A Bitter Coincidence

Chapter 3

Chapter 3:

Monday mornings were a pain in general, but add a hangover to the mix it was worse than anything. I wasn’t at the vomiting stage yet, but the pounding headache was enough to send me over the edge. I walked into the kitchen and was busy making a tea when George stumbled out of his room and sat on the kitchen chair, head in hands and groaning loudly. I placed a bottled water and tablets in front of him and chuckled.

“Are you okay? I knew you went over board last night.” I said.

“I’m dying. I was dead, then I came back to life and now I’m dying all over again. I think It’ll take a week to get over this hangover. How are you functioning right now?” He replied.

Sipping my tea and popping a tablet in my mouth was my way of showing my pain.

“I have a raging headache, but I knew when to stop drinking last night. You carried on like a trouper for the both of us. “

“Stop… I can’t think about booze.” He says this while almost gagging. “Besides, we didn’t even come home that late did we?”

“It was almost 4am when we did. I helped you into bed.”

He just nodded and grabbed his water and went back into his room, where I was sure he wouldn’t leave until the end of day. Since I wasn’t tired, I cracked on with some teaching work and began marking and organising my schedule for the next term. My eyes drifted over to my sketchbook that was open on the page of my wolf drawing. I hated the fact that my mind instantly thought of the blonde haired angel that I saw last night and wondered what he was doing today. I shook my head and sighed. “Get a grip, Sky” I mumbled to myself and continued to work the rest of the day, hoping tomorrow would go according to plan.

I left the house early and made my way over to the hospital for my 11am interview. I was so nervous and sweaty that I knew I needed to freshen up once I was there. The large building was a completely new build that was a separate part to London’s main hospital. It only catered for children who had life threatening illnesses or diseases, which is party why I really wanted this job. I stood at the pavement looking at the structure, the front of it was all glass windows and doors, giving you a peak at the huge seating area, stairs and reception desk inside. When I walked in, I noticed the roof was part glass that stopped when the building continue further back, which I guess was the medical rooms and offices. Construction and unpacking was still being done but I knew the final result was going to amazing. There was nobody in the building apart from builders and-

“May I help you?” asked a petite blonde woman from the reception desk. She had thick rimmed glasses and she looked like the part of a professional receptionist.

“Hello, I’m here for an interview with Mr Anderson? I’m really early sorry about that.” I replied back. I checked my watch and I was 45 minutes early. s**t, now I look I was trying too hard.

“Miss Black?” I nodded. “Perfect, My name’s Betty. I’ll ring up and let him know, if you would like to take a seat and I’ll collect you when it’s time.”

I took a seat and had a last rummage through my art portfolio. Making sure everything was in order and took the time to brush and quickly freshen myself up. What only seemed like 30 seconds, the receptionist came out from her desk and asked me to follow her upstairs.

“There’s still so much to do here but thankfully we’re on track and it’s pretty much the decorating and unpacking left to do. Are you here for the interior design of the children’s ward?” She asked, turning towards me so we were face to face.

“Yes I am, the building looks incredible now, I can’t wait till it’s all finished.” We gave each other a smile and exited on the 2nd floor. It was complete with white walls, some still with tape and plastic sheets cutting off rooms that were still being built. Towards the end of the long corridor, we stopped outside an office room that sported a black wood door. f**k I was nervous, more so now that we were here. I had tingles going up and down my back, this has never happened before so I’m not sure if that’s good or bad. Betty knocked on the door and waited for a voice on the other end of it give us a signal to enter. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath and made my way inside a vast bright room. At the moment, the office was cluttered with boxes and wrapped frames that surrounded an empty antique mahogany bookshelf, a long architecture table up against a wall, that had patches of different shades of grey on. I was still admiring the room when

Betty was still in front of me and was turning towards me, introducing me to the owner. I turned and my body was instantly on fire. It was park and club guy, Sam. He looked edible in a dark grey suit, coupled with a black shirt and black dress shoes. He wore a silver tie and his blond locks were a messy tumble that seemed to glow brighter with the sun behind him. This man must have been made in a lab or something, and when we locked eyes, I couldn’t understand why he was just staring back at me and giving me a million-dollar smile. I realised that I’ve been staring at him like a clown for longer than necessary and I honestly didn’t know what to say. He never broke eye contact with me when he said “Thanks Betty.” I heard the door close and reality hit me that I was alone in a room with him now. I needed to get my s**t together for this interview and I was starting off terribly. I held my hand out and waited for his so we could formally meet.

“Mr. Anderson, lovely to meet you, thank you for your time.” Absolutely rubbish considering I’ve met this man twice already.

“Miss Black. This is a surprise, I honestly didn’t expect you to walk through my door.”

