Page 98 of The House Guest
Oh no.
Shit. Shit. Shit!
I’d accidentally liked the photo. I immediately unliked it. But the damage had been done. People got notifications whenever someone liked one of their photos, even if the liker retracted it. It was too late to take back my mistake. Candace didn’t have very many followers. It seemed to be just close family and friends, even if her photos were public. So she wouldn’t likely miss the notification.
Fuck!
But it was time to pick Rosie up. So I swallowed my humiliation and put my phone away. Dread knotted in my stomach the entire way to the preschool. It lightened a bit as I saw my smiling daughter running toward the car.Get back to reality, Primrose.
The teacher opened the door and got her settled in the backseat.
“You look like you had a good day, honey.”
My daughter squealed in delight. “We got to pet the animals!”
“We had the animal man come today,” her teacher explained. “He brought all sorts of critters with him. The kidsloved it.”
“Which one was your favorite?” I asked her.
“The iguana. Can we get one, Mommy?”
“Maybe someday.”
As we drove off, I tried my best to focus on the road and clear my mind so I could be present for my daughter for the rest of the afternoon.
When we got home, I made her a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and sat with her as we chatted more about the animals she’d encountered at school.
After, since the weather was decent today, I took her outside so she could play on the swing set Casey had recently assembled in the yard. I pulled up two chairs—one for sitting and one to kick my legs up on. My nerves activated again as I opened Instagram. This time, there was a new message request from Candace. My stomach dropped.Oh no.
This was my biggest nightmare. She had to know I was stalking Dorian. And if there was any doubt about it, I’d liked theonephoto of him and his new girl to prove it.
I cringed.
Though I wished I could put off reading her message until after Rosie went to bed tonight, curiosity was killing me. So I clicked on it. Because we weren’t following each other, I had the option to accept the message or not. Once I accepted, though, she’d see that I’d read it. So, I opted to read it first and then decide whether to accept.
Hey, Primrose. I hope it’s okay that I’m messaging you. I saw that you’d liked one of my photos. I then clicked over to your account to make sure it was you. You lookbeautiful, and your daughter is absolutely adorable. It’s so great to see you after all this time. Dorian told me a bit about his trip to Ohio. He said you got emotional when he told you about my remission. That really touched me. I’ve wanted to reach out to you for a long time now but didn’t want to overstep. I know the situation between you and Dorian is complicated. I just wanted to say hello and let you know I was thinking of you. I also followed you. I hope that’s okay. If you ever want to talk, I won’t say anything to the guys.
I had to stop for a moment to process that. She’d also given me her phone number and encouraged me to call her.What good could possibly come from that?However, I did appreciate her saying she wouldn’t discuss any conversations we had with Chandler or Dorian. I believed her, even if that might’ve been dumb. Candace had always struck me as a real girls’ girl. I didn’t take her to be a liar. Yet I couldn’t accept the message yet. Would it be a good idea to engage? That was a slippery slope. If I never accepted the message, she could assume I never saw it. That might be one way to leave well enough alone, if I could curb my curiosity.
What Dorian was up to these days wasn’t any of my business. Talking to her would tempt me to ask about him, and then I’d become privy to information I had no right to have—unless, of course, it was coming from Dorian himself.
***
A couple of days went by, and I hadn’t responded to Candace’s message. The more time that passed, the more I told myself it was better to let sleeping dogs lie. It wouldn’t be good to obtain information I had no right to know.Probably I should take it one step further and stop checking her damn page altogether.
Monday when Rosie was at school, though, I had an abrupt change of heart. Or maybe I just stopped kidding myself. Either way, I accepted the message. Ultimately, that’s what I wanted. And now that she could see I’d viewed it, I needed to respond.
Hey, Candace! It’s so good to hear from you. I have to admit, I’m a bit embarrassed for being caught stalking your page. But if it gave me the opportunity to say hello, it was worth it. Your kids are gorgeous, and needless to say, I’m very happy to see you looking so vibrant and healthy. My Rosie is a handful but also a joy. I’m happy we’re both getting to experience motherhood. It’s truly a gift. Thank you for taking the time to reach out to me.
I decided to leave it at that and not say anything about a phone call. I closed the app feeling relieved about putting the whole thing behind me.
But after making a quick snack, I checked my messages again and saw that Candace responded.
It’s great to hear from you! Let me know when you have time to chat. If you’re around in the next hour, my kids are out getting an early breakfast with Chandler. Might be a good time to talk.
She’d left her number again and clearly didn’t want to drop the phone-call thing.
I looked at the time on the message, and she’d sent it five minutes ago. Wouldn’t it be rude not to call her? If I was going to do this, better to get it over with and not miss the window.
