“No, don’t even tell me,” I said when he opened his mouth. “You need to leave, right now.” Just then, I heard Riley squealing, his quick little footsteps running towards the door. Oh, Christ. I lunged for Niall, grabbing his arm and pulling him off the porch, away from the house.
“It’s nice today. Why don’t we walk and talk,” I said.
“What?” he asked. I looked up. The sky had been grey all day and clouds were gathering. It was going to rain. So, the weather matched my mood. Perfect. Just perfect.
I pulled him off towards the back garden which was an overgrown wilderness. If I wasn’t so frantic about hiding Riley, I would be a lot more embarrassed about the state of the grounds. I led us towards the pond in a little grove about fifty feet from us.
“You found me,” I said.
“I did.”
“You realize you can’t just come here to my home unannounced,” I said, letting go of his arm.
“It wasn’t that difficult, to tell you the truth,” he said.
I rolled my eyes. Once you got to Belishire, finding the house was not difficult, he was right. He was trying to make me feel like this was normal behavior though and it wasn’t.
“So, what was so important that you had to come all the way here to do it?” I asked. I wasn’t as upset as I was trying to make him believe. Being in his presence again, despite the circumstances was making me buzz.
“I understand how this looks and how it must make you feel, but I didn’t have a chance to tell you at the party. I wanted to ask about the watch.” I swallowed, glad that we weren’t facing each other. I didn’t have the damn thing anymore. I had sold it for money that I was already planning to spend. I won it in a game. The thing was mine. In any case he wasn’t getting it back because it was gone. I laughed a little.
“If I remember right, I won it in a game fair and square.”
“You cheated.”
“I won regardless,” I said.
“Still. Here’s the thing. It’s an heirloom and I would like to have it back.”
I looked at the ground, watching the dried leaves that had accumulated on the ground crunch under my shoes. An heirloom, was it? Why didn’t he say that before? Now I felt bad about it. My stomach started to hurt.
“I would buy it from you obviously. You can name your price,” he said. I kicked myself mentally. I shouldn’t have sold it so soon. I should have waited and actually gotten the full thirty thousand now instead of settling for the ten thousand that I got.
“Surely you have other heirlooms,” I said.
He laughed. “Of course, but that’s the thing about heirlooms, isn’t it? They aren’t replaceable. That watch is particularly important to my family.”
“This is quite something, Niall,” I said.
“What?”
“I never would have guessed that that was the case when you took it off and chucked it on the table that night.”
He laughed again. “Well, now I’m paying for it. I hope I can persuade you to part with it.”
I tried to think. This was an opportunity to cash out. The watch wasn’t here anymore but I was thinking maybe, if I could get it back, I could sell it back to him for the price of my choice. It sounded tedious and would take forever but more money meant more time. I looked at him, putting on the best flirty face I could manage with no makeup, in my frumpy house clothes and hair in a bun.
“You must be swimming in dough if you’re asking me to name my price on a watch you handed over with no problems just a few days ago.”
His brow went up. “Oh, love, you have no idea. I meant it when I told you to name your price. I can see you have a number in mind.”
I laughed, thinking about how outrageous I could get with it. I didn’t want to take advantage of him but I wasn’t cocking this up.
“Well, I have to tell you then. I don’t have it. I left it in London to get it appraised.”
He nodded, rubbing his fingers over his stubble. “How about we go and get it?” he asked. “That way we get an expert opinion and I pay you the appraiser’s price.”
“I just got home. Leaving again so soon to London might not be possible.”