Page 8 of Shape Of My Heart
Chapter3
Itwasn’t.
Amy woke up with a headache but she still had a positive attitude. Her mother sounded good on the phone and that gave her some added energy, but when she got to work she saw that Mr. Mancini had trashed the living roomagain.
Mr.Mancini.
Addressing him like that in her mind, or just by thinking about him, didn’t seem right at all. It seemed too formal for someone like him who’d come home, saw that the place was clean, then thought to trash it all again. Like an animalwould.
And when she said trash, she meant it. The place looked like he must have had some wild party. Again, there were pizza boxes, bottles of beer and drinks, and bits of potato chips and Cheetos wedged into the cream carpet. And, that nasty smell she managed to tone down yesterday was backagain.
What the hell was she going to do? She hadn’t even touched her actual work yet. She’d managed to go over the list of her duties and she could see that there was a lot. The first and foremost thing being that she needed to make sure he was at the ESPN show. Since the show was early, like ten o’clock early, Zelda suggested trying to get him into a routine of waking up early. She cautioned that he liked to sleep in till all hours of the day because of his partylifestyle.
He was upstairs now and Amy knew those women were with him. She highly doubted that they’d playedwhose shoe is thisallnight.
There was no way that she was even going near that room. There had to be another way, and as for this mess she didn’t think she could stand it. Particularly if it was going to be an everyday thing. The last PA left over a month ago so Amy was expecting a lot of administrative work. She always liked to sort that out first before dealing with events or otheractivities.
Deciding to leave the living room for later, she made her way through the sitting room in search of the office. She wanted to see what she was up against and maybe make a list so she couldprioritize.
As she walked through the room the mess grieved her even more as it seriously damaged the appearance of the house. This was such a beautiful home with its floor-to-ceiling windows, which provided an abundance of natural light and a fantastic view of the beach. The vaulted ceilings and wide-open spaces were refreshing and attractive. She could imagine having dinner parties and opening the sliding doors to let in the sea breeze and gorgeoussunshine.
She marveled at the antique-looking fireplace in the corner with logs set neatly inside. If this was her house she’d sit there at sunset with the fire on, even though it was always warm in Malibu. She’d sit there and get cozy with a good book and her special blend of hot cocoa and cinnamon, watching the sungodown.
It was a nice thought. Perhaps one day she could have a nice place of her own. She’d never be able to afford somewhere like this even if she got the position at Dior, but she’d get a niceplace.
She moved on to the study and immediately felt like she’d invaded his privacy. The room was filled with family photos. There were lots of pictures of who she guessed were his mother and sister. They looked very similar, but he looked exactly like his father. She walked out of the room, resisting the temptation to snoop around. It didn’t feelright.
The room next to it had to be the office. The door was closed but the giveaway was that he’d thrown all his mail at the entrance of the door. It looked to Amy like there was at least a year’s worth of mail there and she wasn’t looking forward to sorting through it. She gathered up what she could and moved it to one side so she could open the door, which only exposed morefilth.
The wooden floor was covered in bits of paper, as if someone had chewed on it then spat it out. It was weird. This was how the whole floor looked. There was also dust and cobwebs all over the desk. This didn’t look like it hadn’t been used in over a month. It looked like it hadn’t been used inyears.
She walked in and switched on the lights. As she did that she was certain she heard something scuttle past her, but there was nothing there when shelooked.
Amy grimaced at the sight of open files all over the place, in disorder just like the rest of the house, but since this was within her job description she thought she’d keep herself in heretoday.
Then maybe she’d brave the task of getting him up early tomorrow. He was an athlete and looked in great shape, so she was sure he wouldn’t be averse to a morning jog or stroll, especially if that was on thebeach.
Right now she’d clean up the floor a little and then get on to sorting through the documents, files, and mail. After that she’d deal with theemails.
She went to get the vacuum cleaner from the cupboard where she left it yesterday and wheeled it into the office. She then plugged it in and started going over the floors, sucking up the bits of paper. Within five minutes she had to empty the holder because it was so full, and she wasn’t even a quarter way acrosstheroom.
She honestly needed to speak to Zelda about a maid. This was completely ridiculous. Sure, she was getting paid for doing something a tad easier than her job, but by doing so she wasn’t getting to do what she was requiredtodo.
“Hey, what the hell is this damn noise in thehouse!”
Amy whirled around so fast she nearly tripped over the vacuum’s cord. Joshua Mancini stood in the doorway looking like he would incinerate her with his fiery gaze. Even though he’d just gotten out of bed he still miraculously managed to look good, with his hair ruffled, a white jersey top showing off his defined muscles, and loose sweatpants that hung low onhiships.
The vacuum was still going so he moved over to the plug and yanked it out of thesocket.
“What the hell are you doing here again?” he yelled, returning his gazetoher.
“Work,” she replied, trying her best to keep her tone undercontrol.
“No, you damn well aren’t, get out of my house and don’t come back,” hebellowed.
Amy’s cheeks burned from the embarrassment. She’d had a rough upbringing but in all her adult years no one had ever spoken to her like that, and she felt it even more because she really neededthisjob.
What was she to do, though? Insist that she wasstaying?
