13. Stephanie
STEPHANIE
Stephanie awoke the following morning to the sound of her phone ringing on the charger.
She squeezed her eyes closed. She didn’t know what time it was, but it felt way too early for anyone to be calling. The ringing didn’t stop, though, and eventually she was forced to get out of bed and grab the phone. The number was one she didn’t recognize. “Hello?” she grunted.
“Ms. Vincent?”
It took her a moment to recognize the voice. “Mr. Norcross?”
“I’m glad I caught you. I emailed you a few times this morning, but you haven’t answered.”
She pulled the phone back from her face and peered at the time. It was seven forty-five a.m. “I was asleep,” she told him.
“Oh.” He sounded surprised. “Okay, then.”
“Did something happen?” The night before came crashing back.
Had she and Elijah been seen at the pier?
Had they been photographed? Everything that had happened had felt secretive at the time, like an escape from the rigors of trying to please Oliver.
But now Stephanie couldn’t help thinking just how careless they had been.
She wouldn’t be able to pretend surprise at all if it turned out they had been caught.
“Nothing happened,” Oliver said, and Stephanie breathed a sigh of relief. “I’m calling because I wanted to find out about your upcoming plans with Elijah.”
“My plans?” She walked back over to her bed and sank down on it, willing her mind to catch up. “I’m not sure we have any plans at the moment. What do you mean?”
“Well, now that the app has launched, our official agreement is over,” Oliver said.
“It seemed like the time for the two of us to get in touch and renegotiate. That is, if you’re willing to do that.
I’d like the arrangement to go on a little longer.
It’s been good for Elijah. It’s kept him out of trouble.
I mean, what happened last night wasn’t ideal, but that wasn’t your fault. ”
“What are you referring to?” Had he found out somehow?
“Oh, just the way he ran off in the middle of the party,” Oliver said mildly. “People were asking me questions all night. And frankly, that was a hassle. But I know you couldn’t have stopped him. He practically pulled you out by the arm.”
Stephanie closed her eyes. Her stomach churned.
Sitting on the beach with Elijah last night, listening to him open up about what it was like to deal with his father, she had felt such empathy for him.
Empathy, and also, guilt for the fact that she had aligned herself with the man who was responsible for so much of his suffering.
She had let herself forget about all that in the heat of the moment, but she couldn’t forget it now.
It was impossible not to wonder what would happen if Elijah knew that she was on the phone with his father right now.
He would feel so betrayed. And honestly, who could blame him for that?
He would have been right to feel betrayed because he was being betrayed. She was betraying him.
She drew a deep breath. This was the agreement she had made. But now things were different.
Elijah had asked to go on seeing her last night.
And now, this morning, his father was asking for the same thing. That the two of them keep seeing each other.
What was more, Stephanie herself wanted it. She wanted to spend more time with Elijah. She didn’t want this thing, whatever it was, to be at an end.
She smiled wryly to herself. There should be no conflict in any of that. On paper, it seemed like the three of them all wanted the same thing. It should have been easy.
But if she saw Elijah again, Stephanie knew that she would be making a choice. A significant one.
Either she would be continuing to see him for his own sake, because he had asked her to and because she valued what was starting to grow between them—or she would be doing it as a continuation of her agreement with Oliver.
It couldn’t be both. She had to choose between Elijah and Oliver here. She had to decide who her priority was.
Of course, the other option was not to see him anymore at all. That had been the original plan, and if she chose that, she would never have to decide. She could count her agreement with Oliver complete. He would likely give her the loan—after all, he was an honorable businessman.
But if she did that, she would be betraying herself. She would be turning away from what she wanted.
Could I really do that? Do I have it in me?
“So what do you think?” Oliver pressed her.
“Will you see him again? I’d like us to continue our arrangement a little longer, as I said.
We can go week by week. Even one more week would be incredibly helpful to me.
And we can talk about increasing the amount of the loan, or if there’s something else I can do to make it worth your while…
if there’s anything you can think of, please let me know.
Just having him seen around town with you is making a big difference, I think.
That article really showed me what was possible. ”
Stephanie gritted her teeth.
She still didn’t know what her decision was.
She still didn’t know how to choose between Oliver and Elijah.
If she told Oliver that she was going to continue seeing Elijah because they had formed a real bond, it would be only a matter of time before Elijah found out why she had come into his life in the first place.
Maybe it’s unavoidable. Maybe he’s going to find out about that no matter what I do.
There was one thing she did know for sure, though. The realization had hit her the moment she had opened her mouth to answer Oliver’s question—and had realized that there was one answer she wouldn’t be able to force out, no matter what.
