Arcineh didn’t see much of Gage on a regular basis. He seemed very busy, and Arcineh wasn’t even sure he came to the office each day. But as the time drew closer for the July meeting with Siena Designs, Arcineh became more interested in the business. She finished her lunch early one day and was sitting in the lobby reading a brochure on Rugby Shades. She hadn’t realized that the name came from Gage’s love of the sport. Arcineh was completely into the brochure when Gage sat down next to her.
“What do you think of the new line?” he asked.
“Are these just out?”
“Hitting the stores next week.”
“I think they’re beautiful.”
“What’s your favorite?”
Arcineh studied the frames and chose a classy pair that the old Arcineh could have afforded.
“We have similar taste,” Gage said, still wondering what it was about this woman, who quietly did her work and didn’t bother anyone but who seemed needy to him. She was just short of mousy in her manner, and he knew she could look better with a different hairstyle. But even as she was, Gage found her interesting. He could also tell she was intelligent and wondered where she’d gone to school.
Arcineh had a few more questions about the glasses in the brochure, and Gage answered them, clearly excited about his work. It was then that she noticed him staring again. She knew that Patrice was somewhere around and didn’t want her to gain the wrong idea.
“I think you’re trying to place me again,” she said quietly, “but I really don’t think we’ve met. I’m sure I would remember.”
“Let me see you without your glasses again. What do you look like?”
“I think the same,” Arcineh said with a shrug, hoping she was convincing and knowing she could never take them off. She was not stuck on herself, but having Patrice know she was more attractive than she appeared would make for a miserable time in the workplace.
Arcineh suddenly looked at the clock.
“I’ve got to get back to work.”
Gage nodded, not sure what he’d seen on her face and wishing she would meet his eyes more. Arcineh wasn’t thinking about Gage. Patrice had come upon them, and she did not look happy at all.
“You have done nothing but sit all evening,” Jalaina charged Arcineh. “You didn’t even go to dance.”
“I can miss a night,” Arcineh said, knowing it was a weak excuse.
“What’s going on?”
Arcineh told her about what happened with Gage and Patrice—a short version, but she got the point.
“Can you believe it?” Arcineh added. “I think he might be a little interested even when I’m not dressed up, and I can’t get near the man.”
“And you want to?”
Arcineh’s eyes closed. “I have a crush on my boss. Is that the stupidest thing you’ve ever heard or what?”
“What if you saw him outside of the office?” Jalaina asked, wanting to find a way to help. “Maybe we could find out where he grocery shops and run into him.”
Arcineh laughed at her friend’s wide eyes and exaggerated voice, but funny as she found it, she knew it was the last thing she would do. The crush would have to remain a secret because Gage Sefton was a closed door.
“What did you do to get on Patrice’s wrong side?” Mallory asked five days later.
“I think she saw Gage talking to me and took it the wrong way.”
“Just ride it out,” that lady said sympathetically. “It happened to me when I first got here. It helped when I got a boyfriend and she saw that I had no designs on Gage.”
“Thanks, Mallory,” Arcineh said and meant it.
Patrice had been nothing short of rude to Arcineh for the last several days. Arcineh thought she could take it but suddenly found herself comparing Patrice and Quinn. It crossed her mind to try and talk to Patrice, but that had never worked with Quinn and she wasn’t willing to try.
She also needed this job. Will had finally popped the question, and Jalaina was to be married by the end of the year. Arcineh was thrilled for her friend, but it put a new weight on her that hadn’t been there before. And it wasn’t as easy as finding another roommate. Arcineh liked the one she had and had no desire to replace her.
Taking Mallory’s advice, Arcineh began the process of riding it out and hoped she would survive.
The big day had finally come. The conference room was ready, and Patrice was strung as tight as a bow. Arcineh was in trouble for everything, but she knew she wasn’t making mistakes. She was only thankful she’d sat through some other meetings and knew just how Patrice wanted things done.
It took everything Arcineh had inside not to turn and talk to these five Italian men when they arrived in the large conference room. There was a translator—they had brought their own—and some had decent English skills, but Arcineh understood every word they said and naturally wanted to talk to them in Italian. She also knew it would be the very last thing she could do.
When the meeting finally got underway, Arcineh forced herself not to attend, but to keep an eye on Patrice and the physical needs of those present—pens, pads of paper, glasses, and water pitchers. And it hadn’t turned out to be so painful. When Patrice had described this part of the job, Arcineh had not been thrilled, but she liked taking care of small details.
