Last night when I’d gotten home, all her lights had been off and there had been no sign of movement. I wasn’t sure what to make of it all, but I’d also decided not to jump to conclusions.
Her class schedule was pretty packed on Wednesdays and I refused to become one of those creepy clingers who needed to hear back from someone within a minute. My plan of action was pretty simple. If I hadn’t heard from her by the time I got home this evening, I’d head on over there and find out firsthand whether she was coming.
She knew I was leaving tomorrow and that I hoped she’d be on the plane with me. We would be gone for a week, which I hoped would give me enough time to talk some sense into my family.
My door opening grabbed my attention away from my musing thoughts. Andie strode in, her blonde hair pulled back into a severe bun and her blue eyes wide as she gave me a tight smile. “All set?”
“Just about.” I drummed my fingers on my lips and smirked at her. “The only thing I’m still short is a woman to take home with me. My mother is expecting a girlfriend, but I can’t seem to get hold of the only girl I know who is also a friend.”
Curiosity came as a sharp gleam into her eyes, but she knew better than to ask why. A slight line appeared between her eyebrows. “If you need a woman to go with you, I could accompany you.”
“Thanks for the offer, but no thanks.” I sat back in my chair and laced my fingers together. “I might be in a bit of a tight spot, but I’m not interested in you that way, and I know you feel the same.”
“True, but an assistant is supposed to assist. Therefore, if you have a problem that I can help with, it’s my job to do whatever is necessary.” She dipped her head slightly. “If you need me to come with you, I will do so.”
Andie ruled our offices with an iron fist. The only person she ever showed this kind of subservience to was me, but I’d seen that other side of her. I knew who she really was, and as loyal as she was being by offering, I could never take her up on it.
Being away from the office on a farm away from a lot of modern amenities and in a place where heels were a body part and not footwear, Andie would not be happy. Plus, I’d meant it when I said I wasn’t interested in her. We had zero chemistry. There was no way my family would buy us as a couple.
“Again, Andie. Thanks, but no thanks. I really do appreciate your offer and I know that if I asked you to, you would help me with this in a heartbeat. This is a personal problem, though, not a professional one. It’s not on you to assist me with it.”
She gave me a firm nod and a grateful smile spread out across her face. “Thank you. Enjoy your trip, Taydom. I’ll be in touch.”
“Talk to you soon.” I waited until the door closed again behind her before gathering my things and following her out. The coming week would officially be the longest I’d been away from the company since I’d started it, and leaving set me on edge.
Even though I would be reachable telephonically, I had given over the reins temporarily to Andrew. He would handle the meetings where personal representation from our upper management would be required. He’d only agreed to help because he knew how important this trip was to my family. Otherwise, I was sure he would have told me to go fuck myself.
Knowing that I needed to drop by to see him before heading home, I programmed in the address for the open house he was having when I climbed into my car. The engine purred to life and I followed the disembodied voice navigating me to a neighborhood I didn’t know very well.
It was another of the trendier areas, which was much more Andrew’s scene than mine. The condo he was trying to sell was in a newly renovated building and took up both of the uppermost floors.
Even knowing as little as I did about this neighborhood, I figured it would be an easy sell. In fact, I was kind of expecting to walk in and have him tell me he’d received offers on the place already.
What I didn’t expect to walk in on was what appeared to be the remains of a house party instead of an open house. There were red solo cups everywhere and empty bowls containing oil stains. I could only assume they’d once held potato chips.
“What the fuck is going on in here?” I asked Andrew’s back. The man himself was standing with his hands on his hips, facing the view outside through floor-length windows.
He turned to me with a self-satisfied smirk on his lips. “What do you mean? I just closed the deal.”
“It looks terrible in here.” I motioned in the direction of the dining-room table. “There’s sushi rice all over that thing.”
This was why Andrew wasn’t doing as well as he could be. Sure, he’d sold the place, but with this kind of approach, there were only so many types of clients that would deal with you.
He waggled his brows at me. “That’s because the sushi was a massive hit. I couldn’t bring it out fast enough.”
“Except for the fact that you’re not in the catering business.” I shook my head and squeezed my eyes shut, lowering my chin as I dragged in a calming breath. “You know what? Forget I said anything. Congratulations on the deal.”
“Thank you.” He grinned. “What are you doing here?”
“I came to make sure we were still good for the trip. You’ve got everything you need?”
He rolled his eyes at me. “You’ve triple-checked all that with me, bro. Trust me. We’re good.”
“You will let me know if there’s anything you need or any questions you can’t answer?” I hooked my thumbs into my pockets and arched an eyebrow. “Andie will be available to you as well. I went over all the most important details of the meetings with her this morning. Then she offered to come to Illinois with me anyway.”
“You haven’t heard back from Elsie yet?” He ran a palm along his cheek. “That sucks, man. Especially for someone who’s not used to hearing the word no.”
“Fuck off. I hear that word all the time, but I haven’t heard it from Elsie. Unfortunately, I haven’t heard the word yes either.” I sighed as I lifted my shoulders. “I thought she was going to say yes, but now she’s ghosting me.”
