All of Me (All Series Book 2) (19 page)

“You can breathe now,” Sophia told him two days later. She had called him in a panic on Wednesday about her father’s visit and asked if they could meet. Unfortunately he couldn’t free up any time until today.

He’d been a nervous wreck over it. Never one for meeting people or socializing, the last thing he wanted to do was meet Sophia’s father.

It was crazy, really. He had been around Linda’s parents plenty. And he never remembered being nervous meeting any of his other girlfriends’ parents.

But Sophia was different. She was the one. He knew it now and he couldn’t mess this up. He wanted her father to like him. And he worried that might not happen.

Spencer Mansfield was everything he imagined of Sophia’s father. Sophisticated, classy, cultured and reeking of wealth. It was never a discussion he and Sophia had had in the past, but he had assumed her parents were well off. Sean worried over nothing with Sophia seeing the books for Harper Construction.

Either way, it was important to Phil that Sophia’s father approved of him.

“Daddy, this is Phil Harper.” Sophia had introduced them when he showed up at Sophia’s house. They had decided a meal at Sophia’s house would be more comfortable than going to a crowded restaurant on a Friday night. Secretly Phil was more worried knowing there wasn’t a time limit if dinner was at her house. But he was willing to do anything she wanted.

“It’s nice to meet you, Mr. Mansfield,” Phil said, reaching his hand out.

“Call me Spencer,” he said returning the handshake.

The meal had gone off without a hitch. Spencer was friendly, welcoming, and humorous. It was clear where Sophia got her teasing nature. Even clearer was how much Spencer adored his daughter. All the more reason Phil needed to leave a good impression.

“Sophia tells me you own a construction company with your brother,” Spencer said.

He tried to explain their company as easily as he could, summarizing their work. Surprisingly Spencer was very interested and asked all sorts of questions. “I’ve always been interested in real estate. I’ll have to pick your brain when I can stay longer. Maybe talk with Alec, too. I’ve been looking into another venture.”

“I’ll be glad to answer any questions I can.”

Three hours later, dinner was cooked, served, conversation flowed and Phil began to relax. It wasn’t as bad as he thought it was going to be. Except for a few uncomfortable moments when Spencer started asking about Kaitlin and her pregnancy, and his parents’ excitement over grandchildren.

Honestly, he wasn’t that
uncomfortable
about the comments—not as much as Sophia seemed to be.

At the end of the night, Spencer had gotten up, given Sophia a hug and kiss, then shaken his hand and said, “It’s nice to meet you. Treat my baby well.” All those charming mannerisms throughout the night had vanished. Spencer was dead serious when he made that comment.

“Always,” Phil replied, and he meant it.

Now he looked over at Sophia lying against him on the couch. Once Spencer left, she flopped down and breathed a sigh of relief, then pulled him down next to her.

“It wasn’t so bad,” he told her.

“Sure, glad you thought that,” she replied, laughing.

“What?
You
didn’t have to worry about impressing him,” he complained.

“Were you worried?” she asked sincerely, then leaned up and gave him a kiss on the lips.

“Deathly.”

She chuckled. “There was no reason to worry. I think he had already formed an opinion before you showed up today.”

Was that good or bad? “How’s that?”

“It’s a long story,” she said, snuggling into his side.

“We’ve got all night.”

“Don’t you wonder why he showed up out of the blue?” she asked instead.

“I guess. But I know they’ve done this before, right? At least I remember Kaitlin mentioning it.” Anytime Kaitlin had brought up Sophia’s name he’d listened intently.

“Well, my mother showed up first. Her visit wasn’t really planned, but since they were in New York she took advantage of it and traveled up here to see me. But once she returned home, she couldn’t wait to contact my father and tell him she’d been here. And she mentioned your name.”

“What did she say?”

“I don’t know. I’ll find out. But he came here to meet you.”

“What?” It was a good thing she told him after, rather than before. He would have been even more nervous.

“He would never tell me that, but I know my father fairly well. Needless to say, whatever my mother said to him, he arrived with it already in his mind he was going to meet you. You passed, don’t worry,” she said, grinning.

He hoped so. “How do you know?”

