Chapter Scarlet
Scarlet
I have a bicycle with a tire that keeps deflating, a one-bedroom flat free of anoles at the moment, and a job that pays a dollar over minimum wage because my boss is a total tight arse. He says the benefits make up for the low pay, that and it’s a made-up job—one I made up.
“You’re late.”
I bump Nolan’s arm on purpose as I invite myself inside his mansion. “I had to stop three times to pump up my tire.” I hold up my small bike pump.
“You should buy a new tire or a car.”
“When you pay me my first wages, I will get a new tire. The car will require a bit more money in the bank.” I drop my rucksack and water bottle by the door and slip off my trainers.
“I offered to give you a loan—an advance.”
“You did and it was very generous of you. Had I not had enough money for my deposit and first month’s rent, I might have taken you up on your offer. But I’m good. I want to do things on my own.” I smile. I want to do things fairly and legally.
“Good morning, Miss Stone. Can I get you some breakfast? Coffee? Tea?” Sofia greets me.
“Tea would be lovely, thank you.”
Nolan gestures to a room off the foyer. “Mother is still sleeping. Come in and have a seat.”
“Have you told her about me?” I sit in the black and white paisley arm chair by the window. Nolan sits opposite of me.
“You mean that I’ve hired her a babysitter?” He smirks, smoothing his hand over his black trousers as he crosses one long leg over the other.
“A personal assistant and confidante, not a babysitter.”
“Let’s stick to personal assistant.” Nolan narrows one eye. “Confidant implies she’s going to share her secrets with you. She doesn’t know she has any secrets to share, and I’d prefer we keep it that way.”
Sofia serves us coffee and tea.
“Thank you.” I smile before taking a sip. “I thought we could go shopping today.”
“She buys everything secondhand.”
I shrug. “That’s fine. She can show me her favorite places. Does she have a bike?”
Nolan rolls his eyes as he pours cream into his coffee. “She has a driver. Lorne will take you. He’ll be here by ten.” He stirs his coffee with a silver spoon. “How are you feeling?”
My fingernail traces the pattern on the arm of the chair as my lips twist to the side. “You tell me?”
“I don’t feel emotions very well. Physically, you’re much better.”
I nod. “Have you talked to Theo lately?”
“Yesterday. He’s done with the place. I’m surprised you moved out so soon. You were paid up through the month. I take it something went wrong?”
I laugh. “I didn’t die as expected. My ex-fiancé showed up unannounced and met the man I’ve been fucking for months—”
Nolan chokes on his coffee, holding his fist to his mouth. “You … what?”
“Oh, Theo didn’t tell you?”
He shakes his head while clearing his throat.
I watch the wind whip around the tall grass in the distance. “It was just sex, boredom—nothing.” Everything. It was everything.
“I didn’t know you were engaged.”
“Yes. I had a new job. A really good-paying job.” Turning, I narrow my eyes at Nolan.
He grins.
“A new car. Money in the bank. My dad is in prison, but hey, no one has a flawless life. Then there was Daniel. We were perfect together, or so it seemed at the time. Then I got my diagnosis and that perfection just … shattered.” I still can’t talk about it without emotions stinging my eyes.
“To sum it up, I didn’t want to ruin Daniel’s career, or his life.
One was enough. So I said goodbye—forever—and I came here to die.
Theo was …” I shake my head. “I don’t know.
Something physical I needed at the time.
It wasn’t until I found out that I wasn’t going to die—at least not right away—that I realized I …
” I press the pad of my finger to the corner of my eye, trapping my tear before it falls.
“You fell in love with him.”
I nod.
“You should tell him.”
I laugh. “I did. I told him right in front of Daniel. I thought it would mean more if he knew I was willing to hurt one man that I loved to prove my love to another man.”
“He didn’t say anything?”
“He said he doesn’t love me.”
My name is Scarlet Stone and my biggest fear is that someday I will find what I want most in life and it will be impossible to steal.
Nolan has no response. There really is none. I fell in love with a man who never hid his complete detest for me since our first encounter.
“Mr. Moore, your mother is awake.”
We both stand and nod at Sofia.
“Don’t take it personally. Theo is pretty messed-up. You’re better off without him,” says the man whose parents define completely insane. “He’s moving out this weekend anyway.”
I follow him up the stairs. “Where is he going?” I’m doing a shit job of acting like I don’t care.
