9. Hayden
Chapter nine
Hayden
It rained and thundered last night, so I had a hard time sleeping. The only thing keeping me awake now is my third cup of joe.
“You want me to go there without you, sir?” Steven confirms over speakerphone.
“Yes.” My elbow is on my desk, and I rub my eyes. “I’ll meet you at the property.”
“Um. Okay.” Given everything that happened yesterday, I can’t fault him for his hesitancy.
“Great. I will plan to see you both in about forty-five minutes or so?” I’m in my office and looking up at the clear, blue sky.
Addie’s favorite weather, I can’t help but remember. She always said days like this, especially after a storm, felt like the world’s way of starting fresh.
I can picture it like it was yesterday—we were about sixteen, outstretched on an old red and white checkered blanket on my parent’s cleanly mowed lawn.
We are both just gazing up at the heavens before she flips onto her side.
My eyes slowly but surely wander over to meet hers.
“Isn’t it romantic?”
Her peering face smudged as my vision narrows. “What?” Us lying here? I hope that’s what she meant.
From there, she doesn’t waste a second telling me about her theory about the clearing sky.
“It’s like the planet is telling us it isn’t giving up on the dreary, coldness we experienced in the past.”
Try as I might to forget, I often think about that on days like today.
“Don’t you see, Hayden? Life is full of hope!” she reiterates while bending over and shaking my shoulders.
A smile crept across my face as I reminisced about those two clueless kids who had so much to learn.
“Hayden?” Steven roots me back to reality.
“Sorry.” I peel my shoulders back and straighten my back. “I’m a little spacey today. I didn’t get much sleep.”
“Oh, I hear you. That thunder was just treacherous.”
“Indeed. Anyway, we’re all set then? You’ll go round up Addie—”
Steven chuckles on the other line. “She isn’t cattle, Hayden.”
I look straight before rolling my eyes. “You know what I mean.”
“I will go pick her up, yes. Although, I’m not sure I understand why we can’t just all drive together.”
“It’s strategy,” I confess.
“. . . Okay?”
At least that’s what I’m telling myself. The truth is that I’m kind of afraid to face her. I know I can be a hot head at times. And I thought I’d done enough work to control that part of my personality, but apparently not.
I was like a screeching kettle yesterday, and I let every feeling and thought I had spewed out of me like boiled water.
I can’t believe I insinuated her daughter was mine. To top it all off, I even threatened her with a paternity test.
By her drained demeanor, I knew it was effective and did exactly what I wanted it to do. Scare the crap out of her.
But that wasn’t right. Sure, the kid may resemble me a bit, but the same could probably go for any number of other children.
***
Like the coward I am, I hoped they’d arrive before me. But when I got to the land over an hour later, I was all alone.
To distract myself from my feelings of dread, I scoured the property and double-checked that it was marked off in accordance with our final draft of the plans.
“Perfect,” I say to myself as I check off the last thing on my list.
Within a few moments, I hear the sound of car doors opening and closing. And when I hold the clipboard that was just in my hands above my eyes, I can see clearly that it’s Addie and Steven.
Unlike the adorable overalls she was sporting yesterday, she went for a more professional look. She has a light blue shirt under a black suit jacket with a big bow sewn onto the lapel.
As for her dark hair, it’s securely tied back in a low ponytail. The hairdo makes her high cheekbones even more pronounced.
It’s a bit of a walk, but once she finally approaches me, I awkwardly kick the loose dirt beneath my shoes.
“Hayden,” she says without much emotion.
“Addie.”
“I’ll be over there,” Steven announces.
I do feel bad for the guy, as he doesn’t know about the complicated history between the two of us.
“Anyway.” Once he’s gone, she licks her lips, pushes some baby hairs out of her face, and asks, “Care to show me around?”
“Yes. Of course. But first—”
“Yeah?” Her cool eyes meet mine, and I gulp.
“I’m sorry,” I blurt before I have a second to reconsider.
“Oh?” She tucks her chin and her brow furrows.
Fair. Those are two words she isn’t used to hearing out of my mouth.
“For what exactly?”
I knew she wouldn’t let me off that easily.
“I was out of line yesterday.”
“That you were. But as long as you agree to drop all of your ridiculous accusations, I think we can proceed as usual here.”
Okay? I guess part of me was expecting some kind of reciprocal admission of guilt here. I mean, she obviously said malicious things to hurt me as well.
“So?”