Arcineh was thinking about that when something registered in her mind. The translator had just gotten something wrong. Arcineh began to listen. At first she wondered if it was her not paying attention but soon knew better.
Moving as quietly as she could manage, Arcineh found a small scrap of paper and wrote a note to Patrice. She did not mince words. The note said, Something is wrong. Moving subtly, she folded it and put it in front of Patrice, who read it and then turned to frown at Arcineh. Arcineh kept her face impassive, but her brows rose when Patrice looked at her.
The meeting moved on. Arcineh had to go and collect something from Gage’s office, but when she returned, she caught more talk of deceit. Arcineh began to watch the translator and knew in an instant that he was not comfortable with what he was doing. The man was sweating.
Feeling she had no choice, Arcineh wrote another note: They are planning to cheat Rugby Shades. Again she watched Patrice read the note, but this time that lady didn’t even turn. For a time her back was stiff with rage, but she did not look in Arcineh’s direction. Not until they took a break did Arcineh know how poorly she had failed.
“What do you think you’re doing?” Patrice asked in the now-empty meeting room, her face looking as though she was going to have a stroke.
“Patrice, I’m sorry, but they are not telling the truth.”
“And how could you possibly know that?”
“Well, I—” Arcineh began, but Patrice cut her off.
“Do you have any idea how quickly I could have you fired? Gage does whatever I say, and you had better remember that.”
Arcineh stood helpless. Like being swept back into some cruel time warp, Arcineh looked at Patrice but saw Quinn’s face. The words were different, but the intent was all the same.
“I’m sorry” was all Arcineh said, remembering Mallory’s words about the money.
“See that you are,” Patrice gritted out, turned, and stalked away.
The meetings went back into session, and Arcineh heard more subtle half-truths and lies, but she kept her mouth shut and sent no more notes. This was one battle she was not going to fight.
Things went from bad to worse in the weeks that followed. Patrice did everything in her power to make Arcineh miserable, and it worked. Arcineh dreaded work each day and tried to find times to study the job board when no one would be around to notice.
However, she never had a chance to apply for another position. The final straw came in the form of a four-year-old boy, whose mother had a meeting with Gage. Arcineh was flabbergasted that this woman would bring a child to a business meeting, and even more so when she was asked by Patrice to babysit the child in the conference room. Arcineh acquiesced, but only out of fear of losing her job.
Christopher was a handful from the first moment. He tried to get out the door repeatedly, and the longer Arcineh spurned his efforts, the more agitated he got. Her attempts to have him draw or look out the window were all rebuffed, and the first time he kicked her, Arcineh was so stunned she could barely move.
And that was just the beginning. Before Christopher’s mother returned for him, Arcineh’s face had been hit several times, her leg was bleeding, and she had two bite marks on her arm.
The child’s mother thanked her in a distracted way, never really looking at her, and took her son away. Arcineh stood alone in the conference room for a long time and weighed her options.
The office was large enough that it was unusual for everyone to be in the same place at the same time. But when Arcineh came from the conference room, slipping into the break room to get her purse, everyone was in Patrice’s office. Arcineh got her purse and began to walk past them.
“Arcie?” Mallory was the first to spot her face.
Arcineh did not so much as look at the other woman. She was out the door and halfway to the elevator when Gage caught up.
“Arcie,” he said, stopping her with a hand to her arm.
Arcineh paused only long enough to tell Gage not to touch her. The moment he let go, she went right back to walking. She was at the elevator in just seconds, the button pushed, when he stepped in front of her.
“You can’t leave. You’re hurt.”
“Get out of the way,” Arcineh said, even though the elevator had not arrived.
“Please listen to me,” Gage was saying when Arcineh began to step around him. He made the mistake of reaching for her arm again.
“Step off!” Arcineh spat at him, her voice low with rage.
Gage looked into dark, furious eyes and did just as she said. Keeping his hands to himself, he tried asking her to stay, but Arcineh wouldn’t even look at him. Gage made a move to join her in the elevator, but the look she gave him was so hateful he stopped.
The rest of the office had come to the middle of the lobby to witness all of this, their eyes large with surprise and upset. Had she known it, it might have been a comfort to Arcineh to know that even Patrice was shaking, realizing this time she’d gone too far.