“Nashville … Tennesse.”
He’s leaving. I can’t believe “I don’t love you” was his goodbye. Fuck cancer. Nothing is more painful than love. But I won’t feel sorry for myself. Daniel has to feel the same way right now. I gave him a life again … and then I took it away.
Nolan turns. “I didn’t tell her I hired you. She thinks you need a friend.”
My head bobs a bit side to side. Then I shrug. “It’s not entirely untrue.”
He grins and knocks twice on Nellie’s door. “Mom, Scarlet is here.”
“Perfect timing.” The door opens.
Nolan doesn’t flinch. How is it possible that every muscle in his face remains completely relaxed? His mother has on a powder-blue felt skirt with a poodle appliqué and a pink corset. I’m not sure anyone has ever paired these two items of clothing before now.
“Be a dear and tie this for me.” She turns.
I grab the corset laces and give them a gentle tug with my eyes on Nolan.
“Thanks for spending time with Scarlet today, Mother. I think she said something about shopping. Lorne will be here soon.”
“Thank you, Nolie.” She sucks in a deep breath.
I cinch the corset.
“Has Nolie proposed to you yet?”
I look toward the stairs, but Nolie is gone.
“No. We’re just friends.”
“Oh? He said you didn’t have any friends.”
“I don’t have any female friends.”
Nellie looks over her shoulder. “You do now.” She smiles, orange-red lipstick stuck to her teeth.
“There.” I tie the bow. “Shall I see if Sofia has your breakfast ready?”
“Please.”
*
Nolan hired me under an agreement that I wouldn’t ask his mum about her past. He didn’t say she wasn’t allowed to talk about it on her own.
“You’re quite fashion forward, Nellie. I bet you’ve always had an eye for it.” Not a question—just a statement. I watch her rummage through rack after rack of secondhand clothes, picking out only the most hideous and outdated pieces.
She stops and looks at me with her head cocked to the side like she’s searching for an answer, but I didn’t ask a question. It’s her past. She’s trying to remember if in fact she has always had an eye for fashion.
I grab a fancy wide-brimmed black hat with three soft pink roses in the front and slip it on. Nellie’s gaze moves to the hat and becomes even more intense.
“I liked hats,” she whispers like she’s not really sure if it’s true. Her face pales a bit.
“You look like you could use some lunch. What do you say?”
Her vacant eyes shift to me, yet I know she’s still sifting through something from her past that’s not clear. After a few moments, she seems to let it go as her smile reappears, her eyes more focused again. “Yes. Lunch would be perfect.”
We go out for lunch. Lorne drives us around town so Nellie can give me the history of Savannah that Nolan already gave me when I arrived.
She can’t remember her past, but she remembers everything about Savannah’s past. I like Nellie.
Theo said before the ‘incident’ she was a rich southern bitch, and maybe she was.
However, she’s not now, and I hope if or when she gets back her memory, she keeps the part of her that is grounded in secondhand clothes and supermarket coupons.
When we pull up to the house, she reaches over and rests her hand on mine. “You’re welcome.”
I smile, feeling a laugh building in my belly. She’s sincere, as if I’d thanked her, and I had planned on it, but she beat me to that part of our conversation.
“Thank you.” It’s so backwards, but she doesn’t seem to notice. “Maybe we can do something together again tomorrow.”
She nods. “If you need me, I’m here for you.”
Lorne opens her door just as mine is opened as well.
“Hey!”
Nolan offers his hand and helps me out. “Did you two lovely ladies have a pleasant day?”
“We did.” I grin because it’s the truth.
“You two will give me lovely grand babies.”
Nolan wiggles his eyebrows in the first really flirtatious look he’s ever given me. I roll my eyes as we follow Nellie inside.
“I’m going out to the house to check everything over before I put a sign up. Want to ride along? When I was there yesterday, I noticed you left a plant.”
“A plant?” I laugh. “I left thirty odd plants. I’m sure they are dying. I should get the ones that are salvageable, but—”
“No.” Nolan shakes his head as we both give Nellie and Sofia a wave goodbye. “One. There was only one plant that I saw. Something with white blooms.” He shuts the door behind us.
I hike my rucksack over my shoulder. The peace lily.
“It didn’t look dead. He’s clearly been watering it.”
I stop a few feet from my bike. “I’ll go with you.”