“I just do. My father has never asked to meet any of my boyfriends. And those he did happen to meet by chance, he barely gave them the time of day. Tonight was completely different. Trust me, you’re good.”

“Glad to know that.”

***

“What are you thinking?” Sophia asked him later in bed. They had been lying there for about ten minutes, just relaxing, his hand on her stomach, softly caressing her. Crazy thoughts running through his mind.

He hated that she knew he was distracted, but he wasn’t saying. “Nothing.”

“You’re lying to me,” she said, a touch of humor in her voice.

“Nothing important,” he amended.

“You are still lying to me.” She was on her back, he was on his side, resting on his elbow, his hand stroking and touching her. It had ended up on her stomach, moving in slow circles. He loved how soft she was, how soft she felt to him.

“You don’t want to know.”

“Why?”

“Because it would scare you.”

“You don’t know that until you tell me.”

“Trust me,” he said earnestly. “It scares me. It will probably terrify you.”

“Now I need to know.” She laid her hand over his and stilled his movements. “Tell me, Phil. I don’t want you to feel like you can’t say things to me. I want us to have an open relationship. I want us to be able to tell each other anything without worrying.”

He inhaled deeply. He couldn’t believe he was about to tell her what was going through his mind. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

“You’ve got me nervous right now. Just say it.”

He rubbed her stomach a little more with her hand on top. “I’m imagining you pregnant.”

“What?” she shrieked. “Where did that come from?”

“You’re father kept making a point of bringing it up. It’s hard not to be thinking it lying here. Sorry.” It was more than casual comments about Kaitlin and her pregnancy tonight. More about how his parents were lucky to have grandchildren on the way.

She thought for a second, he could see, then asked, “What do you see?”

“What do you mean?” She didn’t look scared or upset by his answer to her question.

“You said you are imagining me pregnant. What do you see in your mind? How fat am I?”

He chuckled. “You aren’t fat. You’re gorgeous. There is nothing more beautiful than a pregnant woman.”

“Really?” she asked curiously. “I don’t hear too many women saying that.”

“I can’t tell you what it’s like from a woman’s point of view. I can’t even tell you from a man’s point of view other than what I would think.”

“And tell me,” she encouraged him. “What do you think about it? Other than I’m not fat in your mind.”

He paused. She was teasing him, he could see, and he relaxed and explained. “The thought of my child growing inside of you is the most amazing thing to me. To know we are one, we created something together. Something out of love. Ours. I can’t explain it. It wouldn’t matter to me how you looked on the outside, not at all. I wouldn’t be able to see past the miracle of our child.” He felt like a fool saying that. But it was the truth. It was what he felt, even if he was trying not to squirm with embarrassment under her gaze.

Her eyes filled with tears and he panicked. “What? I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have said that,” he rushed out.

“No, don’t apologize. I’ve never heard of a man saying anything like that before.”

He hoped that was a good thing. “So,” he said trailing off, not knowing what else to say and feeling a bit awkward now.

“So,” she said back, smiling at him. She raised her hand to his face, trailed her fingers down his cheek and over his jaw, then reached up and kissed him. “Someday.”

“Someday,” he replied back softly.

***

Sophia woke early the next morning. She hadn’t slept much the night before. She’d had no idea Phil was going to say what he did. It was totally shocking, to say the least. Almost alarming.

Not just what he had been thinking, but his words and his thoughts on the subject. That he imagined her pregnant and seemed to enjoy it, if not look forward to it. She hadn’t meant to say “someday” to him, but after it slipped out she held her breath to see his response.

In her mind and in her heart, she was there, every part of her was right there—Phil was the one. Any man that could look at a pregnant woman and never see anything other than amazement and love over the miracle growing inside of her rather than the raging hormones and weight gain was a catch. Yeah, he was the one.

“What are you doing?” Phil asked.

She jumped slightly, not hearing his approach. She’d been sitting in the kitchen drinking coffee quietly. She hadn’t wanted to wake him, and she needed more space to gather her thoughts.

When she woke up an hour ago, she slid out of bed and came to the kitchen, not even bothering with a shower. “Drinking my coffee.”

He walked over and poured himself a cup, then sat across from her at the table. “Everything okay?”

