by Jill Snow
“How did your meeting go?” she asked, not out of nosiness but wanting to talk about something else.
“Amazing how news hit the street so fast, isn’t it? I guess I should be used to it. We offered three months salary as a severance package. Quite a number took the offer.”
“I guess you had already decided who you want to get rid of?”
“Yes. We had, but unfortunately a few of them didn’t take the hint. They will, though.”
“How are you so sure?”
“Steven and his guys are going through all their computer files as we speak. My guess is a couple of our less stellar employees will have issues on their drives. Emily, you were right.”
Surprised, she glanced at him.
“I couldn’t believe what I saw. But the good news is that those games are now history. As of five o’clock last night, the games have been shut down. We are refunding all purchases and our servers have been closed down or are in the process.”
“Wow.”
“You’re surprised? But it was your idea.”
“It was a suggestion, but I never thought you would follow through on it.”
“Really, Ms. Williams? That wasn’t the impression you gave me that night.”
She smiled at his teasing.
“Thank you.”
“For what?” he asked.
“For listening. I knew they were bad, but I didn’t really expect you to actually play the games and see for yourself. I like the fact you can admit when you’re wrong. But I am a little puzzled as to how you got here in the first place. My guess is that you don’t usually buy companies that you don’t thoroughly investigate.”
“You would be right.”
“It’s no secret that Sunny Studios had a totally different name in the gaming world. Slimy Studios being one of them.”
“Lovely. Here I am rescuing you and you’re sitting there pointing out how stupid I was, how I missed the obvious issues.”
“Oh, no, I didn’t mean…you’re teasing me again, aren’t you?”
“Yes, I am. Sorry, I can’t help it. You fall for it every time.”
“Just you wait. I’ll get you back one day.”
He smiled as he concentrated on the traffic. She studied his profile as well as his finely chiseled cheekbones and chin. He could have been a model.
“What happened this time?” she asked.
“What do you mean?”
“You know, with the purchase of Sunny Studios. Why were you so distracted?”
His facial expression changed but not before she caught a glimpse of pain. Something horrible had happened and he didn’t want to tell her.
“Forget about it, Conor, you don’t have to explain.”
“I am rather embarrassed.”
“Honestly, don’t worry about it. Everyone makes mistakes.”
Chapter 26
Emily slept a bit on the drive over to her nana’s place. Conor tried to concentrate on the road but instead his mind kept going over the threats. If the cops found out it was a member of his staff, he would kill them. His knuckles whitened on the wheel. No, killing would be too quick. He would beat them to a pulp and then hand them over to the police. Nobody deserved to be treated the way Emily had been, and especially not a defenseless old lady like her grandmother.
“Emily, we’re here.”
“Oh, wow, I didn’t think I would sleep. Sorry. I hope I wasn’t snoring.”
“No, but the drooling was rather…interesting.”
He smiled as she pinked up, putting a hand to her mouth. “I don’t drool.”
“I know, I was teasing.”
Conor grinned at her. He knew he was acting like a stupid teenager but he didn’t care. She made him feel lightheaded and carefree. When he wasn’t thinking about the threats, that was. He couldn’t stop thinking of Emily, her smile, how sexy she was, her kissable lips…
“Earth calling Conor?”
“Sorry, miles away. Do you want me to come in with you?”
Emily looked from him to the home and back again. “I’m not sure. I don’t know if she will come with me if I go in alone but if you come, too, she might worry.”
“Maybe you can introduce me as your new friend and tell her we’re taking a short trip.”
Emily blushed bright red. He couldn’t work out what he had said wrong, but she wouldn’t look at him.
“What is it?”
“I don’t like lying,” she replied.
“You aren’t. Not really. We are new friends and we are going on a trip.”
“Conor, we’re going to stay with you at your place.”
“Exactly. You don’t have to say you’re going on a long trip.”
She looked at him, a severe look on her face. “You have a way of twisting words.”
“Ah, you know what they say about us Irish. We are the only people in the world that can tell someone to go to hell in such a nice way, they look forward to the trip.”
Emily stared at him for a couple of seconds before laughing. “I don’t know what my grandmother is going to make of you.”
“She will love me. All little old ladies do.”
Emily rolled her eyes but didn’t comment further. He parked the car and jumped out, opening her door before she got a chance to move.
“Come on, new friend. Let’s go get her.”
Emily stopped him by putting her hand on his arm. “If I forget to tell you, I want you to know how much I appreciate you doing this.”
His skin tingled from her touch. He wanted to pull her into his arms and kiss the fear from her eyes. Instead, he smiled. “My pleasure. I get to have a live-in baker. What’s your gran like at cooking?”
She batted his arm, grinning as they walked into the retirement home. Conor had to make an effort to mask his reaction. The place was nothing like the home his gran had lived in after his granddad had died. Gran’s retirement home had been filled with light and laughter. The walls were painted fresh colors and the beautiful indoor plants and flowers meant the air was sweet.
