Colorado, he was spouting about plane reservations.  “Daniella, j'ai fait des réservations pour les deux d'entre nous de voyager en première classe quitte Denver à 10:53 demain matin et arrivant à Paris à 12:30 dans l'après-midi.”

The room went silent.  Everyone looked at Michal, then at one another.  Danny and Garrett knew what he just said, but Betty was in the dark.  “Danny, what did he just say?”

“He said that he made reservations for the two of us to fly together to Paris tomorrow.”

“Well child, why do you look so shocked?  You told me that the sooner your business was complete in Paris, the sooner you would be home, so this is good news, right?”

“Yes, it is.  I’m just so surprised to hear that Michal was able to secure reservations so quickly for tomorrow.”

Garrett was giving Danny, ‘the do it now look, or else I win’.

Danny smiled sweetly at Michal, “Thank you so very much for making the reservations; it was a very thoughtful gesture.”  Garrett was beginning to smirk.  “Michal, you told me that you had given notice to your boss that you took a job in Colorado, so why are you flying to Paris with me?”

“Just like you, there are things I need to attend to.   I just thought if we went together, it could be fun.  I hate traveling alone.”

Yeah, I’ve heard that one before.
  “Who offered you a job in Colorado?”

Michal’s face turned painfully red as he searched for the words.  “No one has.  I had asked you to recommend me to Garrett, so that I can work here on the ranch.  If you haven’t and Garrett doesn’t want to hire me, I’ll find work elsewhere.”

Garrett spoke, “Tell you what, since you’ve quit your job in France, how about if I talk with Randy to see what we can come up with.”

“I would appreciate that.  I guess I put my horse before the buggy.”

Garrett laughed, “I think the saying is, ‘I put my buggy before the horse’.”

“Isn’t that what I said?”

“No, you had it reversed.  It doesn’t matter.  I’ll see what Randy says, and we’ll go from there.”

Danny’s blood pressure rose to its boiling point, “Michal, if you would please excuse us, I need to talk with Garrett in my office, since I’ll be leaving in the morning.  We need to review what needs to be accomplished while I’m away.”

“Of course you do, now that you are the owner; I completely understand.”

Once Danny and Garrett were in her office, she let loose her exacerbation on him.  “What the fuck just happened in the kitchen?”

Garrett leaned his hip against her desk.  He crossed his booted feet along with crossing his arms in front of his chest.  His casual stature made her angrier.  “May I ask just what you are talking about?”

Astonished that he had the nerve to ask such a stupid question, she had the urge to pick up a glass paper weight and knock him alongside his head.  “You just told Michal that you would talk with Randy about hiring him.”

“Yes I did, and I plan to do just that.  Are you having a problem this soon in the game with my hiring practices?”

His question left her stumped for an answer.  If she said that there was a problem, it could antagonize him enough to actually hire Michal.  Her Grandfather said Garrett had a good head on his shoulders; so, she figured she needed to trust his judgment.

Dejectedly she answered him, “No.  That would be a wrong move on my part.  My grandfather trusted you enough to make you the Ranch Foreman, so, if I’m going to succeed in this business, I need to as well.”

“You might consider going out for a ride to blow the steam out of your ears.”  With that said, Garrett left the office.

At lunch that day, Garrett offered to drive Michal and Danny to the airport in the morning.  Michal told him, “I have ordered a car to pick us up.  You are much too busy to take us.  Have you spoken with Randy this morning?”

“No, I didn’t get a chance.  Leave me your cell phone number so that I can contact you when I have.  I’d talk to him this afternoon if he didn’t have an urgent matter to resolve.  It’s likely that he’ll have time tomorrow while you’re on the plane.”

Michal handed Garrett his business card, “Thank you Garrett, I hope that I meet a ranch hand’s qualifications.”

Betty and Garrett were standing in the kitchen when the limousine pulled in the driveway.  She let out a low whistle, “That boy must have money.  He showed up in one of those fancy cars and now he’s leaving in one.”

“Don’t judge a book by its cover.  He could also be deeply in debt trying to look like he has money.”

“Are you really going to talk to Randy about hiring him?”

He grinned at her, “I sure am.  Randy, thinks he’s a buffoon just like the rest of us do.”

Nana patted him on his cheek.  “Good boy, your mama taught you well.” 

Danny had transformed back into Daniella as she entered the kitchen wearing one of her Paris designed suits.  “Girl, you look just like one of those models in those fashion magazines you used to read as a child.”

“I’m gonna take that as a compliment.”

“I can’t honestly say that it is.  I prefer seeing you in regular clothes, but you sure look good in that suit.”

When Michal entered the kitchen dressed and ready to leave, Betty smiled at him, but said nothing.  She didn’t even tell him to have a safe flight or that it’d been a pleasure to meet him.  In her mind, he was no different than the rubbish that the ranch took to the dump.

After a round of hugs and kisses along with thank you, and be safe, it was time to go.  Garrett watched the two of them climb into that limousine Michal had ordered and drive away.

Garrett asked Betty, “Do you think he’ll be back?”

“Hell yes, I do.  He’s like a bad penny, so he’ll be back.”

When Daniella and Michal boarded the plane, he ordered wine for the two them before takeoff.  When the glasses arrived, he asked that she join him in a toast.  It was going to be a long flight, so she had to go along with his antics for now.  She lifted her glass to his, “Toast away.”

“Daniella, I would like to propose a toast to our new life in Colorado.”

She managed to clink her glass against his, but said nothing in response to his proposal.  Once they were in the air, she planned to tell him that the week had taken its toll on her and she needed to sleep. 

They had an hour and a half layover in Atlanta, so when Michal suggested that they stretch their legs, she happily obliged his suggestion.  She could use a walk before the next flight.  As they strolled by the airport shops, Michal asked her, “Daniella, you did not respond to my toast to our new life in Colorado.  May I ask if there’s a problem that you might share with me?”

She wanted to say,
oh fuck yes there is,
but instead she smiled at him and replied, “I guess that there’s a large part of me that will miss my work in Paris.  I must also admit that the ranch will be a hard challenge that I need to face
.
”

He softly told her, “Do not worry.  If Garrett hires me, I will be there to help you with that challenge.”

She forced a smile, “That is a very gracious offer.”

The flight from Atlanta to Paris was uneventful.  Michal verbalized his dreams about living in Colorado, while Daniella thought to herself that his dream was her nightmare.  When the plane touched down in Paris, he offered to drive her wherever she wished to go.

She courteously responded, “Thank you, but I believe that Grant will be here to pick me up.  I’m quite anxious to speak with my staff.”

“Will you allow me to offer my home to you while you stay in Paris?”

Daniella watched out the plane window, anxious for it to reach its gate, so that she could walk away from this asshole.  “That is a most gracious offer, but I plan to stay in my apartment.”

When the plane reached its assigned gate the first class passengers would disembark first.  Daniella focused on the attendant who would announce their arrival, the connecting flight information, and for the first class passengers to gather their personal belongings.

“Daniella, I feel that you want to rush off this plane to be away from me.”

Daniella feigned a chuckle, “What on earth would make you think that?”

“I think that because you are focusing on the attendant and not me.”

“That’s true, but it’s because I have a lot of work to do before we fly back.”

The attendant announced for the first class passengers to gather their personal belongings.  Daniella and Michal stood from their seats.  Neither had brought luggage since the bulk of their clothing was in Paris.  As they walked up the runway to the terminal, Michal asked, “Then will you at least have dinner with me tomorrow evening?”