Accidentally in Love, page 10
“So… what about lunch, my dear guardian?” he asked, as if it was perfectly normal for him to eat wearing just a bathrobe. Not happy with that, he started toying with the belt for a while, just giving Sara enough time to blush again.
She tried to pull herself together and pretend that nothing was wrong, but her cheeks were hot enough to cook a burger on. Well, she should probably feel lucky he had decided to keep his bathrobe on at least. Having seen what kind of a man he was, he would have had no problem taking that off too.
“Certainly,” she replied, following him into the lounge.
If he had no issues with walking around half naked, then she would do whatever it took not to think about her own issues. Or at least, to keep them hidden.
*
Sara managed to get back home early in the afternoon and tried with all her might to put the bizarre experience at the Plaza out of her mind. Luckily the worst was now behind her. During lunch they had come to an agreement about the bill: she would pay for the spa out of the thirty thousand dollars he had available next month and of which he had not yet reached the limit to cover his crazy expenses. But he would have to be careful to reduce the limit of his credit cards for that month by the exact amount that this little game of his had cost her. If he thought he could trick her that easily, he would now have to rethink his ideas – or rather, he could try , but from that moment on, the next time he pulled one of his little stunts he would find himself with a handful of cancelled credit cards.
She was concentrating so hard on her plan that she almost had a heart attack when her sister Eva suddenly walked in, opening the door with her spare set of keys.
“So this is where you’ve been hiding out!” she exclaimed. “We’ve been worried sick about you! How come you didn’t come to the restaurant for lunch?”
Eva was totally in the right, and Sara was mortified she’d forgotten to tell them.
“Something unexpected came up at work. Sorry, Evie, it just slipped my mind to call you.”
Her sister threw herself down on the couch. “Ah, it doesn’t matter – the important thing is that you weren’t kidnapped by some lunatic.”
“Even if I had been kidnapped, I’m afraid they wouldn’t have wanted to put up with me for long.”
Eva laughed at her joke. “You idiot! I’m just sorry that you missed the opportunity of inviting Tony out on a date. But you could still make up for it tonight! And after closing time you two could go out and have some fun,” she suggested .
Sara looked at her doubtfully. “At closing time, I’m already snoring away, and have been for a while. You know how it is, Morpheus’s famous arms…”
“Yeah, well, you’re obviously in the wrong set of arms! You should be aiming for Tony’s. Do you want things between the two of you to ever move forward or not?”
“Look, Evie, it’s a tough period at work,” Sara tried to explain. “I have a lot to do and I’m a little stressed out.”
“But why has that only been happening for the last month or so? I mean, it always seemed like you could handle the stress of these trials.”
“They’ve given me a slightly different case from usual, and I don’t feel very comfortable with it,” she admitted. “It’s not my kind of thing.”
“What the hell have they got you doing?” asked Eva, sounding astonished.
“Well, nothing really. They just made me the guardian for this guy,” she said, trying not to go into too much detail. But her sister was not the type of person you could fob off.
“Who? Some old guy who’s half out of his mind?”
“Not exactly…” she said uncomfortably. “Or at least, he’s not old .”
Eva got up from the couch, her interest suddenly piqued by her sister’s reticence to reveal the details. “And just how old is this ‘case’ of yours? ”
“Thirty-five,” she confessed.
“Interesting!” her sister exclaimed. “You have to babysit for a man in his prime – and why’s that, if I may ask?”
“Come on, you know I’m not allowed to reveal too much about the cases I’m handling… Let’s just say he has behavioral problems; his family thought it wise to have him put under the care of a support guardian,” she explained with the utmost diplomacy.
But Eva wasn’t going to be taken in that easily. “I can just imagine how happy this guy must have been when he found you hot on his heels. You know you can be a real hardass when you want to be.”
“I don’t want to be playing bad cop in all of this. I’m just looking after his interests.”
“So where were you today then?” Eva teased her. “Saving him from his own wayward behavior?”
“Errr… More or less,” she confirmed, blushing a little.
Eva didn’t take her eyes off her, not even for a second.
“Come on, Sara Di Giovanni, spit it out – where have you been?”
“At the Plaza spa,” she replied in a quiet mumble, hoping she wouldn’t be heard.
But Eva had bionic ears. “At the where? ” she shouted in surprise. “At a spa ? You?” And then she started laughing her head off .
“Hey, cut it out!” Sara shouted, throwing a cushion at her.
But her sister gave no sign of wanting to stop. “Oh my God! My uptight sister! In a spa !”
“Evie…” Sara warned her.
“And what on earth did the two of you get up to in the Plaza spa?” Eva asked with tears in her eyes.
“We had… a massage,” Sara replied with the utmost seriousness. But it only made Eva laugh even harder than before. “I said cut it out already! I’ve been through enough today! Show a bit of respect, can’t you?”
“Oh god… Oh God, stop it, you’re killing me! This is mind blowing! I mean, this guy has figured out your weak point. Hey, for someone who’s out of his mind, he seems to have a pretty good handle on things, wouldn’t you say?”