“Sure, why do you ask?”

“Just wondering if you’re having thoughts about last night?”

She was, but didn’t want to say that. “No.”

“You’re lying to me, Sophia,” he said, throwing her words back at her.

“Not much,” she replied.

He let out a little huff and held his hand out for her to move over to him. He pulled her onto his lap and wrapped his arms around her waist, placing his chin on her shoulder. “I love you so much.”

Someday might be coming soon if he kept that up. She was a mess, dressed in old shorts, a loose-fitting shirt, and not a touch of makeup on. There was probably yesterday’s makeup smeared on her face. He didn’t care, or didn’t notice. Not at all.

She turned her head, closed her eyes against the tears, then opened them up. “I love you, too. And so you know, my thoughts aren’t bad ones at all.”

“I’m glad.”

The One

“Let’s get this show on the road,” Alec said, walking into Sean’s office. They were all there bright and early before the office even opened, getting ready for their one day of interviews. Phil wasn’t looking forward to it.

“What are you complaining about?” Sean asked. “I’m the one stuck in a room with both of you all day long.”

Phil knew Sean was joking. He fit in well with the company and could banter back and forth with the best of them. “You’re used to sitting on your ass all day though,” Phil said back with a snicker.

“Hey, I was going to say that,” Alec complained.

Sean chuckled. “Pull up a seat, boys. I’ll give you a summary of everyone.” He handed over some papers. “Here’s a copy of their resumes for you to look over before they come in.”

“How long is this day going to last?” Alec asked, frowning. “I was hoping to get to the site today.”

“I doubt that will happen,” Sean explained. “I told you to block a whole day off. Each interview is set for ninety minutes.”

“Ninety minutes,” Phil said, frowning more than Alec. That was torture for him.

“They won’t last that long. But we need time between each one for you to look over their resumes and notes before the next comes in. If you guys had bothered to give me any time prior to today then we could have taken care of some of this.”

“You’re lucky I could swing today,” Alec said.

“Well, if Sean did his job right, we’ll have someone hired after today and you’ll have some time freed up to be on the site more,” Phil said, smirking at Sean.

“I always do my job well. Ask your girlfriend. She’ll tell you everything is in tip-top shape here. Her accountants were impressed with me.”

Phil shook his head. He’d bet Sophia’s accountants were impressed with Sean. They were young—probably a few years out of college—and Sean was a good-looking guy that could be charming on top of it. “Sorry, but your name doesn’t come up when I’m with Sophia.”

“Does mine?” Alec asked, teasing Phil.

Snorting, Phil answered, “Hardly.”

“Okay,” Sean said, pulling them back on track. “Let’s go in order. Five candidates. Mary and I weeded everyone out and came up with this group. I’m positive one of them should work out well. But the decision is yours.”

Four interviews down and Phil was ready to pull his hair out. Alec looked no better. “What could you have been thinking with that last one, Sean?” Phil complained.

“I don’t need an interior designer,” Alec said. “I understand she can stage the house nice and pretty, but that is one house. I want someone who knows about the construction side of it, not what fabrics are
all the rage
.”

Phil huffed out a laugh at the high-pitched voice Alec used when saying “all the rage.” It was almost identical to the one the last candidate used. Tiffany, maybe, he couldn’t remember her name. Either way, she was out.

“She interviewed better than that with Mary and me,” Sean said, justifying his choice.

“Since she didn’t even last twenty minutes before Phil’s eyes started to cross,” Alec interrupted, “we’ve got time before for the last one. But so far I’m not really impressed. The first guy has a solid construction background, but I see him more as a foreman on one of the crews. I don’t picture him as the type of person that would do well around potential customers.”

“You mean someone like you,” Phil said to Alec.

“Exactly,” Alec said, grinning back, not taking offense. “The object is for someone to take over part of my work, part of yours and all the real estate end. We need someone to sell these houses and remodels first. Then sit with us for the actual work. But that isn’t everything. This position needs to do a walk through for rehabs, gather information and schedule projects. They have to understand the scope of work each project needs and timelines.”

