“Harriet, can you come through to my office, please?” Jenifer ambushed Harriet just as she was getting a cup of water from the water cooler. Chloe and most of the girls had gone on lunch, and in the quiet Harriet had been checking on some garments to make sure they were up to standard. She didn’t know what could be so important that it couldn’t wait until after lunch, but she frowned and followed her boss into her office.
“Is there something wrong with the new line?” Harriet asked nervously as she closed the door behind her. The look on Jenifer’s face made her stomach drop.
“The new line is fine. You are paid to design office wear and you do that very well.”
Jenifer’s icy gaze made Harriet unable to accept this as a compliment, she felt a ‘but’ coming.
“What is this?” Jenifer slid her smartphone across the desk, and Harriet took a step forward to peer at the screen. It was a picture of her out last Saturday night, and her heart began to race.
“I’m sorry. I know I shouldn’t have gone out with the assistants, and I know I shouldn’t have been drinking…” Harriet halted when Jenifer put up her hand and scrunched up her face, like she were dealing with a moron.
“I’m not your mother, what you do on the weekend is your business.”
“Then what’s the problem?”
“The problem is this dress. It’s not one of ours, and I’ve had people telling me all about how you were bragging about designing it.”
“I wasn’t bragging!” Harriet could barely take a compliment, but she’d appreciated that her work was being praised. Still, if that was bragging… A horrible realization was slowly sinking in, and Harriet knew that this was Chloe’s doing.
“Did you design it?”
“Well, yes, I made it for myself.”
“But you wore it out in front of hundreds of people.” Jenifer was starting to look mighty pissed off, and Harriet was starting to worry. She hadn’t thought it would be such a big deal. “We own anything you design, Harriet. It’s in your contract.”
“What?” Harriet’s mind raced, and she felt bile rising in her throat. She had never done anything wrong as far as work was concerned. Work was what she was good at, it was what defined her, and now she was breaching her contract? There had to be some mistake. “But…it was personal. You would only own it if I tried to sell it.”
“I’ve had more than a dozen inquiries about it, and the party-wear designers are more than a little pissed off. They work hard on their designs and then you go and rub this in their faces. Even some of our own staff think your designs are better than theirs.”
“Hold on, you’re annoyed because I’m better at my job than they are?” Harriet’s voice was growing higher with hysteria.
“No, your job is to make clothes that people go to work in. I have designers whose job it is to make clothes to go clubbing in. None of them want to give up their jobs, and I don’t need another party-wear designer.” Jenifer’s eyes narrowed as Harriet began to finally understand what was going on. “If this hadn’t been such a good design, then we wouldn’t have a problem. But it is, and people want to see more of it.”
“So I have to give it up?” Harriet’s eyes stung with tears. She’d have to give up the design to one of her co-workers, let them take the credit, let Jada Winter sell it as a piece under somebody else’s name.
“Don’t be so upset. It’s just a dress.”
“No, it’s not.” Harriet wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes with her sleeve, angry that she was letting Jenifer see her cry. This dress was the product of a turning point in her life. It was a symbol of the belief Jamie had in her, and how that inspired her to be the best she could…and now somebody else was going to be taking credit for that work? “You couldn’t possibly understand.”
For the briefest of moments, Jenifer’s cool demeanor wavered. “I know you’ve had a hard year, but this is only one dress. You put your effort back into the line you’re meant to be designing, and you’ll forget all about this.”
“If it’s good enough to cause this much of an issue, it’s good enough that people will want more.”
“People rarely get the credit for their work in the fashion world. It’s just the way it works.” Jenifer shrugged her shoulders.
Harriet left the office feeling numb. She tried her best to convince herself that it didn’t matter, it was only a design, but she failed. That was when she realized she had a decision to make.
* * * *
Jamie turned the key in the door, smiling his satisfaction. He loved that he could come and go as he pleased now, and although he still kind of felt like it was Harriet’s house more than his, there were certain things he could do to feel more like it was his own, like make her a nice home cooked meal for when she got home from work.
Jamie looked down into the brown paper bag full of groceries. He hoped he hadn’t forgotten anything. He was pushed for time as it was and didn’t want to have to run back out.
“So you must be Jamie.”