Gage watched Patrice hang up the phone again.
“Same thing,” the woman said. “That number has been disconnected, and there’s no posted change.”
“Get me her address and directions to the place,” Gage said, heading to his office to gather some things. “And keep working on the number. Call the phone company.”
More than two hours later, Gage sat outside of Nicky Ciofani’s house, having gotten lost twice. Gage climbed from his car and went to the front door. He had prepared so many things to say that he felt let down when no one was home. He knocked for 10 minutes and even sat for another 15 in his car, hoping she would show up.
Eventually Gage gave up and returned to the office, thinking there was nothing else he could do.
Arcineh took a day to lick her wounds, but when work ended for Nicky the next evening, he arrived home to find Arcineh sitting in the living room, talking to Libby.
“Arcie!” he shouted with delight, coming to hug her, but he stopped short when he saw the bruises around her eye. All pleasure drained away, and Nicky’s face became stern.
“What happened to you, baby girl?”
“It’s a long story.”
“Who is he? I swear I’ll kill him. I swear I will.”
“Nicky.” His wife’s voice finally got through. “It wasn’t a man. Arcie knows better than that. Sit down and she’ll tell you.”
Arcineh didn’t start at the beginning but gave enough details to satisfy Jalaina’s brother. “So the truth of the matter is, I’m out of a job, Nicky. Any chance you can use me?” she finished.
“As a matter of fact,” Nicky started, looking very pleased over what he was thinking. “I’ve got a special job starting after Labor Day. I could use your perfectionist little hands.”
Arcineh was pleased and even laughed at his description, but the date he’d named was a month away, which meant no paycheck for six weeks. She would not go back and get what Rugby owed her, no matter how bad things got. She settled her mind for a lean month to come, and when Libby invited her for dinner, she accepted.
“Do you want more salad?” Jalaina Schafer asked of Arcineh when she had her friend over for lunch. Will and Jalaina were back from their honeymoon and settled into a spacious apartment.
“I think I do. This shrimp is amazing.”
Jalaina smiled, but then she had done little but smile since marrying Will a few weeks earlier. They had honeymooned in a cabin on a lake in Wisconsin and had the time of their lives.
“When do you start for Nicky?” Jalaina asked, dishing up their dessert.
“Not until after Labor Day.”
“Well, if you run out of food, come and see us.”
Arcineh laughed, but after she got home, she sat down and looked at her checking and savings accounts. She had some money set aside. However, she thought if she was careful, she might make it without getting into it. She had wanted to buy furniture with the money—Jalaina had taken several of her own pieces with her—but that might have to wait.
Arcineh sat on her one living room chair and looked at the end of the kitchen. Jalaina had taken the kitchen table and four chairs. Arcineh thought she might miss those more than the sofa.
Feeling lonely all of a sudden, Arcineh knew she didn’t want to sit around by herself and wondered why she’d left Jalaina’s so soon. Changing into workout gear, she caught a bus to the studio, hoping there would be a class in session.
One delay after another turned Nicky’s Labor Day job into a mid-November one. An old house was being restored, and Arcineh was to lay the mosaic tile in the kitchen. It was a delicate, painstaking task, and Nicky told her not to rush.
She loved it. She missed working with her hands in this way, and the reproduction tile was beautiful—tiny squares in a amazing array of colors that Arcineh would not have thought available at the time.
The house was built in about 1872 and was grand for the day. Everything was being ripped up and replaced. Crews had to move carefully to avoid injury. The kitchen floor was one of the few rooms where the floor was safe. Arcineh would start work early and still be there at 5:00, tiling away and trying not to think about how lonely her life had become.
At the same time, she liked being alone when she worked. Chummel was always welcome, but she didn’t like being around a bunch of men who had nothing to talk about but women and alcohol. She also didn’t like being introduced to the strangers that came through, something Nicky was aware of and compassionate about when he was on the job site.
There were few visitors at the beginning—the job site was too unpredictable—but after the first of the year, more visitors came. When they arrived, Arcineh simply stood out of the way while Nicky or Bud, the man in charge of everything, gave a quick tour or explanation.
It was a snowy day in early February when Nicky brought in two men. Arcineh set her tools aside and stood across the room. Sometimes she didn’t even look at the guests, very much wanting to be left on her own, but this time she had no choice.