“True,” Phil said. “The second guy, he knew his real estate, but not much on the construction side. I could tell he only knew the basics. Anything he could read off the Internet or an average Joe would know. He tried to pull off he was more knowledgeable than he was, but I could see through it.”

“Definitely,” Alec agreed.

“The third man had the broadest range of knowledge, but there was something about him I didn’t like. I can’t put my finger on it.” Phil didn’t know what it was, but something didn’t sit well with him. The guy was way too cocky and sure of himself, almost practiced.

And definitely too polished. It was a construction firm. He expected people to be dressed up for the interview, but that man’s suit looked like something their brother-in-law, Ryan, wore in the courtroom defending a high-priced client.

“I didn’t care much for him either. I think I saw a suit like that on pretty boy the other day, too.” Phil chuckled, typical that Alec thought the same thing he did. Alec and Ben always called Ryan “pretty boy” when they were busting on him.

“There’s no need to even talk about the one who just left. You were way off base with her,” Alec said to Sean.

“Fine. Let’s move on to the last. Brynn Palmer. She’s got the same degree in Construction Management as you do Alec,” Sean said, lifting his eyebrows. “So it would be safe to say she knows enough about construction to make you happy.”

Alec snorted. “We’ll see. But go on.”

“She has her contractor’s license,” Sean added, and Phil watched as Alec looked a bit more impressed. “She has been selling real estate for the last three years, though.”

“Why?” Phil asked.

“That’s a question for you guys to ask. I already did, but I want to see how she answers you.”

“What does that mean?” Alec asked.

“It’s not bad, but ask the question.”

“It says here she lives in Rochester. Is she looking to relocate?” Alec asked.

“Really, Alec,” Phil said, his voice sounding almost condescending. “What’s she going to do, work out of her house four hours away? I think it’s obvious she is.”

Sean shook his head, amused. He was always amused when Phil and Alec bantered back and forth. Sean had always said it was because he never had a brother and didn’t know what it was like growing up with one. “Is she driving here for the day?” Phil wanted to know.

“I scheduled her last because she was driving in for the interview today, yes. Whether or not she is driving back home today, I didn’t ask. She did mention she had friends in the area though.”

“Sean,” Mary interrupted over the intercom. “Brynn Palmer is here.”

“I’ll be up in a minute. Thanks, Mary.” Sean stood and walked out of the room.

“She better be good,” Alec said. “Because so far I’m not impressed with the other choices and I don’t want to go through this again.”

“We can only hope,” Phil said.

Sean walked back in with Brynn following. Phil and Alec stood and Phil could almost see the moment when Alec shut down. Brynn didn’t look like someone with a construction background at all. She looked more like someone Alec would hit on in a bar.

She was probably five foot five, but her heels added another three to four inches to her frame. Dressed in a fitted black skirt ending at her knees and a black-and-white jacket over a pink shirt, she looked more like a real estate agent than what they were looking for. Her long brown hair reached the middle of her back. Phil was dreading the next hour, if they even made it that long.

“It’s nice to meet you both,” she said, her voice full of confidence and her handshake firm.

Phil nodded. Alec held his hand out, gesturing toward the chair, and said, “Have a seat.”

“Why don’t you tell us a little about yourself,” Phil started with. He could tell by the look on Alec’s face that he was already frustrated, so he figured he’d better start and give Alec time to cool off.

“I’ll give you a summary outside of what my resume states. My father is a contractor. I grew up swinging a hammer next to him. I think I was holding onto tools before I could walk,” she said, adding a little chuckle. “I’ve always loved building things. Looking at scrap materials and picturing in my head what I could make with them. As I got older I would spend summers working on projects with my father. Getting a lot of hands-on experience, you could say.”

Phil was impressed already. She didn’t look like the type to swing a hammer. More like the type to push papers around. Alec didn’t seem too convinced at this point either. “What’s the first thing you remember building?” he asked.

She smiled softly. Phil got the impression she was remembering a fond moment. “My mother had been asking my father to build her a bird feeder. It was a simple thing he could have made in no time at all, but he was busy. I thought I would surprise her with it. So I went out to his toolshed and found a bunch of scrap wood and made it for her.”

Alec chuckled, a not-so-impressed look on his face now. “A bird feeder.”

