Page 46 of Barging In
“Yes,” Victoria said, exhaling. “Drew’s development company owns the wharf. Well, the individual apartments are sold off, but he owns the building itself and the entire ground floor. He’ll turn that into apartments, too, if we don’t start making money.”
“I’m sorry.”
Victoria flashed her a flat smile.
“You said once that this was all you,” Clem continued.
“Yes,” Victoria confirmed, amazed Clem had remembered. “I was an architect. Redesigning this entire building was my biggest project.”
“Wasan architect? I’m pretty sure you still are. You don’t just stop being one, do you? It’s not like you hand your pencil and ruler back in.”
A smile tugged at Victoria’s lips. She hadn’t thought of it like that. “No. I don’t suppose you do.”
“So, how did you come by the wharf?”
“There was a time in my life when I needed a distraction from” — Victoria paused, searching for the right word — “everything. I began looking into my family history and discovered my three-times-great-grandfather was a corset manufacturer.”
“Ahh.”
“My research led me here, to his factory, and I immediately felt a connection to it. An overwhelming urge to save it.”
“Understandable.”
A familiar pang of worry settled in Victoria’s chest as it often did. So often, in fact, she wondered if it was making itself at home. Had she saved the factory? Was she still saving it? When would she know if she’d saved it?
“Where does Jasper come into it?” Clem asked, interrupting Victoria’s spiralling thoughts. “Max said he’s the country’s leading expert on corsets.”
Victoria lifted an eyebrow and turned to Clem. “Max has done his homework.”
“Oh, he has. Probably a little more than is healthy.” Clem chuckled.
Victoria grinned as she began slicing the sandwiches. “I had the idea to create a sort of homage to corsetry, which led me to Jasper. We hit it off straight away. I couldn’t have done all this without him. He showed interest in my ideas and was passionate about my vision; he was someone I could bounce ideas off — unlike Drew, who showed no interest. He was all about money. Still is.” She paused, took a deep breath, and continued. “So Jasper and I decided to set up the museum to bring years of research and history together in one collection. It’s another reason I can’t let it fail. I’d be failing Jasper.”
“You will fail no one as long as you try your best,” Clem reassured her. “That’s all anyone can ask of you.”
“What if my best isn’t good enough?” Victoria asked, the words catching slightly in her throat. “My skills lie in developing sites for use. I’m not proficient in generating a profit from them. Once I finished the wharf, I had no idea what I was doing.”
“I’d say you’ve done a pretty fine job getting it to where it is today. You might need a little help taking it to the next stage, but there’s no shame in that. Even the bestentrepreneurs know when to call in the experts. You asked me when you needed cake. Delegate more often.”
Victoria nodded. It made sense, where she could afford it, but it didn’t stop her feeling inadequate, especially when it came to the simpler task of baking. Her mum had been so convinced that she was destined for academic greatness that her education in domestic duties fell by the wayside.
“So where is this husband of yours?” Clem asked, scraping the last of the egg mayonnaise from its tub.
Victoria’s cheeks burned at the directness of the question. She felt stupid for mentioning Drew. Clem had likely taken it as an invitation to talk about him. Since they were growing closer, Victoria supposed it was inevitable the subject would resurface, no matter how much she wanted it to stay buried.
With reluctance, she said, “You might have already guessed we don’t exactly have a… conventional marriage. But he’ll be here. He promised.” Not that his promises were worth much.
“And so he should be. One year is something to celebrate.”
“Well — fifty, actually,” Victoria mumbled.
“What?” Clem paused, then set down her spatula.
“It’s my birthday today,” she confessed.
“What! Are you serious? Happy birthday!”
Before Victoria knew it, Clem was hugging her. She couldn’t even reciprocate easily because of the knife she was holding, but she tried.
