Alright...here's part two! Thanks for all the follows and reviews… makes a girl feel good, lol.
The part about college might be a stretch as far as the rivalry between schools. I found one source saying they were, but other said they weren't. So...you know... This is fiction, so just go with it! haha.
As always, please leave a review and let me know what you think. Thanks!
Thanks to Brooke for the beta - mwah! :)
{**********************************}
Chapter Two
Robin has been fascinated by Regina since the day she walked into his office. Over the last week, they've talked almost every day, either in person or on the phone, sometimes both. He knows she's a busy, working parent just like he is, so they had come to a mutual understanding during one of their phone calls to talk in the early evenings once their boys had been fed and were occupied with their homework. Their phone conversations started out innocently enough, but he found himself steering the conversations into more personal topics each evening, and she didn't seem to mind. She would answer his questions and ask things of him as well. The phone calls began lasting just a bit longer each night, too. They've started building a friendship that Robin has already come to cherish, and he's interested to see where it takes them. He'd be lying if he said he didn't think of dating her.
"I can't believe school will be over in a few weeks." He sighs, lowering himself into his covers. They usually talk earlier in the evening, but dinner at his apartment had become quite the spectacle with green beans flying up into the air and a bowl of noodles landing upside down on the kitchen's gray hardwood floor. Regina just happened to call during the cleanup process but had reassured him he was fine and could call her back once he got Roland cleaned and in bed. They didn't talk every night, so he assured her he would definitely give her a ring back once the chaos was settled.
"I know. This year has gone by really quickly… I just can't believe my baby will be in middle school come August." He hears her sigh, knowing how she feels. Roland will be going to first grade and that alone makes him feel like his boy is growing up far too fast, and he tells her so.
She giggles, saying, "I know the feeling! I thought when Henry left kindergarten I was going to cry a river. Just wait until Roland is Henry's age. It doesn't get any easier."
After sharing a laugh and talking about how hectic the end of the year is going to be, along with a school dance that is coming up, Robin directs the conversation into territory he's actually quite nervous to bring up.
"So, the play last week was wonderful." He hears her hum in agreement. "Henry did a great job. It was nice that your friend could be there to support him."
"Oh, Emma?" She says, apparently settling into her bed as he hears what sounds like sheets and covers rustling. The image of her in bed not helping his current situation. "Yeah, Em has been my best friend for years. She's actually Henry's godmother and usually goes to any and all school functions with us."
Us.
"You and Henry's father?" He questions, a knot forming in the pit of his stomach. He shouldn't be so nervous to find out if his interior designer is single or not, but, well, she's beautiful and they get along and he would love to get to know her on a more personal level.
"Mmhmm, Daniel." She states, not providing any more information. She's not making this easy on him and he briefly wonders if she's doing it on purpose. He imagines her laying in bed with a smirk on her face, waiting for him to just come out and ask her his question.
He finally takes a deep breath and rushes out a "So, I noticed you didn't introduce him as your husband, are the two of you just dating or what?"
A slight pause and then he hears her failing miserably to conceal a slightly airy giggle as she tells him, "No, never married. We were together for quite a while, but I broke things off with him about six months ago."
He can hear the smile in her voice and he's glad she isn't completely thrown off by the inquisition.
He ahh's and adds a flirtatious, "glad to hear it," before quickly moving on to a safe topic before she can call him out on his blatant flirtation.
He turns the conversation back to work for a few minutes, discussing things he might like to see in his office and getting her opinion on them.
They finish the later than usual phone call with a, "It's been lovely talking to you. Get some sleep and I'll see you tomorrow." At her whispered, "Goodnight, Robin," he hangs up the phone and falls into a blissful sleep.
