Double-life Well Lived

Chapter 4

Clara stepped out of the elevator and smiled at Beatrice, already sitting at her desk, her bright auburn hair coiled high on top of her head and a pen gripped tightly between her teeth. “Good morning, Beatrice.”

“Morning Boss! Your coffee is on your desk along with the bagel with the cream cheese you asked for from that shop on the corner.  You have a call at eight with the CFO Calvin to review this quarter ahead of the Board meeting next week. You have a tour of the Innovations department slated for ten and something must be up because Irvin had called me three times to make sure you’re still going down. At noon the team from marketing is hosting a meet and greet with the local college and you promised you’d stop in for a slice. You have a dental appointment at two thirty and Dr. Lorenzo already promised to have you in and out by four so that you can make it in time to the dinner your grandfather is hosting at the Penthouse.”

“You’re the best.” Honestly if Beatrice didn’t micromanage her schedule she would be lost.

“You pay me to be,” Beatrice winked, her green eyes grinning mischievously. As Clara opened the door to her office, she watched her boss pause one hand on the doorknob and her foot mid-air not crossing the threshold. She shrugged and lifted her palms upward. “That I know nothing about. I just put them in there. They were delivered this morning.” She got out of her chair and looked over Clara’s shoulder, which wasn’t hard given she was easily six inches taller than she was. She eyed the giant bouquet of flowers, a mix of lilies and roses and hydrangeas. “I didn’t read the card, felt that would be rude.”

Clara eyed the flowers like they were a pile of spiders. “Who the hell is sending me flowers?” The last time she had flowers given to her, she had been in the hospital under a psychiatric evaluation following her kidnapping. Since that was almost fourteen years ago, she was admittedly perplexed by the vision of them. She felt Beatrice’s hand on her shoulder pushing her towards the desk. She hesitantly reached for the card and peeled open the envelope to withdraw the tiny card.

“Thank you for gracing our humble restaurant with your shining presence. Elian Ruiz.”

Beatrice was reading over her shoulder. “Elian Ruiz? The guy that owns all the fancy restaurants?”

Clara was confused. Were these flowers meant for Merry-Beth? No, the outside of the card clearly said Clara Draxton. He had been attentive and kind during their lunch yesterday. To say he was charming had been an understatement and he had coaxed more than one smile out of her during the time they were there however her experience always leaned that good looking men, especially successful driven men with dark black eyes, broad shoulders, and perfectly coiffed hair, were trying to impress her sister. She couldn’t fathom why he would send her flowers. Unless, she pondered as she tapped the card on her chin, he had sent flowers to them both and this was a marketing tactic. That would make sense. She felt the odd feeling of disappointment settle in her tummy at the notion.

Beatrice ripped the card from her hand and flipped it backwards and squealed in a way Clara had never heard her administrative assistant. “He put his number on the back! Omg he likes you! I mean not like that’s unbelievable, but most men are intimidated by you and…”

Clara cut her off. “Men are intimidated by me?” She stared at her admin as if she had sprouted an extra head. “Since when?”

Beatrice tilted her head to the side and eyed her employer quizzically. “Um, since for as long as I’ve known you and that has been since you were a senior in high school and I worked for your grandfather. Your cool and collected and easily the smartest person I’ve ever met, including your grandfather and he’s a bloody genius. You don’t suffer fools at all and while you’re the kindest person I’ve personally ever met, you rarely let anyone close enough to experience that kind heart you have. The men who work in this building have the utmost respect for you and would never cross a line but they fear you too. You can be pretty stern and no-nonsense.”

“My staff fear me?” Why was she just learning this now.

Beatrice tried to backpedal. “No, that’s not what I’m saying. Ugh. I’m saying this all wrong. I’m saying that the men I’ve seen you interact with, and really they are all business associates of some kind,  you are far superior to them in every single way, intelligence, wealth, personality and every other way. I mean you fly your own helicopter and you designed half of the prototypes in Innovation right now. You’re amazing and men with little egos get freaked out by that.” She shook her head as Clara seemed even more perplexed. “Never mind. Just call the guy back and say thank you for the flowers.” She pushed the card back into Clara’s hands.

Clara wrinkled her nose and shook her head. “What if he was just being kind and sent some to Merry-Beth too? Maybe it’s a marketing tactic?” she verbalized her earlier thought.

“He wouldn’t have put his phone number in his own writing on the back of the card if that was the case. Merry-Beth already has a contact at the restaurant, remember? Call him! Do it quick though because you have a call in ten minutes.”

Beatrice exited the office and hissed one more time an instruction to call him and then closed the door to give Clara some privacy.