“I was five,” she said, laughing along with him, not the least bit put off by Alec’s tone.

“Five,” Phil repeated. Now
he
was impressed. “You did it by yourself?”

“Yes,” she said proudly. “Once my mother realized what I was doing, she was on board. I wasn’t allowed to touch power tools, obviously. I was trying to prove to my father I really knew what I was doing. So I went to his shed, spent hours finding pieces of wood that were close in size for the roof and sides. It was a simple A-frame style. Then I kept sanding the pieces down by hand until everything matched and fit together just right. It took me all day long, with my mother coming out to check on me.”

Brynn stopped and a tender look crossed her face. “She encouraged me and got me everything I asked for that I couldn’t reach. The glue, the right nails, the sandpaper. I secretly think she wanted to prove to my father that a girl could do anything a boy could. I had a younger brother and my father seemed more intent on spending time showing him tools and such rather than me.”

“How long did the bird feeder last?” Alec asked, looking more curious now.

“It’s still hanging outside now.” She lifted an eyebrow at him. “I’m good. Though I have to admit my mother drilled the hole for the birds. Like I said, I couldn’t touch the power tools.”

Phil looked over at Sean who was grinning from ear-to-ear at this point, but not saying a word.

Suddenly Alec stood up, walked out of the room and came back quickly, dropping three pieces of wood in front of her on the conference room table. “What are they?” he asked.

“Wood,” she answered quickly. Phil was ready to clarify the question, but he didn’t need to. Her lips quirked and she added, “Do you mean the dimensions?” She held each one up and said, “Two by two, two by four, and two by six.”

Not easily won over, Alec walked out again and came back with three samples of countertops. “What about these?”

Just as fast, Brynn held them up one by one and answered, “Granite, marble and quartz. This is fun, do you have some more?”

Her eyes were laughing, but she seemed sincere. Before Phil could stop Alec, he walked out again. Phil had no idea what was wrong with Alec. It was obvious Brynn knew her stuff. Then again, she’d been selling homes so she would know the basic materials.

Alec brought in three samples of backsplash and set them on the table. Phil was curious on how she would answer this one. “Is this a trick question?” she said, looking at Alec.

Good for her, Phil thought.

Before Alec could answer, Brynn said, “They are all glass, but the styles are different.” Pointing them out she said, “Subway tile, mosaic and chevron.”

“Why did you wrinkle your nose when you said chevron?” Alec asked.

“Did I?” she asked, unsure.

“Yes.”

“Sorry. Chevron is one of those trends that I really can’t stand. Of course, it’s a personal preference,” she rushed to say. “But chevron dates a house. It will go out of style. I try to tell people they would be better going with a bolder color of subway tile, which never goes out of style, than a white chevron backsplash.”

Phil grinned and looked over at Alec now. He couldn’t help it. Alec had said the same thing repeatedly to clients over the years. Before Alec could get up again, Phil jumped in and asked, “Why did you go into real estate when it seems you enjoyed the construction end so much?”

“Honestly, it wasn’t by choice. It’s hard being a woman on a construction site. It’s still a man’s world. I’ve been on a few crews where I was accepted easily as a laborer. But as a foreman? Not so much. I didn’t get a degree in construction management to always swing a hammer. I love to do it, but not as my career. My last construction job was three years ago. I worked my way up to a foreman position, but it was hard to get the men to follow my lead. Most didn’t want to take directions from a woman.”

She paused, almost as if in thought, then continued on. “In the end I realized I couldn’t change that mentality, and I couldn’t effectively do my job without my crew following directions. It was more important to me that customers get what they were paying for than worrying about changing a bunch of men’s minds.”

“So you quit?” Alec asked.

Phil thought that was harsh, but Brynn didn’t seem to take exception to it. “I wouldn’t call it quitting. It was best for everyone. I got my real estate license after that, and I still have a good relationship with the owners of that firm. Matter of fact, I’ve sold plenty of their builds. They always call me when they’re ready to put a property up for sale. Like I said, it was best for everyone. It wasn’t a good fit for me,” she said, almost hedging in Phil’s mind. But he didn’t push it, because he could see the truth to what she was saying.