He still had my hand encased in his and I didn’t want to let go. But he didn’t seem too bothered either. I was only 5”2 and with heels on, I still only made it halfway up his chest, so I had to crane my neck up to look at him. His brown eyes seemed more brighter today and I could see specks of hazel swirling around. I took my hand back and his eyes snapped to the space between us, he seemed just out of it as I know I was. He gestured to the chair in front of his desk and took a seat at his end.

I laughed quietly as a response and just lifted my hands in the air in a shrugging gesture.

“So, you’re here for the designer role for the new children’s ward. We have several corridors and rooms that need decorating. Although, you won’t be doing all of the areas, as we have hired 2 other artists for those. We’re looking for new and creative ways to decorate the areas, my plan is for the walls to be a distraction and an imaginative area for when the children are here at the hospital. Ideally, I’d like for them to feel comfortable and happy as possible, given their circumstances.” He went straight into work mode and I was instantly grateful, I could tell he was passionate about this, which only fuelled me further.

“Yes, I read all that in the specification, am I right in thinking they’ll be a play area and garden too?”

“That’s the plan, we’re still in the process of building the garden part, and the playroom will be situated on this floor actually.”

“Is there anything specific you would like to have decorated? I have a range of different ideas for all age groups, if you would like to see them?” I indicated to my portfolio and he seemed generally excited to see what was inside.

“Absolutely.” He smiled and gestured towards the architecture table. “Although I have already seen a piece. I already know you have talent, I’m excited to see the rest.” He continued to beam at me and I felt myself relax.

I took my sketchbooks and planner out onto the table. Opening up and spreading the papers across the desk. I was really proud of the sketches and the work I put into my ideas. There was sketches of animals and places around the world. I even went out of my to have material examples and a proposal. I didn’t even know if all this was necessary but I wanted to be extra sure. Taking a peak at Sam, he was looking at all the drawings and picking them up to study them further, his brows were pinched together in concentration.

“I had the idea of decorating the walls with different animals and insects. Not necessarily like a jungle or ocean wall you usually see but a collage that perhaps has maps and places around the world. Not just a pretty wall but educational and maybe textured? You see the different material and fabric in my sketches, I thought maybe patients could interact with what’s on the wall. But that depends on if it’s safe and clean to use. I have certain colours together that work well for helping people feel comfortable and happy and I also have ideas for a playroom-“

“It all looks amazing.” He cut me off. “What I like about it is that it’s not just a boring complication of ideas from online but your own work. You studied art in university?”

I nodded “Photography, but I dabble in drawing and painting too.”

His eyes roamed my work and he looked into my portfolio and found my photography book. I taught photography at my school and had access to the dark room and camera facilities. This book was for my own personal use, pretty much my diary and I had no idea how it got into my portfolio bag. Sam looked at me and asked “may I?” f**k it, it’s too late to snatch it back now. He took my silence as a yes and began flipping through the pages. All of the photographs were black and white, they varied from landscapes, people, plants or objects. It was of whatever I fancied taking a picture of at the time and I simply loved the process of developing them.

“Do you sell these photos?” He asked.

“Nope, honestly it’s just a hobby at the moment, I teach photography in a school but that’s as far as it goes. That book your holding wasn’t even meant to be in the bag, I’m sorry.” I look away and start organising the papers on the desk, a habit I do when I’m embarrassed.

“Why are you sorry? You have nothing to apologise for.” He put down my book and scanned his eyes across the table and nodded.

“I think you’ll be perfect for this project. I wanted more artists than designers so the work we have in this building was originally and inspirational. We have a team here that you’ll have to meet on occasion that will help you get the right materials and equipment. You’ll also have to make sure your designs are health and safety regulated but I don’t see it as a problem.” He smiled at me and I felt myself sway slightly. His face dropped to a concern expression and he quickly reached out to grab me. “Are you okay? Do you want to sit down?” His voiced was full of worry and his thumbs began rubbing life back into my arms.

I opened my eyes to his pools of brown and noticed light freckles over his nose and cheeks. He also had a small scar above his eyebrow but what grabbed my attention was the puckering of burned skin just peeking out of his collar. Some of the burn was red and angry as it patterned around his left side of his neck but I’m sure it was worse under the collar.

I shook my myself off him slowly, “Yes, I’m fine. Sorry I guess I shouldn’t have had that third coffee.” I joked.

He studied my eyes for a few more seconds before he stepped back and helped me stack my work together to clear the desk. “How is your schedule for this job?” He asked.

“I’m currently teaching in a college but I’m on easter break at the moment. And then we usually finish late may, early June. I’ll come in after work and on the weekends too and then obviously I have the summer, which is around 6-8 weeks of having time off.” I took a deep breath and continued, I was worried my work schedule would affect my chance for this job. And I really really wanted this. “I know it may seem a lot, but I’ll put in all the work I can and I’ll work late. I work quite fast and well with others, I know it may seem a lot but I don’t mind the overload, in fact I prefer it. I understand if I may seem too much and you’d rather someone else but I promise you won’t get anyone more committed and creative. I- I didn’t mean no one else is not creative I just meant-“

He put his hand on my arm and was gifting me with a small smiling, indicating I should shut up. I closed my eyes in embarrassment before he said “So, would you like the job?”

