“I’ve never understood womanizers. When I found my wife, I was determined to marry her. I saw how kind she was. She brought out the best in me and I could make her laugh. What more could I possibly want? And all these years later? It’s still the same—together we make each other better.”
I looked out onto the countryside, all mossy greens and muted browns. That was Stella—she made me better. She saw things in me that others didn’t, and she coaxed the best out of me.
“All Matt knows how to do is take,” Henry said. “Perhaps Karen is what he needs. If he’d married Stella, she would never have known what being adored and respected felt like. And she deserves that. She’s a special soul.”
“Very special,” I agreed. Gut instinct had guided me well during the course of my career, and at that moment it was telling me that there was more to what Henry was saying than him just giving me a warning to look after Stella. It was almost as if he knew that we weren’t really together, and he was warning me not to pass up the opportunity to keep her in my life when this week was up.
But perhaps that was my mind playing tricks on me.
“You’ve shot grouse before?” Henry asked.
“Never,” I admitted. “Not really my scene. I’ve shot clays a few times. And a lot of soup cans.”
“Ahhh, sounds like me as a boy. With my air rifle at the back of the stables.” I chuckled. Perhaps Henry and I had more in common than I imagined. “That’s clearly why you were such a good shot the other day.”
“Soup cans come in handy,” I said.
“I take it you haven’t brought your own gun?”
I shook my head.
“I didn’t bring mine either. I’ll help you pick one out. Follow me.”
As we walked toward the keeper, Matt’s chortle echoed out across the party. Henry cleared his throat. “I told Karen that a man who’s prepared to cheat on a woman, will cheat on any woman.”
“I think those are wise words,” I replied.
“You look after Stella. Maybe the next time I see you, after this week, it will be at your wedding.”
I didn’t have to make an effort to agree with Henry. The last few weeks with Stella had been fun. She’d found the whole idea of pretending we were dating more stressful than I had. Relationships for me had never required any effort but with Stella . . . I was much better at being a fake boyfriend than a real one. Being a fake boyfriend was far more demanding—we were more like teammates with a shared goal. But I preferred it like that, which had me thinking that maybe that’s what relationships were meant to be about. I laughed. “Well, we’re not quite at that point yet.”
Henry stopped and looked me dead in the eye. “You seem like a man who knows what he wants. If you want Stella, then don’t mess her around.”
I admired how protective he was over her.
Stella had a way of making me see things differently, even if she didn’t do it on purpose. She shook things up like a snow globe, and when everything settled down still again, things were back to normal but were forever changed.
“Yes, this will do for you,” Henry said, handing me a shotgun, and pulling me away from my thoughts of Stella and wondering what things would be like when the snow settled and I went back to life before her. Whether that was even possible.
“Perhaps we can carve out some time this week to talk more about the Dawnay building,” I said.
“Oh that’s right,” Henry said. “You said you’d tried to set up a m
eeting about it. Did you want to lease it?” he asked. “It would need overhauling, I’m afraid. It’s in a dreadful state.”
“Actually, I’d like to buy it from you.”
His eyebrows disappeared under his hat. “I don’t think it’s for sale.” He didn’t sound very convinced. “At least, I’ve never considered selling it.”
“I can offer you a good price. But I need to move things along quickly, I’m afraid. It’s a short window of opportunity, but like you say, the place needs work, even to let. If you sold it to me, you could invest in something else that’s easier to generate revenue from.”
Henry nodded but stayed silent. I didn’t want to push. I needed to be patient. Let the idea settle.
“Let me know the price you’re thinking. I’ll give it some thought. In the meantime, if you’ve got any paperwork I can look at or I can send to my lawyers, then let me have it.”
I was holding my breath as he spoke, not quite believing that we were having this conversation and that he hadn’t dismissed the idea out of hand.
I wasn’t sure if it was the tweed I was wearing or the warning I’d gotten from Stella to give Henry the benefit of the doubt, but something had shifted. If I kept listening to Stella, the Dawnay building might finally be mine.