Come with Me (Let It Be Me #2) (4 page)

“He didn’t want her for the position,” Alex said. “He didn’t think a girl from a rich family wouldn’t be right for the job.”

Ben frowned. 

“Take it easy on Ben, Alex,” Kayla said, grinning. “If you remember, I was also guilty of passing judgments on people.”

When Kayla and Ben first met, Kayla was holding back because she didn’t think someone with Alex’s stature would love her. After a bit of drama, they managed to work things out and have been inseparable ever since.

“And I proved you wrong, right?” Alex said, winking at her.

“Took a few months,” she kidded, taking Alex’s hand. 

Ben has gotten used to being around Alex and Kayla. Alex was lucky Ben really liked Kayla for him that he didn’t mind being witness to their occasional displays of sweetness. Kayla was very reserved when he and Alex both met her, but Alex’s influence has helped her loosen up over the past months. Kayla’s influence on Alex was also very significant.

“So have you met this Elizabeth?” she asked Alex.

Alex shook his head. “She started right before I left for L.A. Just know she’s the daughter of some big shot lawyer.”

“It’s pretty awesome she decided to work in a non-profit,” Kayla said, looking at Ben.

Ben just shrugged. He still was a bit skeptical about that girl. He didn’t want to comment more, or he would get schooled further.

Kayla looked at Alex, and they seem to have shared a knowing look. Ben looked at them, wondering what wisecrack they were thinking. He just tried to ignore it.

For the sake of the foundation though, Ben hoped they’re right.

Chapter 6

Liz

“Is Henry still in his office?” Liz asked Miranda, as she approached her desk that Tuesday afternoon. 

 Miranda checked the clock then looked up at Liz. “He should be out soon,” she said, smiling. “Ready for your meeting?”

Liz smiled, nodding. Henry was bringing her to her first meeting -- the weekly site meeting at Stone Homes. Her father told her he has attended one of the fund-raising functions for this project. It was exciting to see how the completed building was, and how the other buildings were going. Henry told her she would be attending all the meetings from then on. She felt like joining a meeting would be a giant step for her.

She double-checked her purse to see she had her notepad and her pen.

Just then Henry’s door opened and he came out. He nodded at Liz then said, “Let’s go down to get a cab.”

Nodding, Liz followed him down – they took the elevator. She quietly waved at Gary on their way out. 

“As of last week the buildings were on schedule,” Henry said as they waited for a cab. “It should still be the case this week. It would be good for you to see the development for yourself so when there are correspondences about it, you’d be able to picture it. Meeting the people you’d be corresponding with would also help you. And there might be times later on that I will have you go to meetings on your own.”

Liz nodded. A cab stopped for them just then, and they got in. 

“You’ll get to meet Kayla Richardson,” Henry said. “She and her team designed Stone Homes. The other engineers should also be there. Space Builders is the building contractor. The key person is Matt Hines.” 

Liz listened as Henry ran through the main points. She’s done her own research on the files she found in the office, so she was familiar with the parties involved with Stone Homes. She even knew that Kayla Richardson was dating Alexander Stone – it was Dana who told her that. Her information on the project wasn’t very up-to-date yet though, since she hasn’t been included in the email loop yet.

The cab ride took less than fifteen minutes to reach the site at Brooklyn -- Henry quickly taught her about getting the receipt from the cab driver so she can have the foundation reimburse her. Stepping out of the cab, Liz already had a peak of the completed building and the garden at the center. Last week, Liz was already able to go back to the conference room to look at the scaled model of the development. Now she was looking at the real thing.

She realized a few seconds later that Henry has made his way and Liz had to catch up with him. It was a good thing she thought to dress smartly since she knew she was going to site. She wore her flat black ankle boots with slim bullet grey pants and a black turtleneck shirt.

As they walked into the development, Henry led her to completed building until they reached the multi-purpose room at the ground floor. She was told by Henry the meetings have been held there since the first building was done. On their way, Liz spied the library and got curious about it. She spent countless hours in different libraries since she was a kid. She was very thankful to her mom for always bringing her to public libraries and for getting her to enjoy reading, that she spent some of her spare time during her school days reading leisurely in the library.

