Sick Like Me (Sick Like #1)

Chapter 32

THIRTY-TWO

Winter passed in the blink of an eye. I had spent Christmas Eve with my father, just as I had always done when I was a child well into my teen years.

It was a tradition of ours.

I would spend Christmas eve night with him and we would watch movies or play the Xbox together late into the night. He would often have Costco chocolate muffins there for us to snack on, the huge ones that were the size of our heads.

Then I would wake Christmas morning to bagels, cream cheese and smoked salmon. It was the perfect breakfast, the perfect goodbye to my father for the rest of the day.

Then I went to see my mother in the centre of Hadley, which was fucking hell to drive to. She had stayed in the fanciest hotel, courtesy of her rich husband’s money. My mother, Franki and I booked Christmas dinner at the restaurant in the hotel.

It was a decent spread, and once I had scranned my fair share of roasted potatoes, turkey and cabbage, I went home to spend the rest of the night video calling my darling Nova to see how she was doing and to see what she had gotten for Christmas.

The fact she could say my name by then made my heart swell. It almost made me want to have a child of my own then. Almost. I wasn’t ready for a child, I reminded myself. And I needed a man for that, too. At least to help me make one.

I entered the office with my head high, my hair in a half up, half down doo with a white bow keeping the top pieces of my hair secured. I wore a white dress and some black heels, simple yet professional.

I never usually went all out when it came to my appearance at work, but the weekend before, Casey had reminded Stefan and I that the deadline was approaching and that the King couple had called us to their office for a final meeting.

“Woah, hot mama,” Stefan smiled as he looked me up and down, then he wolf whistled to add extra effect.

I rolled my eyes, but smiled as I placed my bag on the desk. I rummaged inside it for my laptop, remaining standing. I felt the cool metal of the device, then I ripped it from the bag.

I tucked it under my arm, turning to Stefan with my eyes narrowed. “Print outs?” I asked, to which he stood and grabbed a stack of papers from his desk with one hand, while the other was held in a salute.

I laughed and nodded my head at him. “Come on then loser, let’s get going to the showroom so we can get this fucking meeting over with.”

Stefan shot off the salute, then he stomped his left leg as if he were in some kind of military drill. He then raised his knees dramatically as he stepped around me, making his way to the glass doors.

“For God’s sake Stefan, walk like a normal human will you?” Casey let out a burst of giggles, to which Stefan gave her a proud grin.

I was happy to see he was so unaffected by the breakup with Peyton some months ago. It would have killed me if our friendship dynamic had changed .

Stefan walked normally throughout the rest of the office building, across the car parks and into the showroom.

The hairs of my body stood to attention. I knew Kota was in the showroom, I had seen his car parked outside. I wanted to seek him out, have a sneaky little work make out session before my meeting to give me some false courage. But there was no time for that.

Plus, I was sure Stefan would have killed me if he caught me with Kota after I claimed I would end everything with him on Halloween night some months prior.

“Jesus,” Stefan shivered as he wrapped his arms around his body as we made it up the familiar metal stairs to the second floor of the showroom. “It’s only just spring and they got the bloody air con on.”

I nodded lazily, not bothering to complain alongside him. Instead, I stepped around him and knocked on the glass door that led to Carol King’s office.

The woman from behind the desk, with her hair recently dyed to a faint orange colour—a change from her white-blonde she usually wore—looked up from her computer. When her eyes found me, they crinkled at the edges as she smiled wide and waved her hand to welcome me into her office.

I stepped inside first, Stefan hot on my heels. The office had been well decorated by Casey personally. It had mostly white furniture, with the faint touch of colour such as a pencil holder in a pale yellow, and a fluffy pale green rug under the desk where Carol had kicked her heels off to ease the pain in her feet.

I smiled at the woman and pulled up a chair from her. I sat down, placing my laptop on the free space on her desk. Stefan took the seat beside me, placing the stack of papers down. “Will Mr—” I began, but reminded myself of the little speach the couple had given us upon our last meeting.

“Ashton, you are the lead interior decorator for our home. Please, call us Carol and Malcolm. See us as your client and not as your company owners.”

The words were hard to accept, it made me feel rude to treat them in any manner other than with the utmost respect. But Carol wanted to treat me as a friend, treat me casually. So who was I to go against the wishes of the woman in charge.