Pulling himself from thoughts of their phone conversation last night, Robin sits at his desk, clicking around on the print design for his baby bubble bath campaign. His graphic designer sent the first draft of print ads over this morning, so he tries to look at as much of it as he can before Regina arrives to show him her designs. The prints look good - there's just enough detail to really grab a customer's attention without being too overwhelming to the senses. Robin was very pleased with how it was going so far. The ad featured a precious baby in the tub, covered in bubbles and donning a bubble beard and a large, toothy smile. There was also a yellow rubber duck sitting next to a oversized bottle of Sleep Tight on the tub's edge, but clearly the focus of the advertisement based on the angle of the photograph. The print was almost perfect, it just needed a few tweaks here and there. This was their biggest project to date and if all went well, he'd be able to start looking into buying the empty floor beneath him and hiring more helping hands to expand his clientele.
Robin is so enthralled with making small adjustments to the campaign that he almost forgot Regina was coming for a minute. Almost.
{***************************}
Regina finds herself riding the elevator again up to the twenty-third floor to Locksley Advertising. It's been a week since she first met Robin and she's been able to redesign a lot of his office space in that short amount of time, despite all her other projects she is overseeing. There's Dr. Whale's office, which she put her employee, Ariel, in charge of because the doctor is far too annoying for Regina to deal with on a daily basis (and Ariel, sweet as she is, bothers her, too, so she figured Ariel and the doctor would get along great). She's also in charge of a local hair studio that has hired her to redesign their waiting area and an old snocone shop that claims they need the inside spruced up to draw in more customers before the business dies. She's busy, and she loves it.
She has not been able to stop thinking about Robin, or his dimples, since they first met. Designing his office space isn't helping either, since that, quite literally, requires her to think about him.
It also requires her to talk to him frequently on the phone to go over small details in the design. It was during these phone calls that Regina found Robin asking questions about her life, which she in return, would ask him. They were getting to know each other on more than a business level. She would ask about Roland, and they would chat about the happenings at their son's school. After awhile, it wasn't just their children they spoke of, but of aspirations they had for their businesses and things they enjoyed in their personal lives. Robin had innocently inquired about her relationship with Daniel one night, which she quickly explained away with a horribly concealed giggle and a smile on her face (that he obviously couldn't see, but she was sure he could hear), saying they were exes and just friends. A friendship between Regina and her client, and perhaps an attraction of some sort, was beginning to blossom.
Either way, Regina knows she's not ready to date just yet, it's only been six months since she finally ended her twelve year on and off again relationship with Daniel, and she will not allow herself to date a client. As much as she may want to.
Ding. Level 23.
"Henry, I want you to wait here in the lobby while I speak with Robin about my designs, ok?" Regina asks, running her hand through Henry's hair, thinking the medicine she gave him earlier after the nurse called to say he had a fever, was helping him feel worlds better. Henry only gives her a nod of his head in compliance and takes a seat in one of the metal chairs in the waiting area.
Smiling and giving Belle a slight nod of her head, Regina makes her way down the empty hallway toward the main office.
"Sorry, I'm late," Regina starts to say, walking into Robin's office in a hurry. "The school called earlier saying Henry had a fever. I had to bring him with me, but don't worry," she holds up her hand in surrender, "he's going to stay in the lobby while we look over these designs." Regina finishes with a huff, feeling frazzled at the new development to her work day.
"Regina." Robin walks toward her with a sympathetic look in his eyes. He looks handsome today in his charcoal gray slacks and crisp, white button up. He looks good, damn good, but she shouldn't be thinking about that right now. Or at all. Especially when her son is down the hall, not feeling well. "It's quite alright. Roland is actually here with me today, too. He has a fever as well. He's in one of the offices waiting on Tink to arrive."
"Must be something going around the school, then," Regina starts, furrowing her brow. "I've got your designs here. Are you ready to see them?" she asks while pulling the design from her work bag that is thrown over her shoulder. She's always beyond prepared to meet with a client, but when you get a call from your child's school saying they're sick, all logic goes out the window. She had rushed out of her office to get to Henry, and, thankfully, still remembered to grab Robin's designs at the last second as she hurried out of the door, flustered mess that she was. Luckily, the nurse had called in plenty of time for her to get to Henry's school and back across town to Robin's office in just enough time for their meeting (though she's positive he would have understood any excessive tardiness on her part, had it come to that). She's not late by any means, right on time actually, but she's always lived by the to be early is to be on time, to be on time is to be late moto, so she feels guilty for making him wait (although, logically, she knows he hasn't been waiting…). Nonetheless, she currently feels rushed, and a little overwhelmed, but Robin's empathetic smile helps her to relax a little.
