Serendipity (Inevitable) (11 page)

“Your wish is my command. How about we take a look at that portfolio you’ve brought along instead?”

For the next half hour or so, they poured through Julia’s design portfolio, with Travis asking questions, making comments, and listening to her responses. They talked for awhile longer about some of the other projects she’d handled, what types of assignments she could expect to be given here, and about current design trends.

At the end of it all, Travis was regarding her with a half-smile. “So I assume you’d live in the city if you got this job?”

She nodded. “Luckily there’s a great little place that just became available in my friend Angela’s building. She lives in this amazing Victorian in Lower Pacific Heights. I’ve been crashing with her the past couple of nights.”

“Any other job offers you’re considering?”

Julia bit her bottom lip uncertainly. “Nothing serious, no. There’s a small firm in Atlanta that I’ve had a phone interview with, and a place in Minneapolis who just emailed me this morning. But both of those are just straightforward home interior shops, nothing like what you were just describing.”

Travis waved a hand in dismissal. “Ugh, Atlanta. From a boy who grew up in Florida, trust me when I say you’d hate summer in the Deep South – all that humidity and those nasty bugs. Yuck. And Minnesota? Honey, all that wretched snow and probably no Neiman Marcus or Barneys within a hundred mile radius. No, you can’t even consider either of those offers because you’re coming to work for me.”

She stared at him in shocked surprise. “Just like that? I mean, don’t you have to think about it for awhile? Or – or discuss it with your business partner or something?”

“Yes, just like that. No, I knew almost before you walked in the door that I would hire you. And, no. Nate and I don’t interfere with who the other hires. So, if you’ll do us the honor, Ms. McKinnon, Atwood Headley would very much like you to be their newest interior designer.”

Julia smiled, really smiled, for the first time in months and couldn’t contain her happiness, almost giggling in reaction. “I would absolutely adore working here with you, Travis. Given our connection through Gerard, this feels like the perfect fit for me. I know I’m going to be very happy here.”

Travis stood and extended his hand to her. “Welcome aboard, honey. Now, give your new boss a hug, why don’t you? You know with me it’s not going to be any form of sexual harassment if I touch you.”

She did giggle then as she gave him a quick, affectionate hug. “Thank you, Travis,” she told him, suddenly serious. “You don’t know how much this means to me. I was afraid for awhile that I’d never be able to get a decent job again.”

“Vanessa’s influence isn’t as far reaching as she’d like to believe with that overinflated ego of hers, “declared Travis. “And from what I hear her business isn’t going so well these days. A lot of clients were very loyal to Gerard – and also to you – so with the two of you gone things are drying up. Plus, Gerard is so pissed over what happened to you that he’s working on damaging her professional reputation with as many people as he can.”

She nodded. “He told me that. It really isn’t necessary, you know. I’m just glad to be out of that awful situation. Ever since Gerard left it was hell for me to work there.”

Travis’s mouth tightened. “Having interned there for a year and seeing how Vanessa operates, I can certainly empathize. But that’s all in the past now. You’re going to love working here and I’m going to start throwing stuff at you right away. How soon can you start?”

“Hmm. Today is Tuesday, Would next Monday be okay? I think I can sign the lease on the flat today – the landlord is holding it for me until Thursday – and then convince my dad to haul all my stuff up this weekend.”

He grinned. “A woman of action. I like that. It will serve you very well here because things move fast. Monday would be sensational. Let’s take you over to Personnel so you can fill out mounds of boring paperwork. I’ll introduce you along the way to as many people as I can. You’ll never remember names, of course, but I guarantee they’ll all remember you. Especially how good your ass looks in this dress.”

Julia gaped at him in mock horror, then shared a laugh with him. “I know. Gay boss, straight employee, no sexual harassment.”

“Just paying you a compliment, honey. Hell, I’m practically like your brother. But there are a couple of the guys you do need to watch out for. I’ll make sure you know who they are.” He shook his head. “Too bad Nate is already spoken for. The two of you together would have been awfully pretty. And I can’t stand his fiancée. But that’s a long story, one we’ll share over a bottle or two of wine someday. Come on now, let me go show you off.”

Atwood Headley was a much bigger firm than Manhattan Interiors had been, largely because of the architectural arm of the company. Between architects, designers, and all the support staff, there were over a hundred employees. It seemed to Julia that during their whirlwind tour of the office Travis must have introduced her to at least half the staff. She knew he was right and that she’d never remember anyone’s name come Monday, apart from Travis, of course, and his admin assistant Courtney.

Julia thought the oddly dressed girl was what Olive Oyl would look like if she suddenly went hipster. Courtney was tall and painfully thin, with super skinny arms and legs, and long, lank hair dyed a bright orangey-red. Travis had whispered that this was a new shade – last week it had been cotton candy pink. Courtney wore a very strange assortment of clothing that looked vintage/thrift shop – but not in a good way – accented by leopard-print flats and red-framed eyeglasses that clashed badly with her current hair color. The fashionista imbedded deep within Julia could have wept at such a horrific assault on the eyes, but Courtney seemed like a sweet girl and was very kind, despite her scary sense of fashion.

In fact, everyone she met was very kind and welcoming, though more than a few of the men had either gaped at her open-mouthed or stared at her breasts. The two men in particular that Travis had warned her against – one an architect, the other a landscape designer – had both definitely flirted with her. But Julia had long ago mastered the art of the firm but subtle put-down, and was quite certain she’d made it very clear to both of them that it was to be a business only relationship.

One of the last stops they made before Julia was to spend an hour or more filling out personnel forms was at the office of Travis’ partner – Nate Atwood. Seated just outside of the office was a petite woman who looked to be in her mid-to-late forties. Her nameplate identified her as Robyn Reynolds, and she was all eager smiles as Travis introduced her to Julia.

