Lacey felt like a piece of shit when she exited his store but she didn't know what to do, it wasn't her fault that he compared her with that woman.
The truth was that she had never felt such an insane amount of jealousy about Mark before but to see that woman doing everything that Mark did for her.
Even if he didn't know, he was always making subtle comparisons to her and she had only spent one day.
Imagine what would happen after a month, he'd call her out and probably tell her that she was useless. She wasn't going to wait till then. She was grateful that the lady read the room and left as soon as possible.
How would a single girl be moving in on a married man? There was no moral justification for what she did. Her phone buzzed in her pocket and she frowned before picking up that call.
" Good afternoon, Mr. Alistair."
" Information is reaching me now that you have left the office since lunch, and have not returned yet."
" Oh, yes. I'm sorry that I forgot to call you, I'm held up by traffic. I will soon be at work, sir." She lied and mouthed at the driver.
' Do you know which route is really congested?'
" Lakeview."
" Where are you right now?"
" Lake view." She replied and Alistair checked his map and saw that truly that place was congested.
" I'll be expecting you in a few minutes. You need to give me the report about the departments." He reminded her
Lacey hadn't even finished going through all the departments before she left and all of this was Mark's fault.
Mark gripped the pencil and tried to draw. Maybe if he channeled his energy into something better he would be able to come up with a good idea.
After thirty minutes of futile attempts, he dropped the pencil and threw it against the wall. Not one line turned out to be great and he wished that he could just scream.
Argh! He screamed and felt his chest deflate after.
He didn't want to feel animosity towards the woman he loved but she managed to do what tipped him over the edge, every fucking time!
He shut his eyes and rubbed the back of his hand through his face, he hated being in this position. He rose and his eyes caught the box staring right at him.
He didn't take a critical look at it earlier because of Lacey. Gosh! Everything revolved around Lacey.
He snapped the box shut and headed to the front door. He flipped the open sign backwards and it was closed to people who were outside.
Then he heaved a great sigh. He really had to fix his life and stop allowing Lacey to mess with his mind. He could barely function because of her words and he was sure that she was very happy doing that.
He knew what he was going to do, he was going to take his life in my hands. Even if it meant calling some of his brothers.
He shook his head, and with that determination he picked up his pencil, and his hands danced on the canvas. He was really going to nail this.
It was his alarm that broke his attention and he looked up to see that the clouds had rolled away and the darkness gathering in them and he rose from his seat and decided to take another look at his drawing.
Bellissimo! This was going to make him rich, he felt it in his bones.
Happiness consumed, hope restored he took a picture and sent it to Amelia.
" Whatcha think?"
Her reply came almost immediately, " Oh, boy this is the most beautiful sketch I have seen! Don't tell me that you kept this away from me since! I could have seen it! I bet it's so beautiful." She gushed.
" Yeah." He tried to play it cool.
Amelia dialed his number, " Oh man! I'm coming tomorrow! I can't wait for the world to see the masterpiece you created. I can't even believe you. I love the way the flower drapes over her face. It reminds me of wild dandelions." She said.
" Yeah?"
"Mhmm? Will you give me the privilege to announce this piece during the art exhibition?" She sounded very excited at the prospect.
Mark was a bit surprised, he didn't remember telling her about any art exhibition. " What art exhibition?" He replied warily.
She rolled her eyes, "I put your name in a submission for the exhibition coming up in Fall, just two months away. All the big guns will be present and I thought that was the best place to sell it."
Mark didn't know what he did in his past life to deserve this favor falling on his lap on a platter of gold but he wasn't going to pass it up again this time.
" You're the best thing that has happened to me in the past few days."
" And I want it to last forever." She prayed inwardly.
They were silent for a minute until she decided to break it. " So, I'll be expecting more pieces, yeah?"
" Yeah," he was surely going to get his drawing groove on. " Thank you so much."
Amelia chuckled, " it's nothing, I promise. If you can just play your part, you'll be the next Bill Gates or Elon."
He snorted and she chuckled again for a minute, " Better still the next Da Vinci." She said.
Mark chuckled, he knew that he was very ambitious but that didn't mean that he was going to reach for what wasn't his.
" I don't know what to say about this. Let's not go too far." He said, he just needed sufficient money to get by.
As they were conversing another call came in, " May I call you back later?"
" Hello," He swiped the answer button within thinking.
" Hello, Mark, it's been a long time, how could you forget your brothers?" The male voice asked and he paused." I know you are surprised. I hope you like the gift we got you. It was carefully selected just the way you like it.``