Page 91 of Purchase Power
Noah sighed. As much as he tried to hide Lucy from Stacey, who would never in a million years understand what was going on between them, he apparently failed.I wonder if Candace knows about it.If she did, that meant she kept it from Noah, and he never knew what to make of Candace keeping the occasional secret.
“She was a friend of mine, yes. I’m sorry, Stace, she was a very busy lady.” Shit, wasn’t that the truth? Noah kept her busy at all odd hours.And if Stacey knew about those details, that would be it for her.Unfortunately, Stacey knew about sex. It was the nature of Noah’s relationship with Lucy. Not just the paying her part, buthowthey did it, andwhere.The guest suite bedroom would have been triggering enough for Stacey. The living area, where Noah hadn’t been able to hold himself back from taking Lucy on the couch more than once?
He was awash in shame now.
“Is she coming back?” Stacey asked.
“No. I’m afraid not.”
Finally, Stacey made a move. “She was really pretty. She seemed really nice. Maybe you should date her, Noah. When are you gonna get married? You’re so old now.”
Noah shook his head. “I just turned thirty. That’s far from old. No hurry to get married.”
“You should get a pretty wife who likes to draw and play chess!”
“Am I getting a wife, or are you getting a new friend?”
Stacey thought about that for a moment. “Can have both, right?”
“I suppose so.”
Her grin reassured Noah for now. After their game concluded with Stacey taking his King, Noah escorted her to bed, gave her a kiss goodnight, and promised to have lunch with her the next day, as always.
He didn’t immediately go back to his room, however. He detoured away from Stacey’s door and knocked on Candace’s. It was late enough for the housekeeper to be dressed down in her robe and settling in for the night, but they had known each other long enough for neither to be bothered by such casual airs during these times. Candace invited him in, closed the door behind him, and offered some tea she brewed in her electric kettle.
“No, thank you.” It was bad enough she brought him tea and coffee throughout the day. The last thing he would do was impose upon her personal stores in the room she kept since he was younger.She moved in when she became the steward, but it’s always felt like she’s lived here.Sometimes, Noah wondered if Candace became committed to the family after finding out what happened to the children. She had still been an impressionable age when it occurred twenty-five years ago. “May I be frank with you, Candace?”
“Of course, Mr. Gabriel.” She sat across from him at a small table with a single daisy in the center. The white crocheted doily beneath it added a homey flair. This was perhaps the most unassuming living quarters in the entire house, since Stacey’s suite still looked like a fairy-tale storybook. “What’s on your mind?”
A million things, but that was too frank. Candace was the one person Noah trusted above all others in his house, let alone now, when it was down to the four of them. Candace was single-handedly responsible for cleaning everything outside of the main kitchen now that the other indoor staff were asked to stay home. Perhaps Noah and Stacey didn’t make too much of a mess, but it was still difficult for one woman.I wonder if she’s worried about her family.Candace had relatives in New York City. Surely, she worried.
“With the state of things right now,” Noah began, “I’m worried about her. Perhaps that is foolish of me, but I can’t stop thinking about getting sick in New York. And she lives with her sister. Or is it her mother? More people to worry about.”
“It can’t be helped, I suppose. There’s much going on in New York right now, and you cared about Ms. Craig.”
“Yes… thankfully, not much has come from that article.” Either his friends and business associates didn’t read trending lifestyle pages, or Lucy got so many facts wrong that nobody saw him in there. Not even David had said anything. Nothing beyond his daily reports about his relationship with Kelsey, all the way up to scoring big. Noah had to feign happiness for his best friend. David was now so in love with his own supposed escort (who, of course, wasn’t an escort, like Lucy) that he was barely returning Noah’s messages. Not that they could meet up now. All socializing was futile.
Candace sipped her tea. “May I be bold and make a crazy suggestion?”
Noah glanced up from the table. “Of course.”
“Why don’t you invite her and whomever she lives with here?”
Noah wasn’t sure he heard Candace correctly at first. “Invite her… here? Do you not remember what happened the last time I went to New York to meet her? Not to mention, I would be an idiot to go to New York right now.” He didn’t want to risk bringing an infection back to his house. “How would that even work? You’re assuming she would say yes.”
“I don’t presume to know her heart’s current condition, Mr. Gabriel,” Candace said, “but I would hazard a guess that she was in love with you as well. Consider it a goodwill gesture. We have more than enough room here for her and another. It would undoubtedly be safer, assuming they are healthy and are willing to quarantine themselves upon arrival.”
“Are you sure you’re not lonely, Candace?”
She smiled. “I think that, if Ms. Craig is willing, it’s high time for her to have a proper meeting with your family. She should know the truth, and not whatever story she threaded together based off a few internet articles.”
Noah knew what that meant.Stacey.Before, he would have been nervous-but-ecstatic to have the two finally meet and potentially develop a friendly relationship. Now?I don’t know what to expect.Lucy had all the facts wrong, but would she be willing to hear the truth? Nothing in that article articulated what Stacey was really like. What had become of her since childhood.
What had happened to her. To Noah. Mostly to Stacey.
Noah caught Candace’s eyes again. “I’ll think on it. It’s a lot to do for someone who doesn’t wish to see me again right now. Besides, she’s the one who has it all wrong.”
“Ah, but Mr. Rochester,” Candace teased him, “you need to understand that from fair Jane’s point of view,you’rethe one who married his own stepsister and keeps her locked away in your big, scary manor.”
“I wish everyone would stop calling me that. I’m not like that man at all. For one thing, I’m much better looking.”
“Oh, I don’t know. I recently rewatched the movie, and that Michael Fassbender isn’t too bad to look at. But I don’t know if I would say he’s more handsome than you. I make a point to not see a man I consider my nephew that way.”
“You have always been gracious to my sister and me, Candace.” Noah sighed. “I wish there was more I could do for you.” He had already sent extra money to her family so they could stock up on supplies and hunker down in their New York apartments. He was willing to give them whatever they needed, for Candace meant that much to him.
Candace put a hand on his. It was warm from the cup she once held in it. “Give yourself some personal happiness, Mr. Gabriel. I think a woman like Ms. Craig could bring great warmth to this household.”
Noah considered that for a moment. His mind was made up mere seconds later.
