章 19: Threads of Trust. AR

Brittany

Have you ever been in a situation where you are in the wrong but don't know how to apologize?

I was beginning to think that I was a wicked, ingrate because why would I walk away from one of the best dates of my life without a parting word? Okay, his question was annoying and I wanted to punish him but still, I could be civil.

Civility is a skill that I've had to learn in my line of work and it was a chagrin that in all my dealings with Lucas, I did not exhibit the trait. Lucas might not know the full details about why we left California but he did know what happened earlier. The fact that he didn't realize how much damage was done by that act made me angry.

That didn't explain my rude attitude in both of our meetings though. Honestly, Lucas went above and beyond on our last date and I could have done things differently. I started regretting my actions immediately after I was seated on the ride back to my apartment.

To think his driver was ready to take me back home but I refused. That was violating the number one rule of wealth, never reject free things that have no consequence. Plus the whole explanation that I had to give Silva, my roommate.

I had hoped that I would go straight to my bedroom to sulk, maybe cry or continue working on projects from work. But, I had no luck because I met Silva in the living room. For the millionth time in my life, I wish I could turn to any creature because if I did, I would turn to an ant and walk to my room without divulging my date experience.

"Brittany, you didn't tell me you were going out," she said accusatorily. Considering the fact that I was older than her and she had gone out many times without telling me, her priorities were misplaced. She was already hugging me before I had a chance to respond.

"You are squeezing me," I said while trying to remove myself from her tight hug.

We ended up eating ice cream while binge-watching friends. "Are we going to talk about the phone calls that you've been rejecting?" Yeah, Silva was nosy. I ended up giving her an abridged version of what happened, I left out the part where he asked me that question.

"So you are saying that this guy is someone that you used to know. And you walked out on an amazing dinner and what could have been great sex because of something that happened almost a decade ago. Right?"

Not right. But Silva was having none of that, she scolded me and made me promise to apologize and hope that he wanted a repeat of the amazing date.

Silva didn't know the full story so her judgement was kind of short-sighted. And when she put it like that 'amazing dinner and maybe great sex', I felt like I shouldn't have left. There was no chance of answering his call or apologising to him because he stopped calling.

Perhaps, he realised that I was being a child and he was done with me. We watched the movie until Silva dozed off. I cleared the living room and covered Silva with her blanket before I got any time to truly think about the dinner and Lucas.

Friendship is a two-way thing. Lucas wanted friendship and an explanation as to why I cut off contact but he was the catalyst that made us leave. If he could want friendship with me despite what he did or what he pretended not to know about, then he must think I was stupid.

And I played right into his game by going on 'dates' with him and running off when he made mention of anything concerning the past. It didn't matter that the main reason why I agreed to the date was to get him to request another person for his house decoration, that was a failure by the way.

What mattered was that he wanted me to say something about what happened. It might be a trap by his father and another ploy by the Fergusons. We promised not to mention what happened at a cost and Lucas acting all innocent should not lead to another tragedy for my mistake.

Brand, David and Mum should not have to suffer for my mistake again. I made a resolve to keep quiet about everything. If I had to talk to him again and he mentioned anything about before, I would prepare enough vague answers for him.

He and his father were not going to have any reason to threaten us again. How hard can it be to feign friendship with Lucas? I was friends with the guy once, it could not be that hard. I also decided that I would try to still talk to him about requesting another person for the project but, pending the time, I would continue to interact with him with as much civility as I could gather.

Everything until the project was completed and everyone went their separate ways.

I was about to sleep when he called again. He sounded out of breath and for a moment, I forgot that my concern should be fake. It was way too easy to fall into old times, I did mean the apology that I gave to him.

By Monday, my concerns were partly off Lucas and mostly on Brand's visit later in the week. I wanted everything to be perfect at work and home so that I could spend as much time as possible with him. Guess the Ferguson family was after my life because Magaret called the office in the morning to require additional changes to the redecoration plan.

A plan that I already solidified with Lucas and that was set to begin later the following week. I had no time to adjust my plans multiple times just because the family could not agree unanimously. Who was Magaret anyway? An aunt, wife or fiance?

Out of anger and urgency to speak to Lucas, I called his office and like before, it wasn't a success. Whoever answered his office hated me and needed to be fired. Miraculously, Lucas got my message, called me and we scheduled a lunch meeting.

I tried different strategies to calm myself and remain confident while waiting for him. You should get yourself a Ferguson man because they are truly beautiful. I was about to thank him for honouring my invitation when Margaret showed up.

Margaret did not pose any obstacle to my plan directly, in fact, I could kill two birds with one stone. Except, Lucas looked frozen. Any resemblance of calmness was completely replaced by anger and if I was correct, worry.

Why would Lucas be worried because of this woman?

She was a beautiful woman, possibly less than forty years old. She had a permanent smile on as she walked to our table. The smile was so wide that it looked fake.

I looked between her face and Lucas', she still had her perfect smile but Lucas had a scowl. "Hi, Lucas. Who is your beautiful friend?" Lucas was deep in thought, it was no news that he didn't want Margaret around.

"Hi, I am Brittany. I am the project lead for your house redecoration at Endless Glamour," I said in greeting.

She shook my hand "Oh my. I am Lucas's stepmother. I had to force Lucas to converse with you last week. I hope you were able to get him to talk to you. You can talk to me now if you need anything," she replied, still with that plastic smile.

She turned to Lucas "Take care of her, Lucas." She winked and left.

The Ferguson sitting across from me was frustrated and ran his hand over his face " I am sorry about Margaret."

Later, I asked him what she meant by 'Take care of her' and he said he did not know even though it sounded like he was hiding something. "What is it that you wanted to discuss with me?"

I told him to request another person in the company and he said only Margaret could do that. He also refused to allow me to report back to Margaret. "You answer only to me," he said.

Frankly, I did not like the idea of answering to anyone, especially him. I made a plan to talk to Ben about the change in communication and how it could affect the project. I did not understand his sudden coldness towards me.

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