Page 90 of Purchase Power
Chapter 26
“You better watch your Rook.” Noah lifted his hand from one of his wooden Pawns, indicating he had made his move. Stacey rocked in her chair. The more she focused on their matches, the more she rocked. Soon, Noah would have to reach over and still her chair before it tipped over. “You keep leaving it open.”
Stacey bit her nail and stared at the board. Finally, she lurched forward, sniping her brother’s Pawn with a Knight that had lurked behind her Bishop. Noah chuckled. He had to admit, he didn’t see that one coming.
“Like you leave your Pawns open.” She stopped rocking, but now her head shook back and forth, hair that was nestled behind her ear now touching her nose. “Respect your Pawns. That’s what you always told me when you taught me how to play. Your Pawns do all the work.”
“That’s right. From ancient times until today, humanity has favored the type of economical systems that put so-called decision-makers at the top…” He placed his fingertip on the King, then the Queen, “with middle management and the heavy laborers on the bottom. Things aren’t that different today, I guess.”
“You’re a decision-maker,” Stacey astutely said, studying the board. “That’s why Uncle Clark made you in charge of the money in the company.”
“Uncle Clark” was what both Noah and Stacey had called their father’s best friend and business confidant long before the passing of the torch occurred. Noah hadn’t called him that in years, but Stacey still favored it. As far as she was concerned, everyone who had been an uncle still was. Even their own father still harbored some esteemed privilege in her life, not that he bothered to call her on her birthday anymore. Ever since Tonya remarried, their father had made it clear his interest in the family only lay in Noah, and that was because he was the oldest son and involved in the family business. There was no love between them.There’s nothing between us. Not even animosity or anger.That required any kind of relationship.
“Suppose that does make me a kind of decision-maker.” Noah sniffed. “I’m more like an accountant, really. I watch the money come in and out and make sure it’s properly accounted for. I’m not sure what the actual accountant does, since I’m doing all the grunt work for him.” To be fair, Noah liked it that way. He had a few opinions now and then about the best use of funds based on current trends and market observations, but for the most part, he trusted Clark Robinson and the COO to guide the family company. They hadn’t steered the world wrong yet.
The turns of the chess game continued in silence for a few blessed minutes. Noah always enjoyed digging deep into an analytical game like chess, and his sister was a worthy opponent.I taught her everything I know.It was the one game they played together as children, since Stacey was adept at logic puzzles from an early age. Even after the terrible times they endured, she continued to find solace in staring at a chess board and occasionally kicking her brother’s ass. Strange to think that, even after so much time, this was still the only game they regularly played together as brother and sister.
I wonder if Lucy likes chess…
Noah didn’t know why he continued to think about her. Lucy was behind him now. Whatever feelings he harbored, and whatever regrets he now had didn’t matter. It wasallbehind him. Lucy’s sweet voice. Her irresistible body. The heat of her skin and the delicacy that was her mouth… Noah couldn’t spare the thoughts for them any longer.
No matter how much he ached.
“Is Candace going away, too?” Stacey asked during one of her turns.
Noah looked up from his phone. “Huh?”
“Candace.” Stacey made her move, using her Rook to block one of Noah’s Knights from coming after a Pawn. “Is she going away like Debbie and Ricky?”
Debbie was one of the maids who worked beneath Candace, and Ricky was from the security staff who had taken a genuine liking to Stacey shortly after he started a few years ago. Two or three times a week he brought her candies from his wife’s convenience store in the city, and two or three times a week Stacey drew him pictures and asked him a hundred questions about his family when he was on break. It was because of him she occasionally teased her brother by only speaking in Spanish, a language Noah only knew at the most basic level.
Neither name Stacey dropped lived in Gabriel Manor. They commuted every day from the city, unlike Candace, who had her own mini-suite next to Stacey’s room.
“Candace isn’t going anywhere. In fact, she’s counting on us to stay healthy, because she has asthma. The flu that’s going around makes you cough a lot and have problems breathing, so we have to make sure Candace doesn’t get it.”
“Wash my hands for twenty seconds,” Stacey announced, upping the rocking in her chair as she wrung her hands together. “Candace says I can sing ‘Happy Birthday’ or the ‘Macarena.’ But I’ve been singing the ‘Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood Theme.’ You think that’s twenty seconds long?”
“I’m sure it’s fine,” Noah said. “Anyway, Debbie and Ricky aren’t going to be here again for a while because they’re going into quarantine. They have to look after their families in the city, and we can’t risk them bringing the sickness to our house or taking it home to their kids. Candace lives here. She’s going to still be around to take care of you.” He didn’t mention that her doctor appointments would now have to all be done over video chat. Noah was confident that Stacey would adjust, but he was afraid that after two or three weeks, she’d be confused without a proper end date to look forward to. That’s how she was, after all.
Noah didn’t mind staying home. With or without “the flu” out there, which was the simplest way they called the virus rapidly spreading across the globe. While things were more complicated than that, Stacey tended to shut down and even cry when her brother called it scary things like “the virus” or complicated gestures like “coronavirus.” So, the flu it was.
“I’m glad Candace will still be here. Is it going to be you and me, Noah?”
“Anyone who lives here will be staying inside the house. So, Candace and Bernard. Things may be a bit quiet around here, but the landscapers will still come by, and there will always be someone in the security house. You can’t get close to talk to them. Think of it as a game, Stace. Like chess.”
“Really? Like chess?”
“Yup. You have to keep your pieces away from the other ones so they don’t get knocked off the board.”
Stacey giggled. “I wish that other lady hadn’t left already. I didn’t even get to properly say hi to her. I don’t think she knew who I was at all.” That pout in her cheeks made Noah double-take. “Who was she? One of your friends?”
“Who are you talking about?” Noah softly asked.
“The blond lady in your old room.” Stacey danced around further details, although Noah knew she now spun herself into a mental fury with whatever memories she actively pushed away from her mind. “She had been staying there for quite a while. I finally got to say hi to her, then she left. I don’t think she knew who I was at all.” Stacey almost knocked their game onto the floor when she leaned forward. “Why don’t you tell your guests about me? Do you think they won’t like me? Oh, is it because I won’t like them? You always meet suchboringpeople. I’m gonna miss Ricky. Bernard never wants to talk to me.”
“Bernard shows his love through the food he makes you. Doesn’t he always make you your favorites?”
“Yes…” Although it was Stacey’s turn, she remained in no hurry to make a move. This was why they never played with a timer anymore. When it didn’t drive Stacey nuts to have so much pressure hanging over her head, the ticking droveNoahnuts. He was a patient man. He could wait ten minutes or however long Stacey needed to make her next move. That’s what phones were for, and he was addicted to a stock market app. “Who was the lady?”
