5. Invade His Privacy
5
INVADE HIS PRIVACY
M an, things were progressing faster than she thought since Angel was inside Coy’s house the very next day.
Not that he was going to be here by the sounds of it. Or that she was here for the reason that she’d like to be.
But it was a start and she’d take anything she could get.
“Come in, everyone,” Spencer said, opening the front door wide. She should have expected to see such a grand house by the water.
She was still blown away by it.
It seemed to be a mixture of old and new from the outside. As if it was an older home with additions to it.
“You seem right at home here,” her mother said to her brother.
“I’m here enough,” Spencer said. “I’ve got my own room and all.”
Her brother was smirking and opened the door wider for them to go in. “The size is deceiving,” Angel said.
From the outside, it looked to have been a small cottage, maybe even one story and an upper floor added on, but now she could see back quite a bit into the home. There was a wall of glass and the water in the distance. He was high up so had a nice view of the water between here and Plymouth.
“It’s changed a lot since he bought it,” Spencer said. They followed her brother to what looked to be an addition. “This was added on about five years ago. This was just a small cottage. Maybe twelve hundred square feet or so. One story with an attic. He had his brother build up to double the size and then doubled it back here too. But as you can see, a lot of it is open to the ceiling in here.”
“Geez,” she said. “Why would he need this much room?”
Spencer shrugged. “Why not? Lots of walls were knocked down to rearrange things. The rooms had been small prior. I can give you a tour if you want.”
“No,” her mother said. “No reason to invade his privacy like this.”
Spencer shrugged. “Doesn’t matter to Coy. I’ve got a suite upstairs. These ceilings only go up about three-fourths of this area. Over there is my suite. It has a balcony off it too.”
“I would think that would be the primary,” his father said.
“He’s got the primary on the first floor,” Spencer said. “Which goes out on the deck too. He has a beach down the slope. Not hard to get to, but you have to walk the stairs down.”
Angel moved over and opened the glass doors. Spencer came next to her and pushed them out like an accordion.
This was just too much for her.
She knew Coy had family money, but damn, it was pretty intimidating and something she hadn’t put a whole lot of thought in.
“That’s so pretty,” she said, looking at the landscaping around and the beach on the way down.
“It’s nice to sit out here at night or go down by the water and have a fire.”
“I bet,” she said. “This first floor is pretty open.”
The kitchen flowed into a dining room off to the side and then the massive family room. All three of those rooms had a view out the windows and high ceilings.
She was assuming to the left was the primary suite that Spencer talked about, but she didn’t see a door. It was her hope to see that room one day but not when her parents were here.
When they came in the front door she’d seen what looked to be a formal living room that probably never got used and then a hallway with a few doors.
Most likely his office, maybe another bathroom or laundry room.
The stairs were back here too.
“The upstairs has four bedrooms and three full baths,” Spencer said.
“That’s a lot,” her mother said. “Does he clean them all?”
Angel started to laugh. “I’m willing to bet he has someone come to clean for him if he has a house like this.”
“He does,” Spencer said. “But only once a month I think. He’s pretty neat. Anyway, my suite is the largest. Yes, I’m boasting because that suite isn’t much smaller than my whole apartment in New York City. Then two rooms have a bathroom between them and then another bathroom in the hallway for that third room. My suite has a nice walk-in shower that could fit three people in it.”
“You’re bragging as if you’ve tried that,” she said and hoped to hell it hadn’t happened or that Coy wasn’t into that type of thing.
“Guess he wants a big family,” her mother said, looking at her.
She didn’t flinch or change her facial features.
She wanted kids someday, but she wanted to spend some time on her career too.
Kids were in her grand plan in the next few years.
Spencer shrugged. “We don’t talk about that shit. But considering how close he is to his family, I’d say yes. One of the rooms upstairs is for his niece and nephew when they stay.”
“He keeps them on another floor?” she asked.
“Now he does,” Spencer said. “He’s got a sitting area or something in his suite that they stayed in when they were younger.”
Which just went to prove how much planning he did for a family.
She hadn’t thought that far in advance other than it wasn’t in her plan anytime soon.
He was older than her. She wanted kids, but her career had to come first. She’d spent too much time and money on it.
And why was she even thinking of that stuff? It had no place in her brain at this point.
If her career was first, that was exactly what she was going to focus on.
“Where do you want all this food?” she asked. Her father carried most of the bags in, but she had the dessert they picked up.
“Dad already set it on the counter,” Spencer said. “If you were paying attention. Tell me what you need and I’ll find it, or you can look around for what you want.”
“I don’t feel right doing that,” her mother said.
“Consider it my place,” Spencer said.
