Connexion

Part 65

Caleb quirked an eyebrow, "Have you accepted my apology?"

Jena was tempted to yell, no, but instead she said quietly, " Yes." Her glare did not support her statement.  Caleb was not happy with her glare or her response. The light in his eyes became molten. But Jena could not be bothered to extinguish it. "If you're done, Mr Harland, I'd like to get home, preferably tonight! And I definitely do not want to have an on going conversation with you, just to suit your whim." Jena looked at his hand on her car door and said pointedly, "Good night, Mr Harland."

Caleb rubbed the corners of his lips, buying him some time before he questioned, "Are you being particularly hard on her because of our history?"

Jena sighed, tipped her head back, closed her eyes and sighed again, "Good night, Mr Harland." She opened her eyes, again reached for the door to close it. But he held onto it. Her eyes flicked up to his, "Mr Harland, I've had a particularly long day. Not helped by your sister's behaviour." Her day started really early and was packed with meetings all over the town and delivering cakes at opposite ends of the city. In the gaps between the meetings, she replied to various calls and emails. Sophie's bridezilla moment came at the wrong time. Jena glanced at Caleb and said, "At this very moment in time I'm inclined to slam the car door shut regardless of whether you remove your fingers or not!" Caleb blinked at her announcement. Feisty just below her polite surface, he thought. She took a breath, banked her fury, and said firmly, "I dismissed that option because I am sure I would have to spend even more time here, dealing with the consequences! Like blood splatters! So, good night, Mr Harland!"

He still did not released the door. "Consequences? Ms Silva, your..."

She interrupted him and threw her hands in the air, "You don't like the fact I've insulted your sister. Fine. But I don't like the fact she and you wasted my time. And I am not happy with your sister wasting Sally's time. And definitely not happy with the fact she was rude to Sally."

"I and my sister have apologised." Caleb was annoyed. Not helped by the fact she had not accepted his apology, but paid lip-service to it.

"Wonderful!" Jena snapped with sarcasm. For some reason she had no concerns about prodding a feral bear! "I am not happy with the fact that you, and your sister, thought she, and you, could bully me with a threat of court action."

"As I said, we have apologised. You gave the impression you had accepted my apology but now, you claim my apology was half-baked!" Caleb could not believe he was having this discussion with a woman who thought she could manage him.

"Fine. I have not accepted your apology, because I am not happy with your behaviour or your statements!"

His tone revealed his fractious mood, "My behaviour? You are having a hissy-fit and you are not happy about my behaviour, despite proffering an apology?"

"I am not having a hissy fit! I am simply not happy with your declarations. In particular the ones about my character." She took another breath, as she tried to resume her equanimity. "For your information, if you had applied logic, you would see your conclusion and statements were not accurate."

He snapped, "Go ahead. explain it!"

She glared, "My company is doing well, because of our ethos, our practices. Our professional service is backed by the fact that our customers think we are capable and we do not have a budget for adverts because many of our customers refer us to their friends." Caleb's eyes acknowledged her reasons and that message was read by Jena. But before he could say anything, she held up a hand and she continued, quietly she said, "Yes, my company is a minnow compared with your company. I get that. My company is small. But we are a good team with an outstanding reputation. You attempted to trash my company, claimed we are unreliable, not professionals. When that did not work, you opted to trash my nature, my ability, my core values." Caleb poked his tongue into his cheek, like her, he was not happy with his behaviour.  "Deja vue! You tried to do that, when I came to your office where I asked you to consider my cousin's feelings. Your statements about my character were wrong. It did not matter to you. You smirked. I knew you were treating my visit, at your office, as a free entertainment. You treated me like a jester." He winced. Jena said quietly, " Do you really think it is easy for someone who barely knew you, to ask for a favour? Not in my comfort zone. Not in my social sphere. Not in my experience. But I came to your office, because my cousin mattered to me.  I asked you not take Melanie on date because, for some reason, I thought you would be a gentleman. Tony brought Melanie to my place because he wanted me to spend time with her because he wanted to marry her. You made me feel insignificant and a fool." She swallowed, and did her best not to cry. So she glared at him. "I am not happy that you are holding onto my car door to stop me from leaving here. I am really fed up! So let go of the door. Because at the moment, my head is telling me to hurt you and leave you screaming on your drive!" 

Caleb watched her eyes, saw the frustration, the fury, the unexpected sadness. It was then that he realised that she was really hurt. He also remembered he had already reached the conclusion that his assertions were not acceptable or correct. "Wait. I am sorry." He rubbed the back of his neck, "I am sorry I hurt your feelings. My statements were offensive." He sighed. "Not my normal action. " He put himself between the door and the car. He waited. But Jena was not ready to accept his apology." Please accept my apology." Waited  a second before he added, "Also convey my apology to Sally. Sophie, she can be a bit of a handful, but not often. To be honest, I'm not sure why she became bridezilla." Caleb poked his tongue in his cheek and then admitted, "I am not sure what happened today. Perhaps, like you, Sophie had a hard day." Caleb offered a smile and carried on, "Thank you for giving her a chance to fix this." Again, he could see that Jena was not ready to accept his apology, but he repeated it. "As I said, I am sorry I hurt your feelings. I said things I regret. Sorry, Ms Silva."

No response.

Jena looked at his hand, still holding onto her door. Caleb gave up, clearly she was not in the mood to accept his apology. "Good night, Ms Silva."  He stepped away and let go of the car door.

"Good night." Jena muttered then closed her car door. She put the key in the ignition, put the car in gear and reversed out of her parking spot. She was going back to work, to look at a cake that was close to bested them. She scheduled a few hours this evening, trying out a few options to see whether she could find the solution. Coming to Caleb's home, cost her valuable time. The cake was needed on Friday. Iced and ready.

Travelling back to her office, gave her time to think about the situation with the Harland family despite the fact that she needed to think about the 'Friday' cake. 

She really couldn't figure out exactly why she was so cross. Yes, Sophie brought her round to Caleb's home and had wasted her time. But it was Sophie's plan that had Jena's mind whirling.  Adding fuel to Jena's frustration. Jena sighed surely Sophie's plan was a no-starter. Given Jena isn't anything like the woman that Caleb normally dates. But then another thought surfaced. It brought her attention to the unspoken message in his eyes.  Perhaps wishful thinking, she sighed.

Jena decided that she would talk to her team. Perhaps she and her team should review and discuss the Harland contract.