Unravelled (26 page)

“Good morning, Zondra.”

Chapter 22

“Good morning, Zondra.” I say with as much dignity as I can muster behind my eye, which is the object of Zondra’s focus at this moment. “To what do we owe the pleasure?”

“I have the finalised and signed contracts of the last three musicians for you.” She looks for a clear surface to put her slim briefcase on, but sees the lack of open space and settles for balancing it on her forearm while she extracts said papers.

“You didn’t have to go through all the trouble of bringing it here.” I look at Ray who with his lifted shoulders and facial expression silently asks me what is happening. I’m busy gesturing back when Zondra straightens and hands me a manila envelope. I quickly recover by changing my lifted shoulders into an awkward neck-roll-stretch and smile thankfully. “So kind of you.”

It is very obvious that the woman in front of me has no intention of leaving soon and once again my trusted assistant betrays me by offering Zondra a chair. She smiles charmingly, like the snake in the Jungle Book cartoons, and sits down with great elegance.

“I think I’ll go for a quick lunch.” He grabs his wallet and before I could say ‘traitor’, Ray’s out the office, leaving me with Zondra.

My suspicions have sadly been proved right. After that fateful night at Heaven, she’s been more accommodating and actually had all legal concerns wrapped up pretty quickly, but there is still that hidden sharpness about her that I don’t trust. Whenever I speak to Zondra I have a feeling that something is wrong, dangerous even and just can put my finger on it. I also think that if I could put my finger on it, I would have to wash it with bleach.

I was never under impression that a beautiful friendship was going to come from that night and it’s a good thing that I didn’t hold my breath for it. She’s been more helpful, but I think her vulnerability that night made her more defensive when it comes to me. And this new friendliness is disconcerting. She’s up to something.

“So... how is everything going?” Her voice drips with interest and sincerity, and all my internal alarms go on red alert.

“Um... everything is on schedule. We are just tying up some loose ends, but I plan to spend most of the week at the site overseeing the final preparations, which is mostly the setting up the outdoor stalls, the interior decorations and basically the final touches. Thank you for asking.”

Once Ray and I actually got past my eye-incident this morning and he realised that I was not going to kiss and tell, we were able to focus on the festival. That’s when I realised that my work-marathon at the end of last week resulted in almost everything being finalised. Ray did everything he had put down on his to-do list on Friday and when we looked at the list of what needed to be done, most of the columns for ‘finalised’ were ticked. I was pleasantly surprised and glad to be free from the office and paperwork so that I can go to the site. That free feeling has disappeared like mist before the sun, and sitting across from Zondra makes me feel like a rabbit caught in the headlights of an oncoming eighteen wheeler and there’s nothing I can do, except wait and see where it takes me. I lean back in my chair and ask sincerely, “How are you?”

“Oh, I’m fine, just fine, thank you.” It must be the most insincere answer I received in a long while which leads me to think that not much about this visit is sincere. She picks an invisible bit of fluff off her skirt and looks at me with friendship and compassion percolating from her every pore. Alarm bells went off. “I hear that you and Adam have been living together.”

“He offered his guest house, but when it flooded I moved into the main house and have been in the guest suite since. He’s been very kind to me.” I’m over explaining. Why am I doing this? I should not talk. Not talking is the biggest personal challenge I have to face – I think I might be physically incapable of not speaking. I briefly close my eyes and hope to blazers that I can control my mouth today. Zondra seems keen to talk and she continues in her sincere voice.

“It is so much better than a dirty old hotel room.”

“Indeed.” I give her the simplest answer I can think of. The little voice in my head is shouting at me to be quiet and I press my lips together to control my urge to speak, and smile at her.

Her look weighs me up while my lips are beginning to lose feeling from still being pressed together. If ever there was a time to be quiet, now is it. I’m proud of myself when I succeed and wait for Zondra to reveal the real purpose of her visit.

“As you friend...” Alarms continue to ring in my head. “...I want to give you a little heads-up. Did you know that Adam’s family is one of the most revered and oldest in this area? I didn’t think so. After all, you’re only house mates, right? When his grandfather died, people were surprised that Adam came to Villsburg. He had his whole life happening for him in the city.” She smiles off into the distance. “His grandfather was so proud of him and his future.”

Ok, I’ll bite. I could stop the conversation right here, but as usual I tickle the dragon knowing that there will be heat to follow. “Hmm-mm?”

“Oh, you don’t know?” The fake surprise in her voice and the hand on her chest makes me cringe. I sigh and shake my head. My lips are still pressed together.

“Oh, then maybe I shouldn’t tell you. Or... maybe I should. As your friend.” I now go quiet inside with the anticipation of what is about to happen. This is the same feeling I had when I opened my front door to find
special investigation unit
guys aiming their guns at me.

“Before the old Mr Montgomery passed on, Adam had his career all laid out in front of him. For some strange reason he resigned from his position of CEO after the death of his grandfather, but kept his shares in the company.” This much I know – Adam mentioned it to me one day. “He also gave up a penthouse apartment, but I’m sure his fiancée still lives there. Or, to be technically correct, his ex-fiancée. They broke up just after he came to Villsburg.”

Now this I did not know. The shock of this news enters my body like an earthquake. I feel shaken up and disoriented, but try to focus on not letting my uninjured eye give any of my feelings away.

Doing her friendship duty, Zondra continues, “This woman also comes from an old line of aristocrats. She dabbled in modelling for a while, but now has her own line of designer handbags. Old money, you know.” She crosses her legs like only rich confident women do and lean forward to share more confidences with me. “If I remember correctly, she bought Adam’s penthouse apartment from him when he came here. He’s been in Villsburg for the last six months, but he took full control of the company only three months ago and no one has seen him dating anyone. I suppose the girls here are below his standing and expectations. It’s rumoured that when he goes to the city, he stays with his fiancée, his ex-fiancée, and that they still see each other, but that is just a silly old rumour.”