“Welcome to the fold, Julia,” she told her warmly, clasping her hand. “You’re going to love it here. We’re all like a big family.”

Travis put an arm around the older woman’s narrow shoulders affectionately. “And Robyn’s the mama of our family. Nate and I stole her away from the firm we both worked at when we decided to spin off on our own.”

If Courtney was Olive Oyl, then Robyn was Tinker Bell. Small and sprightly, her chestnut hair was cut in a stylish pixie and there was a smattering of freckles across the bridge of her nose. She wore a wrap dress of dark burgundy wool and black suede ankle boots.

“I’m sorry that Nate isn’t in today so you could meet,” apologized Robyn. “He’s on a job site up in Napa all day. Lousy day for it, too, with these scattered showers.”

Travis turned to Julia. “The Napa site is the resort hotel I mentioned to you earlier. It’s one of the first projects you’ll be assigned to, so you’ll be working closely with Nate on it.”

Julia nodded. “I’m really looking forward to doing the design for that one. It’s amazing that you have the Gregson Hotels as your client.”

Gregson Hotels were known worldwide as an ultra-luxe brand of both city hotels and sprawling resort properties. The headquarters for the North and South American properties was located in San Francisco, and Atwood Headley had already completed several projects for the company. By coincidence, Julia had worked on a remodel project for one of their Manhattan hotels last year, and she was thrilled at the opportunity to work on such a high profile account again.

A couple of hours later, as she finished her tour of the office and filling out an endless stack of new hire forms, she headed back to Angela’s flat with a sense of satisfaction. Finally, after several months of so many bad things happening to her, it seemed that all the dark clouds were starting to blow away. Julia was more than ready to forget the heartache and disappointment she’d known in New York and begin a new, happier chapter of her life here in San Francisco.

Nathan was running late, and operating on too few hours of sleep, as he walked briskly to his office. Fortunately, his condo was just three blocks from the office, one of the main reasons he’d bought the place four years ago. He liked the convenience of being so close to his job, even if the modern high-rise building wasn’t exactly to his taste. But he certainly didn’t plan on living there forever if he had his way about it. Convincing Cameron to eventually move out of the city and into his idea of a dream home across the bay in Tiburon, however, was something else entirely.

It was because of Cameron that he was both late and tired this morning. They had spent a three-day weekend up at her parents’ luxurious vacation home in Lake Tahoe, skiing and socializing with her family and their wide circle of friends. Nathan had wanted to head back to San Francisco late morning yesterday to beat the traffic and have some time to relax before the work week began on Monday. But Cameron had wheedled and cajoled, wanting to stay for lunch and spending extra time with some friends she hadn’t seen in awhile. It had been very late afternoon by the time they had left, and a drive that should have taken about four hours quickly doubled due to all the traffic. Nathan had been stressed out from driving in bumper to bumper traffic and in poor weather conditions, knowing the whole while that he had a busy day at the office. To make matters worse, he’d been away Monday through Thursday of the previous week on a business trip to southern California, and thus hadn’t been at the office all week. The amount of work he was going to have to get caught up on gave him a violent headache just thinking about it.

Cameron was maddeningly oblivious to such matters, since her own job as the owner of an art gallery was far less stressful and demanding. Business at the gallery was typically slow at this time of year, and she was an expert at delegating as much work as possible to her employees. He was certain that she would sleep in quite late this morning while he was making do with less than five hours of sleep.

Nathan sighed as he pressed the elevator button for his floor. He really had to start setting his foot down with Cameron about all of these social functions she insisted on attending. It seemed that pretty much every weekend was packed with one thing or another, and that he rarely got a say in what they did. Or, rarer still, actually got to relax and unwind occasionally. It had been especially hectic over the holiday season, and things hadn’t seemed to settle down all that much in the resulting weeks.

He waved hello to Becca, the pretty Asian receptionist, and somewhat sleepily greeted several other employees on his way to his office. He grinned at Robyn, who was already hard at work like the whirlwind of activity she was.

“Well, you look like hell,” she said by way of greeting, in a manner that spoke of years of familiarity. “Good thing you’re clutching that extra large coffee. I’m guessing by the dark circles under your eyes that you’ll be needing a refill soon.”

“Good morning to you, too, Mrs. Reynolds,” he chuckled. Robyn was a combination of admin assistant, bossy big sister, and close friend. Convincing her to come work for them had been the best move he and Travis had made when they’d taken the plunge and decided to start their own firm nearly ten years ago.

“I take it you got back later than planned from Tahoe last night,” she commented as she resumed checking through email.

Nathan rolled his eyes. “That’s the understatement of the year. You know, if I liked driving through snow and ice I’d have gone back home to live in Michigan after college.”

Robyn shook her head. “Hon, you need to start setting your foot down with your woman. She’s got more social engagements than the Queen of England.”

“Yeah, I know. But not today. Is everything ready for my meeting at ten?” he asked.

“Of course. And I have all of your notes from your trip last week ready. Thanks for the email draft, it was a big help.”

He nodded. “Good. Anything else going on around here that I need to know about? I didn’t get a chance to talk to Travis at all last week. Everything okay on his end so far as you know?”

“Very okay. His new designer started last week so he’s over the moon about her. And what a darling girl she is. I’m sure you’ll meet her later.”

The very last thing he was concerned with was meeting one of Travis’ new employees, already having way too much of his own work to deal with. Nathan rolled up his sleeves and got right to it, going through his mail and email from the previous week, and looking over his notes and sketches for the client meeting this morning. The morning flew by rapidly, and he worked without interruption, even when Robyn brought him another cup of coffee.