Just One Night

“Rosalee, you must be out of your damn mind moving to Florida and so far away from your family. A young woman like you, one so naive, will find herself in a whole heap of trouble. I guarantee you’ll want to come back when you get into trouble. If you leave, you won’t be welcome back here.”

She felt a ripple of pain going through her heart at her father’s words. They had always been close, ever since her mother died ten years ago. But she knew her father. When he said something, he meant it and never changed his mind. She tried to explain to him that there was nothing here for her, that she wasn’t happy and wanted to explore new experiences. There was another reason she wanted to leave, but it was one that she would never reveal to another living soul. As much as she loved her father, she had to go. “Dad, you can’t seriously mean that.”

He looked at her with anger in his eyes. “Girl, if you go, you will be dead to me.”

She looked back at him with tear-stained eyes. “I’m sorry, I’m going.”

“It’s because of that damn girl that you met last summer when she came to visit her parents. She was the one that filled your head with all this nonsense. Mark my words, girl, you will regret moving away.”

She watched as her father stormed away and headed into the barn. Last summer when Pierce’s daughter, Eve, returned to Fort Worth for a visit, they became friends. Eve was a model working in Orlando, Florida, and told Rosalee how great it was and said that she should come to stay with her and find work there. They kept in touch over the next few months, and then when she heard that there was an opening at Thatcher’s Real Estate Agency, she immediately applied. A week after applying and several phone calls later, she was offered the job. She was bubbling over with happiness knowing that she had a place to stay and a job to go to, but her bubble was popped when her father flew into a fit of rage.

The morning she was leaving, she packed her belongings up in her little Honda, which she bought from working in the office of Kent’s real estate. She worked for them right out of high school and at night did online courses to get her business degree. Her boss even taught her so much about the business. He hated to see her go but gave her a hell of a reference and a letter of recommendation which helped her to land the job in Orlando. She walked back into the house and found her father sitting at the kitchen table drinking his coffee and reading the newspaper. “I’m leaving, Dad.”

“So go,” he said without even looking up at her.

“I love you, Dad. Goodbye.” When all she got was a grunting noise from him, she wiped the tear from her face and walked out. Taking one last look at the house she lived in her whole life, she started the car for her eighteen-hour drive to her new home and her new life. She just couldn’t wait to get there. It was going to be a new beginning for her in a beautiful apartment building and a job that paid more than she ever dreamed of. She was going to be the personal assistant to Ace Thatcher.

When she had received the envelope filled with all the papers on what her duties would be and what was expected of her, she was so excited when she read how there would be times she would be expected to go on business trips around the world with him. She, of course, would have her own room and only had to be with him during meetings, and then the rest of the time she would have to herself to do whatever she wanted.

She would be lying if she said she wasn’t a little afraid of leaving her hometown and her friends, but most of them had moved on with their lives. They either moved away or got married and started families of their own, and they all drifted apart. But what really broke her heart was the way her father was treating her, saying that she was dead to him. Seeing that it was a long drive to Orlando and not wanting to fall asleep behind the wheel, she decided to stop and stay at a motel after driving for seven hours. Having worked full-time since high school and not having to pay her father any rent, she was able to buy this car and had money saved up. It was more than enough to pay Eve a couple of months' rent upfront and to go shopping for some appropriate clothes to wear to her new job. ******************

Eve was busy getting the spare bedroom ready for her new roommate. She was five years older than Rosalee and had never paid attention to her before, that was until she went back to visit her family. There she ran into her, and they just clicked and became great friends over the summer. Eve was a bit on the wild side, and being a lingerie model, she never lacked male attention. But for the last six months, she had been dating Rory Gilbert, a fashion photographer. Even though they didn’t live together, he spent many of his nights at her apartment, and she was hoping that Rosalee wouldn’t have a problem with that.

Ace Thatcher, a thirty-one-year-old divorced male, took over the real estate empire from his father when he passed away. His mother had died giving birth to him, so he never knew her. He worked long hours, which was one of the reasons for his wife leaving and divorcing him. The sad thing was that he didn’t seem to care and realized that he was never in love with her and should not have married Clarice in the first place. What really hurt was the large settlement he had to give her and vowed never to fall in love or get married again. He was by no means a playboy or slept around, but he did enjoy the company of females from time to time. He had trouble keeping a personal assistant, maybe that was because he demanded too much from them and was often sharp when speaking to them. He demanded perfection and expected the assistant to do as instructed without any questions asked. He had everything a man could want: good looks, a beautiful home, and wealth. But he did not have love in his life nor did he want it, or was that just what he was trying to convince himself of?