There was instant recognition and his eyes widened slightly. It was some time before he responded, evidently startled and confronted. Looking from side to side, refusing to meet her direct gaze, he finally lurched upward and backed away, uttering one word as he turned his body from her to walk away. “Hi.”
Her fear evaporating quickly, Amelia closed the distance. “You’re from the Coremade factory, aren’t you?” His back turned to her now, he tipped his head slightly backward, the only response he gave to her question. Intrigued by his action, Amelia took a step forward and tried to disarm his attempts to ignore her. “It’s Jared, isn’t it?” At the sound of his name, Jared stopped walking away. It was enough of an acknowledgement for her to commence some form of conversation. “I know you recognise me.” She paused for a moment before continuing, “You’re not in trouble for anything, I just want to talk to you.”
He glanced at her briefly then, his lips tightening. “I didn’t do anything.”
Though the cast of his features was flighty and evasive, there was something very penetrating about his expression. Amelia suspected that he was very intelligent and very aware. “Oh, I think you did, Jared.”
Her blunt response caught him off guard and he fidgeted. “What do you mean?”
She considered just asking if the work was his, but decided against it. “You obviously have a talent for design. Why don’t you want anyone to know about it?”
Jared stared at her for the barest of moments before dropping his gaze. Without any further word, he turned and walked away from her. At a loss in trying to understand his attitude, Amelia simply watched him. Then a surge of anger rushed through her and she strode after him.
At the end of the aisle, she caught up to him. “It’s rude to walk away when someone’s talking to you.”
Without interrupting his pace he spoke in clipped words. “Leave me alone.”
Amelia was able to control her emotions in most situations, but there was something about this man’s attitude that riled her. He’d become a vessel for much of her stress over the last months, but she was in such a state now that she didn’t care. “I don’t think we need your services at Havesheld anymore and I believe trespassing is grounds for dismissal.” She stopped dead and folded her arms.
The reaction was instant. Jared turned and gave her an expression of such pure hopelessness that she immediately regretted her fit of pique. He stared at her for long moments before chewing out the words in response to her threat. “Don’t take this away from me.”
Her question was quiet and open, and she asked so that she could find the best way of taking back those angry words. “Why not?”
Dropping his eyes, he was obviously deflated. “It’s all I have.”
Emotion welled up at his plaintive response, and Amelia stepped a little closer. “Of course I won’t, but why won’t you talk to me?”
Jared took a deep breath. “I don’t talk to anyone.”
She frowned. “You don’t really mean that.”
He shook his head, but it seemed for the moment she’d pierced his defences. “Not good with anyone, and they’re not good with me.”
Amelia studied the man as he hunched into his jacket, head downcast. As she cast her eyes over his features she noted that he wasn’t unseemly in anyway, he was just completely nondescript. There wasn’t a single feature of his bearing or presentation that was noteworthy. She imagined that looking as he did, almost nobody would notice him; he’d be invisible. Underneath his lank hair, she wondered what he actually looked like. Fuelled by the knowledge that he had an insightful and original creativity, she felt her curiosity burgeoning despite an instinct to dismiss this unremarkable man.
She spoke softly but insistently. “You designed those boat shoes, and you did the Coremade changes.” The downward tilt of his head told her all she needed to know, though she simply couldn’t understand why someone would want to avoid the accolades that were due to him and instead let a windbag like Ted take the credit.
Perhaps he treasured complete predictability, safety and routine. That gave her another insight. “Did you do what you did for Coremade just so the factory would keep open?”
He lifted his head then, and regarded her openly for the first time. As she'd thought, there was a considered intensity to his demeanour which suggested a keen intelligence. “They would have shut it.”
“You’ve been there for years, you could have worked in the warehouse.” She let the statement trail away.
He tightened his lips slightly. “Maybe I like to make.”
Amelia held his gaze with a focused expression. “For just a few minutes, forget I’m a person. I want you to talk to me. After that I won’t bother you again and I won’t tell anyone what you can do.” She held out her hand. “Deal?”
Jared regarding the outstretched limb as though it was charged with 4000 volts of electricity. Amelia regarded the play of a variety of emotions across his face with considerable interest. When he finally extended his hand to hers and hurriedly took it, she felt a jolt at the touch. Now that she’d coerced him, she wasn’t exactly sure what to do.
“There’s a café I like not too far from here, why don’t we go there for half an hour or so.” She looked up and into his hazel eyes. “Do you have time?”
Tipping his head forward so that his hair trailed over his forehead and eyes again, a mannerism Amelia saw as a nervous habit, he spoke tentatively. “Umm.” He was clearly agitated.
Glancing at his empty hand basket, she prompted him quickly before he found reason to escape. “You haven’t got that much there, can I drop you back when we’re done?”
Looking down, Jared finally pursed his lips and stepped away from the fresh food section. “Ok.”
Amelia smiled. “Jared, I promise I’m not going to eat you. It’s just coffee, just a few questions, nothing hard.”
He regarded her with a completely blank expression, and she turned and walked towards the front doors. Glancing back frequently to make sure he was following, Amelia led the way along the darkening footpath and crossed over to the driver’s side of her car. She watched as Jared edged towards the black Audi as though he wasn’t legally allowed anywhere near it and expected to have sirens or alarms blare at any moment.
Pressing the button on her remote, the alarm chirped and the doors unlocked. Reaching for the door handle she encouraged him, “It’s open.”
Bemused, Amelia watched him fumble with the door before he very gingerly climbed into the car. He peered at every detail, hands firmly clenched in his lap. Clearing his throat he mumbled, “Is this really yours?”
“Yes. Why?” Amelia started the engine, prompting a number of chimes to sound, and frowned. “Oh, you need to put your seatbelt on.”
Jared turned behind him and fumbled with the seatbelt, studying the buckle before he pressed it into the clasp, at which point the noise around them abruptly ceased. He sat very uncomfortably in the seat. “I’ve never seen something like this before.” Jared paused. “It’s beautiful.”
Amelia frowned as she pulled out into the street. “Do you drive?”
“No, don’t have a license.” He glanced over at her. “Lived here all my life.”
“You’ve been out of Melbourne though?”