Wild flowers; Housekeeper's Bell

Chapter 2

Wow!

Bell looked up at the clear blue sky and inhaled as she stepped out of the taxi. The city air was certainly different, there was life buzzing all around. This was the second time in her life she had been here. The first time being on a trip with her class mates for a weekend two years ago. She turned back to pay the driver. "Thank you." She said giving him his payment.

Henrietta had gotten her a job as Dean's personal assistant. She had called his partner and her close friend Antony Black to get Bell the job. Henrietta got Bell a studio apartment lower downtown, she wanted her living alone. When Bell had asked why Henrietta didn't want Dean to know right away about Jamie, Henrietta did not answer her saying she had her reasons. Bell could not understand why they had to keep Jamie a secret, but she trusted Henrietta. The Andrews penthouse was a short drive away from her apartment and Jamie was staying there with his grandmother while Bell worked at the firm. Since the death of his father, Dean never visited the house anymore. It was safe to say he wouldn't discover Jamie before they let him.

"You're welcome pretty lady." The Asian cab driver winked at her and Bell blushed. He laughed, "It's nice to see a woman blush, you mustn't be from around here, have a nice day miss." He called as he drove off leaving her standing on the pavement, she turned around and looked up at the tall magnificent high-rise before her.

Bell stood stupefied for a brief second, its sleek, polished glass frame when all the way up to the sky. Making her neck hurt. With a deep gulp of air, she walked up to the entrance of the large building and stepped through the double glass doors, exhaling loudly the breath she held. Bell had once dreamt of coming to the city and walking into this building a long time ago. Now that she was here, she was taken by surprise, this was not what she had expected. It felt like she was in a different world. She had thought the exterior was impressive that was nothing compared to the interior of the building. It housed state-of-the-art décor, with a clean cutting charm. Every piece of furnishings down to the tall fig trees and well-manicured boxwood topiaries was strategically placed to give you a sense of high class and big money. This was the building you stepped into in one of those 'Lawyer Movies' she giggled nervously to herself, she had just stepped into a scène from an episode of Suits and any minute now the handsome Harvey Specter would be stepping out of the lobby elevator in one of his three-piece designer suits. Bell felt a shiver of excitement run down her spine.

She approached the front lobby desk presenting her crispy new ID card to the security guard, he checked the visitor's roster for her name in the computer before allowing her to proceed to the 60th floor, where Dean's office was located.

Bell balled her fist tightly as she turned and walked slowly towards the elevator doors, she entered with an unsteady step, 'she hated elevators they made her nervous and she didn't need anything more to make her feel on edge, the impending confrontation with her ex-boyfriend and father of her child was enough.'

She held her breath as the hoist started its ascend, tiny confined spaces made her feel slightly claustrophobic, her fear was not as bad as some people she knew, but it did have her bit jittery and when the doors open on the thirtieth floor and two very handsome young men in tailored suits entered, she was almost ready to bolt out of the there, but she held tight to her resolve to reach the sixtieth floor. When she stepped out into her floor she felt light headed, all the deep breathing she had done made her woozy, at least that's what she would have liked to think.

She looked through the office lobby for somewhere to sit, she saw a set of tall black leather chairs back to back standing in the middle of a large beautiful sitting area surrounded by huge tinted glass windows next to a large reception desk. There was someone behind the desk, but she didn't notice Bell. Bell sat down taking a minute to compose herself, reaching into her brown hand bag for her bottle of water, she took a sipped of the cool liquid. 'She would have to get a hold of her fears if she intended to make it through her first day.'