Page 5 of The House Guest
He pressed his fingertips together in a steeple formation. “I want to apologize about last night.”
“You were going to apologize even before I saved you from T and T?”
His eyes fell to just below my crop top ever so briefly. If you blinked, you might’ve missed it. But I didn’t. I couldn’t tell if he was admiring me or judging me for my wardrobe choices. I’d bet on the latter. After all, he’d made a condescending comment about crop tops last night.
“This morning I spoke with Benjamin,” he said. “He let me know that you’ve really helped keepthings running around here since the accident, and that the dogs, in particular, like having you around. He mirrored what you said about the dogs meaning a lot to my father, which is why I can’t bear to get rid of them, even if I don’t need the complication of pets right now.”
Nodding, I said, “Benjamin has told me nice things about the kind of person you were when you were younger, which is why your attitude last night surprised me.”
He clenched his jaw. “Yeah, well, life has hardened me since then, I guess.”
“I don’t suppose losing your father helped. I truly am very sorry for your loss, if I didn’t make that clear last night.”
He paused for several seconds, looking down at the dogs before he met my gaze again. “I have a proposition for you, Primrose.”
I straightened. “All right…”
“If you’re willing to stay at the house, keep things copacetic with the dogs and staff, I’d be happy to fund your tuition for as long as you’re living here.”
One minute he wanted to kick me out. Now he wanted to let me stayandpay for my tuition?Hello, Mr. Hyde.
“I can’t let you do that. I don’t need a handout. As much as you might think I like freeloading, I won’t accept that. My aunt never paid my tuition. But having a place to stay is much appreciated, because it’s hard finding anything remotely close to school that I’d be able to afford. So, I will take you up on the offer to continue living here.” I tilted my head. “What would you need me to do specifically, though?”
“Nothing much. Just be here…keep morale up with the staff, so I don’t have to. Or maybe just keep a look out for anything that might need to be brought to my attention. Not saying you have to manage anything formally. But I’m going to be too busy to pay close attention to what’s going on around here. And as long as there are people on the payroll, it would be helpful to have another set of eyes and ears.”
Relief washed over me as I reveled in the fact that I no longer had to look for an apartment. “I can definitely do that.”
“Good, then. Feel free to stay as long as you need.”
“You’re not selling the house anytime soon?”
“Not anytime in the near future, no. With having to take over operations at Vanderbilt Technologies, I need to be nearby, unfortunately.”
“Why unfortunately?”
“Because I’d much rather be back in Boston.”
“You don’t like it here?”
“It’ll always be home. But with that comes things I’d rather not remember.”
“Do you know what you’re doing, in terms of your father’s business?”
I was embarrassed that I didn’t exactly knowwhatVanderbilt Technologies produced. Now didn’t seem like the right time to ask, though.
“He’d been training me to work alongside him for years. Even though I’ve been based on the East Coast, we’d been working together remotely. His plan was that if anything were to happen to him, I would move into hisposition. I just never thought I’d have to take the helm so soon. I still have a lot to learn.”
“Well…” I exhaled. “I’ll stay out of your hair unless I need to let you know anything pertinent. And I’ll make sure my art stays out of the living room.”
His tone softened. “What did you do with your monkeys?”
“They’re currently in my bedroom. As you know, I was expecting to pack them into a moving truck with the rest of my stuff tonight before you so graciously got your head out of your ass. But I’ll take them back to school. They have a storage room for student projects there. Hopefully they’ll eventually be sold.”
“I see.”
I waited for him to mock my art again, but he didn’t.
I looked down at the dogs. “Anyway, you should probably try to get to know the ladies, so they don’t freak out around you again.”