"Of course," Robin smiles, "Let's have a look."
They walk over to the large conference table where Regina lays out her new designs for all of his offices.
"Now, this isn't finalized," Regina gives him a wary look, "So this is the time to tell me if you don't like something or you want something changed. It's easier to fix it now, while it's just a drawing, rather than when we've already brought in furniture and everything."
"Alright," Robin says, glancing over her designs.
Regina has designed an office space that is very functional. Robin wanted the transitional design, so she had drawn up sketches of clean lines but with a warm and welcoming feel. She's incorporated glass and iron elements to make it feel more masculine, while throwing in warm paint colors and slightly more comfortable chairs than what already exists in his office. It's a big project - Robin's office, which is the biggest space to redo, along with the waiting area and ten other offices will take some time. She also mentioned during on of their phone calls wanting to spruce up the hallway a little as well, which he agreed was a good idea.
"This looks wonderful. There is one thing I want to keep, however." He points to a painting of a forest with a small stream on the right side of the canvas hanging on the wall behind them.
"My late wife, Marian, picked that out to go in my very first office, and ever since she passed, I just can't part with it. It's sort of like a good luck charm." He smiles fondly at the painting.
"Oh," Regina says, feeling stunned at the revelation of Robin being a widower. She knew Roland's mother wasn't in the picture because he had never really mentioned her before, but she had assumed it was a bad divorce or something far less heartbreaking than that, so she had never willingly brought her up in conversation. "I understand. It's sentimental to you. So, it stays," Regina finishes, a small smile on her face.
"Thank you."
"You're welcome. Now," Regina smooths her hands over her black slacks and turns to look at his large office, "that desk." She points to the large, clunky desk that she's hated since the moment she walked in his office last week. "It should be the first thing to go," she finishes with a smirk and the lift of one eyebrow.
"Yes," Robin chuckles, lightly touching Regina's elbow as he walks over to the desk, sending a shiver down her spine. "It most certainly does."
"I always suggest two things to my clients when it comes to picking out new furniture," she explains, running her manicured hand along the edge of the desk and eyeing an adorable picture of Robin and Roland next to his computer. Roland looks to be a few years younger in the picture but has a huge smile on his face as he hangs upside down in his father's arms. She can practically hear the young boy's laughter coming through the photograph. It's precious and brings a warm smile to her face. "You can either go with me and pick everything out for yourself, or you can leave it up to my designing judgement."
"Hmm," Robin hums, bringing his hand up to rub the back of his neck. He turns his eyes up from the picture, which also seems to have caught his attention, to her eyes and says, "I think I'd like to go with you, if it's alright?"
"Sure thing," Regina smiles, collecting her designs from the table and placing them back into her leather satchel. She's relieved that Robin didn't suggest any major changes, not that she would have minded, but the hand drawn design is her least favorite part of her job. She likes it, doesn't really mind it because it's necessary to perfecting the design space (and she's quite the talented artist), but she loves actually physically designing a space so much more. She likes the flow of Robin's offices and is excited to get to work in them (plus that means she gets to see Robin in person on a more regular basis, but she isn't thinking about that). "We can look over our schedules and pick a day that works for both of us. I'd suggest we go sooner rather than later so that I can input the measurements into my design on the computer. That way I have a better idea of where the smaller furniture – like lamps and what not – can go."
"Alright," Robin leads Regina out of his office, placing his hand on the small of her back. "Let me look over my schedule and I'll text you. How does that sound?"
"Sounds wonderful." She smiles as Robin opens the door for her, leading them out of his office.
{***********************}
As the two exit the main office and make their way down the hallway toward the lobby, they hear fits of giggles.
"Looks like someone is feeling better," Robin laughs, causing the two boys to look up from Henry's iPad as Robin and Regina enter the lobby.
