“I don’t think my job is to keep it safe from an invasion. I think it’s to make sure that when he is feeling random and wants to show up whenever it won’t be dusty and he’ll have food to eat. I have a list of stuff I have to keep stocked in the pantry at all times and let me tell you, the dude likes wine and sugar.”
“A man after my own heart.”
I took a deep breath and confessed. “He showed up here last night.”
“What? On your first night? That seems creeper. Are you okay? What’s he like?”
That was a more loaded question than she could ever imagine. The ground was making my ass numb. I stood up and brushed at the seat of my jeans. “He’s not what I was expecting. He looks like a model for a cologne ad. Rugged and sexy. He came with his dog, drank a glass of wine, ate a doughnut, built a fire, slept here, then left this morning.”
“Rich people are freaks. Why did he come all the way from New York for like a twelve-hour stay?”
“He said he got called back to the city, whatever that means.”
“He didn’t hit on you, did he?”
Amelia was tugging hard on the leash, so I started walking again. “Cat, I love you, but you need to stop with this idea that there are actually men hitting on me. It doesn’t happen. Ever.”
“You’re just blind to it. You’re so used to tuning out criticism, you tune out compliments too without realizing it.”
And she was biased. That was all there was to it. “He did not hit on me. His ex-wife looks like one of the real housewives. I don’t think I’m his type, so you can rest assured my hymen isn’t in jeopardy.”
“Don’t joke about that. I worry about you.”
Sometimes you just had to laugh, or you would sob. “I’m fine. I’m living in a big ass house with a fully stocked fridge. I have a queen bed and I’ve never seen so many scented candles in my life. I’m better than fine. I’m awesome, actually.”
I was. Fuck Devin Gold and his amber eyes that made me feel inadequate. Fuck my insecurities and my fears.
“Hold on. I’m getting a text.”
I pulled my phone out and touched the screen to read the text from a number I didn’t have saved in my contacts.
Just an FYI, not returning to Richfield this week. Probably won’t be back until December.
Obviously Mr. Gold. Who also obviously assumed I had immediately saved his number in my phone since he didn’t say who he was in the text.
Another text buzzed. If A is a problem let me know. I can come back for her.
“Let me call you back,” I told Cat, after putting the phone up to my ear. “It’s the master of the manor texting me.”
She made a snorting sound. “Nice. Okay, call me later. And send me pictures of his house.”
“No!”
“I’m not going to post them online. I just want to see the inside.”
“You can just come over, you know.”
“Are you allowed to have people over?”
Now that she mentioned it, I had no idea. “Let me get back to you on that.”
After I hung up with Cat, I stood on the hard-packed dirt and let the wind pummel me. It smelled like rain was coming and the gusts made me wish I had kept my hair short instead of growing it out of sheer boredom. The strands were repeatedly getting tangled in my eyelashes and sticking to my lips. My fingers were starting to numb from the cold but I didn’t want to go back to the house yet.
I texted Devin back.
K. A is fine with me. Am I allowed to have friends over?
After saving his number as Gold Daddy I started to tuck the phone away, assuming it would be awhile before he got back to me. I was startled when it buzzed immediately in my hand.
Like a boyfriend?
No. My foster sister and her boyfriend. To hang out.
That’s fine. No overnight guests.
So what, he didn’t want me having sex in his house? Like I would ever even contemplate that. If I were having sex with anyone. Which I wasn’t. And never had.
Well, aside from myself.
God. I had to really figure out how to ask if there were cameras in the house. But if I did, he would assume I was intending to do something I wasn’t supposed to.
K, thanks.
Make sure you lock up and don’t walk around alone at night.
Was this what it felt like to have a father? The last thing I wanted was for him to go all paternal on me. Not when I was pretty sure I could orgasm just by looking at him. Weird. It was all just weird.
Yes, sir.
He sent me a face with its eyes rolling in exasperation.
I laughed, all alone on the coast, without another human being in sight.
My phone rang, indicating an actual call. Gold Daddy. The name so didn’t suit him. Not to me anyway.
“Hello?” I said, suddenly nervous.
“Hey, it’s Devin.” There was a rustling as he adjusted his phone.
What, like now he was going to announce himself? “Hi.” I waited for him to explain why he was calling. I could hear voices in the background.
“Yes, the ahi tuna,” he said. “Thank you.”
He was ordering dinner. I kept waiting, suddenly annoyed. I didn’t want to be multi-tasked.
“Tuna is ick,” a female voice said, loudly enough that I could hear the words clearly, register her horror. I wondered if he had me on speaker phone.
“No one said you had to eat it,” Devin said mildly. “Tiffany?”
Right there. Waiting patiently. It’s what I did. “Yes.”
“I just wanted to let you know that you can take Amelia off her leash. She’ll come back to you if you call for her.”
“Okay.” He could have texted that to me.
“Who are you talking to?” the female voice whined. “God, it’s like every two seconds you’re on the phone.”
“It’s business, sweetheart. Daddy has to pay the bills.”
I just about threw up in my mouth. Could he sound more patronizing? Could she sound more bratty and stupid?
“This wind sucks, it ruined my hair. Though I mean, I am lucky I can usually work the windswept look,” unknown woman said.
Nice complain-a-brag. She’d done that like a pro. I had zero problem picturing the woman he was with- tall, blonde, tan.
“Most of us did get the short end of the genetic stick compared to you,” he told her.
How could he foster that arrogance? How could he not be annoyed with her? She was as ick as ahi tuna. I made faces at Amelia, and stabbing gestures towards the phone.