“Um. Okay. Fine. Yeah.”
“Good,” she says with a nod. “Besides, I’m only here because I’m curious.”
Right. I guess that’s all I have for now, and I’ll take it for whatever it’s worth.
“Well, this is where we envisioned the entrance to be,” I guide her and explain.
One of her arms lays across her stomach while the other perches against it, and she rests her chin against her closed hand. “Okay.”
“And then we were envisioning that each floor will have around sixty rooms, thirty on each side of the building.”
Her long eyelashes flutter and reflect in the reflection of the sunlight. “Sixty? That seems ambitious, no?”
I shrug. “You knew your grandfather better than anyone, and subtlety was never his forte, no?”
That finally gets her to crack a grin. “That’s for sure.”
Next, I check the plans to make sure I’m correct as we trek through the dirt, and I show her where the ginormous pool will go.
“Uh-huh.”
Oh. Given her affinity for all things water, I was anticipating more of a response from her. But I move on from there and continue the tour.
“Well?” I ask when I’ve exhausted every nook and cranny of the place.
Her face remains stoic and emotionless.
“Earth to Addie?” It’s like she’s one of those “living statues” in the park—all she’s missing is the silver body paint, a ridiculous prop, and a top hat.
“What?”
“Wha—what do you think?”
“It’s fine.”
“Just fine? Come on, Addie. We both know you poured over the plans before even coming here.”
Still, other than her involuntary functions like breathing and blinking, she remains lifeless.
“Am I right? You looked them over, right?”
She doesn’t answer, but her lips purse.
Ah! She is human!
“I knew it. You just couldn’t resist, could you?” I saw her look over similar drawings for fun, and I can’t imagine the glee that filled her when she was faced with some that she actually had an emotional and financial connection to.
However, other than that little gesture with her mouth, she doesn’t react.
I feel defeated.
“Adriana?”
It’s a dirty tactic, but I know her full name. I know she hates it, but it will definitely get her attention.
“What?”
Now that I have it, I fear it may wane. So I take full advantage of her focus. “Listen, I’m going to be blunt, okay? I know we aren’t on the best of terms, but I hope we can somehow put aside our differences and work on this project. After all, it meant a lot to Salvador—”
“Jesus!” she suddenly interrupts. “I hate that. Stop that!”
What?
“Stop trying to manipulate me by mentioning him. I can think for myself, goddamit!”
“I—I wasn’t . . .”
She takes a step closer to me, pins me to the side of a dumpster, and wags her finger in my face. “This whole time you’ve been playing it off like you don’t need me or my input. But something if off here, Hayden. What is it? Huh? Why are you acting so freaking desperate?”
Dammit. I underestimated how well she knew me.
Then, with her nose wrinkled and her upper lip taut, she looks at me with disgust from head to toe. “This, this isn’t you. The Hayden Cohen I knew would’ve made sure, come hell or high water, that he’d get what he wanted at the end of the day. With or without anybody’s help. So, spill. I don’t have all day!”
While I may have shrunk back and become more spineless than I was back in the day, she’s clearly become stronger and more outspoken. Unfortunately, despite how much they may irritate me at the moment, those are also two qualities that I admire most in a woman.
“Well?”
Figuratively and literally, I’m backed into a corner, and I know it.
“Fine!” I wriggle my shoulders, which causes her to retreat a few steps, and straighten my jacket. “I only have a few days to close the deal on the land. If I don’t, the owner might sell it to another bidder.”
After laying that all on the line, I expect something. I’m not sure what, but something in response.
Breathing heavily, I then add, “Besides, isn’t there a contingency regarding your inheritance and the sale of this land?”
She glares up at me with a darkness in those soulful blue eyes.
Oops. I really stepped in it this time. There I go again with my stupid mouth.
“Um.” I’m struggling to lighten things again. “Wasn’t it always your dream to have your name—I mean, your signature ‘kiss’ on a building?”
Her vision darts away, her tongue lingers across the front of her teeth, and she finally says, “Fine.”
Without another word, she turns on her heel and starts walking back towards the car.
However, after a few steps, she throws over her shoulder, “But from here on out, we’ll communicate exclusively through Steven.”
To emphasize the irreconcilable distance that has been created between us, the man appointed to act as our “in-between” fumbles around in the field and clumsily swats bees or another kind of insect away.
Really? This is how far we’ve come?
She was once one of the closest people to me, and now I can’t even talk to her without first going through this klutz.