"I am, Papa!" Roland giggles, his brown curls bouncing all around. "Henry was showing me how to play Panda Pop." His face dives back into the iPad, far closer than he needs to be, as he makes pop noises with his mouth over and over again. It causes Henry (and Roland) to laugh, which brings a smile to her and Robin's faces.
Regina walks over to Henry and places the back of her hand to his forehead, followed by a quick peck.
"Well, it feels like your fever has gone down, so that's good."
Henry doesn't get sick often, he's always had a pretty strong immune system. So when he does catch something, he's normally curled up in bed with blankets, tissues and video games and doesn't want to leave. Coming with her today had been inevitable, and she thought for certain he'd be sleeping in one of the chairs by now waiting on her, so she's pleasantly surprised to find he seems to be acting at least somewhat like a normal Henry.
"Yeah, I feel a lot better now, Mom," Henry states, pushing his hair to the side of his forehead. His forehead is a bit sweaty, but she hopes that's due to his medicine pushing his fever out of him.
"Well, since we're all out and feeling better, it seems," Robin starts, standing from where he had been crouched down, checking his son's forehead for a fever as well, "Why don't we grab a quick lunch? I can call Tink and push back Roland's pick up time by an hour."
"Oh, I don't know," Regina begins to decline, shaking her head. Her son is sick, after all, and spending time with Robin and his adorable son probably isn't the best idea when she's trying to deny to herself that she's attracted to this man.
"Come on, Mom!" Henry whines, standing and collecting his iPad into his hands. "Roland and I were almost to the end of this level. I'm feeling better, and I need to eat, right?" Henry reasons.
Regina smirks, wondering where he got his ability to bargain so well from, as if she didn't know the answer to that.
"Yeah!" Roland agrees, jumping into his father's muscular arms. "We have to beat the level. Please, Miss Regina?" Roland asks, turning his puppy dog eyes over toward her.
Feeling outnumbered, Regina huffs a small breath, while trying to cover a small grin.
"I guess I don't have much of a choice." Regina smiles, letting her shoulders lift and fall.
Robin smiles, too, biting on his lower lip. God, he really needs to stop biting that lip; it does things to her that she keeps reminding herself she's not allowed to feel.
{**************************}
Regina finds herself sitting in a booth at Granny's Diner (Henry's favorite place to eat). Next to her sits her handsome, British accented client, while her son and this man's equally adorable, dimpled faced son sit together playing their game.
The boys decide it will be easier to play the game if they are sitting next to each other, which of course, leaves Regina sitting next to this gorgeous man that she absolutely can not be attracted to.
"So," Robin starts after they order their drinks – water for Regina and Henry, Diet Coke for Robin, and water downed apple juice for Roland (it has too much sugar for his little body otherwise). "How did you get into interior design?" Robin turns slightly to face Regina in the booth, his knee brushing up against hers.
"Well," Regina says, all too aware of their knees touching. She recalls how she was always rearranging furniture in her Barbie Dream House as a child and tells him about secretly moving her bedroom furniture around when her mother was out of town for the weekends, "I always had to move it back before she came home, but I was always dreaming of ways I could redo my room and every other room in the house." Regina smiles fondly at the memory, but tries to suppress the sadness at her mother never giving her freedom to rearrange her bedroom as she pleased. Mother was always a bit controlling. Her dad was always the one who encouraged her to go after her dreams. When mother was out of town, her dad would peek in on her new room designs and tell her she had a real gift for designing. Every so often, her father, Henry, whom she'd lovingly named her son after, would help her rearrange the living room furniture, too, when her mother, Cora, was away on business. They'd sit and eat cookies (something else not usually allowed in the living room), laugh and watch movies until he father declared it was time to put it all back to normal. It was always their little secret, and she loved it. She's pretty sure to this day, her father has never spilled their secret to her mother.
"What about you?" Regina questions, changing the subject. "How did you get into advertising?"
Regina listens as Robin explains how his third grade teacher had them come up with an advertisement for a cereal brand they'd invented. He tells her he loved the whole project, and after that, he was always looking for things to make commercials for around his house. One time, he recalls, he came up with a whole advertising campaign for his mother's perfume bottle.
