He wore a button-down shirt, light grey with dark grey pinstripes, the top two buttons undone, over a light grey t-shirt, with rumpled khaki cargo pants, and big white sneakers. I so badly wanted to run my candy-apple red glamour-length fingernails through his hair! I wanted to rip off all his
clothes
!
Oooohhh, shit
!
And then suddenly I was walking towards him and Clarice was saying, “Danielle, this is Jeff Humphries.”
I made myself extend my hand towards him. He took it. I wrapped my slender brown fingers around his hand and tried not to notice the pleasant contrast between skin tones.
I said, “It’s nice to meet you, Jeff.”
“It’s nice to meet you, too, Miss Evans.”
“No, Jeff, please call me Danielle. All my people get to call me Danielle.”
He smiled, making lines appear on his face. “Okay, Danielle.”
Darryl got up from the table and stood next to me. I said, “Jeff, please allow me to introduce you to everybody. You’ve met Clarice, of course. This is my agent, Darryl Strawberry. Darryl, this is Jeff.”
Jeff stuck his hand out. Darryl took it. Strong handshake. Single crisp nod. Darryl said, “Nice to meet you, sir.”
Jeff gave a single nod back. “And you as well, sir.”
Then I said, “And sitting at the table is my manager, Tyrone Williams.”
Jeff cocked his head back. Tyrone didn’t so much as wave at him or even give a single nod. For the moment I ignored this insult against my new employee. There were more important things to be taken care of.
I said, “I see you made the trip okay. Clarice, did you show him his room yet?”
“Yes, I did, Danielle.”
I said to Jeff, “I do hope it’s to your liking.”
“Oh, it’ll be fine, I’m sure.”
“Please don’t think you’ll be too busy to enjoy yourself around here. I don’t intend to work you
that
hard.”
He laughed. “Thanks, I appreciate that. Speaking of which, when do I start?”
“Tomorrow morning. But let’s worry about that in the morning. Right now I’m sure you’re more interested in lunch. Naomi?”
My cook suddenly appeared out of nowhere. “Yes, Miss Danielle?”
“Naomi, I’d like you to meet our guest, Jeff Humphries. He’s going to be staying with us a few days. Jeff, this is Naomi, my cook, housekeeper, and whatever else you need.”
Jeff stuck his hand out, and Naomi put her hand in his oh so gently. She said, “It’s nice to meet you, Jeff.”
He just said, “Likewise, Naomi.”
I said, “What do we have on the menu for Jeff? He looks hungry from traveling.”
“Nothing right now, Miss Danielle, but I can whip something up real quick if our guest is hungry. You hungry, sugar?”
“Uh, yeah, actually, I am.”
“What you in the mood for? I can whip up some beanie-weenie if you want.”
“Actually that sounds really good.”
Naomi gave Jeff a saucy wink and said, “I’ll get right on that for you, sugar. Don’t go nowhere.” She brushed his shoulder with her hand as she went behind him, on her way to the kitchen.
I wanted to laugh. Jeff looked like a man who had just discovered paradise. Instead I said, “Has Clarice given you the tour?”
Clarice replied, “I was just about to do that. But I think he was having problems paying attention.”
Jeff blushed. Clarice and I both laughed kindly laughs.
I said, “Well, why don’t you give Jeff a tour of the house? By the time you’re finished, lunch should be ready.”
“Yes, Danielle.” She headed back up the hall with him, talking all the way.
A little while later, Jeff was back in the kitchen. An empty bowl sat before him.
Naomi came over to him and said, “Are you finished with that, sugar?”
Jeff looked at her and smiled. “Yeah, I am, Naomi.”
“That’s a very clean bowl. You must have been hungry.”
“You’re right, I was hungry. And it was really good. Thank you.”
Naomi fairly beamed at him. “My pleasure, sugar.” Touching his shoulder, she took his bowl and returned to the kitchen.
Rather rudely, Tyrone pushed a contract across the table towards Jeff.
“What’s this?”
“A non-disclosure agreement. Don’t you know what that is?”
“I know what that is.”
Tyrone said, “We have all our people who work for us to sign a non-disclosure agreement. Don’t want the celebrity shows getting wind of Danielle’s plans.”
Jeff gave him a steady look, appearing slightly insulted. “Have you read my resume, Mr. Williams?”