She flaps her hand to emphasise how silly the rumour is. She smiles at me and when she realises that I’m not going to answer her or participate in her gossiping, she gets a cold look in her eyes that cools her friendship-smile a few degrees. “Well, there’s another rumour going through town and I thought you might want to know about it.”

“Hmm-mm?” I’m no longer biting my lip, but feel quiet and cold. Inside and out.

“People are saying that something is happening between you and Adam. Now, isn’t that just the silliest of rumours? Adam would never go for a girl like you. Not that you are not attractive.” Oh great. Thanks for the little crumbs of a compliment. “You’re just not his type. You are too free, too...what is the word...” She delicately holds her chin and pretend-thinks. “Iconoclastic. That is the word.” She honours me with another insincere smile. “I admire your ability to challenge tradition and create new rules as you go. Truly, it is a commendable quality.”

Iconoclastic. Interesting. It is another word used for an unstable, disagreeing hippie. I don’t particularly feel complimented or admired.

“I spoke to a friend of a friend and to our mutual surprise we all knew you.” I look at her with utter disbelief. The venom queen had me investigated? I feel nauseous with the knowledge that she knows about my past. “You’ve had some interesting boyfriends. Not the kind of people that would fit in here with our little community, don’t you think? Definitely not the kind of people Adam would want to be associated with.” My face has lost colour which I’m sure makes my discoloured eye even more sickeningly colourful. “It’s truly commendable that you were able to get away from those people. But don’t you feel limited in Villsburg? Small town people are not as freethinking as city people. That’s why they are so fixated on the possibility of you and Adam. What a preposterous idea!” Her little laugh subtly shows her amusement at the idea.

“He’s the kind of man who would want a wife who looks good all the time, says all the right things – he wants a Stepford wife. And from what I’ve heard, you’re the kind of woman who wants a man who moves in a much different circle. But, enough of this silliness. I’m sure the thought of having a relationship with Adam never even crossed your mind, and you’re obviously a strong woman, so I’m not too worried about you. However, I am worried about what such public knowledge could do to Adam.” Again she changes to another topic. “I’m sure you can’t wait to get out of this small town and its gossiping, and get back to your life in the city. Are you happy that this is almost over?”

“Oh yes, I am.” I’m not referring to the festival, I’m referring to this acidic conversation. I need this woman to leave. I need her to leave right now. “Talking about this festival, I have a few things to do before the end of the day, so if you don’t have anything else to warn me about, I should really get back to work.”

“Of course I don’t have anything to warn you about. It wasn’t a warning, Alex. It was just a little gossip between friends.” Again she plasters on her fake smile.

I rest my folded arms on the desk, lean towards her and look at her in a way that
Erin
always tells me would make the most ruthless criminal squirm. “Zondra, I’m not your friend and I truly do not consider you as mine. You have the compassion of an icicle, the generosity of a pawnbroker, and the inability to be sincere. You had me investigated and will use this to damage Adam just to get me out of this town. Why? Wait, I don’t want to know. What I do know is that you’re really living up to the low lawyer reputation and also the reputation that you left behind in the city. You know that I would never break your trust by divulging what happened at Heaven, yet you have the audacity to walk in here and threaten Adam with my past.” The woman is evil. Evil. “I don’t want to see you or speak to you again. From now on you can speak to my assistant.” I give her my most insincere one-eyed smile. “Have a good day now.”

But she’s already out the door, leaving a trail of her perfume hanging in the air like a poisonous gas. I look at the door for a long time to make sure that she is not returning and then turn to my computer. The screen saver bouncing around on the screen is a photo of Blossom. I wriggle the mouse to get to the screen I was working on, but can’t see anything. I look down at my hands and feel the warm tears streaking down my face. I find a crumbled tissue under a stack of papers and angrily wipe at the tears. Why am I crying?

I know that Zondra didn’t come out of concern for me, or to have a ‘friendship gossip’. Nothing about that woman is friendly. She is the epitome of malice. Yet I can’t help but think about what she said. Maybe she is right. If Adam finds out about my past, he most likely will be horrified at it. And wouldn’t want to be associated with me. I know my reasons for withholding my past from him and also for not telling him about my future hopes and plans.

I was so busy trying to not feel anything for him, that I never thought about what he might want, what he might expect. After this weekend and his proposal this morning, I actually allowed myself to have a little sliver of hope. Hope that something might come from it. I never thought that he would ask me to stay if he wanted something else. Not until Ms Snakehead raised these doubts. I wonder if he would withdraw his proposal if he found out.

To be truthful, I didn’t actually entertain the idea of a relationship with Adam until the events of this weekend. Saturday and Sunday made me think that, just maybe, I am not a total lost cause in the love department. Adam has seen me at my best – dressed in my power suit in the board room, and at my worst – dressed in my power suit after two days of non-stop work and still he asked me to stay. If anything, it’s not my quirky personality that puts him off. But I know that there would be a lot to talk about if Zondra were to ‘warn’ him.

Not being one for small talk and paying attention to gossip, this has really thrown me. Has the town really been talking about us? People here at the office have been placing bets on us, so I suppose it is only to be expected. Have they also been placing bets on how long or short it would last? What will happen if she starts spreading her new found knowledge? If what Zondra said about Adam’s past and future expectations was true and Adam finds out about my past, the guys betting on a very short affair would make a killing.

And so my mind goes in circles. I look at Blossom bouncing around my computer screen for a long time and then I make up my mind.

“Where’s Alex?” Adam’s standing in the door of the office looking decidedly put out.