Love's Fate (Love Trilogy #1) (21 page)

“Michael.”  My father’s voice came from behind me and I spun around to face him.

Our eyes met, but I did not speak. I didn’t know what to say. He seemed smaller than I remembered. No longer the towering figure of my childhood.

“I heard you had returned to San Diego.”  He told me walking to his desk.

I followed him with my eyes, but my feet stayed riveted to the floor.

“Have a seat.”  He offered gesturing to one of the wingback leather chairs in front of his desk.

I sat down in the chair he had indicated and met his gaze firmly.

“What do you want?”  I asked cutting right to the chase.

“I understand you are an artist now.”  His face twisted at the word artist like it was painful for him to say.

I smirked a little enjoying his obvious distaste for my chosen profession.

“Yes.”  I confirmed.

“It seems you have made quite a name for yourself.” He continued.

“Have I?”  I met his hard gaze without flinching.

I was not a child anymore, and he no longer intimidated me. I owed him nothing. He held nothing over me. I could get up and leave at any moment.

“I have recently acquired an advertising firm.” He said ignoring my insolence. “We could use someone with your talent.”

So that’s what this was about. I knew how his cold mind worked. Obviously he had heard of my work, perhaps some of his colleagues were impressed with me and he wanted to use that to
h
is advantage. I would not be used.

“I’m not interested.”  I said standing to leave.

“Your line of work can be very fickle.” He warned, although I knew it was not a warning, it was a threat.

“I’ll take my chances.”  I told him, and I left.

I fumed the entire way home. I couldn’t believe his audacity. Did he actually believe I would just allow him to control my life again, that I would willingly fall back into his ranks? It would not happen.

When I got home I tried to push the portentous meeting out of my mind. I took a shower to clear my head and tried to think of the evening I had planned for Katherine. I decided I would take her out tonight, to a nice restaurant, and give her the ring. I was not nervous. She had already said yes, tonight would just make it official.

I called and made reservations for dinner, chose what I would wear, planned what I would say. I was so eager for her to get home. Finally I just sat and watched the clock.

I still had a few hours left until she would close the bakery and come home. I decided I would get some work done while I waited. I pulled out my client list and called the name on top.

“I’m sorry, we’ve decided to go another way.” the business owner told me.

My father worked fast. I called the next name on my list, only to hear a similar excuse. And so the pattern continued until I had called every potential client I had. Some of these people had called months ago, eager for my services and now none of them wanted me. I had been blacklisted. I knew my father was a powerful man, but even I was surprised at how quickly he had successfully interfered with my prospects.

When Katherine came home I tried to suppress the anger I was feeling, but she quickly saw through me.

“What is i
t?”  S
he asked almost as soon as she’d walked through my door.

“It’s nothing.”  I told her trying to smile. “We have plans tonight. I made dinner
reservations for 6 o’clock.”  S
he smiled, but still looked concerned. “Go get ready, I’ll meet you downstairs
.
” I feigned another smile and she reluctantly left to go get ready.

She looked stunning when she met me in the lobby. The red dress she wore hugged every curve of her magnificent body and took my breath away. I pulled her into my arms and kissed her. Looking into her eyes brought back the happiness I had felt earlier in the day and reminded me of the ring I had in my pocket. I smiled genuinely this time, and she smiled back.

“Where are we going?” S
he asked excitedly as we walked to her car hand in hand.

“It’s a surprise.”  I told her winking.

“Then I guess you
’
r
e driving.”  S
he laughed tossing me the keys and crossing over to the passenger side.

When we arrived at the restaurant we were seated quickly and I excused myself leaving her at the table while I went to talk with the waitress. I gave her the ring and asked if they could place it in a Champaign glass and bring it to the table. She agreed excitedly and commented on how beautiful the ring was.

“How about some Champaign?”  I asked Katherine when I returned to the table.

“Sounds great.”  S
he replied eagerly.

I signaled the waitress and she brought over the bottle of Champaign and two glasses. The glass she set in front of Katherine contained the ring. Katherine’s face lit up as soon as she saw it.

“Oh Mich
ael!” S
he exclaimed as she retrieved the ring fro
m the glass “It’s beautiful!” T
ears ran down her face as I took the ring from her and slid it onto her finger.

“You have made me happier than I ever imagined possible.”  She told me looking down at the ring on her finger.

“Marry me, and I will be the happiest man alive.”  I told her, she looked up to meet my eyes and I leaned across the table to kiss her.

The waitress came back to the table and took our order. As we ate Katherine kept glancing down at the ring as if she was afraid it might disappear. I was so happy to be with her tonight, so happy to have her in my life. But in the back of my mind I thought of my father, I hated him for intruding on this otherwise perfect day.

“I put up some fliers at the Art Institute. I hope I can find someone to replace Amy before she leaves.”  Katherine told me as we ate.

“When is she leaving again?”  I asked contemplating a new possibility.

“Just a few weeks, I hope I can find someone in time. I’m not sure how I’m going
to do it without her.” S
he told me absently pushing the remaining food around her plate.

“What about me?”  I asked.

She stopped playing with her food and looked up at me.

“What do you mean?” S
he asked confused.

“I
could help you at the bakery.”
I offered casually, wondering how much I should tell her about what happened today.