“Well, no, but even if I had…”
“If you had, you would know that I’ve done work for the Navy, Marine Corps,
and
the Air Force with their flight testing program. Work so highly classified it makes me want to laugh out loud at how seriously you take all this Hollywood entertainment stuff.”
Tyrone, meanwhile, looked seriously offended at having been called out and chastised. “My apologies. I still had to cover all the legalese.”
“I understand. But don’t worry, I can keep secrets. As I’ve said before.”
That’s when I said, “Feel free to look over the contract before you sign it, Jeff. But I think you’ll find everything is in order.”
And so he did. Very carefully. The next few minutes were spent in silence while he flipped pages and put his initials on every line next to every item. Finally he put the pen down and slid the contract back across the table to Tyrone. “Okay, I’m in. What’s next?”
I said, “Well, now that we’ve finally gotten all the formalities out of the way, make yourself at home and relax, because the work begins tomorrow.”
Jeff smiled, although it didn’t reach his eyes. “Sounds good.”
“Dinner is at six if you would like to join me this evening.”
“I would like that.”
I stood up. “Very good. Don’t hesitate to ask Clarice if there’s anything you need.”
“Thank you, Danielle.”
My voice chilled slightly as I turned to face my manager. “Tyrone, may I speak with you privately for a moment?”
“Yes, of course, Danielle.”
I spun around on the ball of my foot and left the kitchen, walking like I had somewhere to go, heels clicking quickly but not too fast. From there I went down the hall and into my private office. I didn’t bother to check if he had followed. I assumed he did.
“You wanted to see me, Danielle?”
As I went behind my desk and faced Tyrone, I couldn’t keep my voice from cooling further. “Yes, I did. Please close the door.”
A vaguely concerned look was on his face as he did so.
I waited until the door clicked shut. “Tyrone, do you have any problems with the way I do business?”
“What are you talking about?”
“Let me be more specific. Do you have any problems with the consultant I hired?”
“No, Danielle, of course not. But did you see the way he acted? And did you see the way Naomi was fawning over him? It’s sickening.”
“That’s
enough
.”
Tyrone shut up, thankfully.
“Tyrone, this is
business
. If you can’t leave your prejudices at the door and be able to work with everyone I hire regardless of their race, then I can’t have you working for me. Do you hear me?”
He swallowed and blinked, chastised. “Yes. I hear you, Danielle.”
“I hope so. I’m going to ask you not to come to the house for a few weeks. For the next three weeks, to be precise.”
“What? Why?”
“Because I don’t want any conflict around here while I’m trying to record love songs, Tyrone. I’m behind enough as it is.”
He nodded glumly. “Yeah.”
“Please send Darryl in here for me.”
“Yes, Danielle.”
Minutes later, Darryl Strawberry eased into my office. “Tyrone said you needed to see me, Danielle?”
“Yes, I did, Darryl. Please close the door.”
“Okay.” He frowned but did so. “What’s up?”
“I need you to find something to keep Tyrone occupied. I don’t want him near this place if I want to do my best work. And I don’t want him interfering with Jeff’s work.”
“What makes you think he’ll try to?”
“Let’s just say I’m taking your advice.”
“I hear you, Danielle. Won’t be a problem.”
I finally relaxed. “Good. I don’t want to fire him.”
“I understand, Danielle. But you might have to, as I was saying yesterday.”
“I’m beginning to see what you mean.”
Chapter Five
Jeff
I went back up to my room, pissed off, mostly with myself.
That dude Tyrone thought he could intimidate me. Nobody else was coming to my rescue, so I called him out. The military and the automotive companies are the most demanding clients there are. If cameras black out in the middle of high-g maneuvers, you can kiss your contract goodbye. I was pretty sure I could handle
this
job.
After what happened just now, though, I wasn’t too sure if I still wanted this job. But I’d signed that damned contract. Now I was committed. In a huff, I wrenched my duffle bag off the bed where Mitchell had thoughtfully left it for me, put it on the dresser, unzipped it and started to unpack.
A knock at the door made me look up, to see Danielle standing there. I nearly dropped whatever it was in my hands. Smiling, she slowly stepped in to the room, heels clicking on the hardwood floor. “I see you’re unpacking.”
I grabbed some socks. “Yeah.”
“For a second there, I was afraid we’d scared you off.”
Despite myself, I smiled. “Almost. But not quite.”