“You don’t understand! He just took a lucky guess,” Sara replied, hoping that she was right.
“So what’s the guy’s name?” Her sister was suddenly growing very interested in the subject.
“What do you care what his name is?” Sara asked, sounding a little exasperated.
“Come on, make your little sis happy…”
“You’re always happy.”
“True, but I could be even happier so I’m afraid I must insist. ”
Sara gave a snort of annoyance. “Ethan, if you must know,” she revealed with resignation. “He’s called Ethan.”
“Ethan…” Eva repeated, mulling over this detail. “And what’s this guy like?”
“For God’s sake, Eva! I just told you he has serious behavioral problems! It doesn’t matter what he’s like!”
But Sara’s sister was not one to be intimidated. “Well, I’m guessing he must be cute, judging from the way you’re carrying on.”
“He is not cute!” Sara insisted, her face glowing scarlet. “I mean, I haven’t really noticed his appearance. Because I’m, you know, his guardian. ”
“So what, what does that even mean?” Eva said as she rolled her eyes. “He’s got a face, hasn’t he? I didn’t say you had to jump the guy, just tell me what he looks like.”
“Tall, blonde, light colored eyes…” she admitted, feeling a little annoyed.
Eva’s face was the picture of disappointment. “The exact opposite of your perfect man.”
“Exactly!” Sara said, feeling vindicated. “And now, can we talk about something more serious?”
“Of course! So, when are you going to finally ask Tony out?”
“Lord, give me strength…” Sara sighed. “You’re going to drive me out of my mind. All of you!”
Chapter 6
Ethan was sitting at his usual table at his usual club, a place he went to with some frequency. He didn’t like to admit it, but lately he’d been turning into a man of habit instead of being the rebel he wanted to be.
That Saturday evening should have been like all the others – copious quantities of alcohol and lots of fun. Usually, this was the only form of oblivion that was capable of giving him an illusory but at least momentary peace of mind. It was a way of not having to think about problems, or at least to postpone thinking about them. And in that particular period it seemed to be working quite well. He had been procrastinating for years now, and saw no reason why he shouldn’t just carry on doing so.
So it was a shame there was an uncomfortable feeling in the air that night. He wasn’t able to put his finger on it exactly, but despite everything he felt there was something strange and worrisome going on. His brain was working overtime, going back over the day and what he’d just been through and it didn’t seem to want to calm down.
Ethan wasn’t one to over analyze what was happening to him. As a personal rule, he tried to think as little as possible. Thinking never led to anything good.
“You look a little worried,” a girl whispered in his ear. He was unable to remember her name but he had already seen her on other occasions – of that, at least, he was sure. It was true that he’d recognized her more from her plunging neckline than from her face, but he doubted she would have been offended if he’d said so.
She leant even further over in his direction, showing off her impressive assets. Ethan forced himself to look at her, but felt nothing but the usual boredom which had been his faithful companion for so many of his days. It was highly unlikely that this girl would hold his interest for more than a minute.
“I’m fine, just a bit tired,” he said, trying to push her away with his hand. He didn’t like close contact with people, especially ones he didn’t know very well.
“Poor baby… I could make you feel better,” she replied, giving no sign of having realized that her presence wasn’t welcome. In a desperate attempt to get his attention she put her hand between his legs, and Ethan, more than a little bit annoyed, jumped up from the couch, pulled out his phone and called his driver.
“Come and pick me up from outside the club, now,” he ordered. It was one o’clock in the morning, and the night was just beginning, but he’d had to get up at dawn – or at least what he called dawn – in order to put his little joke at the spa into action. It was no surprise that he was tired and ready to leave, even though he’d only had a couple of drinks.
Hastily he said goodbye to everyone, threw a couple of hundred dollar banknotes down on the table as usual and rushed out of the room. Chris was outside, already waiting for him. “Do you want to go somewhere else?” he asked after Ethan had settled in the car.
“No, not tonight, no. Take me home.” Chris turned round to look at him, his expression as astonished as if Ethan had said that he wanted to become a priest.
“At this time of night? Do you feel okay?”
Almost without meaning to, Ethan was suddenly on the defensive. “I’m fine , I’m fine …” he replied. “I’ve just got some weird stuff floating around in my head. And the company wasn’t that great…”
Ethan thought about the beautiful girl who had been flaunting herself to him – once upon a time he would have enjoyed being distracted by a girl like that, but his interest had long since disappeared. He couldn’t have said why. Maybe it was because it no longer felt like he was breaking the rules, it just felt like a habit. Perhaps it was because he had changed. If it meant that a man was no longer able to blank out the world with booze and women, getting older was going to be a nightmare.
“Well, the best thing to do with thoughts is just to ignore them,” suggested Chris. “They never bring anything good.”
“Yeah, I’m usually of the same opinion myself, but today I have this weird feeling… I can’t figure out who won at the spa – was it her or me? And as much as I’m loath to admit it, not being able to work it out is really starting to annoy me.”
