Trust Fall (The Stargazer Collection #1)
Chapter 1
Cleo
She looked at the bookcase that ran along the wall at the far end of the room. She took in the keyring that hung from the key in the lock, which her niece made for her birthday last month. She took in the three shelves of various books, not all for business.
She lingered over the photo frames scattered on every shelf.
This was another conscious decision she had made, instead of keeping them in a separate area of the office.
Her eyes were drawn to her favorite photo.
It was taken during the summer when the whole family had gotten together for a long weekend of no screen time (the photo was taken on a camera and not a phone, so nobody complained— for once).
The mass of red hair between them left no doubt of their relation.
In the picture, Cleo saw herself perched on the armrest beside her mom, and her sister Jade on the other side beside their dad, both sisters leaning in close to be part of the shot.
Their parents sat smiling on the sofa while her twin brother, Evan, held the camera out in front of him from the floor.
Across her grandparents’ laps lay Sophie, Evan’s daughter, grinning up at the lens.
Cleo smiled at the memories from that weekend, mostly spent in loungewear, mostly with messy red hair instead of tidied in her signature French braid.
A soft knock on the doorframe stirred her from her trance, and she turned to see her assistant, and best friend, Lana, poking her head in.
“Hey Cleo, you wanted me to remind you to submit those plans to the council after 4 p.m. today so it’ll be the first thing they see in the morning.”
For all the years they’d worked together, and how well they’d grown to know each other in those years, Lana always had a sheepish look on her face when she used work to cover a deeper issue. She had a terrible poker face.
“Thanks for that, Lana. So, now you can tell me what else you wanted?” Cleo said with a smirk on her lips.
“Busted,” Lana said with a half-smile, “you see, I was hoping that tomorrow you’d let me leave a little early as I’m heading to Connor’s parents’ house for the weekend?
” The smile was mixed with nerves. “It’s my first time to meet his family.
” She walked over and sat on the chair at the other side of Cleo’s desk.
She was the same age as Cleo but always came across as far younger because of her small frame, gentle manner and soft voice.
She sat with her head lowered slightly and channeled her nervous energy into spinning the anxiety ring on her left index finger.
Cleo noticed all the markers of how uncomfortable Lana was at the thought of the weekend ahead. They’d spoken about her anxiety multiple times over the years, all brought on by a previous relationship gone very wrong and which had terrible lasting effects on Lana’s self-confidence.
“If you can hang around until, say, 3:30? That should give you time to get everything done, plus allow a bit of extra time to get ahead on Monday morning’s work.
Then you can tell me all about it when you get back.
” Cleo smiled warmly at her best friend and saw the huge wave of relief roll over her body as she slumped in the chair.
Cleo had liked Lana from the moment they first met.
At the time, Cleo was nervous about hiring her first employee, and Lana was nervous to apply to any job after the long gap in her work history and with no qualifications for the role.
It seemed kismet that they needed each other to help with this new step.
“Thanks Cleo, I know I say it a lot, but I’m glad you’re my boss.” Lana gave Cleo a relaxed smile, stood up from the chair and went to leave. Stopping before she reached the door, she turned. “It’s after 4 p.m., submit the plans already.”
“OK, OK, I’m doing it now,” Cleo laughed as Lana left the office.
Cleo turned back to her computer and started to write the email to the council which would accompany her client’s plans. There were certain aspects of being an architect which Cleo didn’t particularly enjoy. Dealing with planning applications would be near the top of that list.
On the other end of the spectrum, the thing that Cleo enjoyed most about being an architect was the second meeting with new clients.
The first meeting was always a getting-to-know-you situation, with a goal of trying to understand exactly what the client needed (and sometimes more importantly, wanted).
The second meeting was where she presented them with her initial designs; where she saw their faces light-up seeing their dreams realized on paper.
On occasion, the second meeting was a complete failure.
If the client wasn’t sure what they wanted, the plans Cleo would have spent weeks working on had to be scrapped.
The plans she was submitting today were for one such client: Jackson Copeland.
It had taken no less than seventeen meetings and plan adjustments to get them approved and ready to send to the council.
She attached the plans to the email and clicked “send.” The satisfying “whoosh” noise of the email sent a thrill through her knowing that it’d be at least be two weeks before she’d have to communicate with Jackson Copeland again. Even that might be too soon.
Cleo spent the rest of the afternoon reconciling the files on her computer with the hard-copy files in her office for the first time in weeks now that this particular application had been submitted.
She always tried to keep on top of them, otherwise she could lose track of updates, which meant possible delays during projects.
And this was not the kind of reputation she had worked tirelessly to earn over the past six years since going out on her own.