Serendipity (Inevitable) by Janet Nissenson Page A

listened intently – and with empathy – as she related the story that had filled him with outrage when Gerard had first filled him in. One evening last October Julia had been in the office working late when Vanessa’s slimy boyfriend Philip had accosted her. The office had been deserted and no one had heard her scream when Philip had torn her blouse, slapped her across the mouth hard enough to draw blood, bruised her hip, and cracked three of her ribs as she’d fought him off.
    It had been a mixed blessing when Vanessa – who had arranged to meet Philip at the office – had arrived and heard the commotion, rushing into Julia’s office in time to stop Philip from hurting her further. He of course had tried to blame the whole thing on Julia, claiming she’d been flirting with him and leading him on for months. And, despite the fact that Julia was curled up in a ball, bleeding, bruised and sobbing, Vanessa had chosen to believe Philip and had fired Julia on the spot.
    Vanessa’s anger and jealousy had gone far beyond merely firing her, however, and she’d done her damndest to prevent Julia from getting another job. That was when Julia had called Gerard, hoping to move to New Orleans and work with him again. But his new firm was still getting off the ground, and there was barely enough work to keep him afloat, much less to bring on another designer. Gerard had, however, contacted Travis who coincidentally was looking for a new designer and here Julia was.
    Travis’s mouth had tightened into a grim line as she had related her story. “I always knew Vanessa was a royal bitch – that’s one of the reasons I never took a permanent job with Gerard. But I never imagined she could be quite that mercenary. I hope you pressed charges against her slimebag boyfriend.”
    Julia shook her head. “Aunt Maddy was very upset with me when I refused. She came to pick me up that night after I called her but I just didn’t see much point in pressing charges. Vanessa’s family has piles of money and she would have probably hired some shark of a lawyer to get Loverboy off. I just wanted to forget the whole nightmare.”
    “Is that why you left New York?”
    “One of them,” she admitted. “But to be honest, I’d been thinking of moving anyway. New York is wonderful but I’ve left some other bad memories back there, too. It’s been nice to be back in California and especially to be spending time with my parents and sister.”
    She’d been staying at her parents’ home in Carmel since just after Thanksgiving, having given up her apartment in Manhattan and shipped all of her belongings out here. Everything she owned was currently in storage inside her father’s workshop.
    “Did you tell your family about what happened?”
    Julia nodded. “Only because Aunt Maddy threatened to do so if I didn’t. My dad was furious, he still wants to press charges, but I’ve convinced him not to. And Lauren swears she’s going to beat the crap out of both Vanessa and her boyfriend the next time she’s in New York. Considering that she still takes kung fu classes on a regular basis, I’m a little worried about that.”
    Travis grinned, having heard multiple stories about Julia’s fierce twin sister. “And what did your mother do?”
    She sighed. “Mom didn’t say anything, just held me and let me cry things out. It was a rotten few months for me, Travis, going back to something that happened in September.”
    “Ahh. Does that have anything to do with the ‘men are assholes’ quote?”
    She laughed. “It has everything to do with it. But I’ve tried really hard to move past it, so can we not discuss it right now?”
    “Your wish is my command. How about we take a look at that portfolio you’ve brought along instead?”
    For the next half hour or so, they poured through Julia’s design portfolio, with Travis asking questions, making comments, and listening to her responses. They talked for awhile longer about some of the other