Chapter 10
CHELSEA
“I’ll meet you there,” Miles said over the phone as Chelsea pulled into Silas’s driveway a week later.
“You’ll meet me here when, though?” Chelsea asked.
“Because you were supposed to be home two hours ago, and we were going to drive over together. That was the original plan. You said we’d get ready together to have dinner with your dad, and that we’d have a chance to talk through what we wanted to discuss with him. ”
“Right,” Miles said. “I know I did. But something came up at work.”
Chelsea sighed. “I can’t believe you’re blowing me off for work. You know I’ve only met your father one time before today. This is my first time seeing him since I officially learned I was pregnant. You should be here today, Miles.”
“I understand,” Miles said. “Really, I do, Chelsea. I get it. And I’m sorry I couldn’t be there.
I have to finish this marketing meeting, that’s all.
We’re launching a new product next week, and I thought we would have the promotional materials wrapped up by now, but the design team reworked the whole project and I have to review everything again. ”
“And that has to be you?” she asked. “You couldn’t delegate it to someone else?”
“I really can’t. I have to look at these pieces.
Listen, you’ll be fine,” he said. “You know Dad loves you. He’ll be glad to see you, and you two can use this time to get to know each other a little better.
It’ll be good for you to have some one-on-one time with him.
” Chelsea didn’t necessarily agree with Miles’s assessment.
Miles was just trying to make himself feel better, she thought, about the fact that he was standing her up.
She couldn’t believe he’d done this. Lying to his father and pretending the two of them were in a relationship was one thing, but this was the responsibility of an actual girlfriend. It wasn’t Chelsea’s job to go and have dinner with Miles’s father when he wasn’t even there.
I should have just canceled the dinner. I should have called Silas and let him know that Miles wasn’t able to make it, so we could both reschedule.
Better yet, I should have told Miles to make that call.
She would have done that, if she’d realized before leaving the house how bogged-down he was at work, but she had told herself that he was probably just a few minutes behind her.
Now, she sighed. “You’re not going to end up meeting me, are you?”
“Chelsea, I wish I could promise you that I will,” he said.
“You could promise me. You absolutely could.”
“I don’t know how late this meeting is going to run, and there’s no point in my coming out there if it’s going to be hours from now,” he said. “Look, just go have a meal with Dad. You know it’ll mean the world to him. I’ll make it up to you as soon as I can.”
Chelsea saw the curtains twitch. Silas had seen her. There was no going back now. She sighed. “All right,” she said. “I’ll see you later, then.”
She ended the call and got out of the car, reaching back into the passenger seat for the apple pie she’d made earlier that afternoon.
It was still summer, so she wouldn’t have been teaching right now anyway, but knowing that she had taken a break from her work made her feel strangely unoccupied even though nothing had functionally changed for her yet. The days seemed longer.
Maybe it was the fact that there was less housework to do.
Even her laundry was taken care of for her these days, sent out to a service that returned everything clean and pressed.
There was no cooking to be done. A chef came to the house every morning, and Chelsea had learned quickly that if she visited the kitchen to try to find something for herself, she would be hustled into a chair and made to sit and wait while the chef prepared whatever she said she wanted.
It all added up to much more free time than she was used to.
She was surprised she’d even been allowed to make this pie on her own, although maybe it was because she had told the staff how much it meant to her to prepare something for Miles’s father.
She’d definitely noticed some fond looks when she had said that.
Biting her lip, she made her way up the path and rang the doorbell. Silas’s house was even larger than his son’s, and Chelsea couldn’t help feeling nervous about being here. What was a person supposed to do in a place like this? Were there different standards of behavior?
The door was opened by a woman in her forties with her hair tied neatly back. Chelsea didn’t recognize her, but the woman smiled. “You’re the daughter-in-law.”
“I’m Miles’s girlfriend,” Chelsea said awkwardly. When had that been upgraded to daughter-in-law?
The woman laughed. “My mistake,” she said. “Mr. Aspin has been so excited all day about your visit.”
“I’m sorry, I-I don’t think we’ve been introduced,” Chelsea stammered.
“No, no, we haven’t. Forgive me. It’s just that I’ve spent all day hearing him talk about you. I feel as if I know you already.” The woman smiled. “I’m Melody Parker, Mr. Aspin’s home nurse. You can call me Melody.”
“Oh, I hadn’t realized he had a home nurse,” Chelsea said, smiling. She was glad. Knowing someone was here tending to Silas’s needs definitely put her mind at ease.
“I’m surprised your boyfriend didn’t mention it,” Melody said, raising an eyebrow. “He’s the one who made the arrangement.”
