Hayley - Kathryn Shay Page 0,21
serious but sincere. “This can’t be it, Hayley. Only one night. Not now. Not after the last twelve hours.”
“I feel the same.”
“Thank God!”
They luxuriated in the moment.
Then, reaching out, she put her hand over his. “We have to hide our feelings for each other, Paul. At least for a while.”
“I agree. But it’s going to be harder now to keep it secret.”
“Because of what happened at the gala?”
“Yeah, I had to turn my phone off. The press, everybody seems to have tracked down my number. They kept calling. And the mayor wants to meet with me.”
“I imagine your heroics are all over the news.”
“I’m going to hate this,” he said staring out at the beautiful day. “Sneaking around. Avoiding the press. We’d have to be lucky not to be seen going in and out of each other’s places.”
“I have an idea.”
“Go ahead.”
“We own a lake house in Hidden Cove, too. It’s about an hour from here. We can spend weekends there for the rest of the summer.” She smiled. “And afterward, before we have to decide anything.”
“I’d like that. How long have you had it?”
“It’s been in my family since I was born. My father bought it because his brother and my cousins live in Hidden Cove. Recently, my mother decided to sell it, so Ronan bought it from her, anonymously, and signed it over to me and Finn.”
“I’m glad you have all this, Hayley.”
“What about you? How did you grow up?”
“Poor.”
“There’s not much about you on the Internet.”
“No?”
“Are you still reluctant to talk about your background? You said you needed to know me better.”
“That’s not it anymore. I need time, now, to internalize last night and its repercussions.”
“Of course.” But the notion bothered her. Then she reminded herself that she hadn’t known him, in the sense they were now, for very long. A week. If he needed time to tell her his secrets, she’d give it to him.
* * *
When Hayley went to the bedroom, Paul slipped his phone from his jacket pocket which lay on the floor. He also dressed in the t-shirt and sweat pants she laid out for him. Once back in the kitchen, he decided to tackle the messages he’d received since last night. He clicked into them as he waited while Hayley packed to go to Hidden Cove.
Hell! His box was full now, too. He scrolled down ten names of people he didn’t know. Then he came to one that took his breath away.
He stared at it. For a long time. He thought about deleting the contact information, but he couldn’t bring himself to do it. Instead, he clicked play.
“Paul, this is Matka. I saw the news and know you are in town. Please call me. Kocham cebie.”
I love you. In Polish.
“Też cię kocham, Matka,” he said aloud.
And despite his best efforts not to, he thought about his family, his mother especially, right before he left the house.
Guilt came, fast and ugly as he listened to the recording again. He abandoned his own family.
No, actually, he hadn’t. Pa had abandoned him first.
Hayley came back out, all sunny in a yellow dress, straw hat and sandals on her feet. But her smile turned into a frown. “What’s wrong?”
“More calls and emails than I can answer.” He gave her a once over. “You look like a daisy.”
She held her phone. “We’ll have to rent a car.”
“I have one, in Brooklyn.”
“You have a car in New York City?”
“Yep, for days like this. Let’s go to my house and let me change and pick up a few overnight things.”
Blanking his mind of his family, he followed her out the door, just the sight of her cheering him up. They took the subway to Brooklyn so they wouldn’t have to deal with traffic and walked the block to his condo.
Paul had chosen a place on the first floor in the tall condo complex. She asked about that as they walked inside. “I was tired of high-rise living. That’s all I had in California. So, I bought a first-floor unit. I can walk to restaurants, but come see my favorite spot.”
They went in through the kitchen, filled with stainless steel, granite and hardwood floors. Open space continued through a living room with leather, and a wall of sliding doors. A patio with a teak floor stretched twenty feet long. Black and gray cushions covered chairs for the table and chaises. “Paul, this is wonderful.”
“A compliment from the woman who lives in a glassed-in apartment with a view of the city.”
“I