He shook his head. “Just go alone, man. If she’s playing games with something this serious, it’s better that she doesn’t go.”
“She’s not playing games. I still haven’t told her anything, and besides, if I go alone, I’m going to piss my family off. Riley is likely to shoot me in the fucking kneecaps for getting our mother’s hopes up. My father will chase me off the farm if I try to talk to him about money with no independent witnesses present.”
“I could come,” he offered with a sly smile. “We could pretend you misspoke and you meant to say you were bringing your boyfriend. I’m comfortable enough in my sexuality to do it.”
I laughed. “Thanks for the offer, but I’ll tell you the same thing I told Andie. I’m not interested in you that way. Mom would never buy it.”
He shrugged and straightened his tie. “Your loss. I would have made an excellent boyfriend for the week. If you’ve turned both me and Andie down today, what are you planning on doing? You’re leaving tomorrow. That doesn’t leave much time for you to come up with someone new.”
“No. It doesn’t. The other problem is that even if she does come and she finds out why she’s there, she’s going to be pissed.”
Andrew inclined his head. “That, she is, but you know my thoughts about that. Just don’t tell her and you’re golden.”
“It feels like I’m making the wrong decision no matter what I do,” I said. “I’m damned if I take her and damned if I don’t.”
“It’s not ideal, but you’ll get through it.” He clapped his hands together. “Now, are we going to have a drink to celebrate the sale?”
“A quick one, then I’ve got to get home. Elsie and her decision await me.”
If she said no, I had a long night ahead of me, figuring out what in the hell I was going to tell my mother. If she said yes, I had a long night ahead to figure out how to tell her my plan without her feeling used.
Taking a short break to ha
ve a drink with Andrew wasn’t going to change any of that. It might grease the wheels in my brain a bit, though. At this point, I would take all the help I could get.
When I finally pulled up outside my house a couple of hours later, Elsie came out to greet me. I couldn’t deny that I was nervous about what she was going to say.
I was going to have to roll with the punches, though. I’d gotten myself into this and now the only way out was through.
I might just need a few more drinks before the night is out.
Chapter 29
Elsie
Headlights hit the windows at the front of my cottage, which meant Taydom was finally back. I had been waiting for him in my living room, only one lamp providing soft light for the freak-out I was having.
I wiped my sweaty palms on my drawstring pants and drew in a shaky breath. This was the moment I had been waiting for all day.
I’d gone to class, but waves of nausea still rolled through me every so often. I was also still more tired than usual. Despite all of that, I had decided to stick to my plan of going to Illinois with Taydom.
If there really was a baby growing in my belly, I wanted to know the family it would be born into. Besides, the reasons I’d decided to go in the first place hadn’t changed. At the same time, if I had the stomach flu, I didn’t want to create unnecessary chaos in Taydom’s life by leading him to believe I was pregnant.
I didn’t know how he would take the news—if there was any news at all—but I had decided to wait for the results before I said anything, and that was exactly what I was going to do. In the meantime, I still had to tell him about Illinois.
Rising slowly, I took a few deep gulps of air. Just because I had decided to tell him didn’t mean it would be easy. Frankly, I had been freaking out the whole day.
But my mother had taught me well. I refused to create a crisis where there wasn’t one, and I refused to let what was out of my control take over my life. The reality of the situation was that Taydom and I had both been irresponsible. If our actions had consequences, we would have to deal with them together when the time came.
A baby wasn’t something I had been planning for, nor was it something I wanted at this point in my life. It was possible that grief over Mom was making me more complacent about this than I should have been, but I had only just started processing the greatest shock of my life.
Her death had been so unexpected and so untimely that I was still reeling. I was trying to get back to my life, or some version of it anyway. I had moved, gone back to my studies full time, and started developing feelings for a guy, but none of that meant I had learned to live without my mother. None of it meant that I was back to the way I had been before, which was probably why I was wondering if I might be pregnant in the first place.
It didn’t excuse my carelessness. Nothing would, but whatever happened, I could handle it. I had to. If Taydom and I had conceived a life, I would take care of it.
A baby might not have been in my immediate plans, but I’d always wanted a family. Taydom hadn’t seemed entirely opposed either. He’d simply said he thought his luck had run out.
It was food for thought, but not the kind of thought I had time for right then. Every free minute of my day had been spent wondering about this, but now it was time to face him.
I’d prepared myself for this moment all day and I was determined to act naturally. Until I had something concrete to tell him, it would be Elsie-as-usual.
I opened my door as he was parking and saw the flare of surprise in his eyes to see me. Exterior lights lit up his garage and parking area, and he was facing me, so it wasn’t difficult to see his expression.
He was definitely surprised, but he also seemed relieved to see me. I had avoided speaking to him while getting myself together, but I hadn’t expected a couple of days without contact to have had any impact on him at all.
Obviously, I had been wrong.
“Hey, you,” he said as his lips spread into a soft smile. “I was starting to wonder if I was ever going to see you again.”