That’s true; that is the kind of thing he would have told me if I was really his girlfriend.
She was going to have to have a talk with Miles about being more open with her if he wanted to sell the story they were trying to stick to.
“He must have forgotten to mention it,” she said with a laugh.
“He’s had a lot on his mind lately, with his father’s illness and his company to run. ”
“Oh, yes, I’m sure that’s true,” Melody said. “Well, let me show you through to the dining room, all right? Mr. Aspin is so eager to see you, and the dinner is nearly ready.” She glanced at the pie in Chelsea’s hands. “I can take that through to the kitchen for you if you’d like.”
“Thank you.”
Melody took the pie from her hands and directed her down the hall to a pair of big, wooden double doors. “Just through there,” she said, smiling. “He knows you’re here, so you can go on in.”
Chelsea felt unaccountably nervous. If only Miles was here right now! She drew a deep breath and squared her shoulders. He was the one who’d chosen to make her handle this on her own. She could do it. She pushed open the doors.
Silas Aspin was sitting at the end of a long, mahogany dining table.
Immediately, she relaxed a bit — he looked considerably healthier than he had the last time she had seen him.
There was color in his cheeks, and while his smile was still a bit uneven in the wake of his stroke, she could see that he’d gotten some muscle control back.
He didn’t rise to his feet at the sight of her, but a big smile spread across his face. “Chelsea — you made it. I’m so glad you could join me tonight.” He glanced over her shoulder, “And where’s that son of mine?”
“Held up by work,” Chelsea said apologetically. “It’s just going to be you and me tonight — if that’s all right with you, I mean. If you would rather reschedule, we can do that, of course.”
Silas sighed. “I should have known Miles would work late,” he said. “He always does. I’m sure I don’t have to tell you — you must be even more familiar with his workaholic tendencies than I am at this point. You’re a saint for putting up with him.”
“Well, I know his work means a great deal to him,” Chelsea said, but she couldn’t help smiling at the realization that Silas was so fully on her side. “I guess it wouldn’t make much sense to reschedule.”
“Oh, no, we’d be running the risk of him doing the same thing,” Silas said. “You’re already here, so you should stay. Please, sit down.” He gestured to the chair adjacent to his own.
Chelsea walked to the end of the table and sat down next to Silas.
It was strange to have such a big table for just the two of them.
This must be how Miles had grown up — his father at the head of the table while he himself sat at the right hand, the rest of the table vast and empty.
They probably kept this big table for dinner parties or something, she supposed, but on nights like this it was pretty lonely.
“I sure appreciate you coming,” Silas said.
“I know you didn’t have to do that with Miles off at work.
” He sighed. “You know, I really thought that now that he’s expecting a child, this would settle down.
I thought he might get away from the office a little more and spend more time with his family.
That’s what I was hoping for. I wonder if you were hoping for that too. ”
Chelsea cleared her throat. This was an awkward question, since she didn’t really consider herself and Miles to be family.
Of course, she wasn’t going to tell Silas that.
She wasn’t going to tell him that Miles had been clear that this was nothing more than a business arrangement.
They were going to raise their child together, yes, but co-parenting was different from sharing any sort of relationship.
They weren’t anything to one another besides business partners.
What did she care if he was at work instead of spending time with her?
I wanted him to come with me tonight because I felt awkward being here alone, that’s all. But since I am on my own, since I’ve decided to face it, I don’t have any complaints about what he does with his time.
She made eye contact with Silas. He was searching her gaze as though trying to figure something out, and it occurred to her that he was using the power he had to read people.
He was trying to understand her. It was a fine thing to do — if she had really been Miles’s girlfriend.
But since she wasn’t, it made her feel awkward to have him trying to read her like this.
She looked down. “Miles takes his legacy very seriously,” she said, dancing as close as she could to the truth. “He wants to be sure he’ll have something meaningful to leave to his child. I’m sure you know that about him. I’m guessing that’s a value he learned from you.”
“You’re right,” Silas agreed. “But at the same time… I just want him to be happy. I want the same thing for him that any father would want for his child. The same thing I’m sure you want for my grandchild.
” He smiled. “So, much more than business and legacy, I just want to know that he’s making the most of his life and getting all he can out of it. ”
Chelsea’s stomach knotted with shame. This wasn’t a man who wanted a grandchild so he would have someone to inherit the company he’d built.
Or, rather, maybe he did want that, but it was far from the only thing he wanted.
He wanted to see his son happy. He was excited at the prospect of Miles having a girlfriend and a baby on the way because he thought those things would bring his son joy.
And we’re lying to him. We’ve been lying to him all this time.
Chelsea didn’t know when she had ever felt so guilty in her life.