I looked to him with wide eyes and gave him a smile to which he returned. “I would love it, thank you so much. I honestly can’t express to you how much I really wanted this.” We cleaned up and sat back at his desk.

“You’re welcome, I think when I saw it was you coming through that door I knew we had to have you on board. I’ll email you the contracts and specification of what rooms you’ll be assigned to decorate. The deadline to complete the rooms is September. We plan to open up to patients then.” He grinned up at me and I couldn’t help mirroring him. He was so beautiful and now he was my boss.

“I’m going to grab a coffee, would you like to join me?”

Woah, I was not expecting that, I had nothing planned for the rest of the day so I didn’t see why I couldn’t.

“I’d love to, Mr. Anderson.” I replied. He quickly got up from his chair and came over to grabbed my portfolio from the floor. “Please, call me Sam. I feel old when people call me that.” He gave me a wink and I could pool right there on the floor. Working in close proximity with this man is going to be so tough.

We made it to the entrance of the building after signing out of the visitor book and I said good bye to Betty. Sam still had hold of my portfolio and was making his way to a black BMW with a man wearing a suit, who was waiting with the door open.

“Afternoon, Willy.” Sam said to the man who responded with a nod of his head and replied back. Sam waited for me to enter the car first, the inside of it was all black leather with enough leg room for a cow. It had a mini bar on the side, tinted windows, air conditioning and speakers. It screamed money and made me a little uncomfortable as I sat down afraid to touch anything. Thinking Sam would take the seat across from me, I was surprised he sat next to me instead there was hardly any space between us.

“Willy, this is my new employee for the children’s ward project, Skylar. She’ll be working with me for a few months, so you’ll be seeing her a lot.” Sam explained.

“Good to meet you Miss Skylar.” Willy replied, looking through the mirror and smiling in my direction.

“It’s lovely to meet you too, please call me Sky.” I smiled back.

Willy pulled out of the parking spot and headed onto the busy road towards the coffee shop. Sam swivelled in his seat to face me, giving me his fully attention, which meant his knee was touching mine and the contact of it sent jolts up my body. Jesus Sky it’s not like he’s touching skin.

“So, Skylar where are you from?” asked Sam.

“I’m originally from York, and I moved to live with my grandmother in York when I was ten.” I replied, not really wanting to go into detail.

“When did you move to London?”

“Last August, after I got accepted for the teaching position, I found a flat, which I share with another person and now I’m here. I visit York as much as I can but its…” I stopped talking when I noticed Sam had a frown on his face. He was looking down in between us. “are you okay?”

He looked up at me then, and blinked a few times and nodded. I wasn’t sure what I said that made him look sad but I just shrugged and continued talking. “… it’s difficult with my work schedule and she doesn’t like cities so I don’t expect her to come here.” I smiled at him, hoping to get whatever funk he was in. “She’s amazing, she has this ability to know everything and is super bossy but I wouldn’t change her for the world.”

He smiled back then and said “She’s lucky to have someone who cares about her so much.”

“I think I’m the luckily one” I replied and looked out the window and tried to cry. This was a conversation I didn’t want to have with this man right now. The traffic was slow but steady and I had no idea which coffee shop we were going to. I turned back to Sam “What about you? Have you always lived in London?”

He nodded “ I have, there was one time my family and I moved to Sweden while my dad did some work there but we missed it and moved back here. My dad built the company of Anderson corp and now I’m part owner along with my brother, Seth. We deal with a lot re-building and designing other companies, marketing and architecture. It’s a lot but I enjoy it most of the time. My sister, Grace wanted to be something different and so she’s currently finishing medical school, training to be a mid-wife.”

“That’s amazing, I’ve always admired people who could go into a medical profession. I’m not saying what you doing isn’t amazing but to be there and saving another human being is incredible. Your parents must be proud.”

A dark look crossed his face for a split second before he said “My mum is really happy for us, she’s always saying how proud she is but my dad past away a while back, he never got to see where we are now. Although I have no doubt that he’d be proud.”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t know about your father.”

I reached over to touch his arm in comfort and he stared at it and then back up at me. I realised how intimate that gesture was and I pulled my hand away but then he grabbed my hand and held it for a split second before dropping it in between us. It was a silly thing to know considering I’ve known this man for a few hours. The car stopped and I looked out onto the street, noticing we weren’t far from Camden. It housed numerous cafes, clothing stores, tourist and food places and it was my favourite place to be. Sam moved and got out of the car and I opened the door on my side just as Sam came around. He held out his hand to help me up and the clumsy person I am I tripped and fell into his chest. I could feel my cheeks and chest heat with blush and I apologised and tried to step back but Sam had his arm around me, it was then I noticed how comfy and safe I felt and when I looked up at him I could tell he felt it too or at least I did before he righted me and nodded to confirm that I was okay. “I’m sorry.” He didn’t responded just smirked and closed the car door.