Clara held the card in one hand and her cell phone in the other. Three times she dialed the number and three times she stopped. She sighed loudly as she set her phone on her desk and turned her computer on. She didn’t have time for this. But it would be rude not to say thank you. She gave a silent scream in her head.  Why was she so conflicted?

“Screw it,” she punched the number in again and then connected the call. He answered on the second ring and she took a deep breath as he growled his name into his phone as if he was still laying in bed and she had woken him up.

“Mr. Ruiz, this is Clara Draxton. Did I wake you?”

Elian laughed lowly. “No, sweet Clara Draxton, you did not wake me. I’ve been up since five-thirty. Though I’ll admit you caught me getting out of the shower as I just finished my workout.”

A mental image of Elian Ruiz in nothing but a towel caused Clara’s pelvis to contract in an absurd way. She squeezed her knees together. “I was just calling to say thanks for the flowers.” She spewed the words out quickly. “I have another call in two minutes but I just wanted to say thanks.”

He chuckled again, his low husky laugh making that strange pelvic feeling expand lower and she squeezed her knees tighter. “You are very welcome. Your presence yesterday was a delight and you were the sunshine of my day.”

“Pfft, you have me confused with Merry-Beth.” She clapped her hand over her mouth. Oh damn did she just say that aloud?

“Clara, Clara, Clara,” he tutted through the phone and she closed her eyes as he reprimanded her gently. “Nobody could ever confuse you and your sister. She is lovely to be sure but you are so much more than just lovely. Never, ever, consider that you are less than she. You are worth so much more than that.”

“Oh, well, thanks for the flowers then and the compliment and um, thanks.” She hung up the phone quickly and then groaned out loud. “Oh. My. God!” she shrieked into the empty room. “Now he thinks you’re an airhead.” Her office intercom lit up and she grabbed the receiver. “Please tell me that my call is ready because I need a distraction from the fact I just made a complete ass of myself.”

Beatrice groaned. “Oh no. I want full details later but yes, your call is on line one. You can pick up and Calvin is waiting to review the numbers with you. I’ve sent the updated info to your email, and you should be able to open it up now.”

For the next hour and a half, every single question that she had, Calvin answered patiently. He had worked for her grandfather before she had taken over and he was knowledgeable and he was experienced. However, she heard Beatrice’s earlier words echoing in her head. Was Calvin also intimidated by her? He was an older man and happily married with three kids, but the comments were eating at her. When they were done talking numbers, she caught him off guard. “Calvin, am I intimidating?” She heard him choking on the coffee he had taken a sip of during the pause.

“Um, not to me no. I’ve known you since you were a kid. Why are you asking this?”

“Someone sent me flowers and Beatrice said most men find me intimidating.” She heard his laugh and groaned.

“Clara, I’ve known you a long time and I will say the same thing to you that I would say to my own daughter, any man that would be intimidated by a woman who is in control of her own life, doesn’t deserve to be part of that life. You are a strong independent woman and I admire you. I am not intimidated by you and I consider you an incredible role model for my daughters to look up to. If some man is too insecure in his own self-worth that a confident woman makes him walk away, that is his loss.”

She wiped a tear from the corner of her eye. “Thanks Calvin. I appreciate you.”

“I know you do,” he chuffed into the phone. “Now, whoever sent you those flowers, better be made of some good stuff or your grandfather will have him for breakfast.”

She laughed out loud at the comment and agreed wholeheartedly. Her grandfather was very protective of her. Where her father, his son, had failed at parenting, he had taken the job very seriously. She was his only grandchild and the love of his life. His wife had died long before Clara had been born and he often said that Clara was a gift sent from heaven by his wife to make his life worth living without her.

She ended her call with Calvin on a positive happy note and then decided to give her grandfather a quick call. She reassured him she would be at his dinner party at the Penthouse restaurant and made a specific point to tell him how much she loved him. She could tell he was pleased with the call and she was feeling much better about herself after the fiasco of the call with Elian Ruiz by the time she headed down to the Innovation department.

Irwin met her at the door in the lowest section of the building as she buzzed herself in. “Irwin!” She grinned at him as he pushed his glasses back onto his face and tugged at his coat. “What’s going on.”

“We did it.” He grinned. “That project you asked me to work on, we did it.”

Clara stopped walking and stared at him. “Really?” She clapped her hands together. “Show me!”

She whistled lowly as they entered the prototype room and took in the vehicle sitting in front of them. “It works?” The vehicle was no larger than a four-wheel ATV but she grinned widely when with a push of a button on a device similar to a wristwatch, the vehicle disappeared from view, suddenly invisible. “Non-traceable?”

“No radar would ever be able to find it.” Irwin grinned widely. “I know how much you wanted this one to work.” He hit his watch again and it seamlessly showed itself. “Wanna go for a drive?”

Clara didn’t hesitate and moved into the driver seat.