"You know," Robin explains, "every good advertiser tries all of his products so that he can really sell it – even the girly products like perfume or lipstick," he says with a wide smirk.
Regina laughs at the thought of a young Robin testing out his mother's perfume, just so he could draw up an advertisement for it.
"I'm sure your parents were surprised to find you smelling like perfume."
"Oh, my father was quite perplexed when he came home from work to a floral scented ten year old." Robin laughs at the memory. Regina likes the sound of his throaty laugh and finds herself captivated by the sound of it.
Once their food is ordered, the conversation continues to flow smoothly. The boys are getting along and have finally beaten their troublesome level, while Robin and Regina continue discussing all aspects of their lives. Along with discovering how the other came into their respective professions, they also discuss their college years, and the difficulties of trying to start your own business.
"I transferred to New York School of Interior Design after a year at Columbia." Regina tells him. "What about you?"
"Well, I graduated from Penn State," causing Regina's face to scrunch up in slight, good natured disdain, bringing out a chuckle from Robin as he continues, "before moving up here to be closer to Marian."
"What about the British thing?" She laughs, bringing her hair to hang over one shoulder and take a bite of her barbeque hamburger. They're her guilty pleasure, and Granny's makes the best one in town so anytime they eat here, she has to get one, calories be damned. "When did you move here?"
After an ahh, he tells her that he grew up in London, but moved to the states when he was a junior in high school. "The move was hard since I was having to leave all of my friends behind," he takes a bite of his own hamburger (he had told her after the first bite that she was right to recommend the delicious, gourmet beef and that everyone should experience this burger at least once in their lives), "but my mum got a better job here so my dad agreed that we should make the move."
He tells her he was upset at first, as any seventeen year old kid would be, but he quickly came to make lots of new friends and found he actually quite liked America. It was, after all, where he met the mother of his child.
Regina tells him she can relate. Her mother had moved the family to New York from a small town in Maine when Regina was in middle school. "I thought I was never going to make friends in such a big city," she states, "but I just had to get used to my school and then I started opening up to people. It was hard, being twelve and leaving the only friends I had ever known, but I settled in within the first few months."
It seems she has more and more in common with Robin than she thought. Fantastic.
After their food is eaten, the adults had eaten every last bit of their barbeque burgers, while the boys managed to eat a good portion of their grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup, the four of them continue to sit there chatting amicably. Henry has snagged a handful of her leftover sweet potato fries, but she doesn't mind. An appetite must mean he's feeling better, at least for now, which she is thankful for. And if she's being honest with herself, she is not quite ready to leave this luncheon so soon, so Henry can eat as many of her fries and he wants to. She's having a great time and finds herself wanting to hear Robin talk about… anything. He could read the phone book and she thinks she'd listen.
{****************************}
It's rare that you find people who figure out what they want to do at a young age and go after it.
Robin had always known he wanted to be in advertisement – ever since Mrs. Brogdon made them come up with advertisements for cereal.
He listens as Regina talks about rearranging furniture in her Barbie Dream House, a small smile on his face at the visual of a little Regina doing just that. He also listens as she tells him about moving her bedroom furniture around while her mother was out of town. He sees her smiling about that, but can also tell there's a bit of… sadness, perhaps, behind those expressive eyes. He longs to know this woman more and find out just what that look is all about.
Robin finds himself wanting to know about all aspects of Regina's life, more than the fact that she grew up in Maine and went to Columbia university.
"I won't hold it against you too much that you went to Columbia," he tells her, causing her eyes to widen in mock shock and her hand to playfully swat his shoulder.
She scoffs a good natured, "Gee, thanks," in his direction before giggling and smiling over at him. He smiles right back, liking this playful banter they're engaging in.
The boys, meanwhile, are finishing their soups and sandwiches before diving back into the iPad. They haven't had much to say during the lunch, hardly answering their parent's questions throughout, leaving Robin and Regina to make conversation just between the two of them. Robin makes a mental note to charge Roland's iPad when he gets home so his boy can work on his Sushi Math Monster and Sight Word Ninja apps when he wakes up from his inevitable afternoon nap.