Sam Bryant was in the kitchen with her, and the other man was Gage Sefton. Arcineh knew she did not look the same. She was wearing an ancient sweatshirt and jeans and had stuffed her hair under an old White Sox baseball cap. If she could have chosen a day to look her worst, this was it.
“It’s slow work,” Arcineh finally heard Nicky saying. “We would love to talk to whoever did the original and ask him what he was thinking, but the plan is to have it look the same, and all those curves and angles go together very slowly.”
The room suddenly grew quiet. Arcineh had tried to just listen to Nicky, but her eyes would not stay away from her grandfather. He was looking at her as well. Arcineh spoke.
“Hello, Sam.”
“Hello, Arcineh.”
The other two men watched this exchange and stayed quiet.
“Is this actually what you do for a living?” Sam asked. A small smile bent the corners of his mouth, and his voice did not give away the pounding of his heart.
Arcineh had to smile as well. “For the moment, yes.”
The words died between them then, and she looked over to see Gage studying her.
“How did things end up with Siena Designs?” she asked him.
“That’s who you are,” Gage said in wonder. “Do you remember much about that meeting?’
“I remember everything about that meeting.”
Gage’s entire stance changed. He came to full attention and demanded without thinking, “I need you to tell me exactly what you know!”
Arcineh’s brows rose in a way that both Sam and Nicky knew as dangerous, but she addressed herself to her grandfather. And in Italian.
“Mr. Sefton has forgotten himself. I don’t work for him anymore.”
“What did she say?” Gage asked quietly of Sam, knowing he’d blundered.
“I’ll tell you later.”
“But if she can help,” Gage began.
Sam turned his full body to the younger man.
“I don’t know what’s going on between the two of you, but right now you need to trust me when I tell you that now is not the time. I will get back to you on this.”
Gage looked into the older man’s eyes and nodded, a tough thing to do when he was up to his ears in litigation with the design firm from Italy and suddenly saw Arcineh as a potential lifeline.
Sam walked to Arcineh next, reminding himself not to hug her.
“Will you have dinner with me tonight?” he asked.
Arcineh looked surprised but still asked, “Just the two of us?”
“Yes.”
“I would enjoy that.”
“Let’s dress up,” Sam said next.
Arcineh laughed a little. “My hands are pretty rough these days.”
“You’ll look beautiful,” he said sincerely, his eyes on her face.
Arcineh smiled at him, not sure how she was keeping from falling apart.
“I’ll pick you up,” Sam said next. “Just give me the address, and I’ll find it.”
Arcineh told him, but suddenly grabbed his arm.
“How is Violet?”
“She’s fine. She just left for a six-week trip to Europe.”
Arcineh’s mouth opened, and Sam laughed.
“How did you talk her into that?”
“It wasn’t easy,” Sam said, his smile lighting his whole face.
Arcineh studied him, thinking he was the same and yet very different. She wondered how she seemed to him.
“What time can I pick you up?”
“Well, I get home about 5:30. I could be ready by 6:15.”
“I’ll be there.”
Sam didn’t stay around. He could feel the emotion welling up inside of him and knew that Arcineh was close to tears. With a word of thanks, Sam exited, Gage close behind him.
“Do you want to tell me who that is?” Nicky asked of Arcineh when they had the old kitchen to themselves.
“My grandfather, Sam Bryant.”
“Arcineh Bryant. I never made the connection,” Nicky said, thinking out loud. “And he knows Gage Sefton?”
“He must. How do you know Gage Sefton?”
“This was his great-grandfather’s house. He’s the main benefactor on this project.”
Not at any point had Arcineh heard this, and she wondered if it hadn’t been talked about or if she was spending too much time lost in her own little world. She eventually went back to work, her head full of what had just happened and trying to make sense of it.
“Your granddaughter?” Gage questioned Sam as he drove them both back toward the financial district.
“Yes.”
“Why was she working for me?”
“I don’t know. We’ve been estranged. Today was the first time I’ve seen her in more than four years.”
Gage didn’t know what to say. He wanted to jump right back to the issue with Siena Designs but knew how insensitive that would be. And indeed he was sensitive right then. Sam’s face was thoughtful, but he didn’t have much to say. If he hadn’t seen his granddaughter for four years, he was probably in a little bit of shock.
Gage was happy to make the drive back in silence.