“I should catch an early train today to head back home,” I said.
“Train? Don’t bother. Let me drive you.”
“Really?” I asked. I thought he would just feed me and let me go now that he knew the truth. I was broke and near-destitute, what did he want from me anymore? I wasn’t the woman that he thought I was. Yesterday he said all the right things when I was upset but now, in the cold light of day, who was to say that he wasn’t just trying to pacify me enough to go to be with him again one more time?
I didn’t want to think that he was that kind of man, but he was another kind. He was rich. He was connected and he knew people who knew about what had happened between me and Russell. Being seen together would bring his stock value down, so to speak. I just wasn’t a suitable match for him anymore.
Anymore?
When was I ever a potentially suitable match for someone like him?
Already, I was forgetting my resolve from last night.
“I don’t mind,” he said.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“Why not? The train might be faster, but I don’t mind taking you. When’s the next time I’m going to see you?”
“I don’t think that's a good idea,” I said again.
“Why not?”
“Why? Why do you still want to deal with me? Why are you still talking to me? You know everything now. I’m not one of you. I’m a penniless, single mother who’s one step away from destitution. Is that who you want to be associated with?”
He sighed and looked at me like I was failing to understand something very simple. “I don’t care about what’s going on in your life right now. I mean, I do care. I want to help you but I don’t think being in financial straits is anything to be ashamed of. Is that what you think of me? I don’t care how much money you have or don’t have. I don’t care that you have a child with another man.”
“The people you associate with would care.”
“Who on earth do I associate with?”
“People with as many titles and as much money as you have.”
He shook his head vigorously. “Fuck every last one of them. Do you think this is about the money? I couldn’t care less about money.”
“What about the watch?”
“The watch was just the one I happened to be wearing that day. It wasn’t an heirloom. If you told me that you had sold it already, I wouldn’t have cared because it was never about the watch. It was always about you. I wanted to get to you, and I used the watch to do that. If you want it back, I can give it to you. I’ll write you the check for it, for anything you want. I don’t care about the money, I want you, Eddy.”
His blue eyes were looking back at me earnestly and he had just repeated his sentiments from last night but all I could think about was how I had gotten Missy to lend me money because I thought I had pawned a precious heirloom. “You lied to me about the watch?”
“I’m sorry for doing that but I couldn’t think of anything else I could do to get close to you. I came to Belshire for you. It’s the same reason you’re here now. I want to be with you, Eddy.”
“You know that’s impossible.”
“But why? Tell me why we can't make it work?”
I had just told him why I was undateable and he wasn’t listening. I was still upset about the watch, but he wasn't letting up as I pushed him away. He was asking me to reconsider. He was asking me to give him a chance. What the hell was this picture? Why was a man as eligible and gorgeous as him asking me to be with him after I said no? Me with a child, no money, and not a lick of common sense? This should have been the other way around.
“I…”
“You don’t feel the same way?” he asked.
“No. I do,” I admitted. It made my heart pound saying it out loud.
“Then why can't we make something work?” he asked. Because I had a child and that child was his. Once he was around Riley long enough, he was bound to find out. Prue would find out too and that would open the Pandora’s box.
“I don’t know if I’m ready to get out there again.”
“You seemed ready last night and every time we’ve been together before that,” he said.
I narrowed my eyes at him. “That’s different.”
“Is it? You said you feel the same way.”
“I don’t think my son is ready to meet anyone.”
“We can take it slow, as slow as you need. You dictate the terms.”
“I don’t think that’s going to work,” I said.
He sighed. “Can we talk about this more on the way to Belshire?” He got up, done talking, and done eating. I looked at the food, not as hungry anymore. I didn’t follow him, sipping at my coffee until it was cold already. When I got up, I went back to the room, he was half-dressed, putting clothes into a bag. Niall and I were having a slumber party, or at least he thought we were.
I had to cut him off.
25
Niall
Eddy was quiet for most of the ride to Belshire, only speaking when I spoke to her. I looked over at her in the passenger seat. Head turned, looking out the window. Her whole body angled away from me. She was sitting in the corner of the seat so she was physically as far away from me as she could get. It didn’t take a body language specialist to tell me she was uncomfortable, and the cause of
