6. Callie
Chapter six
I toss my finished iced matcha into the bin outside the doors before checking my reflection in the floor-to-ceiling windows. With a recentering breath, I smooth down the collar of my white shirt, then head inside the building of Two Hearts Homes.
I still haven’t heard from the handful of other places I applied to, so I’m grateful to Lee for putting my name forward with his friend. A woman with short auburn hair and black, thick-rimmed glasses looks up with an easy smile.
“Good morning,” she says. “How can I help you?”
“I’m Callie Moore. I’m here to see Mason Heart for a meeting.”
“Sure.” She nods, her smile growing even bigger, helping to relax my nerves. “I’ll just call up to his assistant, Steven, for someone to come down and meet you.”
“Okay.” I step aside while she makes the phone call, taking the opportunity to look around the space.
The walls are painted in a crisp, warm white.
A tan leather sofa stretches across the wall beside the reception desk with large framed photos above it.
One frame shows a concept board full of colours and materials.
The next shows a coloured sketch of a kitchen and breakfast nook matching the mood from the first frame.
And the final one shows a photo of the space come to life.
It’s a series of the initial idea followed through to completion.
Lee’s company does commercial construction, so a lot of the projects I saw were restaurants and bars.
It’s so different seeing a home. Homes are personal.
They’re a sanctuary to those who live there.
It’s not lost on me that while I may have wished I had a father who wanted me and a mother who saw herself and her children as enough, I still grew up in a home that was safe.
My days as a single parent may at times feel harder, but I still have support around me. I have my health. I have a roof over my head. Sometimes the simple things have the most value.
“Callie?”
“Yes?” I turn, finding a tall man walking towards me.
I can’t tell how old he is. Despite the perfectly styled silver hair and flecks of grey in his beard, his face looks like that of a thirty-year-old.
He wears a pale pink button-up shirt and cream dress pants.
A flash of orange peeks out from between the hem of his trousers and the top of his brown leather boots.
“I’m Steven,” he says, offering me his hand. This is the guy I spoke to the other day to set up the meeting, Mason’s current assistant.
I shake his hand. “Nice to meet you.”
“Likewise.” He smiles and nods towards a hallway to the right of the reception desk. “Follow me.”
We take the elevator to the third floor, another space that's bright and open, sunlight filtering through the large windows around us. I trail behind Steven, marvelling at the classy, modern aesthetic of the place. It’s all sleek chrome and warm whites. Simple, but still inviting.
Steven’s boots click against the shiny tiles while my sneakers let out the occasional squeak.
Westley assured me it was an informal meeting and to wear what I did when I was working at Lee’s office.
That was mainly cotton tanks that stretched over my belly and equally stretchy skirts, since I was in my third trimester.
My preference for pants did not coexist with the frequency and flexibility required to pee during pregnancy.
Today, I opted for high-waisted tailored trousers and my clean Converse.
“This floor is just for Mason and his sister, Beth,” Steven says.
“It has their offices, a conference room, and Beth’s design library.
That’s where she keeps all her material samples.
On occasion, she’ll ask me to help reorganise the space.
She’s the interior designer, and Mason oversees the business’s financials, marketing, supplier relationships, project management, as well as working on the tools himself when he can. ”
“Wow, I can see why he needs an assistant then.” I chuckle. “He sounds very busy.”
“Yes,” Steven nods with a smile, pausing before we reach an open door. “He needs a lot of reminding during the day of what he’s got on. I try to schedule his meetings first thing in the morning or right before lunch and don’t schedule too many things out of the office on the same day.”
Steven steps inside the room, and I follow, met with the sight of an absolutely gorgeous woman with straight brown hair sitting at the end of a long table.
Her smoky eyeshadow makes her green eyes hypnotising and, for some reason, familiar.
She stands from her chair, and I feel completely underdressed as I take in her leather-look trousers and sky-high stilettos.
“Hi, Callie, I’m Beth.” We shake hands before she gestures for me to take the chair opposite her. “Mason’s running a little late, but he should be here in a few minutes.”
“No worries.” I take my bag off my shoulder, lay it over my lap, and start fiddling with the clasp on the zipper. I haven’t done a lot of interviews. I completely underappreciated growing up in a small town. Everyone knew everyone, so there was no such thing as interviews.
“Can I get you anything to drink?” Steven asks, looking between Beth and me.
“I’m fine, thank you.” I shake my head with a smile.
“Can you make me a sweet tea, please?” Beth grins as she swivels in her chair, following Steven as he makes his way to the drink station set up behind them.
When she turns back to me, she leans her chin on top of her clasped hands. “Tell me a bit about yourself, Callie.”
“Okay.” I sit up, adjusting in my chair to hide the nerves. “I grew up in a small town, Trevally Falls.”
“My brother, Caleb, is building a house there.” She smiles
“Really? Wow, not many city folk move there. Killara Bay is much bigger as far as small coastal towns go.”
Beth nods. “Lex, his girlfriend, owns a tavern and distillery in Killara Bay, but they still travel quite a lot to the city. This was a good halfway point.”
“That makes sense.” I continue fiddling with the clasp on my bag. “I have a four-month-old daughter.”
Beth gasps as her eyes light up. “My other brother, Gage, just had a daughter two weeks ago.” She beams as she reaches for her phone on the table and rolls her chair beside me, bringing up her photo album to show me a picture of a sleeping baby snuggled tight in a yellow blanket. “This is Briony Beth.”
“She’s beautiful.” I smile. “Was she named after you?”
Beth continues to scroll through photos. The gorgeous girl is shown from all different angles, with close-ups of her long lashes sitting on chubby cheeks, her little fingers poking out the top of her blanket, and then one of a grinning Beth as she holds her in her arms.
“She was.” The soft smile on her face shows how proud she is of that honour. “What’s your daughter’s name”
“Navie.”
Steven places the iced drink in front of Beth as she makes an enthusiastic gasp. “Navie? Oh my god, that’s such a cute name.”
“Thank yo—” My words are abruptly stripped from existence when a photo crosses Beth’s screen of a selfie with her, Briony, and someone I can’t quite believe I’m seeing. Cos it sure as hell looks like the guy I met at The Wayside over the weekend.
I swallow the lump in my throat before I dare to ask the questions. “Who’s that?” I point my chin to her phone.
“Oh, that’s another brother, Mason. This is who you’ll be working with. Don’t worry, he’s much more mature than what this photo implies.”
Holy. Shit.
I’m meant to work for a guy who, days ago, told me if he wanted me in his bed, I’d be begging for it… and act like it never happened?
Let’s forget the small detail that I’m not dating right now, but I have to at least admit that the guy is annoyingly attractive.
Him and that ludicrously hot smile that hooks on one side before taking over his whole face. Those dual-coloured eyes. The wavy brown hair—ohhh, how I’ve always loved a dark-haired man.
You can’t switch that shit off. This is certain to be a disaster.
“Sorry I’m late!” My heart stalls when his voice enters the room, pouring over me like honey, just like the first time. “I didn’t realise the house Carmen wanted to show me was so far away.”
“That’s okay. We were just getting to know each other,” Beth says, moving her chair back to her side of the table. “We were talking about Briony. Callie just had a baby, too.”
“Yeah, Lee mentioned.”
I take a deep breath, then stand from my chair, turning to meet him.
“Hi. I’m—”
“Mason.” I finish for him as his eyes lock on mine and his mouth drops open in surprise, his hand hovering in the air. “I’m Callie. I’m here for the assistant job.”
Fan-fucking-tastic.