AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Here I thought I was being so calm and sophisticated.”
“You were being yourself, which—before you make a comment—is exactly what I wanted. You’ll argue otherwise, but you’re not very good when it comes to hiding your thoughts.”
“I’m not?” Impossible. She’d spent years cultivating her stone face. She knew how to block out the audience with the best of them.
However, she had been off her game since Stuart moved in. Did that mean he knew how badly she’d been struggling to keep her attraction at arm’s length?
Luckily, Stuart couldn’t see her face or he’d really be able to read her feelings. The overheated cheeks were a dead giveaway.
“How else do you think I figured out you were keeping secrets? Your eyes gave you away. They always do,” he said. “I see it all the time in depositions. Body language is a killer. Although in this case...you weren’t exactly hiding your enthusiasm.”
“I did gush a little, didn’t I?”
“A little?” Patience didn’t have to be a body language expert to read the amusement on his face.
“Okay, a lot,” she conceded. “That didn’t mean you had to buy the place. I don’t think I could be that impulsive.” She had trouble buying anything on a whim. What if you needed the cash later on?
“I told you, I had already decided—”
“Before we got there. I know what you said, but this afternoon was still the first time you saw the place. That, to me, is impulsive. How do you know you got the best place?”
He shrugged. “It’s just a condominum.”
“Just?” His comment made it sound as if he was settling, and while Patience wasn’t expecting him to gush about the place like her, she had expected him to at least care about where he lived.
“I work seventy to eighty hours a week,” he explained. “I’m hardly ever home. As long as the place is close to my office and can fit a bed, that’s all I care about.”
So he was settling. Patience wasn’t sure what saddened her more: that or how little he had in his life. Something Karl Tischel said at the dinner dance popped into her head. The one whose girlfriend dumped him. Was work the reason? Or did he work because he’d been dumped? Either way, his life sounded lonely. Correction. He sounded lonely, Patience realized.
Apparently, she wasn’t the only one who couldn’t hide her emotions.
Even so, she shouldn’t want to reach out and comfort him the way she did. Certainly not after watching him spend a million dollars without blinking an eye. What more proof did she need that they were from different worlds?
And yet his loneliness spoke to a place deep inside her, making her feel closer to him than ever.
“What’s with the take-out bag?” In Stuart’s hand was a large white paper bag with handles. On the way home, he’d insisted they stop at the local market. He made her wait outside while he went in, only to return a few minutes later with a bag of food. Patience had been curious then, and she was doubly curious now. She leaped on the topic as the perfect change of conversation.
“Dinner,” he replied. “I seem to recall promising you a picnic and fireworks.”
“Yes, you did. The best seats in Boston, you said.”
“Trust me, they are.”
Nigel sauntered into the kitchen and crouched by his empty food dish, waiting for Patience to fill it. The minute Patience crossed his path, he began weaving around and between her legs. “You’re lucky we aren’t on the stairs,” she told him.
“Don’t you mean you’re lucky?” Stuart replied. “As far as I can tell, Nigel isn’t the one who gets hurt.”
“True.” Patience thought of the photographs they’d found yesterday. Ana had once said Nigel had a “Nigel personality.” If the original was as pesky as his namesake, that might explain why he wasn’t around anymore.
Behind her, Stuart was unpacking the tote bag. She saw containers loaded with potato salad, fried chicken, fruit and chocolate cake—enough to feed a full army. “So where is this awesome picnic spot?” she asked. “Near the Boston Esplanade?”
“Nope. The roof.”
“Ana’s roof?”
“Sure. That’s why the humane society insists she throw the summer barbeques here. You won’t find a better view, not even on the Esplanade.”
He pointed to the utility closet in the corner of the kitchen. “Is the portable radio still on the shelf?”
“I think so.”
“Great. Grab it and a couple of glasses, will you? I’ll go set up the table.”