“What about your painting?”  S
he asked concerned.

I decided it was no use to try to keep anything from her.

“I saw my father today.”
I told her, she still looked confused and even more concerned. “He asked me to come work for him, and I refused.” I explained.

“I don’t understand.”  S
he said
.

“My father is a very powerful man, he has interests and connections to many of the business’s around the city. I haven’t gone to see him since coming back to San Diego, but he heard I was back. He decided he wanted to capitalize on my success. When I refused he must have called in some favors. Every client on my list has changed his or her mind suddenly. I have no jobs lined up anymore.”

I looked down at the table embarrassed. I hadn’t wanted to discuss this tonight, but as always I couldn’t prevent myself from pouring out my feelings to Katherine.

“You can find other clients.”  She insisted sounding angry. “You are very talented Michael, you can’t give up on your painting.”

“I won’t.”
I assured her “I was getting tired of painting murals anyway.”

It was true, lately I had begun to feel stagnant in my work.

“Michael, I can hire anyone to help at the bakery. I won’t let you give up your dreams just to help me out.”

“I’m not.”
I insisted. “I can still paint at night. That is if you’ll continue to be my willing subject.”

I smiled at her as she blushed. The last painting I had done of her was a nude, and she made me promise not to show anyone. I had done so reluctantly, because it had been my best work.

“Seriously
Katherine
,
I’m ready to move on. I’ve been painting landscapes for several years now and I’m getting bored. This was a blessing in disguise. With all the clients I had lined up I could have been stuck doing this for years. He did me a favor really.”

As I said this I realized it was true. She looked a little appeased, but still not totally convinced.

“And you’re sure y
ou want to work at a bakery?” S
he asked eyeing me critically.

“I want to work at
your
bakery.”  I told her “You are my inspiration after all. Watching you all day will inspire me to paint at night.”

“It better” she insisted trying to look stern. “If you s
top painting I will fire you!” S
he threatened and I laughed.

“It’s settled then. When do I start?”  I asked smiling.

I loved the idea of spending the days with her but she looked torn.

“I guess whenever you want. If you start before Amy leav
es she can show you the ropes.”
She looked deep in thought.

“Are you sure you want
to do this?”  S
he asked again.

“Absolutely! What time tomorrow?”

I was excited at this turn of events. All the anger from the day had washed away. For all his effort my father had not succeeded.

“Amy usually comes in just before we open at 5.”  She said smiling at my enthusiasm.

“What time do you go in?”  I asked.

I knew that she left long before sunrise but I had never paid attention to the time before.

“Around 3.”  She said casually.

“Three AM!” I exclaimed “Now I feel really bad for keeping you up so late every night!”

She laughed.

“It’s worth it.”  S
he said “I don’t mind.”

“Well I do. You need your sleep.”  I looked at my watch and it was just after 8. “It’s almost time for bed, we have an early morning tomorrow.”

The day after Michael proposed he took me out for dinner. He gave me a beautiful ring and as we ate I stared at the ring thinking about how perfect my life finally was. Then Michael surprised me by offering to work with me at the bakery now that Amy was leaving. I tried to refuse.

As much as I loved the idea of having him with me at the shop I couldn’t allow him to put his career aside. He explained that he’d lost all of his clients due to his father’s interference. I was shocked. I knew very little about Michael’s father, he didn’t speak about him often. I was outraged that he had attempted to ruin Michael’s prospects as an artist.

Michael didn’t seem as disheartened by the events as I would have expected. He insisted that it was time for him to move on anyway. He felt inspired to go back to small canvases again, portraits in particular. He promised that he would not give up on his painting and begged me to allow him to help at the bakery. I couldn’t refuse. The thought of having him with me every
day was too tempting to put up much of a fight.

When my alarm woke me the next morning, Michael got up with me. I tried to make him go back to bed explaining that he could sleep for a few more hours, but he insisted on coming into work with me. He helped me in the kitchen just as he always did at home and it was nice having him there with me.

Amy was surprised when she arrived a few hours later, but I quickly explained that Michael was going to be taking her place and she seemed happy with that fact. She didn’t question our motives and I was glad that I didn’t have to explain them to her. As much as I loved having him there, I felt guilty and was still having a hard time justifying it with myself.

Amy’s last few weeks flew by quickly and Michael easily learned everything he needed to know to take over when she left. Michael took over ordering all of our supplies and dealing with vendors. He continued to come into work with me every morning and help me in the kitchen until it was time to open. I taught him some basic cooking techniques and divided the daily tasks between us.

With his added help in the kitchen I had more time to concentrate on organization. I decided on which key items I would offer in the bakery on a daily basis and also created a menu for items available upon order. Michael helped me design the look of the new menu that we distributed to our customers and we quickly saw an increase in called-in orders.

With Michael’s help in the kitchen I was also able to devote myself more to specialty cake decorating, which was definitely my underlying passion. Michael even helped me think of interesting new cake designs, he had wonderful suggestions. Our days flowed smoothly and I couldn’t even remember how I had done this without him.

After work every night we went back to his place. As promised he didn’t give up on his painting. I was often the object of his portraits, and I enjoyed how he used me as a living mannequin deciding how to pose me, how to dress me… or undress me.