We entered a rustic looking café that had deep red walls, old fashioned photographs on the walls, rustic looking lamps hanging from the ceiling and tables in various shapes and sizes. It was small but quaint and I was in love. Sam picked a table near the window and as soon as I sat down a waiter came over to give us our menu. I chose a raspberry herbal tea whilst Sam asked for a latte, and then we sat in silence for a bit, neither of us knowing what to say.

“When would you like me to start coming in to design the rooms?” I figured since this was a meeting for work I started with that.

“We have a meeting this Friday that I would you to join and we’ll have tour with the other designers.”

“What are the other designers there for? Am I working with someone else for decorating the walls?”

He nodded “There are two interior designers, a plant designer and landscape artist for the garden area. As well as electricians and a health and safety team because of where everyone is designing. At the moment, you’ll be working with the interior designers on your ideas for the walls and they’ll decide what goes where in the rooms.”

“That sounds like a good team, I’m excited to get started. I have so much going through my head I just hope it all goes to plan.”

The waiter came with our drinks and placed them on the table. I took a hold of mine with both hands and blew it to cool it down and took a sip. I think I made a noise because Sam was looking at me strangely.

I laughed and apologised “I love tea, sorry.”

“You have a habit of saying sorry don’t you?”

“Yes. It’s something that’s annoyed my friends and family for years.”

“Why do you think that is?” He took a sip of coffee, never moving his gaze from my own.

“Why I think my family and friends are annoyed?”

“No, why you keep saying it.”

Now I felt uncomfortable. “Oh. I- I… I don’t know. Like I said it’s a habit.”

I wanted the subject to change. “Will you email me the contracts and information needed? I just want to make sure it doesn’t collide with my teaching job.”

Whilst he was talking I couldn’t help but take a look at him again. His shoulders seemed wider today, maybe because of the suit or his hair seemed a tad shorter. His eyes expressed a lot when he was discussing his job and every time he smiled a dimple appeared on his left cheek. This man will be the death of me and if not my vibrator will be because he’s doing dangerous things to my libidinous. f**k he’s still talking, I nodded and tuned in to what he was saying. “…make sure that they’ll be times you can enter the building to do anything you need to do. There’s always construction on and the security is 24 hours. You will need a pass but I’ll give them out on Friday and you can sign and gather copies of any paper work.”

I agreed and for the next hour we talked nothing but my ideas and the building itself when it was opening in September. We finished our drinks and the conversation went to lighter things such as favourite movies and hobbies.

“I swear! My love for horrors started from that movie, who doesn’t love a demon story and a girl twisting her head.” Sam laughed and I couldn’t stop smiling, today couldn’t have gotten any better and I was actually enjoying myself.

“I have to say those films aren’t my favourite to watch but Grace forced me to watch them every Halloween.” He explained with an eye roll. “She was always and still is a prankster, she’s scary enough for me.” He smiled and I laughed.

His phone went off then and he moved to take it out of his pocket and looked at me with a sad expression. “I’m sorry, I have to get going for another meeting, I didn’t realise the time. I’ll have my driver take you anywhere you need to go and I’ll contact you about the meeting on Friday.” He started standing up and I followed him to his car since my portfolio was still inside.

“That’s okay, I can make my way home from here. You have a meeting to go to so that’s more important. I’ll just grab my portfolio.”

I went to the boot but Willy got there before me and handed of my things over. Sam stood by the back door of the car with a wrinkled eyebrows like he was concentrating on something and said “are you sure? It seems quite far from where you live.”

“I have some errands to run.”

Lie. It was a complete lie, I just couldn’t sit around him anymore because I was beginning to get super comfy with him. Too comfy. He was my boss and although this coffee meeting was nice that’s all it was. Sam still stood there staring at me, like he was unsure what to do.

“Honestly, go. Otherwise you’ll be late to your meeting. I’ll see you on Friday?” I put my hand out, indicating for a handshake and my whole hand was engulfed in his. We weren’t shaking our hands, just merely handing them together. Damn there’s that electricity again. After a few seconds, I pulled my hand out and that seemed to shake him out of whatever deep thought he was thinking.

He coughed and said “Right, thank you for meeting with me today, it was a nice surprise.” He smiled at that. “I’ll see you Friday, please bring your portfolio with you.”

And with that he went inside the BMW and it drove away. I stood on the side of the path in a daze. What the hell happened today. I smiled and walked towards the underground.