Page 43 of Denying Davis
“Call the house tomorrow,” I said, more out of obligation than anything else. “Irving, the house manager, handles all of those details. We have a pretty busy calendar for the few weeks but—”
“Irving can work you all in, I’m sure.” Aaron flourished his hand. “And that’s exactly what we’ve all been thinking. It’s time for something a little less…crowded.”
Mitzy smiled at both of us. “Looking forward to it.” Then she waltzed away, gliding into a sea of well-dressed socialites.
“Great,” I muttered. “Just great.”
“What? She’s trying to set you up with her niece, Davis,” Aaron chided, a smirk spreading across his face. “You can do a lot worse.”
“You know what I want, and it’s not here tonight.” I scoffed. “No socialite in town is going to get me to change my mind.”
“Whatever you think, better is not across the Intracoastal, waiting for you in some dumpy apartment, moaning about her mother.”
I felt something harden inside me. He didn’t get it, and he never would. “Don’t talk about her like that.”
“Like what?”
“I know you’re against this, but she’s not beneath you, for God’s sake. Samantha might have lived a different life than we have, but that doesn’t make her less of a person.” It took all the strength I had to keep my voice even, and to not draw unwanted attention to us. The last thing my grandfather or I needed was another round of gossip about us floating around Palm Beach. “And although you are my wealth manager and my friend, I’m willing to reconsider the latter if you don’t edit your comments.”
He opened his mouth as if to reply then shut it.
“Just what I thought,” I said. “And on that note, I see some other people I need to speak with tonight.”
I gave him a curt nod and walked away. As I did, my steps became a little lighter. So what if Sam and I were from two different worlds? That hadn’t stopped us as kids. And back then, Samantha saw pastDavis “the billionaire.”
Why would it stop us now?
Was this a date? Dinner? A friend thing? After the kiss and the offer of the economic bailout, I didn’t really know. My life was upside down, that was for sure.
I also didn’t have any idea why of what I should wear. My closet didn’t have much to begin with, but I must have tried every decent combination inside it. The black skirt felt too long, my gray dress was too informal, the blue dress I’d worn to high school graduation barely fit, and the woolen shift Mom had purchased for my uncle’s funeral three years ago now seemed far too short.
That left me with one option: a royal-blue sundress with white rickrack trim on the hem. I twirled in front of the mirror and decided it was satisfactory. It had to be. I didn’t want to show up in my uniform or a bad combination of leggings and a T-shirt, which were my other main options.
I curled my hair, put on some light makeup, and drove to 346 South Ocean just before eight. My mom had looked a little more like herself that day, but she was still very weak. She’d spent most of the day sleeping, which I’d been told was the body’s way of healing itself. When I told her I’d been invited to a friend’s house for dinner, she berated me for still sitting beside her.Of course she does. Even laid up, she is still fierce and selfless.Wasn’t she as scared as I was? But once again I had listened to her request and left her in the hands of the hospital staff.
As I pulled into the long brick driveway, a shiver raced up and down my spine. The property looked different from the last time I saw it, but the same too. A long time ago, the mansion had been two separate homes, but as the Armstrong fortune grew, the family scooped up adjacent properties, renovated it all, and linked them with a catwalk. The estate also had a tennis court and several pools, all designed for entertaining and flow more than functionality.
And the memories were still there. All of them. With a gulp, I parked the car in a space near the garage.
He must have been waiting for me, because Davis walked out the back door of the house just as I began walking down the garden pathway that linked the garage with the pool and the main building.
“Hey,” he called as he jogged over. “I guess you didn’t have any trouble finding the house.”
“Nope. I remember it very well.”
“We did some renovations after Dad died. Grandfather wanted a change.” Davis wrinkled his nose and regarded the main building. “I think it was somewhat painful to have it the way things were. A lot of bad memories.” He looked back at me. “Anyway, that doesn’t have to always be the way things are, right?”
I nodded.
“We’re having dinner in the main dining room. Scallops are on the menu.”
“Sounds good.” It did. I couldn’t remember the last time I’d eaten scallops, if ever. Those didn’t make the usual grocery list.
Davis motioned for me to follow him toward the house. “Stuart, our head chef, is famous for them. Three years ago, Grandad was dining at the La Cirque in New York and decided they were the best scallops he’d ever had. He offered Stuart a job on the spot and doubled his salary. He’s been in Palm Beach ever since.”
“Must be nice,” I muttered.
Seconds later, we were through the back door and inside the mansion. Davis was right. The renovation had changed most of the décor and the layout of the house, rendering it unrecognizable to me. In a way, I found that refreshing. It felt like whatever happened that night was a new start, not a continuation of my old life.