“Will Malcolm be joining us?” I continued, looking around the room in search of the man only to come up blank.

Carol waved her hand dismissively. “The kids wanted him to stay for some play they’re doing in school, so he’s on dad duty. We can continue without him.”

I nodded slowly, trying to stop my mind from wandering.

Most women were expected to be the ones to stay at home with the kids, to go to their plays and their sports events. But Mrs King seems so unfazed by the idea of missing out, so long as her husband was there.

I remember reading a rumour online that Carol was the one to give Malcolm the last name King, not the other way around. I had read that the women in her family took charge, while the men took more maternal roles. It was impressive, but it wasn’t my place to question further.

“Print outs,” I stated to Stefan. Without needing to give him further instruction, he collected a series of papers in each hand, leaving one stack on the table. He handed me a pile of papers, then Carol, then he picked the ones on the desk up for himself.

I pulled the front page off the stack, just an introductory page which showed what the contents contained. I read over the first page, flicking glances to Carol as I tried to gauge her response to the words and photos we had used.

I watched as Carol nodded her head slowly at some parts, then watched as she used a pale orange marker to circle aspects and write short notes. She read the papers in silence, and I wanted to ask her some questions to try to figure out if we had done a good job, or if we had failed miserably with the ‘as close to final ideas as possible’.

The woman was known to work best in silence though, so I kept my lips shut and shot Stefan a look to nod at the desk, motioning for him to place the extra paper set down so she could keep a fresh set, while we took her note filled one back to the office for further review.

I watched carefully, and smiled as she finally looked up and placed the papers back into a neat pile before handing them over back to us. She took the fresh papers with a smile, then grabbed her staple to secure them before she placed them in her drawer with all the other portfolios we had shown her over the last almost-year.

“You guys have nailed everything we wanted. I made a few notes on what needs to absolutely stay true to the final project, and some notes on some things I would be open to other ideas on,” She stated with her voice full of motivation and energy.

I picked the papers up and placed them behind my clean stack and nodded. I wanted to check her notes there and then, but I decided not to add pressure to the situation. Stefan and I would go back to our office and lull over the notes to ensure we made a perfect final ideas folder for the couple.

I went to stand, positive the meeting was over. But Carol stood and held a hand out to stop us. “Remember when we told you last year we would look to send you out to our old home to gauge a bit of extra inspiration on things we like so you can look to incorporate it into our new home?”

I nodded slowly, shooting Stefan a sideways glance. Not but a few days earlier, he had been pouting that the ‘holiday’ the couple were going to send us on had been long forgotten and wasn’t going to be happening. The look I gave him was one of confidence, a smirk as a way of telling him I had been right when I had told him to just be patient .

“We thought about sending you guys out for a week in May, if that works for the pair of you?” Carol asked, walking around her desk to the bookcase where she used her hand to dust off some imaginary fluff from the pristine shelf.

Stefan nodded eagerly, his eyes set on me as he urged me to agree blindly. I had no plans, and so I just shrugged one shoulder and smiled at him. “That works for us,” I replied, to which the woman rushed to turn and face us with a wide grin.

“Well, great. We’ll start planning the tickets and accommodation for you both.” She began, the beaming smile on her face infectious. “You can spend two days touring the home, taking photographs of things to get an idea into our style face to face,” She continued, making her way back to her desk. She sat down, placing her hand son top of the desk. The move was elegant, but held so much power that it intimidated me in ways I couldn’t understand. “And then you can spend the rest of your time relaxing. See it as a paid holiday to thank you for all the time and hard work you have invested into this project for us.”

“Thank you so much, Carol,” Stefan spoke up for the first time that meeting. He usually left all the speaking to me, what with me being the project lead. “It might be the Monaco Formula1 Grand Prix race during that period though. Will tickets and accommodation not be costly?” He sounded concerned, but I knew he just wanted to get an idea as to how rich the couple really were.

The woman waved her hand. “I have no clue when the races are. I’ll just hand my bank card over to the agency to book the flights and hotels. If it costs more that it does any other time of the year doesn’t bother me.”

Stefan pulled his lips down in an expression that showed he was impressed by the lack of concern the woman had for money. I had known the King couple were rich, what with their manor and all, but I didn’t know they were so carefree about their money .

I wished to be half as rich as them one day. A pointless wish that would never come true, I had no doubt, but a wish nonetheless.