“It’s only been a few days.” I left my doorway and walked over to him. “Sorry for not replying to your texts. I’ve been a little out of it.”
He frowned. “Why? What’s wrong?”
“I’m just getting over a cold. Nothing to worry about.” Sharp needles of guilt stabbed at my gut for playing it off that way, but it was the best I could do.
Concern tightened his expression and darkened those golden-brown eyes. “You sure you’re okay? You should have told me you were sick. I would have brought you soup or something.”
A tiny piece of my heart melted. “Thanks, but I just kind of slept through it. I didn’t mean to worry you.”
“As long as you’re feeling better.” He motioned toward his house with a jerk of his thumb over his shoulder. “You want to come in?”
“Sure.” My hands started trembling again, but I managed to muster a smile and hoped he wouldn’t notice my anxiety. Just because I’d decided not to stress him out unnecessarily didn’t mean it was going to be easy being around him when potentially, I was keeping a massive secret.
“I’ve still never been inside your house. You’re going to have to give me a tour.”
His eyes narrowed as he frowned. “What? Really? How is that possible?”
“I don’t know.” I shrugged. “I guess we’ve just never gotten that far. We always end up hanging out at my place or in the entertainment areas.”
“You’re right,” he said slowly, then reached out to grab my hand. “We’re rectifying that right now. Come on.”
His strong, warm fingers closed around mine and I instantly felt comforted by that one small touch. It was incredible how alone I’d felt over the last two days.
I could have reached out to Beth or responded to Taydom, but I’d needed the time alone. Regardless, human touch was something I had craved. My mother always used to hug me when I was feeling down, and it was her arms I really missed during this time, but Taydom’s hand in mine was something.
It was more than something. At this moment, it was everything.
Instead of heading toward the back door which faced the garage and my place, he led me around his huge house. “If I’m giving you a tour, we’re doing it right and going in through the front.”
“You never gave me a tour of the showhouse either. Am I about to get treated to the full Taydom Gaines experience?”
He grinned. “I think you are.”
Without letting go of my hand, he rummaged around in his satchel and produced a set of keys. The front door was an intricately carved wooden monstrosity with strained glass panels throughout. I’d never noticed it before, but it fit in with the general air of luxury the house exuded.
After turning a key in the lock, he pushed the door open and swept out a hand, gesturing for me to precede him. “Welcome to Casa Gaines. We hope you enjoy your stay.”
“We, huh?” I arched an eyebrow. “Is there another resident here I should be aware of?”
He chuckled. “We sounded better than just little old me. Anyway, so this is the entrance hall.”
Lights flicked on and I finally got my first inside view of the main residence on the property. My jaw slackened as I tried to take it all in.
The floors were tiled with large, gleaming white squares that shone with the reflection of the warm yellow light inside. There had to be hundreds of lights in the ceiling that had all come on at once.
The entrance hall opened up to large living spaces, a dining room, and a short hallway that seemed to lead to the kitchen. Corridors led away from the main areas, the tiles giving way to plush-looking carpets in a pale gray color.
Although Taydom was a bachelor, his home was not furnished the way I might have expected it to be. It was warm and cozy, with area rugs that appeared to be Persian covering the tiles in the living room.
Comfortable-looking grey couches were arranged in front of the large flatscreen TV mounted on the wall. Dark wo
od made up his coffee table, bookshelves, dining-room table, and more.
The shelves were filled with books that had cracked spines, making them look like they’d actually been read. Another entire shelf was filled with vinyl records, and an old-style record player stood off to the side of it.
“Wow.” I whistled below my breath. “You have a beautiful home, Taydom. I should have asked for this house when I was looking for a place to stay.”
He laughed and tugged at my hand. “At least you know you’re welcome anytime. Let me show you around.”
“Yeah. Okay. Let me hear it then. Taydom Gaines in action.”
“You got it.” He cleared his throat and squared his shoulders, all traces of humor falling away from his expression. Once his transformation into professional Taydom was complete, he swept his hand out in an elegant motion but still hung onto mine with the other.
“So as you can see, this is the kind of house anyone would want to come home to. It’s got enough space to fit the entire family without feeling cold or impersonal. It was designed by its former owner, who is a renowned architect. It’s got every amenity you could possibly need, including a wine cellar, swimming pool, theater room, and the like.”
“You have a theater room?” I asked, my voice strangely hollow in disbelief. “How did I not know that?”
He dropped the businesslike tone and laughed. “You never asked. I’ve also got a sauna if you’re ever interested. The only rule is that you have to be naked to use it.”
“I’m sure that rule has always existed and was by no means made up on the fly just then.”
He shrugged and flashed me an innocent smile. “Absolutely. Everybody knows it’s sauna best practice to be in the nude.”
“Yeah, well, I mean obviously everybody knows all about sauna best practices.” I rolled my eyes even though my lips curled into a smile. “We’ve all got them, so we’re all studied up on how to use them.”
“Of course.” He squeezed my hand. “Do you want to see the rest of the place, or shall we go straight to the sauna?”
Give Me The Weekend Page 18