This place smelled like a neglected hospital with horrible odors he didn’t want to identify competing for dominance. The walls were painted a sickly greenish color and the corridor floors seemed to have missed a mop for over twenty years. His stomach turned and he had to fight the instinct to run back outside.
“I know. It’s horrible, but it’s all we can afford at the moment.” Emily apologized as they walked down one hallway, their feet sticking to the floor.
He obviously hadn’t masked his reaction properly. Hating the fact he had insulted her and pushed her to apologize, he put his arm around her shoulders. “We will find something nicer when this is all over.”
What was he doing promising things like that to someone he just met?
Emily looked up at him, her emotions caught between shame and gratitude. She was so embarrassed for him to see where her grandmother was living. She should be grateful to him for trying to make her feel better, but in reality his generosity was making her feel worse. If she had taken a decent job like Brian kept telling her to, she could have afforded better care for her grandmother. She should have insisted her nana sell the apartment and use the funds to pay the higher fees associated with nicer retirement homes. She had let her grandmother down. And now she had placed her in danger. What sort of person did that to the only family who cared about her?
“Is your gran ill?”
“If you mean is she senile or living with dementia, the answer is no. She has a couple of medical conditions that require regular checkups, so she moved into this place. I wanted her to live at the apartment with me but she wouldn’t. She said the stairs would kill her.”
Conor didn’t respond. Did he not believe her? She wasn’t the type of person to push her grandparent into a home but how would he know that? They didn’t know much about each other. They were still strangers. Strangers about to share a home. Why had she agreed to this? She could have stayed with Carrie. But then Carri
e’s place was too small and her lifestyle would make her grandmother feel awkward. Jason had offered, but his place was even smaller. There was nobody else she knew well enough. Not that she knew Conor well, but for some reason she felt comfortable with him.
“The next room is Nana’s. I’d better go in first to check if she is up to receiving visitors.”
Conor nodded and stood at the door. As she moved to open the handle and hesitated, he gave her a quick kiss on her head. “It will be fine. Go on. Call me on my cell when you’re ready to leave.”
She forced a smile before entering the room with a cheerful, “Hello, Nana.”
Chapter 27
Conor waited outside the room before some shouting caught his attention. He thought it was someone who needed help. He moved quickly to find a nurse berating an old man for something. Before he could get involved, another nurse burst past him.
“Get out now. We don’t employ you to shout at the residents. Men like Joe deserve respect. Joe you will be fine now. I made your favorite for dessert, apple pie.”
Relieved the patient seemed to be okay now, Conor moved. He wasn’t far along the corridor when the nurse who had rescued the man came after him.
“I am sorry you had to hear all that. I am Nurse Kathy. Can I help you find someone?”
“No, thank you. I drove Mrs. Williams’ granddaughter over to collect her. We are taking her away for a few days.”
“Gertie will love that. It’s so miserable here.”
“Surely you can afford to brighten the place up a bit? Maybe get some flowers or plants and attract staff who want to work here?”
She eyed him in disbelief. “You think I own this place? I wish.” She laughed, but it wasn’t a pleasant sound. “The guy who does wouldn’t care if the place burned down. In fact, with property prices in this area that would be a good idea in his book. He could then build some fancy new apartment buildings. I wouldn’t let him look after a stray cat.”
Conor smothered his grin when he realized she wasn’t trying to be amusing.
“I only work here. As it is, I work longer than my hours. My family is always complaining about it, but I hate the thought of these wonderful people being left alone. It isn’t right, you know. These people have all contributed to society and now look at them. They get to live out their last days with green vomit colored walls and disgusting smells. Never mind the food.”
“Don’t be too hard on yourself. I like the idea of apple pie.”
“I bring that in myself as otherwise they would get tapioca pudding every day. Can’t stand that stuff—reminds me of frog spawn.”
With a flashback to his youth, Conor could understand Kathy’s point of view. He had hated the tapioca pudding at school. It was a staple part of school lunches just like lumpy cold porridge had been their daily breakfast.
Conor stood and watched as Nurse Kathy bustled off. When she was out of sight, he carried on with his exploration. She was right, the nursing home was in a good location. But it would be nicer if it were located on the beach like his gran’s retirement home had been. Although the weather was awful in Ireland, his gran maintained that living by the sea was the healthiest location for old people. They could get out and walk down the beach when the weather wasn’t too bad. If his gran had lived somewhere like this where the weather never seemed to get as bad as Ireland, she may still be alive now.
Chapter 28
Emily wondered where Conor had gotten to. She had buzzed his cell phone, but it went straight to voicemail. Maybe there was a problem with the signal. He couldn’t have left the home without them, could he?
“So tell me again why this young man you don’t know is taking both of us away for a week?”
“I explained already, Nana. Conor Dunne is the new owner of a gaming company. We have been working on something together.” It wasn’t a total lie, she had reviewed his games and he had changed them.
“And this new business involves both of us having to live with him?”
“Yes, Nana.” Where was Conor? These questions were getting to her. She hated lying, even if it meant keeping her grandmother safe.