Jamie snapped his eyes up and looked with surprise at the figure leaning against the counter in the kitchen, arms folded across his chest. The man was older, his hair so silver the light almost reflected right off it. His eyes were the same shocking shade of blue Jamie had only seen on one other person, so despite the glacial, disapproving look he was being given, there was no denying who this was.
“You’re Harriet’s father…Evan, right?” Jamie stated, his stomach sinking. If there was one group of people that were prone to disliking him, it was girls’ fathers. “How did you get in here?”
“That’s Mr. Davis to you, young man, and I got in here because it’s my daughter’s house and I have a copy of the key.” He looked down his nose at Jamie. “I think the more important question is how did you get in here?”
Jamie quickly understood that this wasn’t a social call, and he felt defensive, but he knew he needed to make the right kind of impression. He set the groceries down on the counter and held his hand out.
“Sorry, I was shocked that somebody was home before me. I’m Jamie, and it’s very nice to meet you.” As he said it, Jamie remembered that Evan had already said his name once, and wondered how he knew about him. From all Harriet had said about her father, he doubted that she had spoken to him about their relationship. Evan looked down at Jamie’s hand and rolled his eyes. Jamie forced a laugh, trying to ease the tension. “Harriet left me hanging like that the first time she met me.”
“If my daughter had any sense, she would have ‘left you hanging’ completely.” The older man raised an eyebrow. “You said, ‘home.’”
Jamie narrowed his eyes. He guessed that he was going to have to break this news himself. “I just moved in with Harriet.”
“As her lodger I hope.”
“As her partner.” Jamie kept his voice as level as he could, but he hated being judged, and he could feel his temper rising.
“Then the rumors were true.” Evan let out a long sigh. “Well, I’ve come to make sure it ends, now.”
“Excuse me?”
“I think you heard me. My daughter is renowned for her bad decision making, but she has a husband, and they will be getting back together. You need to leave.”
“Harriet is not getting back with Nathan, they’re halfway through a divorce,” Jamie told him. For the first time, Harriet’s father looked surprised, and Jamie couldn’t help but feel a little smug. So he doesn’t know everything.
“I’m sure I can talk some sense into her. She’ll see what a big mistake she made. Nathan was the best thing to ever happen to her. And don’t think I haven’t done my digging where you are concerned. I know all about you, and you are bad news. I am not going to allow my daughter to get involved with a criminal.”
Jamie took a steadying breath. He felt the same anger rising that had got him into jail in the first place. He had not been able to control his temper then, but things had changed now. “Yes, I was in jail, Mr. Davis. I acted in a way that I deeply regret, but I saw the error of my ways and I am becoming a better person.”
“I’m sure.” Evan smirked. “You’re sponging off my daughter. The only job you could get was in a bar, and you only got that because the owner is a friend of your sister. A sister that used to be addicted to drugs, probably still is, worked at some very questionable clubs, and is now clinging onto a rich, old lady, probably hoping that she will die and leave her some money. You’re both parasites, and I will not allow my daughter to have anything to do with you.”
It was frightening how much information Harriet’s father had on him, but Jamie couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He couldn’t believe this man was twisting even the good things in his life around to sound so horrible, and somewhere underneath the rage he felt building, Jamie wondered if what he was saying could possibly be true. Was he a parasite?
As if he knew he was winning, Evan decided to rub salt into the wound. “Of course, I could never expect anything more from a boy whose mother loved drugs and alcohol far more than she loved her children. You were born in a gutter and that’s where you should stay. You have never been good enough for my daughter, and I’m doing you a favor because pretty soon she’s going to see that anyway.”
Of all the fights Jamie had gotten into, of all the punches he had taken, nothing had ever hit him as hard as this man’s words. They were so unexpected, and yet so close to the things that Jamie had felt his entire life. The words hurt, and in Jamie’s experience, the best way to deal with pain was to turn it into anger, but as he clenched his fists, he knew that staying there was dangerous. He couldn’t risk hurting Harriet’s father. And so he backed out of the kitchen, turned, and left the house, barely seeing where he was going. Through the red mist that seemed to cloud his vision, the only coherent thought he had was that no matter what, he loved Harriet far too much to be a parasite. He would rather die than bring her down and see her living on his level.