It was eleven-thirty on Friday night and I was still at the office. It was better than having to sit at home. I had the options to go out with friends, suits, whoever. But, the way I saw things, it was easier to keep busy and bury myself in my company. It had been three years since Ryan left. We had started dating when I was twenty years old. Seven years of my life wasted on that asshole. We met in college and then, once we graduated, he moved into my apartment with me and Kirsty. We had our ups and downs like all relationships. I was never a priority in his life; his friends were. I always came second, sometimes third; no matter what. The last two years of our relationship were rocky. I wanted to get married, he didn’t. I wanted to at least get engaged, he didn’t. It was always one excuse after another.
I picked up my phone and called for a car service. I didn’t want to bother James. I grabbed my purse, turned the lights off in my office, took the elevator down to the lobby, and said goodbye to Alex, the security guard.
“Have a good night, Miss Adams. I’ll see you Monday morning.” He smiled.
“Have a good weekend, Alex.” I waved.
I exited the building and was pissed off when the car wasn’t there yet. Shit. I looked at my watch and it was eleven-fifty. When I went to go back into the building, I heard someone call my name. I turned around, and standing across the street was Cameron.
“Hey,” I said.
He stood at the curb with his hands in his pocket. “Are you still working?”
“I was. I’m waiting for a car. You’re not still working, are you?” I asked.
“Actually, I just finished. We had a mishap today and I wanted to fix it to stay on schedule. If you want, I can give you a ride home.”
“Are you sure?”
“Of course, I’m sure. I promise my ride is a lot better.” He smiled.
“In that?” I pointed.
“Yep.”
“What do I do if the car shows?”
“When he doesn’t see you standing there, he’ll leave.”
He was convincing and I was tired. As I walked across the street, he opened the passenger door for me. I started to get in, and then I stopped.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“How do you get up in this thing?”
“Climb up. Here; let me help you. It doesn’t have running boards. If you grab hold of that handle up there, you can jump up.”
“For real?”
He chuckled. “For real.”
I took off my shoes, threw them in the truck, and climbed in. Cameron helped me by holding on to my arm.
“See. That wasn’t so bad, was it?” he asked.
“Truth?” I asked.
“Truth.”
“It sucked and it wasn’t very classy.”
“Well, that’s because you’re in high heels and a skirt.”
As soon as he pulled away from the curb, we watched in the mirror as the car pulled up to my building. I put my hand over my mouth and began to laugh.
“Oops.” Cameron smiled. “So, where are we going?”
“Hollywood Hills.”
“Ah, the Hills. I haven’t been to that area yet. Can you give me your address so I can punch it into the GPS?”
He pulled over on the side of the road and I rattled off my address. “Thank you for taking me home.”
“You’re welcome.” He smiled as he looked over at me.
His smile seemed to brighten my day. As weird as that might sound, I felt different when I saw his smile. His smile made me smile. Even if I had no reason to smile, I did. This wasn’t good. He wasn’t my type.
“So, what kind of mishap did you have today?” I asked to make conversation.
“One of the guys put a half wall in the wrong spot when I went to check on another job. So, I had to take it down and put another one up. If I would’ve waited, it would’ve thrown off our schedule.”
“What company do you work for?”
“It’s mine and my dad’s. Actually, it was my dad’s, but now he’s retired, so I run it. It’s called Cole’s Remodeling and Construction.”
“Sounds like me.” I smiled. “My dad owned the advertising firm until he passed away a couple of years ago. When he died, he left the entire company to me.”
“That’s a lot of responsibility. Is that why you were still there on a Friday night at almost midnight?”
“Yeah. Something like that,” I said.
I wasn’t about to tell him that I preferred to work over having a social life.
“So, you do remodeling? Is it only business remodels or do you remodel homes too?” I asked.
“I do both. Why? Are you looking to remodel?” He smiled.
“Yeah. Actually, I am. I just moved in three months ago and there are some things I wanted redone.”
“I can take a look for you and give you an estimate.”
He pulled up to the gate and looked at me.
“You can just drop me off here,” I said as I opened the door and got out of the truck. I walked around and punched in the code for the gate and he rolled his window down. “How about if you come by tomorrow morning and I’ll show you what I was thinking.”
“I can do that. What time were you thinking?” he asked.
“How about nine o’clock? Just push the intercom button on the gate and I’ll let you in.”
“Okay. I’ll see you at nine.” He smiled.
“Thanks again for the ride. You were right; it was better than a car.”
“It was my pleasure, Sierra. Have a good night.”
I smiled and walked up the driveway to the house. He pulled away as I walked inside. I grabbed a glass and the bottle of tequila and had a couple of shots before falling asleep.
****
Cameron
The whole ride home, I couldn’t stop thinking about her. I hadn’t felt this way in a very long time. Normally, I don’t let a girl consume my head, but there was something about Sierra that couldn’t be helped. I couldn’t put my finger on it, but since the day I saw her standing in line at Starbucks, I couldn’t get her out of my head. Her house looked amazing from what I could see of it in the dark. I grabbed the mail from my box and headed up to my apartment. There was a letter from the landlord. I opened it.
“Mr. Cole, I’m sorry to inform you that the apartment building has been sold and the apartments are being renovated into condos. This is your 30-day notice to either vacate the apartment or purchase it. For pricing and details, please stop by the office.”
Shit. Were they serious? It took me forever to find this apartment that I could afford. It’s not exactly cheap to live in Los Angeles. I threw the letter on the counter and climbed into bed. I smiled at the thought of going to Sierra’s tomorrow and seeing her house. To think that she wanted me to do some remodeling for her gave me a little bit of hope. Hope that maybe one day, she’d go out with me. Maybe I was being delusional. But for tonight, I had hope and that was all I needed.