Her focus quickly switched to the multi-purpose room when she noticed the other people in the room. The first person she saw must have been Kayla Richardson, who was standing and talking to one of the men in the room. She was a stunning woman who clearly had some Latina roots. She had gorgeous dark hair and perfect olive skin. 

“Kayla, this is Elizabeth Hatton,” Henry said, as they approached her.

Liz walked over to offer her hand. “It’s Liz,” she said, smiling. Kayla was a couple inches taller than her. Liz could see Kayla had amazing long lashes that she envied.

Kayla’s eyes widened, and she smiled as she took Liz’s hand. “Hi Liz, it’s nice to meet you.”

“Same here,” Liz said. “I love your design of this development. I like that it isn’t cramped at all. You wouldn’t think it’s a housing project.”

Kayla beamed. “Thank you, I appreciate it. I have a great team,” she said. 

They went through the meeting for the next hour. And Liz got to meet the engineers, as well as Matt Hines. Matt reported the progress of the construction, and all the consultants seemed satisfied with the schedule. Everyone readily answered Liz’s questions to help her grasp the project. Liz learned through the course of the meeting that since they were just working on the succeeding buildings, they were just making sure they were improving on how the first building was constructed in order to be more cost-efficient and have a better output. They didn’t have to deal with suppliers anymore since they were using the same suppliers as the first building.

When all the issues have been covered, Henry stood up, checking his watch.

“I have to go to another meeting nearby,” he told Liz. “Take a cab back to the office, then just get the receipt.”

“Henry, is it okay if I stay for an extra half hour here?” she asked. “I’d like to go around the development.”

“Sure, that’s a good idea,” Henry said, nodding. “Have Matt go with you. You’d need a hard hat for some areas.”

“Okay, thanks,” she said. And before she could say anything else, Henry quickly walked away, without another word.

“You’ll get used to that,” Liz heard behind her.

She looked to see Kayla walking over to her, grinning. “Henry. He’s always on the move. Always busy. There’s always a meeting after a meeting.” 

They both laughed. Liz wasn’t surprised that Henry was like that. 

“Are you enjoying your work in RHS so far?” Kayla asked. 

“It may be too soon to say, but I think I’m loving it,” Liz said earnestly. 

Kayla smiled at her warmly. “It’s a great career choice. If I didn’t feel as passionately about designing I would have applied for your position too.”

 They laughed again, and Liz was thinking that she liked Kayla. She was obviously a successful architect but she seemed very down-to-earth and friendly. No wonder Dana and Sarah spoke highly about her.

“Are you originally from New York?” Kayla asked.

Liz nodded. “I’ve more or less lived here all my life.”

“So you went to college here?”

“Yes, NYU,” Liz answered. “How about you?”

“Cornell,” Kayla replied, smiling. “It’s great to see a fresh face here in the meeting. I’ve been surrounded with all these men for the past weeks!”

Liz laughed. “Thanks for the welcome,” she said. “I’ll see you again next week.”

Kayla moved to speak to one of the engineers, and Liz looked for Matt. Matt was a tall, stocky man who was very accommodating. He had the personality of a dad who probably volunteered to coach his little son’s baseball team. 

He gladly agreed to bring Liz around, grabbing a hard hat for her. They went through the areas still under construction. It was quite interesting for Liz because she hasn’t been to a construction site before. She wasn’t familiar with all the technical terms, so she took note to read up a bit about it. 

After the short tour, Kayla gave the hat back to Matt. “Thanks, Matt. I’ll just look around the garden.”  

On her own, Liz wandered around, seeing the jungle gym set up, as well as a tree house. She also noticed a vegetable garden at one corner. A couple of people were tending to it. She wondered if they were volunteers or residents. She was impressed with the thought given to the development. The common areas were well-maintained.

She also passed by the soup kitchen where she detected – based on the sounds coming from the kitchen – that they were preparing for this evening’s dinner.

Then remembering, she traced her steps back to the multi-purpose room until she was past it and was at the library next-door.

