A House Is Not A Home

Chapter 1

    I sighed as I started to change lanes on the free-way. I couldn’t figure out at what point in my life I had tired of the all the city congestion. But after having lived years with my husband out in a small town where the only place where traffic was bad was in front of the high school Thursday night for varsity football, I realized I couldn’t ever go back to city life. 

    I definitely missed the varying cultures, and by varying cultures I mean food of course. Pho, being my number one, and Vietnamese sandwiches. My mouth watered at the thought both. I was going to have to stop for lunch after my meeting. Definitely stop by the locks and head to the aquarium. I always made myself a list of things to do when in the city. I missed all the art, and music. There was always something to do in the city. The one thing I knew about city life was that it never slept. As exciting as it seemed when I was younger, it was depressing. Everything needed sleep. Everything needed a break. I knew myself well enough to know if I went back to live in the city, I’d get depressed again. Feel like I never did enough. Feel like I had to do something and be somewhere and involve my life with too much unnecessary bullshit.

    Having grown up in the city, slowing down was the hardest lesson to learn way out in the countryside. “There’s always tomorrow.” He’d say to me. Of course he was right. The next day would come, and we could complete what couldn’t be done before. One day at a time. One task at a time. By him, and through him, I got a lot more accomplished in my few years with him than I ever did growing up in the city. “Focus on what you can do now.”

    I thought him a silly red neck, my husband. I called him a wannabe cowboy and he would laugh. His thoughts on life always seemed too simple. I thought him simple. It didn’t take long for him to show me that it was me who made things too complicated. Worrying about things that just simply were not important or relevant to me in any regard. I had control of my world. Until it felt like I didn’t. 

    A car behind me honked as I tried to merge over. I growled and forced my way over anyways. I was driving my husbands 3500 Ram. If that itty bitty Prius wanted to get f****d while being a d**k, I’d comply. It was no paint off my truck. I would have been nicer, but I had been trying to cross 6 lanes of traffic for over two miles and my exit was now. As I pulled on to the off ramp I let my eyes look over the skyline. It was definitely a gorgeous view. The sky was clear and the ocean sparkled brilliantly.

    The ocean. I loved the ocean. Water in general. It was the only thing my heart longed for living out in the country. That peace water had. Even tumultuous and angry, there was a part of me that could never get enough of it. As I sank lower down the ramp I was sucked into the never ending vortex of cramped city streets and endless pedestrians. It took thirty minutes for me to find the building I was looking for. Upon realization, I whistled and sucked in a pained breath. I don’t think Justin understood what it was I was looking for when I had said I was looking for a new investor. He had been adamant though, and said a drive to the city would be worth my time. It wasn’t really my time I was concerned about. I eyeballed my fuel gauge. I would need to fill it before I left. Not to mention parking this boat was a pain. City apparently thought everyone drove compact cars. 

    I pulled up to the automated parking steward and pushed the only button available and took the ticket it spit at me. The bar lifted and I drove through. As I descended into the underground parking garage I clenched everything. I knew I was going to clear but my truck was so tall. I rolled slowly, expecting a terrible sound but nothing came. All of my muscles relaxed and continued on my slow drive down. 

    The building had been a giant glass tower. Hundreds had to work here. The garage I felt had to be almost as deep as it was tall. I was on the fifth level when I finally started to see parking but I went down one more and let myself have two spaces. There was absolutely no way I could have one space and not ruin another vehicle or another ruin me. The parking was much too tight. I took a corner space out of everyones way. No one was near and I figure given the time of day, anyone that would be here, would be here by now. I grabbed my tablet and binder and made my way to the elevator. I sucked my teeth at the elevator. The siding looked like quartz. No way they used actual stone in an elevator. I tapped it with my knuckle. It was stone. The top half was mirror and they were pristine from graffiti. Free from any marring. I raised my brow and waited for the bell to ding. 

