THE HEIR'S REVENGE

chapter 58

Lily was one of a kind. She always did what she thought was right even when it wasn't.

“I was helping you though.”

“Helping me.” I turned to her. “Did I tell you that I needed help?” I asked and she looked up at me with those innocent eyes. “You must have made her feel bad.”

“Why do you say so?”

“No, I didn't. She was happy discussing it with me. She said she'd like to go to dinner with you. Anyways, I'm not going to say anything else so you don't get upset.”

Suddenly, when I wanted to hear more, Lily wasn't saying anything more…like really?

I stopped talking to myself and thought about what happened at the party. Lily went wrong, Yemi did look stunning, her dress seemed more pretty than the one Emma had on.

Honestly, I wanted to take my chance with Yemi but I still haven't decided what I should call this.. what feeling was thus and how can I describe it if I'm asked what it was?

I was overwhelmed by everything and also the fact that I had no one to discuss with, made my day terrible. After dinner, which ended well, thankfully.

I went in the study going through the Victoria situation with Henry. The net is tightening. The prosecutor has been updated. Everything is in place.

Henry came in an hour later and we talked about business in general. Sometimes, I wished I could discuss personal matters like Yemi to Henry but I couldn't.

I just felt that maybe we weren't that close to discussing romance, yet.

I sat alone in the study for a while and Lily appeared in the doorway in her pajamas. She couldn't sleep and I let her stay with me for a while, then she slept on the study sofa with her rabbit.

When I put her to bed, I thought about all the unfinished business I had. Victoria was still out there. The next thought was about Yemi and meeting her at Fenwick Street as we concluded.

I just knew I had to go to bed earlier than usual.

He goes to bed earlier than usual.

I woke up on Sunday and immediately thought about the coffee date. I didn't want to admit that he has been thinking about it since Tuesday. I get dressed more carefully than usual without acknowledging that he is doing it. I picked up a shirt, I changed it, then picked it again.

Lily was at the breakfast table when he came downstairs. She didn't just look at my shirt but glared at it

She looks at my face.

“where are you going?” She asked

“I'm going out for coffee.” I answered her not trying to give her the whole detail, not after shunning her off the last time.

She looks at me for a long moment with those serious emerald eyes. “You combed your hair differently.”

“I always comb my hair like this.”

“No, you do not.” She answered, insisting.

I said nothing and she went back to her breakfast with the expression of someone who knows exactly what is happening and has decided to be gracious about it.

Henry had arrived and was in the kitchen. He greeted me good morning and handed me a coffee for the road and said nothing else. But as I leave Henry says very quietly without looking up from whatever he is doing: the blue shirt was the correct choice.

I stopped and looked at Henry. Did he know where I was going?”

He was looking at the newspaper.

I leave without letting myself think too much of it.

The coffee shop on Fenwick Street is small and warm and smells like good coffee and something baking. It is the kind of place that has been there for years and knows exactly what it is and has no interest in being anything else.

Yemi was already there when I arrived. That was very punctual. I couldn't help thinking that she had a work approach to this date, if I'm allowed to call it that.

She was at a corner table near the window. She wasn't wearing her usual work clothes and she was just herself with her dark coat and her hair which she let down for the first time.

She was smiling at me..

I sat down across from her and for a moment we just looked at each other.

“You look great.” She said to me with a smile.

We talked about ordinary things first. The coffee. The street outside the window. What she does on her days off normally and what I do when he is not working which turns out to be almost nothing because I still have not figured out how to not be working yet.

She laughs at that which made me happy.

He laughs too.

Then they talk about less ordinary things. Like how she grew up in a large family and had so many siblings. It was a loud house which was the opposite of the Pierce house in every way.

She became interested in security work because of something that happened to someone she loved when she was young. She does not give all the details but she gives enough.

I had to also tell her something about me that no one knew. “When I first came to the Blackwell mansion I used to walk through the rooms at night when everyone was asleep because I did not trust that it was real yet. I kept expecting to wake up on the park bench with one dollar in his account.”

She listens to this completely. “Do you still do that?

I thought about it honestly. “Not since Lily came.”

She looked at me like she understood exactly what I was saying. “She gave you something to come home to. She made you feel at home, didn't she?”

“Yea, she did.”

There was a quiet moment between them and I waited so she could ask the questions she needed to. Her eyes spoke loudly but I could see that she was hesitating to ask any questions at all.

“What I'm I giving to you?” She finally asked.

I was dumbfounded for a while that I couldn't speak. It was an honest direct question, one that wasn't performed or calculated. She even looked surprised that she had the courage to ask that.

“I'm sorry.. I didn't mean?”

“You are making me feel different things, Yemi.”

We glared at each other.