'It's not charity.'
'I know that. You know that. We're not the one needin' convincing.'
'Darlene you know you are to get her whatever she needs, or wants for that matter. Cart Blanc. If you think she needs it and she doesn't agree use your wiles to get it for her any way. Is that clear?'
'Aye, Aye Sir.'
With a salute and a pointed look Darlene picked up Ethan's cup and the tray to retreat to the kitchen to start formulating her battle plan. The poor girl won't know what hit her, Ethan sympathised. For while Darlene too had grow up in the back blocks with very little spare cash, 5 years working for Ethan had developed some serious shopping skills.
On another sigh and half a chuckle Ethan thought he would retire to his study and try earning the money that that shrewd woman planned to spend tomorrow.
An hour later he gave up.
The sleepless night he had spent at the hospital and the 2 restless ones at home were not conducive to his focus. The tender he was currently working on was proving difficult since there were a lot of unknowns at this site and he was worried that his margins were too narrow. If he was being honest with him self though, most of the source of his distraction was a certain 5' 2' blue eyed siren currently 'calling' him from the guest suite.
Running his hand through his hair, a habit when he was frustrated, Ethan decided a swim before lunch might help to clear his head and rid his body of its unwanted tension. Of course a cold shower would do the trick more effectively but he accepted that he was a bit of a hedonist. He definitely favoured laps in a heated pool under the warming rays of the sun to the dubious delight of cold water pouring from a water-saving shower head no matter what massage setting he chose.
A good number of quick laps should sufficiently tire me out, he thought optimistically, so that lunch across the table from Belinda would be a cinch. After that he could then return to his lap top to apply himself to numerical figures rather than a certain feminine one.
Belinda's room had its own balcony that over looked the pool.
Each time she had closed her eyes willing herself to sleep a sense of dread descended forcing her eyes open. Giving up after lying down for an hour, having done nothing much else since Saturday, Belinda decided to lounge on a banana chair on the small semicircle that jutted out from the sliding glass door and soak up the view.