Continuing to contemplate the woman who sits next to him, Robin wonders What was her life like growing up? How did she meet Henry's father? What's the story there with that relationship? Does she date clients? What?
When she mentioned earlier that his offices may take some time to redo, he can't say he was upset about it. He's not worried, has total confidence in her and if this project takes her a few months to get done, well, who can blame him for being happy about that? Most people want their renovations done in a timely manner, but he can confidently say he wants her to take as much time as possible.
He is definitely attracted to Regina. How could he not be? He's been slightly distracted ever since she walked into his office this morning wearing a royal blue top that dips down just slightly in the front – which revealed a small amount of cleavage when she bent over the conference table to point to something in her design. Her hair is pulled halfway up today, and he notes how beautiful it is like that. It showcases her stunning face. Realizing he's been lost to his thoughts about her beauty, he shakes his head, reminding himself to focus.
"I'm sorry, what?" Robin is shaken from his thoughts of Regina at the sound of her calling his name.
"I said are you ready?" Regina asks, showing him his bill that still sits on the table, slightly smiling and tucking a piece of hair behind her ear.
Am I ready? No.
"Sure," Robin replies reluctantly, pulling out his wallet and placing his debit card on top of his bill.
"It's all on me," Robin tells the waitress when she comes to collects the cards.
"Robin, no," Regina starts to refuse, slightly shaking her head and pulling out her own card, causing the boys to look up in curiosity. "I've got mine and Henry's. It's alright."
"I insist," He says, handing the waitress both bills with only his card, "You're working so hard to redo my office, it's the least I can do," Robin smiles.
Hesitantly, Regina agrees, placing her card back into her wallet. He can tell she feels uneasy, but he wants to do this for her. She had just recommended the most delicious burger he's ever tasted. It's the least he could do. "Alright, but the next lunch is on me." She smiles.
"Fantastic," Robin smirks, delighted that she's already planning another lunch.
{**************************}
Next lunch is on me. Really, Regina? Regina mentally kicks herself for insinuating that there would be another lunch.
Once the lunches are paid for, the four of them step out into the warm, spring air.
Just then, Henry let's out a mucus coated cough, thankfully coughing into his elbow like he's been taught so he doesn't spread germs as much. Regina rushes to feel his forehead again.
"I think the medicine is wearing off," Regina explains, looking over her shoulder towards Robin, who is picking up an obviously exhausted Roland as the boy buries his nose into his father's neck. "I better get him home."
"Yeah," Robin says, understanding, but not wanting their time together to end already. "Tink will be at the office soon anyway to take this one home," he hoist Roland up just a fraction, causing him to turn his head so he can peek out from under his curls in Regina and Henry's direction.
"Alright, well," Regina takes her work bag from one shoulder and slings across her body, "Thanks again for lunch. I'll see you in a few days so we can go pick out some furniture."
"Yes," Robin smiles. "Sounds lovely. Take care. I hope you feel better, Henry."
"Thanks, Robin." Henry says, suddenly sounding like he's ready for a nap of his own and sniffling for good measure. "Bye, Roland!"
"Bye, Henry!" Roland says, a cough of his own escaping his lips.
Robin and Regina give each other knowing glances – knowing both the boy's medicines are wearing off and they need to get home to sleep off their colds.
"See you later," Robin says, taking a chance, he leans over and gives Regina peck to her cheek.
Regina blushes slightly. "Goodbye, Robin," she says, giving him a small smile and pushing her hair back behind her shoulders. The feel of his lips on her cheek was unexpected, but not disliked. She cannot, however, help the images of his soft lips on her lips (and neck) that come to her mind with just a simple peck to the cheek.
Placing her arm around Henry, the two walk away in the opposite direction of Roland and his handsome father, making their way back to Regina's car.
The whole drive home, Regina is lost in her thoughts about Robin – his eyes, his voice, his lips on her cheek…. This is bad, Regina decides. She cannot be attracted to him. He's a client. And she's not ready to date anyway, but damn he is handsome.
{**************************}
Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed it…if you want, leave a review and let me know :)