Entangled Love (12 page)

Three days later….

Mandy knocked on Evelyn’s door before pushing it open a crack, “Mr. Tomlinson is here with his team. Shall I show them into the conference room?”

Evelyn looked up and smiled at Mandy, nodding she added, “Yes. Ask them to help themselves to the refreshments and I’ll be right out.”

“Got it. Have you ever met him, Mr. Tomlinson?”

Shaking her head, Evelyn answered, “No. Why? Does it matter?”

Mandy’s smiled grew wide, “Not really. But he is some definite eye-candy. Tall, Nordic-looks, and his voice is so deep it made my toes curl. Should be a very interesting meeting.”

Evelyn chuckled, “Does Victor know you’re eyeing our clients?”

Mandy shook her head of riotous curls, “
Nah. Besides, I’m not interested in blond hair or blue eyes. I like my men tall, dark, and sinfully handsome.”

Evelyn chuckled again, “Sounds like Victor. You guys have your date yet?” Gathering up the presentation packets, she walked to the door which Mandy held open.

Mandy smiled and said, “Number five coming up tonight.”

Evelyn stopped at looked at her, “Five? What happened to one thru four?” How had she missed that? She definitely needed to focus on something other than Michael. Maybe she would start this afternoon. Glancing through the blinds she caught sight of her soon-to-be clients, and nodded. She would definitely be starting this afternoon.

Mandy followed Evelyn’s gaze and grinned. Yeah, Evelyn liked the window dressings as well. Too bad Michael wasn’t involved in this deal. She happened to like fireworks. Remembering she hadn’t answered Evelyn’s question, she turned back to her and said, “One thru four happened last week.”

Evelyn raised an eyebrow, “Four dates in one week, huh? You two must have hit it off.”

Mandy nodded, “You could say that. Anyway, things are good so far. Victor is the nicest man I’ve ever dated. He treats me like a princess and likes to listen to my opinions. He’s also pretty good in bed.”

Evelyn headed for the conference room, “I don’t need or want those details thank you. Victor and I  have been friends for a long time, but his love life is not a topic for discussion. I’m happy for you two. Hold me calls until I’m through in here, okay?”

“Got it. Good luck.”

“Don’t need it. This is one of the easiest deals I’ve one yet.” It wasn’t over –confidence on Evelyn’s part, but the design details for this new project were child’s play compared to other projects and Evelyn was looking forward to wowing the men sitting comfortably around the large table.

*****

“Ms. Davenport, I am thoroughly impressed. The design layout accomplishes everything we discussed on the phone, and then some. And the projected costs are almost 40% below our anticipated budget.  You definitely have our business.”

Evelyn did a happy dance inside her head, but presented a professional, calm appearance on the outside. “Mr. Tomlinson, I happy to hear that.  I’ll have our team pull together the contracts and have them couriered over to your office tomorrow. Once those are signed, we can get to work.”

“Jeremy. Please, since we’re going to be working together, I would prefer to use first names. Do you mind if I call you Evelyn?”

“Not at all, Jeremy.  Excuse me while I have the secretary locate my business partner. We’ve made it a policy to always include each other on company projects. We find it helps provide our clients with plenty of expertise and assistance on our part.”

While Mandy went downstairs to find Victor, Jeremy said goodbye to his team, leaving him alone in the conference room with Evelyn. “I must say, I had heard some really good things about your work, but seeing it firsthand is amazing. You have an eye for detail, and the organization you were able to put into the individual spaces is pure genius.”

Evelyn felt a blush stain her cheeks at his praise. “Thank you. Your project was like going back to my roots.  I can’t wait to see the finished product.”

“Neither can I. I noticed you’re not wearing a ring. No husband?”

“No,” Evelyn agreed. She dropped her glance to his hands and was relieved to see them devoid of rings as well.

Seeing where her gaze had landed, Jeremy held up his hand and wiggles his fingers, “None here either. So, what would you say to letting me take you to dinner this evening? I would love to get to know you a little better.”

Evelyn considered him for a moment, and then slowly nodded. She was going to start taking charge of her life. Her heart would heal with time, and she was going to help it out every chance she got, “I’d like that.”

Jeremy smiled, “Great. If you could provide me with your address, I’ll pick you up around 7 o’clock.”

Evelyn jotted down her address and handed it to him, just as Victor walked in. Glancing up, she smiled, “Victor Fernandez, meet Jeremy Tomlinson, our newest client.”

Victor and Jeremy shook hands and exchanged greetings. Catching site of the time, Jeremy abruptly started gathering his papers together, “I’m sorry, but I just noticed the time. I have a standing date with my grandfather to play chess with him. He’s in a nursing home, and every Thursday afternoon, I play chess with him. If I don’t leave right now, I’ll be late, and he doesn’t do well when that happens.

“Victor, it was a pleasure meeting with you. I look forward to learning more about your company as this project moves ahead. Evelyn, I’ll see you tonight.” Jeremy shook Victor’s hand, and gave Evelyn a brief kiss on the cheek as he walked out.

Victor watched him leave, and then turned to Evelyn, “Tonight?”

Evelyn busied herself with putting the conference room back together, “Jeremy asked me to dinner and I said ‘Yes’.”