 The library was probably only around two hundred square feet. There were half-filled shelves at the three sides of the rooms, and had two tables at the center. She saw an elderly lady seated at one table reading a paperback, and a little boy seated on the other – Liz saw he was reading one of the Harry Potter books. 

Liz approached the lady.

“Hi! Are you a volunteer here?” she asked.

The lady looked up, squinting over her read glasses. She smiled at Liz. “Yes dear, are you with the foundation?” 

Liz nodded. “I just started. First time here in Stone Homes. How many volunteers take turns here in the library?”

“So far there’s just me, Angela Moore and Philip Mendoza,” she said. 

Liz nodded as she absorbed the information. She wasn’t sure yet, but it seemed there weren’t enough volunteers. 

She noticed the lady looking up at her inquiringly. 

“I’m sorry I didn’t introduce myself. I’m Liz Hatton,” she said, offering her hand.

“I’m Corrine Young,” she said. “I just live nearby so volunteering here seemed like a good way to pass time since my kids are away for college.”

“That’s great,” Liz exclaimed. 

“They already have more than enough volunteers in the soup kitchen,” Corrine informed Liz, “and I love reading, so this seems perfect for me.” 

“Around how many people are using the library?” Liz asked.

“We only have two dozen families living in Stone Homes right now so we only get around three to five people per day.” Corrine nudged her head towards the little boy. “Sam is almost here everyday. He lives on the third floor.” 

Liz smiled. It only took a boy like Sam to make the library all worthwhile. Liz looked at him and guessed him to be around twelve years old. It was good he has learned to read even if he couldn’t go to school.

She looked back at Corrine. “Thank you for your time – for answering my questions and for volunteering here. I’ll be back really soon.”

“That would be great, dear,” Corrine said.

“Nice to meet you, Corrine,” Liz greeted, as she left.

She didn’t forget about it until she went back to the office. She zoomed to Dana’s desk, resting her arms on the divider. 

“Do you know how I can go about volunteering at the Stone Homes library?” she asked softly. She didn’t really want to broadcast it to the whole office. 

“Wow, girl, you’re like some superwoman,” Dana kidded. “Talk to Steve. He handles the database of all our volunteers.”

“Great,” Liz exclaimed. “See you later!”

She went over to Steve’s desk, and found him working on his computer. Steve was also one of the office’s resident tech guys. 

“Hey Steve, got a minute?” 

“Sure Liz, what’s up?”

“I want to volunteer at the Stone Homes library,” she said. “Is there like a schedule?”

“Yes there is,” he said, scrolling through his desktop to find the file. “Glad you’re interested. There are only three volunteers so far. “

Liz nodded. “I met one of them earlier.” 

“Here you go,” he said as the schedule appeared on his screen. Liz scanned it and found there were hours during the week it was empty.

“What happens when there’s no volunteer for a certain time?”

“Well then it will be closed until the next volunteer arrives.”

Liz was saddened by that fact. She thought of little Sam who couldn’t read anytime he wanted. 

“Do they already have a borrowing system? For the library user to take home a book?”

Steve shook his head. “No one has worked it out yet.”

Liz decided she should try to design a system for the library. 

She leaned forward to see which hours on the weekends were free. She had Steve take note of the hours she chose, then asked for a printout so she was aware of the other free slots in case she had more time to spare.

“One other thing,” she told Steve. “I want to try collect books for the library. If I do get donations can I just go ahead and bring them there and give you a copy of the inventory?”

“Sure, that would be awesome.”

“Great, thanks Steve,” she said.  

She already felt better.

* * *

The day was pretty good for Liz, especially when Jack was available to meet her that evening. Since she started her work, she only saw him once last week to have some drinks.

She missed the old times -- when they would see each other at least twice a week, when they would call each other so often they’d almost run out of things to say, and when intimacy was craved for regularly.

They met at a watering hole near the Chrysler Building that evening.

“I got to visit Stone Homes today,” she recounted excitedly. “It’s only partially occupied and completed but it’s going to be wonderful! You wouldn’t think it was a low-cost housing development. They were very generous with open spaces and amenities.”