“Nobody won – you played a neat little trick on her, and she managed to get herself out of it without losing her dignity. Even from the point of view of money. She’s obviously serious about getting you to pay off all your accounts by detracting them from the following month. I don’t see a real winner, but if I really had to choose one… well, no offense, my friend, but I would say it was her…
Ethan sighed heavily. “Just as I feared.”
“Hey, you’ve just lost a few battles, not the war,” Chris tried to make him feel better. “Don’t get demoralized, don’t forget that you now have valuable information in your hands.”
“What? That she doesn’t like to strip off in front of strangers and doesn’t like spas? That doesn’t seem like such a great result, even with my post-cocktail buzz…” he mumbled .
“And that’s where you’re wrong, Ethan. The day you spent together should have helped you understand what kind of person she is. You can’t beat her by just pressing the money button – but maybe you can get her to run away by invading her personal space.”
Ethan began to look at him strangely. “Invade her space?” he repeated with a dangerous glint in his eyes.
“She’s a hard nut, right? So you should drive her to exasperation by pulling other strings, not the ones she’s expecting…”
Ethan thought about it for a moment. “Chris, you’re a fucking genius!”
“Always knew I was wasting my time being a driver,” Chris chuckled.
“And how do you see yourself as a removals man?”
“As long as you pay me, old buddy, no problem at all – hell, I’d even put on a tutu and dance like a ballerina!”
*
Monday was closing day for the restaurant, so Eva usually took things easy. She got up late, had a nice big latte and walked to her yoga class, which always made her feel better. But that morning, when she was halfway there, she was forced to stop and take out her phone. Luckily her sister answered almost immediately.
“Hey, are you by any chance having your place redecorated?” Eva asked her.
“Well good morning, to you too , my dear. Get out of the wrong side of bed this morning?” chuckled Sara.
“Look, I don’t want to worry you, but there’s a removals truck parked right outside your building. That door onto the street only goes to your apartment, right?”
“Yeah, my entrance is separate,” Sara confirmed. “What are you worrying about, it’s probably just stopped there by mistake.”
“It’s just that they’re moving stuff… and they’re going inside the door,” Eva insisted. “Your door.”
Sara didn’t normally pay much attention to what her sister said, but after thinking for a moment she suddenly realized that Eva wasn’t just playing a stupid joke on her.
“Are you sure?”
“Quite sure. I mean, either someone has suddenly decided to move into the basement of your building, or these guys are carrying furniture into your apartment…”
“Come on, they can’t be – they’d have to go through my front door, remember? ”
“Wait a minute, I think I can see the door as well, now that I come to think of it!” Eva exclaimed in surprise, as she watched two rather robust men removing the ugly door of her sister’s home. “Do you think they’re thieves disguised as removal men?” she asked, lowering her voice. “Do you want me to go over and ask them?”
“Eva, no, stay away! They might be criminals! Don’t even think about it!” Sara shouted.
“Look, don’t get worked up, I’m just going over to see what’s going on. What do you think they’re gonna do to me? Don’t hang up, stay on the phone – Hey! Hey, excuse me! Could you tell me what’s going on here? ”
“Removals, Miss,” Sara heard a man’s voice say.
“And who’s moving?” her sister asked, casually.
“Mr Phelps.”
“What?!” exclaimed Sara. “But he can’t throw me out of my home!”
“And what about that door?” continued Eva.
“Mr Phelps has got a thing for security, so we’re installing a new one,” explained the man. “Steel reinforced, made to the highest standards of security – the works.”
Eva thanked him and walked away, resuming the conversation with her sister. “Did you hear all that? Do you know this Mr Phelps? ”
“It’s that asshole, Ethan!” She raged angrily. “But he can’t throw me out of my house! I’ve always paid my rent on time! Eva, I have to go, I need to call my landlord right now. This madness has got to stop as soon as possible.”
“Yeah, sure, go ahead and call him. I’ll swing by tonight to check you’ve solved your problems.”
“I have to resolve them! I’m not going to let him get away with this!” snapped Sara, then hung up and prepared to do battle.
*
Sara had a terrible headache. For the first time since all this business of being a guardian had begun, she had no idea how to proceed. She seemed to have been catapulted into some awful parallel universe without a way out. Trapped like Alice in Wonderland. Or, to be more precise, like Sara in Horrorland. However, as the cat says in the story, she must be crazy too, otherwise she wouldn’t have ended up being in there with them.
She had spent almost half an hour on the phone to her landlord only to find out that, despite being very uncomfortable about what he’d done, he had actually handed over the keys to her apartment to Ethan. When she’d pressed him, he confessed that he owned a small company that was almost entirely dependent on Phelps & Phelps. That was the reason why he couldn’t say no to Ethan Phelps when he’d appeared in his office twenty-four hours earlier. He’d demanded a copy of the keys to Sara’s apartment. He’d told him that they were old friends and that he wanted to give her a surprise. And he had a really great surprise in mind. If it had not been for Eva happening to walk by, he would probably have succeeded too – she would have had a heart attack when she returned home that night. At least this way she was prepared for the worst.
What the hell had he done? And how could she get her own back? She was certain that not having an answer to those questions was the cause of the stomach ache.