“Sorry, Emily, my signal wouldn’t work. Mrs. Williams, it is so nice to meet you.” Conor burst through the door just in time. Emily watched her grandmother’s face, saw her eyes widen as she viewed Conor from the top of his head to his shoes and back again.
“Say something else, Mr. Dunne, please.”
“Anything in particular, Mrs. Williams?”
“For a start, you can stop calling me Mrs. Williams. My name is Gertie. And I don’t care if you read a menu, just keep talking. I can see why my Emily thinks a lot of you. That accent of yours would charm the—”
“Nana, behave! Conor, I am so sorry, my grandmother likes to get people worked up.”
“No problem. Gertie, I’ll talk to you about anything you like but can we do it on the drive back to my place? Or maybe over lunch. I’m starving.”
“So am I, dear.”
Emily shuddered as her grandmother gazed at Conor with that look she had only used when Emily was in trouble.
“But I am not going anywhere with you until you tell me the truth. My granddaughter expects me to believe something ridiculous about you two working together. But I wasn’t born yesterday. I can see the chemistry between you. Are you planning to seduce my granddaughter?”
Scarlet-cheeked, Emily glanced at Conor, who looked as embarrassed as she felt. She opened her mouth to say something, anything, but Conor got there first.
“Not that it’s any of your business, Gertie, but I am planning nothing of the sort. Emily has got into a bit of bother, through no fault of her own. And I want to help her and you. So I have invited you both to live in my apartment until we can sort out the problem. Once the issue has been neutralized, you can then come back to live here.”
“Neutralized? You talk like it’s World War III. Emily, what’s going on?”
“Nana, I...well, the thing is…”
“Conor Dunne, you tell me what is going on right this minute. I don’t have the patience for this.”
“Your granddaughter has an admirer who has been sending her messages online. The content of those messages has become a little disturbing. As a purely precautionary measure we—that is, Emily and I—agreed the both of you should come to live with me. Just for a while.”
“I wasn’t born yesterday, Mr. Dunne. I take it both myself and Emily have been threatened.”
Emily glanced at Conor only to catch him looking at her with such a look of tenderness, her whole body wanted to melt. She turned to her grandmother who was looking at both of them, her eyes lit up with curiosity as well as worry.
“I appreciate you being straight with me, Conor.”
“But I didn’t say anything.”
“You didn’t have to. The way you looked in response to my question told me everything. I am packed and ready to go. Emily, could you please take my suitcase to reception and inform them I will be away for a few days.”
“I can do that,” Conor volunteered.
“No, Emily will do it. I want a word with you.”
Emily didn’t know which of them was more frightened by those words. Conor’s white face spoke of his reaction but was he as worried as she was?
“Nana, I—”
“Leave me with Conor, please, Emily.”
Emily had no option but to get up to leave. She picked up the suitcase but Conor’s hand came over hers. “I’ll carry that out when your gran is ready to leave. You go to reception.”
She smiled at him, thanking him for coming to her aid. Again.
Conor waited until the door closed behind Emily before turning to face Gertie.
“You care a lot for my granddaughter, don’t you?”
“We’ve only recently met,” he stalled.
“I didn’t ask you how long you’ve known her. I can see from your eyes you care about her. Not to mention the fact you’re here offering us both shelter.
How serious is this threat? This isn’t some sort of game designed to get closer to Emily, is it?”
“I can assure you, it’s not.”
“I don’t know you, young man. You seem to be a genuine, nice guy but I will let you know if that opinion changes when I’ve spent longer than five minutes in your company. I know my granddaughter. She finds it hard to trust anyone, men in particular. It can be difficult to get close to her.”
“Why?”
“Why what?”
“Why does she find it hard to trust men?” Conor asked despite knowing Gertie wouldn’t tell him.
“That’s for Emily to tell you. She has her reasons, but it has nothing to do with her parents. They were very good people. Only she lost them young.”
“She told me you were her only family—well, apart from her brother and his family.”
Conor immediately regretted mentioning the brother as Gertie’s eyes clouded with pain. He stepped forward but then realized it wasn’t his place to interfere. She hadn’t asked him to, and he doubted it would be welcome. From what little he had seen, she was a private, stubborn, feisty old woman.
“Conor, tell me straight. Is Emily’s life in danger?”
“I don’t know, Gertie, but I don’t like what has been said to her. I want my security people to look after things for a bit. Emily doesn’t know this yet, but I don’t intend on living with you both. I want you to stay in my apartment as it is the safest option. If the outside world believes Emily is living with me, the source of this issue may just disappear.”
“Where will you live?”
“My friend, Brad, has an apartment in the same building. He is away at the moment and said I can crash there.”
“You haven’t told Emily this because she would refuse to allow you to be put out.”
“You know your granddaughter. She’s a stubborn woman.”
“The apple didn’t fall far from the tree in that regard.”
“I can see that, Gertie.”
“Right. I need to say goodbye to a couple of my friends and I will be ready to go. Do you think it will take long before I get to come back here?”