“Yes,” she told Oliver. “Of course I’d like to go on.”
“Well, that’s great.” She could hear relief in his voice. He’d really wanted this. “We can renegotiate the terms when you’re ready. I’ll give you some time to think about what you’d consider appropriate, and then you can email me—we should probably have it in writing, don’t you think?”
She hummed noncommittally. The idea of having it in writing made it worse somehow. Maybe she could tell him she didn’t want any further compensation—but how could she possibly say that? It would make the whole thing look suspicious and incomprehensible.
“I’ll email you,” she said, though she had no idea what the contents of that email would be.
“Good,” Oliver said. “And I’ll reach out to you as well. One way or another, we’ll get this all squared away. I’m so glad we’re going to go on working together, Ms. Vincent—or may I call you Stephanie now, since we have an established relationship?”
The use of her first name made Stephanie cringe, but how could she refuse?
“Stephanie is fine.” Even now, Elijah might be thinking about introducing her to his father.
He had wanted to do that at the event last night, she thought.
She’d believed he was going to. If it hadn’t been for the argument between the two of them, it would have happened.
She hung up the phone, feeling shaky and ill-equipped to manage everything that was on her mind.
One day, before too long, that idea she had just imagined would become a reality.
There would be no avoiding it. She would be in a room with Elijah and Oliver at the same time, and an introduction would be made.
And when that happened, she would have to pretend that she was meeting Oliver for the first time.
He would play along, of course, but she had never expected to find herself so reluctant to lie to Elijah.
I should end this right now, she realized.
It wasn’t going to get any easier. There was no path through it that would lead her anywhere good. There was only one way it could possibly end—with Elijah finding out the truth. Either that, or she would simply have to go on lying to him indefinitely. Neither option was a good one.
She didn’t want to end things with him. Especially not after last night.
But if she cut ties right now, she could walk away and at least have hope that he would never find out what she had done.
It was always possible that Oliver wouldn’t tell him.
It wouldn’t benefit him to tell. He would be better off keeping it to himself.
And then Elijah would at least remember her with fondness.
She should walk away.
She should tell him she didn’t want to see him again. She should email Oliver and say that she had changed her mind altogether.
But she couldn’t do it.
Even now, sitting here thinking about it, it felt impossible. The thought of last night kicked up too much excitement in the pit of her stomach, and she hadn’t felt that way with a man in a very long time. She couldn’t walk away. Not now.
One more date. Just one. That will be enough. I’ll know this time that it will be the last one, and I’ll be able to stop after that.
She picked up her phone and checked her texts. Sure enough, there was one from Elijah. It had come over while she was on the phone with his father.
Spooky.
The text was simple and to the point: Give me a call. Before she could lose her nerve, she dialed his number.
He answered on the second ring. “Hey,” he said warmly. “I was hoping you’d call early.”
He was so relaxed. There was no tension at all in his voice, and it brought home to her the difference in their situations. She was grappling with the deal she had made with his father, but he wasn’t even aware that there was a deal. He hadn’t experienced any of the stress she’d felt this morning.
He had no idea.
And yet, even as her guilt intensified, the sound of his voice put her at ease. This would be all right. She didn’t know how yet, but somehow everything was going to work out. It was just going to have to.
“I’m glad you texted,” she told him. “I thought you might play that game of waiting three days.”
“You know what? Ordinarily, I totally would have done that,” he said. “But I woke up this morning, and I couldn’t wait to talk to you. Last night was really good… at least, for me it was.”
“No, I had a good time too,” she assured him. “It was special.” And she was speaking the complete truth in saying so. She’d had a wonderful time.
“Should we do it again?” he asked. “I thought… if it was all right with you, I thought I might like to cook dinner for you. At my place.”
He was trying to get her to his house again, then.
Except that something felt different this time.
It wasn’t cheap anymore, the way it had been the first time he had asked her to go home with him.
Stephanie genuinely believed what he was saying—he just wanted to cook for her.
And if that was all that happened between them, she didn’t think he would be too disappointed.
After all, they’d had that intimate night on the beach and he hadn’t made a move.
Maybe he had finally realized that wasn’t going to work on her.
Maybe.
“I’d like that,” she heard herself saying, and wondered whether she had lost her mind. Was she really going to go over to this man’s house?
Oliver would not approve of this.
Something sparked in her heart. She was choosing what Elijah wanted over what Oliver would want. Maybe that was the answer she had been looking for all along.
And maybe—if she was very lucky—she would figure out exactly what she wanted, too.