Page 28 of The House Guest
“Why wouldn’t he? You’re beautiful.”
“Well, thank you.” She sighed, looking back out toward the ocean. “Anyway, that one night was the first of many where I stayed late. It wasn’t sexual at first. He opened up to me a lot about his first wife, Dorian’s mother, and his regrets when it came to her. He talked about how he got started in his business. He seemed very comfortable around me, and I think he trusted me.” She paused.
My stomach tightened. This sounded a heck of a lot like what I’d been experiencing with Dorian.
“Eventually, one thing led to another. And things continued like that for several months.”
“You were basically dating or…”
“Well, if you want to call it that. He never took me anywhere. That should have been the very first red flag. And he was careful never to define anything. But I was all too eager to play along because being with him was the most exciting thing that had ever happened to me. I wish I’d had the self-esteem to insist on better, but I just didn’t at the time.”
“So it went on for months, and then what?”
“Then one day, like clockwork, he stopped asking me to stay after my shift. He started working at the office later and avoiding me at home. When I confronted him about it, he admitted that he was sorry, but he couldn’t continue what he’d started with me. He explained that he wasn’t in any way ready for a relationship. He said he’d thought we were just enjoying spending time together, but he sensed I was getting attached, so he needed to nip it in the bud before I got hurt. He said he didn’t want to continue to send me false messages about where things stood between us.”
I felt so bad for her. “That must’ve been hard.”
“He told me he hoped I wouldn’t leave my position. And I made the difficult decision to stay. I didn’t need to lose my job on top of everything else.” She closed her eyes for a moment. “A few weeks later, he brought your aunt home for the first time.”
“No…” My mouth dropped open in shock. “He left you for her?”
“He was never reallywithme. I believe now that he was just using me to pass the time until something better—in his eyes—came along. Someone he deemed worthy of him.” She shook her head. “The truth is, men like the Vanderbilts don’t stay with good womenlike you and me. They end up with their own kind: rich, entitled—people with the same pedigree. They have a type. It’s ingrained in them, whether they know it or not.”
That assertion confused me a bit. “My aunt didn’t come from money, though…”
“No. But she was successful when he met her and presented herself as worldly. She was glamorous and very good at adapting to his life. She was also thick-skinned and fit in well with the people he surrounded himself with. She was a level of beautiful that matched the image he wanted to portray to the outside world.” Patsy smiled. “Don’t get me wrong. You’re just as beautiful as your aunt. But Christina was tough. She gave me the impression that if things didn’t work out between them, she would just move on to someone else. You strike me as more like me: sensitive and vulnerable to the pain that comes from falling for a man who can never be with one woman.”
Ouch.
Those words were hard to swallow. Mostly because she might’ve been right. Patsy was definitely pushing my buttons right now, bringing to the surface all the insecurities I had about my developing feelings for Dorian. This made me feel like my hopes were foolish. Perhaps any kind of future with Dorian was nothing more than a pipe dream.
“There’s nothing going on with Dorian and me,” I finally said.
“If you say so. I just want you to be careful. I don’t know him well enough to understand what he’s like. But I’m looking out for you.”
It brought me some relief to know she didn’t have any real basis for distrusting Dorian. But it made sense based on her experience with his father.
“I appreciate you sharing that with me, Patsy. I’m honestly still shocked. Does anyone else know?”
“I confessed everything to Benjamin some time ago. He picked up on the change in me after everything went sour. I needed to tell someone.”
“Was he as surprised as I am?”
“Benjamin has been around here a lot longer than I have and has seen a lot of things, apparently. He saidnothingsurprised him when it came to Remington.”
Interesting.“I don’t understand how you were still able to work here, especially once he married my aunt. I don’t think I’d be able to do that.”
“A few reasons,” she explained. “First, I really needed the job. I have a mortgage to pay. Second, I didn’t want to let him win, which he would have if I’d cowered and run away. But I’m ashamed to admit, there was a part of me that still had feelings for him, even if they couldn’t go anywhere after he married Christina. I wasn’t ready to let the idea of him go.”
Dread rose in my stomach. “And nothing happened between you and him once he was married to Christina?”
She reached her hand across the table. “I wouldn’t have done that, Primrose. I hope you know that.”
I let out the breath I’d been holding. “Well, I’m relieved to know he didn’t try anything.”
“He didn’t try anything with me. But he wasn’t faithful.”
Nausea quickly returned, my stomach like a rollercoaster. “You know that for a fact?”