Her parents were unloading their bags. They’d picked up steaks to grill and were going to make a pasta and potato salad. Easy things. Angel grabbed dessert from a bakery when her parents were at the grocery store.
She opened the fridge and put the yellow cake with strawberry and cream filling in there.
Lots of healthy foods in here, some beer, and a lot of water.
She didn’t think Coy was boring, but he almost looked it by the contents of his fridge.
Did she fall in love with a guy by his looks alone? Where were his chips and salsa? How about chocolate?
Good lord, what was she supposed to eat if she came over? Fruit? Blah. Not for a snack.
When no one was looking she opened his freezer, there was at least a container of ice cream. Vanilla.
Urgh. Boring!
“Are the pans in the pantry over there?” she asked.
“I think there are some in there,” Spencer said. “Some of the bigger ones.”
Angel opened the pantry door and almost sighed in relief when she saw a bunch of snacks on one side. Chips and pretzels. A container of peanut butter M&Ms. Jackpot. But why the heck was it in the pantry like this? She’d have it on the counter where she could stick her hand in it every time she walked by.
Which might be why it was in the pantry. Duh.
The pantry was about the size of a small bedroom and she turned and saw pots and pans neatly arranged and grabbed two. One for the pasta and one for the potatoes.
“Here you go, Mom,” she said.
She set them down by the pot filler for her mother to put the water in that she needed.
“Have you learned to cook yet?” her mother asked.
“I can cook,” she said. “I just don’t do a lot of it. I haven’t had time and it’s not really all that exciting for one person.”
“You shouldn’t be eating junk food,” Spencer said. “It’s not healthy.”
She growled at her brother. She spent so many years of her life having everything viewed under a microscope.
What she put in her mouth.
How much sleep she had.
The amount of exercise she did.
When it was time to go away to college, maybe she let loose a bit.
It’s not as if she gained any weight.
She got even stronger with her exercise routine, but she did let the whole nutrition thing slide.
You’ve got to live a little and it was a good stress reliever to munch on chocolate.
M&M’s, to be exact.
And she found it funny that Coy had them too.
She didn’t care what kind or flavor, she just liked that they were little and it didn’t feel as if you were eating much—until you made your way through a whole bag.
Which had happened more times than she cared to recall.
“I’m not going to live my life in a bubble,” she said. “I did it enough. Some chocolate ice cream or chips isn’t going to kill me.”
“But it could clog your arteries.”
“There is nothing wrong with my arteries. I had a hole in my heart that grew rather than closed. My arteries are fine. Probably better than yours. It’s not as if I eat like that daily.”
“Children,” her father said. “Spencer. Let your sister go. She’s an adult just like you. And she’s right.”
“I thought you were watching out for her as much as me,” Spencer said to his father.
She saw her father look at her mother, form a frown, and then put his head down as if he was warned not to say anything.
“Ha,” she said. “See. Let me live a little, please, Spencer.”
“Fine,” her brother said. “Coy is going to keep an eye out for you anyway. I already had the talk with him.”
“Your lips are twitching and your nose is scrunched. You don’t want it to stay that way,” her mother said. “Chop up these vegetables while I peel the potatoes. Todd, get a beer for you and Spencer and get out of this beautiful kitchen and go enjoy the view before Angel unleashes hail-force winds on your overbearing butts.”
Her father went to the fridge and pulled out two of the beers he bought and then started to open cabinets until he found glasses and poured them.
Once the men were out of sight, she turned to her mother. “Say it. I know there is something on your mind.”
“Nothing,” her mother said.
“Yes,” she argued. “There is. What?”
“Just that I want you to be careful,” her mother said. “I can see the reaction on your face over everything. From his house to what is in cabinets. Your mind is on overdrive.”
Her shoulders dropped. “I thought I knew Coy so well.”
“You know him as Spencer’s best friend. You’ve talked to him multiple times over the years and have heard about him. But you don’t know him. You don’t know his likes or dislikes. You didn’t know how large his house was or that he might want a big family.”
“I want kids,” she said.
“I know you do. But I also know you’ve spent a lot of time in school and are eager for that too.”
“You’re getting ahead of yourself,” she said.
“No,” her mother said. “I think you’re the one that has things going through their mind like that. What I want you to do is focus on your new job. Nothing more. Don’t push other things. Don’t rush. If they happen, they do, but if they don’t, don’t be upset either. Remember, that was a young person’s fantasy and dreams. You’re a woman now.”
Angel blinked her eyes a few times. “Thanks for that,” she said. “Sometimes I think everyone forgets I’m a woman.”
“They would have if I let you attack your brother and father like you did as a teen, which is why I kicked them out. Your face said it all and I’ll give you a word of advice. You’ll need to control those things if you want to be looked at as more than Spencer’s baby sister in Coy’s eyes.”