Page 24 of Heart of Stone
“Anyway, I’ll leave you to it now. I’ve got to get over to the Scarlet House to deal with a guest’s concern. I’ll… I’ll see you later.”
Relieved that this hadn’t gone as badly as I imagined it might have, but uncomfortable with the tension it was creating, I didn’t wait for Reid to offer up a response. Instead, I turned and walkedaway from his desk to the door, unaware that his stare remained on the spot I last was until long after I’d left it.
Reid
When I woke this morning, gratitude seeped into my bones.
Not for any specific things that had happened, but merely because it was Saturday and there was a list of things that wouldn’t happen. I didn’t have any need to run back to Pittsburgh this weekend, and I definitely didn’t need to wind up in my new temporary office to do work I hated, so I’d finally have the opportunity to take some time for myself.
I had every intention of getting away from the retreat for the day while getting in some fun and exercise that I desperately needed. It wasn’t as though I was getting any sort of a physical release any other way, and with all that I’d endured over the last two weeks, I needed something.
So, I didn’t hesitate to get myself out of bed so I could eat some breakfast and get myself dressed. Before I knew it, I’d done that, grabbed what I needed for my morning, and was out the door in a flash.
But I hadn’t taken more than two steps across the porch and toward the stairs that would lead me away from the cabin when my body came to a grinding halt. Any of the appreciation that’d been flowing through my veins from the moment I peeled my eyes open this morning had vanished.
Standing at the edge of the lake, only a few hundred feet from my cabin, was Natalia. She appeared not to notice me—though that could have just been part of her plan—as she picked up stones and tossed them out into the water.
As quickly as I could snap my fingers, the anger bubbled up inside me. What was her deal? Could she really not leave me alone for just one day?
If she and my father thought they’d convince me to reconsider my plans for this place by consistently putting Natalia in my face to the point I couldn’t even enjoy a single weekend alone, they were sorely mistaken. In fact, it was having the opposite effect. If my dad would’ve signed this place over to me today, I wouldn’t hesitate to do what needed to be done. And this game they were playing was only pushing me toward doing it without a care in the world.
Feeling the fury build inside me, I wouldn’t be able to enjoy my day off without dealing with this situation first. I descended the stairs and used the walk toward Natalia to attempt to cool my anger. I wasn’t quite sure I’d made that happen by the time I came to a stop just a few feet away from her.
“Is this some kind of joke?”
Natalia spun around, her eyes rounding at the sight of me. I didn’t understand why she seemed so surprised. She knew which cabin I was staying in, and she knew this lake was right outside my front door.
Her brows shot up, questioning me, but there was a hint of amusement in her features. “A joke?”
I indicated her and the lake with a wave of my hand. “Yes. What are you doing here?”
She smiled brightly at me. Like I’d just told her I’d found the cure for some horrible disease. “I’m skipping stones. It’s one of my favorite things to do in the whole world. I’ve been doing it since I was little. My dad taught me when I was only four yearsold, though I wasn’t very good at it back then. But I continued to practice, and over time, I got better and better at it. I find it both fun and relaxing. I’m sure you can understand. Growing up here, you’ve probably done it hundreds of times.”
I might’ve been astonished—once again—by the way Natalia seemed to have no qualms about sharing so much information if I weren’t so perturbed by what she was doing. It didn’t bother her to tell me part of her life story when we knew nothing about one another, when I never asked for the information. And that was a concept I couldn’t quite wrap my head around.
Unfortunately, I didn’t have the time or patience to consider it, because I was too furious. If I’d had any doubt about it before, it was safe to say now after her little speech that the doubt was diminishing. Natalia knew precisely what she was doing. Maybe that was why she was so open with me. But it sucked for her that I could see right through it.
Ignoring all the backstory she felt so compelled to give me, I explained, “That’s not what I meant when I asked what you were doing here.”
Confusion washed over her. “Oh. Well, I’m afraid I don’t understand, then.”
I shrugged. “I guess it’s just awfully convenient that you happen to be here this morning when you know that I’m staying in the cabin over there. One might think this was just a ploy of yours to be able to see me again today.”
Natalia cocked a brow, her lips twitching. She turned toward the lake, let a stone fly from her hand, and watched as it skipped impressively across the lake. When it finally stopped and sank, she turned her attention to me again. Some laughter spilled out as she countered, “You think I’m this good at stone skipping by chance? And you think I’d purposely bring myself here, only so I could catch a glimpse ofyourhappy face?”
I forced a smile onto my face just to drive the point home. “It’s awfully convenient.”
She lifted her chin and regarded me carefully. “I don’t know what’s wrong with me. Of course, you’d think that. You’d genuinely believe that I’d want nothing more for myself on a Saturday morning than to be chastised by you for simply existing.”
Shooting her a knowing look, I said, “Well, it is a Saturday.”
Natalia crouched to pick up a few more stones. “What does that have to do with anything?”
And it was that question right there that did it for me. Because even if she believed she had one up on me when it came to the work we did here, Natalia was making it clear that she believed I was an idiot.
“You don’t work on Saturdays. Or, at least, you aren’t required to work on the weekend given your position here. And yet, you still show up at this place. Doesn’t that seem strange to you?”
She remained silent for several beats, her eyes roaming over my face. As the early morning sunlight glinted through the strands of her hair, I could see her mind working. “I don’t find it strange at all that someone might want to do something they enjoy outside the place they live. Why would I?”