“Good. I wanted to come up here and apologize.”
Surprised, I said, “Apologize? What for?”
“For having to defend yourself against one of my own people. That was unacceptable, Jeff. Unacceptable.”
“Danielle, I can take care of myself.”
“Jeff, the buck stops with me. You agreed to work for me. That makes you one of my people now. And I won’t have any of my people treated badly.”
“I, uh, I appreciate that.”
“Like I said before, dinner is at six. Clarice can escort you down if you like, if you’re still not too sure where everything is.”
“Yeah. That would be really nice.”
“Okay. Did you need any help unpacking?”
“Nah, I got it, but thanks.”
“Naomi is making a special surprise for dinner, so don’t wear anything you wouldn’t want to get barbecue sauce on. I’ll be changing clothes, for sure.”
I cracked a grin. “Yeah, I, uh, forgot my tuxedo.”
Danielle actually laughed at that. “You won’t be needing it. Not tonight, anyway.”
“Okay. Thanks.”
“Feel free to look around the house. You might be working here, but you’re living here, too. So make yourself at home.”
“Thank you, I appreciate that.”
“I’ll just leave you to your unpacking. Don’t be shy about speaking with Clarice if you forgot to pack something.”
“That’s very generous of you. Thank you.”
After that first day, the ice was broken.
But the next morning, I suddenly woke up, and, seeing the time was nearly nine, I panicked and jumped out of bed.
Still in my pajamas, a dark blue tank top and light blue pajama bottoms, I headed through the door to the bathroom, yawning and stretching like usual. I quickly did my business and left for the hallway, where I met Clarice, dressed in plain blue jeans and a thin white sweater. She must have seen my face. “Jeff, are you alright?”
“Uh, yeah. Just woke up. Overslept. Sorry.”
“Oh, don’t be. This isn’t the Army or something, honey. Take your time. Wake up. There’s no rush.”
“Thanks, but I don’t want to keep anyone waiting.”
“You won’t keep anyone waiting.”
Downstairs ten minutes later, I sat next to Danielle at a wooden bar across from the island. Danielle was casually dressed in a thin red cotton long-sleeved top and blue jeans, hardly any makeup on, hair messed up.
She looked even more beautiful than yesterday.
As I sat down, she smiled. “Good morning, Jeff.”
“Morning.”
“Did you sleep okay?”
“Yeah. I guess so.”
“I know. Those strange beds get you every time.”
Despite myself, I actually smiled. “So, what’s for breakfast?”
“I was about to ask you that. Naomi has the kitchen all warmed up and ready to go.”
Ten minutes later, a steaming plate of hash browns, sausage patties and eggs was placed before me. I looked up at Naomi and said, “Wow. Thanks. It looks great.”
Naomi fairly beamed. “You’re welcome, sugar. Enjoy.”
Half an hour later, I pushed my plate away and wiped my mouth with a napkin.
Danielle smiled at me. “Good, huh?”
I patted my tummy. “Yeah. Please send my compliments to the chef.”
Danielle smiled wider. “I’ll be sure to tell her. Although I think that clean plate will be enough of a testimonial by itself.”
I chuckled. “Yeah.” I drank down the rest of my milk. “So, I guess this is part where you get to tell me what I’m doing here.”
“Well, that’s very simple. I need you to set up webcams around my house so that I can record a behind the scenes video diary. And then you get to educate my people on how to use digital video cameras and digital still cameras.”
“Haven’t gotten rid of that VCR?”
Danielle giggled sweetly. “Nope! Still got the eight-track, too.”
I chuckled loudly. “You need an upgrade.”
“You think?”
“Although I do need to tell you something right now.”
“What’s that?”
“Digital technology is pricey. But being able to take that memory card and pop it in a computer and see those photos right then, and then be able to re-use that memory card, will pay for itself after a few times.”
“Not to mention
not
having to take the film over to the lab and have it developed, and
then
have to pick it up.
And
hope the prints turned out right.”
“Exactly.”
“This is going to be fun!”
“Yeah. Except I still can’t believe that your people haven’t been using digital cameras already.”
Danielle shrugged. “Well, it’s like you said. We still haven’t gotten rid of the VCR yet. Or the eight-track.”
I chuckled. “This is going to be fun.”
Okay. Don’t tell this to anyone, especially not Miss Hammond.