Page 88 of Purchase Power
“Don’t be coy, Candace. You know that I was crazy about her.”
“I don’t claim to know anything beyond what I’m paid to know, Mr. Gabriel. That’s how I prefer to keep things, if it’s all the same to you.” She sighed. “If I may say, though, I did in fact suspect that the dinner was a convenient excuse to go see her again. Allll the way in New York.”
“Candace…”
“Pardon me.”
Noah read another line. “There’s no way anybody knows this is about me, right?”
“I do not believe so. She used her real name, which is interesting, but I doubt any of your family or important business associates will know it’s you. The way she describes ‘Bertha’ with such conviction is enough for me to believe people will think she’s talking about some other Mr. Rochester of New England. Everyone who knows you knows that Stacey isn’t your wife. Or your stepsister, for that matter.”
“How could she get such incorrect information?” That made Noah more flummoxed than anything else. “I swear to God, if someone was leaking stories to her…”
“I can assure you that it wasn’t me, of course. Nor was it anyone I watch over, since few people were allowed near her door while she was here. If I may be frank, Mr. Gabriel…”
“When are you not?”
Candace ignored his derision. “Ms. Craig had quite the imagination. She was also always typing on her laptop or staring at something or other when I walked in on her. Wouldn’t you agree that she was quite the… typer?”
“I’m not following.”
“I believe, such as the article implies, she came here under false pretenses. She wanted a scoop, because she’s a writer, Mr. Gabriel.”
The truth had been staring him in the face that whole morning, yet Noah remained convinced that it was all in his head.She played me… she wanted a story, and I was her ticket.To top it all off, she got a shitton of money!To think, I was falling in love with her, when all she wanted this whole time was to use me to advance her career.Noah rarely felt so knocked off his feet. Yet that’s how he approached the world now that he fell against his desk and shook his head. “She’s not an escort…” Noah snatched the article off his desk. “Please, give me a few minutes to finish this and collect my thoughts.” And maybe finish his tea. It was the only thing to keep him warm right now… now that he knew that Lucy had never been in love with him, let alone after anything but his money and clout.“Mr. Rochester…”She really must have thought him some boorish brute hiding secrets in his attic.
Stacey wasn’t a secret. She was precious. Volatile. Vulnerable. Noah was open to introducing the love of his life to her. She was family. His sister. The little sister he had sworn to protect so many years ago.
To think, he had once been nervous – if not excited – to bring her up to Lucy, who could one day be a good friend to the girl who desperately needed more.
Now? Now he wanted to throw up.
***
“We would be absolutely ecstatic to have you on our team forModern New York Woman,” Isabel Mendez, editor-of-chief of the local online magazine said over a video conference call. “Granted, things are getting a little crazy here, but since we’re an online-only publication we can work remotely. We’ll get you set up with our online business meetings, since you’re probably not gonna make it down to our office in Queens anytime soon.”
“No, I suppose not.” Lucy glanced out her Brooklyn window. It was another rainy day in New York, enticing her to stay inside, not that she could go anywhere. For the past two weeks they had been staring at each other, ordering take-out in between Instacart deliveries, and futilely doing YouTube workout videos to stay in shape. Lucy’s roots had completely grown out, but she wasn’t about to shave her own head or try to dye it one color or another. So she put on a stylish hat for her interview withModern New York Woman,wore a jacket over her T-shirt, and sat down with a fake smile on her face. Thankfully, she had never coughed for the past two weeks. Neither had Lacey, who mumbled this had all been a waste of her time.
The interview was the only shining light for the past three weeks. Lucy’s article had gone up one day after she was put into quarantine, and three days later she had a call from the editor-in-chief of this new magazine. While she couldn’t offer Lucy anything more than a part-time gig as a columnist talking about life as a young Millennial (or old Gen-Z, depending which list was consulted,) there were plenty of opportunities to do behind-the-scenes work for a more permanent gig. Either way, it would go on her CV, and the columns into her portfolio. It helped that the magazine had been impressed with not only her candid way of speaking about her experience, but her literary expertise as well. They wanted her to do more of that. More pulling in classic literature into the modern woman’s life. Lucy was already on assignment to read three Jane Austen books before the end of March. She was halfway throughEmmaand already coming up with kitschy ways to talk about being a modern matchmaker in a city where anyone can get a hookup in two seconds.
Not that she would be writing about that anytime soon. Not with her heart heavy in her chest and the uncertainty of the world outside her door.
“Let’s schedule our next meeting for Friday,” Isabel said from her home office. “Pitch me a couple of your current ideas. One thing I’d find really fascinating is a look at Jane Eyre’s childhood and comparing it to the whole pandemic thing going on right now. Doesn’t she have that little friend who doesn’t live? Clara, was it?”
“No,” Lucy curtly said. “I think you’re thinking of the wheelchair girl fromHeidi.”
“Right!Heidi!Put that on your reading list as well.”
Lucy didn’t mention she had never readHeidi.But, sure. She’d download it to her Kindle, since there was no going to the library soon. Or a used bookstore, for that matter.
She ended the call the moment her sister lightly knocked on the bedroom door. Lucy backed away from her computer, and in nothing but her blazer, T-shirt, and a pair of pajama shorts, opened the door with a breath on her lips. “What’s up?”
“How did it go?” Lacey bounced between both feet. Their cramped Brooklyn apartment may have had two bedrooms, but the whole thing was the size of a shoebox. All it took was two large leaps for Lacey to cross from the kitchen to her sister’s door, and already Lucy could smell the cheap spaghetti cooking for dinner.Spaghetti again…It was hopeless. They could barely afford the grocery delivery fees, and now that there was a run on the supermarkets, they would soon run out of toilet paper as well.What I would give to be back in a mansion right now…The bedroom suite may not have been much bigger than this apartment, but at least it got sunshine and fresh air. At least Lucy could go out onto the balcony and enjoy the view. Who knew she would want to get out of New York so badly?
“They’re interested in having me on as part-time staff for the time being. I’m sure I’ll be doing… well, God knows what. They want me to write some kind of article about Jane as a child in a time of a TB pandemic. Sounds really fun. Really timely.”
Lacey chuckled. “Hey! It’s a job! You’re gonna be a big writer yet, sis.”
“Yeah.” She tapped her finger against her chin. “You didn’t read it, right?”