Victor smiled, “Good for you. Have fun.” Turning, he noticed Michael standing at Mandy’s desk, his gaze directed at Evelyn. Wondering how much of their conversation he had overheard, he shrugged it off.

Since the night Michael had taken Evelyn from the restaurant, she had been brutally polite to him, but that was it. Michael had tried numerous times to apologize, had sent flowers, had asked her to lunch every day, and Evelyn had remained distant. He was getting a taste of his own medicine and not liking it one bit.

*****

Michael stopped by Mandy’s desk to grab his phone messages, and that’s when he noticed the tall blond in the conference room with Evelyn. They didn’t appear to be discussing business, and the immediate surge of jealousy caught Michael by surprise.  He didn’t like her talking to strange men, especially when she was smiling.
Was she blushing?

“Mandy, who’s that?” Michael tipped his head toward the conference room.

Mandy bit the inside of her cheek to hold back her grin.
Someone was jealous.
Glancing at the conference room, she told him, “That’s Jeremy Tomlinson, our newest client. He just finished a meeting with Evelyn.”

Michael scowled, “If their meeting is finished, what’s he still doing here then?”

Mandy shrugged, “It looks to me like he’s flirting with Evelyn while they wait for Victor to come back upstairs.”

Michael didn’t appreciate Mandy’s humor and directed his scowl in her direction, at which she promptly got back to work on her computer. Michael slowly looked through his messages, watching Evelyn from the corner of his eye to entire time. When Victor arrived, he relaxed a bit, until he overheard the blond man remind Evelyn that he would see her tonight.
Did the man already ask her out on a date? They just met.

Knowing that Evelyn wouldn’t answer his questions, he decided to up his game. He sent her a text message asking her for a date this evening, hoping she would cancel whatever plans she had with the tall blond.  When she didn’t immediately respond, he called her.   This continued throughout the afternoon, and Evelyn was glad when 4:30 pm rolled around. She headed for home, relieved to have escaped the office without running into Michael.

She wasn’t sure what his new game was, but he had sent her 27 text messages and called at least a dozen times since her meeting with Jeremy had ended.  He wanted her to go out with him tonight. Evelyn was excited to be going out with Jeremy and had ignored Michael’s calls and texts, hoping he would take a hint and stop bothering her.

Taking a leisurely bath at home, she ignored her phone, finally turning the ringer off to gain some peace and quiet.  When her house phone rang, she thought of just ignoring it, but then answered it just in case it was someone other than Michael.

“Hello?”

“Hello, may I speak with Ms. Evelyn Davenport?” the voice on the other end queried.

“This is she,” Evelyn didn’t recognize the voice on the other end of the line.

“Ma’am, I’m calling from St. Matthew’s hospital about your father.”

Evelyn’s heart began to race as she listened. “You father was involved in a car accident and brought in for evaluation. He provided us with your name and number as a person to contact.”

Evelyn was stunned, “Yes, I’m his daughter. Is he okay?”

“Yes ma’am. Everything’s fine. He was complaining of a sore ankle at the scene, so they transported him here for an x-ray.  Nothing’s broken, but he does have a slight sprain and some bruising around his chest from the force of the seatbelt. “

Evelyn sagged with relief. Since the Henry fiasco, her father and she had been on very limited speaking terms. She hadn’t seen him for almost six months. “Thank you for calling. Was there something you needed from me?” Evelyn expected to hear the lady ask for a credit card to cover the hospital fees. She was pleasantly surprised to hear her ask, “Yes ma’am. Your father has someone coming to pick him up, but asked us to call and make you aware of his accident. They gave him something for the pain, and it’s made him pretty groggy.  He just wanted you to know that he was fine, since the t.v. crews were onsite and the story will most likely make the new this evening. He didn’t want you to worry if you saw his vehicle on the footage.”

Evelyn was trying to wrap her head around the fact that her father had done something to protect her. It was such a foreign concept, she was speechless for a few seconds. “Ma’am, are you still there?”

“Yes. Yes, I’m still here. Thank you so much for calling for him. I’ll try to contact him tomorrow to speak with him personally.”

“I’ll let him know. You have a good evening…”

“Wait. Wait, would you please give this number and my cell phone number to whomever picks him up. Let them know they should call me immediately if anything should happen this evening.”

“I’d be happy to.” The nurse confirmed both numbers and then disconnected the call

Evelyn sat at the kitchen table, still trying to take in the fact that her father had acted in her best interest.  Maybe she would make time this weekend to go visit him.  Oh, and she would have to turn her phone back on, just in case someone needed to get ahold of her while she was with Jeremy.

*****

Evelyn’s phone rang again, just as their waiter brought their salads. This was the tenth call in the last thirty minutes. After the first call from Michael had disrupted her date with Jeremy, she had placed her phone on vibrate. She had been reluctant to turn it off, because of her father’s accident. Her phone kept indicating the presence of new text messages as well. Michael was being relentless.

Jeremy pretended not to notice how agitated Evelyn was becoming, but finally spoke up, “Is there a problem? It appears that someone wants to get in touch with you very badly.”

Evelyn shook her head, “It’s not important. Just a minor annoyance.” She smiled at him and began eating.

Jeremy began eating as well. When her phone vibrated, again several minutes later, he put down his fork and inquired, “Why don’t you just turn it off?”