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Took guts, what she’d done. And strength. Real strength. She was barely an adult and yet she’d kept her family together.
If her story was true, that is, and not some ploy for sympathy.
Immediately, he shook the distrust from his head. Damn, but he’d become such a skeptical jerk. Patience was telling the truth. He saw it in her eyes. At least he wanted to believe that’s what he was seeing. He wanted to believe her as badly as he wanted to hold her. Which, he thought, washing a hand over his face, was pretty damn bad.
They were two very scary realizations.
* * *
“Nigel, why do you insist on being in the one place that makes doing my job difficult?” Patience narrowed her eyes at the cat, who, as usual, was ignoring her question. He was too busy poking at imaginary enemies in Ana’s dresser drawer.
It’d been twelve long days since the dinner dance, and she was finally starting to believe that she was keeping her job. Stuart hadn’t brought up the confession again. Of course, he also made himself as scarce as possible. He was on his way out the door when she woke up, and away until she went to bed. Except for that first morning when they’d recapped the dance for Ana, he’d even taken to keeping a different visiting schedule. None of his avoidance surprised her. Understanding was one thing, wanting to associate with her was another.
Back at the club, they had a saying: Prince Charming ain’t walking through that door. No matter how good-looking or how amazing some guy might seem, the two of you weren’t going to ride off into the sunset on his white horse. She was smart enough to know the same rule applied to housekeepers and their bosses. Say she and Stuart had slept together that night. It wouldn’t have been anything more than a short-term fling, right? Being help with benefits wasn’t her style. What self-respect she had, she’d like to keep, thank you very much.
So Stuart avoiding her was a good thing. Honestly.
“Will you quit it?” She found a way out of her thoughts in time to catch Nigel snagging the lace on a pair of Ana’s undergarments. “I’m pretty sure Ana wants her clothes unmolested,” she said. The cat pawed at the air as she took the panties away and refolded them. Feeling bad that she’d disturbed his fun, Patience scratched behind his ear. She had a feeling part of Nigel’s more-than-usual peskiness was because he missed Ana. Their promise to bring him for visits, it turned out, had been a bad idea. Nigel treated the rehab facility as he did the brownstone and wandered at will. It had taken her almost an hour to find out what room he had moved into for naptime.
“Ana will be home in another few days. In the meantime, how about you give me ten more minutes, and then we’ll have a good long petting session.”
As usual, Nigel wasn’t interested in bargaining. He wanted his attention and he wanted it now. Somehow he managed to wedge his head and paws into the drawer opening, and began chewing on something.
Patience rolled her eyes. “What are you doing now? Please tell me you’re not trying to eat Ana’s underwear.” She opened the drawer and saw that the cat had found a box and was attempting to bite the corner of the cover. Her sorting and taking things the past few days must have unearthed it from the bottom of the drawer.
“You really do want to eat everything in sight, don’t you?” Lifting them both free, she plopped Nigel on the bed before placing the box on the bureau. As soon as she was finished, she’d put the box back safely at the bottom of the drawer.
A knock sounded behind her. “Somehow I didn’t picture you as a granny panties kind of girl,” Stuart said. The sound of his voice made her stomach tumble. Swallowing back the reaction, she glanced over her shoulder. “I’m putting away Ana’s laundry and packing some new items. You know, for a woman with expensive tastes, she has the most disorganized drawers I’ve ever seen.”
It didn’t skip Patience’s notice that only a week before, he would have questioned what she was doing rather than make a joke. While she was touched by the show of trust, she sort of missed the protection her defensiveness gave her. When he was nice, it made keeping her distance that much harder.
“Surprised to see you here so early,” she said. Here at all, really.
“We closed shop early for the holiday, and since Ana takes her post Physical Therapy nap around this time, I figured I’d work at home.”
“That’s right, tomorrow’s Fourth of July.” With all the coming and going, she’d forgotten the date. “Ana told me once how she usually has a barbecue on the roof deck.”
“Barbecue in the sense that she has a caterer bring in barbecued chicken,” Stuart replied. “She and her humane society buddies have been doing it for years.”
