Page 27 of The Focal Point

Kristen was right—that asshole had gotten to me: him and his asshole friends. And I hated that I didn’t know how to get over it, that they still affected me like this.

I had tried with Liam, at least. Oddly enough, though I didn’t know him well, he had felt safe. Seemed safe. I didn’t even know why—maybe it was his personality, the perpetual boyish grin on his face, or how he consistently sought me out. I sensed no judgment in him, but after everything that had happened with Russ, I didn’t trust my instincts about people as far as I could throw a rock.

Which wasn’t far. Track and running had been my thing in high school.

But since that night, he hadn’t invited me again. He said he was busy with a product launch, and I had no reason to doubt him, especially when that launch had made the evening news. But it seemed like my single attempt at making a friend had petered out before it could even begin.

The thought left me feeling empty.

I had to get back to work before I started feeling miserable and sorry for myself.

“Kristen?” It took a second, but my assistant poked her head into the room, eyebrows raised in a question. “I’m looking for that hanging light so Hank can install it—the light with the gold rings?”

“Oh, I think that’s downstairs. I thought it was for the dining room. I’ll go look.” She disappeared again.

“Thanks,” I called out again, sweeping my tablet up from my temporary desk-shelf to see what would happen next. The screen had barely come to life when my phone rang.

My eyes still on the tablet, I didn’t even look to see who it was as I swiped to answer. “This is Bailey Page.”

“Bailey, hi, it’s Liam.”

I nearly dropped everything in my hands at the voice on the other end of the line.

“Liam Bradford,” he added, as though I didn’t immediately know who it was.

“I guessed that.” I smiled despite myself. I hadn’t realized until that moment that I had been hoping to hear from him again, even though his home redecoration was over.

“Oh, yeah.” His laugh was high and anxious-sounding.

“Is everything okay?” I asked, suddenly wondering why exactly he was calling. “Is something wrong with your house?”

“Oh, no, no way. Everything is perfect.” The words rushed at me, bumping into each other as though he couldn’t get them out fast enough. “No, I love it. It was so great that I want you to do another house for me.”

“Another house?” Words failed me for a moment. “Like a vacation home? I’m not able to do anything outside the city right at this moment—”

“No, it’s here,” Liam replied quickly.

I had to pause again. “You have a second home in Sacramento?”

“Yeah, I just bought it.”

For a moment, I almost asked more questions because buying a second home in the same city when you had just redone your primary residence made no sense to me whatsoever. Then again, it didn’t have to. I wasn’t a billionaire tech genius, a realm of people who all seemed to have their eccentricities. This was just one of them.

“It’s a big job. I think, anyway. You would know better. Not a big house, but each room needs to be redesigned. It probably needs some other work, too, the kitchen and stuff, but I know you don’t do that. But you’ll need to do everything for the rooms—”

Was Liam... rambling? The long, breathless stream of words finally petered out to silence. Silence I wasn’t sure how to fill.

“Can you do it?” The question finally came.

“I think I can. I’ll have to look at my calendar and the scope of the project, but I should be wrapping this one up in the next couple of weeks. Can I have Kristen give you a call back to set up a time for an initial meeting?”

“Yeah, of course. Just tell her to give me a call. I’ll talk to you soon.”

And with that, he ended the call.

I took the phone away from my ear and stared at the screen. What in the world had that been about? Liam was quirky, maybe even a bit strange, but you expected that when you worked with a literal genius. The phone call had been odd, though.

“Kristen?”