Liesl was sitting at the dining room table with her sketch pad as she worked on her grandmother’s painting, focused on the task at hand. In drawing the rough sketches so far, she was becoming increasingly aware of the beauty the woman possessed. She desperately wanted her work to capture not only the strength and poise of her physical body but the spirit and valor of her soul. Her grandmother was a fierce woman and as she worked on this project, she felt a kinship with her.
Isaias had been in his office working but the tread of his footsteps approaching made her look up and smile at him. They’d only been home a couple of hours after leaving the hotel in the early morning to come home to get comfortable.
He kissed the top of her head and then whistled as he looked at the sketch, “grandma looks hot.”
She smacked him, “not funny.”
“There’s a reason your grandfather kept her barefoot and pregnant most of her twenties. She’s smoking.”
Liesl grinned, “she’s a chain smoker. I should probably add a cigarette in her fingers and a plume of smoke.”
He laughed and sat down next to her. “She seems the type to accept her flaws.”
“She definitely is, and she’ll point yours out too.”
“Speaking of people with flaws, Enia called.”
She rolled her eyes as he made fun of his sister, “what did we do now? Did the paparazzi see us leaving the hotel room at six in the morning?”
“No but there was quite the complaint about her distracting the woman working the counter so I could look up which room you were in.”
“What? Is this how you found my room?”
“Yes. Good old fashioned seduction techniques. We were going to use Mallory until Enia realized the woman batted for the opposite team. She made out with her and got her fingers dirty.”
“Ew!” She blushed at his words. “I did not need to know this part.”
“She’s quite proud of herself. Seems it’s a personal record from flirt to fuck for Enia.”
“Anyway, Mom is annoyed our evening out as a family went to hell in a handbasket last night, so she tasked Enia with arranging dinner for the five of us tonight. I said I’d ask since you’ve been through the ringer the last twenty-four hours. Do you feel like getting prettied up for dinner tonight?”
“Sure.” She smiled, “I didn’t really get a chance to chat with your father.”
“Great. I’ll let her know to go ahead and book the restaurant. Mom doesn’t feel like cooking since she did all the cooking when we were back home.”
“Back home? You were born here in New Hampshire, yet Portugal is back home?”
“It is. My parents came from Lisbon and while we are infinitely grateful to be living the true American dream, moving here was a hard and difficult decision for my folks and most of our family still resides there. Joaquim’s parents moved here, and I have a couple of cousins like Mallory who are here, but the rest all stayed behind. When most of your family is away, home is where they are.”
“I get what you’re saying but our family has been here since some of the first settlers. My father and his father traced their ancestry back a couple of hundred years. As much as your family wanted to come here to explore and live their dreams, I always wanted to live in another country and explore diverse cultures.”
“You never did?”
“No. When I was younger, I had an adventurer’s spirit but a pauper’s purse,” she grinned at his chuckle, “and then I married young.”
“If you could go anywhere?”
“London, Paris, Amsterdam, Tokyo, Sydney.” She spouted cities off the top of her head. “I had a college professor who travelled the world with her children when they were small. They did everything from living in Paris and strolling the Champs to sleeping in yurts in South America. Her kids had this incredible world view and the ability to speak multiple languages from being immersed in so much culture. I mean, they were quirky as fuck too. One of the kids was sixteen and refused to wear clothes which hadn’t been hand made and another one refused to cut his hair. It was down to his ass, and he was fourteen or fifteen. What a life though. Can you imagine?”
He smiled at her exuberance, “yet you never traveled?”
“No. Merlin was always on about making CEO before thirty-five and how we had to buckle down and be focused. We started dating and I was only twenty.”
“I will take you to Paris. I will take you to London. I’ll even sleep with you in a yurt. Costa Rica is beautiful. I bet you would love it there. Lisbon is a city I would love to take you through and then Spain and Italy would be fun to tour.”
She gave a tight smile, “you’re a busy man, Isaias. Billionaires can’t just up and leave their companies to go gallivanting all over the world.”
“I can get Wi-Fi anywhere love.” He gave a shrug, “I’m feeling a bit of a disconnect with my work lately, especially after the shit with Trent trying to get the movie star to screw me over. I’m getting tired of dealing with fragile egos and temperamental starlets.” He lifted her hand off the table, “I have a talented team and though I have expanded my offices, I will be delegating the more demanding clients to my seniors. My offices in New York, LA, London, and Tokyo are all managed by incredibly capable individuals who know how to run the show. My offices here, I have delegated much of the work.” He looked around the room, “this house. I love it but I have nothing left to do in it and I would very much like to start a new project. I enjoy the creative process very much.”
“If you could pick a project right now to start without worrying about your business or the company you run, work on something new, what would it be?”
He leaned back as he considered it and then smiled, “I want to rebuild a farm, a homestead.”
“Really?” She was stunned. “No way.”
“Yup. Find an old fixer upper with a big old farmhouse and a big barn. Restore it back to its original glory. Build a greenhouse and grow vegetables. Get some chickens. I’m not saying I want a big working farm by any stretch because I’m not a cowboy but on a homestead, there is always work with your hands. Always. I miss the callouses.” He grinned, “I would work on my own home and then maybe take one or two projects a year to keep my creativity going but really limit the number of contracts. Right now, I average over eight thousand contracts per year for new and existing builds. Can you imagine how sexy of a creation I could make if I whittled it down to two per year?”
“Then why don’t you?”
He sighed, “it’s not always so simple. There’s always something else popping up and walking away is always hard.”
“True.” She nodded as his phone rang to prove his point. “Duty calls?”
He looked to the phone and frowned, “Mallory. He’s at the front gate so not sure why he’s calling.” He answered it, “what’s up little cousin?”
“There is a Lorraine Wilson here to see Liesl. Says she’s her mother and wants to talk to her.”
Isaias raised an eyebrow at Liesl who gave a one-shouldered shrug, “send her up but she is not to bring anyone in with her. If Sandy is with her, send them packing.”
“She’s alone. We’ll be right there.” Mallory hung up.
“Do you want me to stay or give you privacy?”
“I’d like to introduce you at least,” she squeezed his hand. “I’ve met your mom. It’s only fair you meet mine. Though,” she smirked, “yours is way cooler than mine.”
He leaned forward to kiss her lips softly. “I will stay here with you then.”
“Thank you, Isaias.”
“It is my absolute pleasure to be here for you.”
Liesl felt a sense of safety she hadn’t known she needed, and it felt good. Really good.