    I disembarked and walked down a short hallway and sighed when I stepped into the lobby. This building screamed wealth. The lobby was open about to the sixth floor. Dead center there was a lovely fountain of textured black glass with bronze hardware. It stood over twenty feet tall and was twice as wide, a long, straight pane. Around it was a square pool that went into the floor. As I approached, the floor became transparent, and the air became cooler. I could see that there was more colored glass below, it reflected gorgeous colors in the water where the sun shone through. I looked for lamps tucked into the wall. It would be beautiful in the dark too. I chuckled when I noticed fish. Whoever owned this building spared no expense in making it beautiful. I walked around the fountain and came into view a giant round receptionist desk where four girls worked and a few more easily could.

    The young woman I approached did a double take when she spotted me. I couldn’t blame her. She was well polished, as were the others. Justin had been very nondescript about this elusive investor and what he did. I was dressed to work. And certainly not office work.

    “I have a meeting with Mr. Emeric Rose?”

    “An interview?”

    “No? A business meeting.”

    The young woman made a confused face, “Ok, go ahead and take the elevator all the way up.”

    “Top floor?”

    “Yes.”

    “Mr. Rose is starting to sound really important.” I intentionally tried to sound dumb, but in all reality, I had no idea who Rose was.

    She giggled at me, she seemed generally too serious, “Well he is the CEO and owner of this company.”

    “And this is his building and everything?”

    “I would assume.”

    I nodded and sighed, “My associate that recommended Mr. Rose to me didn’t exactly give me a dress code. Is he super vain? Is he gonna shut me down before I even open my mouth?”

    She leaned over and looked at my wardrobe, “I don’t know him very well. But he seems like a nice man. I think he’ll listen. Are you a contractor?”

    “Yes.”

    “You put your hands where your money is, I think any serious business man can appreciate that.”

    I smiled at her, “Thank you-“

    “Lindsay.”

    “Lindsay. Thank you, Lindsay. Here goes nothing.”

    “Best of luck.” She called as I walked away. I gave her a small wave and called the elevator. I was lucky, fate was kind to my nerves. The elevator was down here. I walked in and and let out another sigh. I pushed the highest number. Fifty-two. This was going to be a long ride. I leaned against the wall and closed my eyes. Picturing all the ways I was going to break Justins long pretty fingers for leaving me so under prepared. I didn’t look like a slob by any mean, although my clothes were a little too big. There wasn’t much I could do about that now though. It wasn’t like I had the time to go buy clothes either. The elevator stopped only once going up. A squat middle aged woman got into the elevator and scowled at my attire. I raised my brow at her and she faced forward. It was incredibly bold of her to judge my attire. I can change my clothes. This wench looked like a bulldog in a straight jacket. I smirked at the imagery. She got off a couple of floors up and my ride went smoothly from there. Other than the fact my anxiety went through this posh glass roof. I tried controlling my breathing. I hoped there were no cameras to see me looking like an i***t. Or a crack head.

    The doors opened to reveal another simple and elegant fountain but this one was in the wall and considerably smaller. I walked out and a receptionists desk stood before frosted glass double doors. The receptionist looked at me with dismay. There were a dozen other women sitting in the foyer, many made faces at me. I definitely stuck out like a sore thumb.

    “I have a meeting with Mr. Rose at two.”

    “Name?” Her voice was like nails on chalk board. Squeaky and fake.

    “April Guthrie.”

    “Okay, you can go ahead and take a seat with the other interviewees.”

    “I don’t have an interview!” I snapped harshly. I had talked to this dumb bimbo on the phone. She had more hair then brains. And obviously by the fake blonde of her hair, had sniffed too many chemicals. “I never said interview on the phone. I said a business proposal!” My blood was heated. I just drove twelve hours for some dumb b***h to schedule me an interview instead of a business meeting. It was bad enough that I had to wait a few weeks to come out here since he was so busy. I didn’t want to be rushed and I certainly didn’t want to have to make another drive unnecessarily.