if you were still alive in there,” he said. His hypnotic blue eyes ran across my face, his brow wrinkled with concern. “You all right, then?”
I was! Now I was. It did not escape me that this meant Michael had been thinking about me. It also did not escape me that he’d waited until Ashley left to knock on my door. “Just had a bit of a cold. I’m better now.”
“Well, we thought maybe you were avoiding us. Ashley in particular was worried she’d done something to put you off?”
“Oh, no, not at all.” Relief bloomed through my chest. So much time wasted in unnecessary self-flagellation! Why did I always do this to myself? “Is she upset? Ashley?”
“Nah. She just thought you were going to do some yoga with her. Was a little surprised when you didn’t come out and join.”
“Tell her I’ll be there tomorrow.”
His eyes flickered over my shoulder; a nervous smile as he surveyed my kitchen. “You going to invite me in, then? Ashley’s gone to town for groceries and I’m desperate for a break from my work.”
“Oh! Yes! Want to sit down for a few minutes? I could make tea.” I ushered him in toward the kitchen table.
He hesitated, looking down at a plate of congealed eggs that had been sitting there since yesterday. “Show me another room. It’s a big house, this is. Curious to see it all.” He studied the half-dozen doors leading from the kitchen to various parts of the house, and then headed toward the farthest one, seemingly at random. I chased him down as he flung it open and then, with a look of surprise on his face, coughed out a laugh. “What’s this?”
“The games room.”
I followed him in and flicked on the light. This was one of the rooms I never used, because what’s the point of a games room if you don’t have anyone to play with? There is nothing in the world more desperate and lonely than a game of solitaire. I looked around the room, taking in the billiards table and the sterling silver chess set just gathering dust in the corner, and wondered if I should suggest a game of pool. But Michael was already making a beeline to the opposite wall, where a pair of gold-and-mother-of-pearl pistols hung over the fireplace.
He leaned close to examine them. “These things loaded?”
“No! The ammunition is locked away in one of the closets. I think they once belonged to Teddy Roosevelt? Or maybe it was FDR.”
“But they work, yeah?”
“Oh yes. I remember once my uncle shot a squirrel out of a tree with one of them.” The same uncle that later attempted a boardroom coup against my father; perhaps we should have seen that coming. “My brother went mental about it. He was a vegan.” I corrected myself: “Is a vegan.”
Michael tore his eyes away from the pistols and looked at me. “I didn’t know you had a brother. Are you close?”
“Yes, though I don’t see him a lot. He’s living in an institution. Schizophrenia.”
“Ah.” He nodded, as if filing this away for later reference. “That must be tough.”
“Very.”
A blast of wind slammed at the windows, rattling them in their casements. “Blow, blow, thou winter wind,/Thou art not so unkind as man’s ingratitude.” He smiled at me. “You know, it reminds me of back home in Ireland. My family’s castle was near the sea, and the wind would blow up the cliffs so hard that if you were standing up on the battlements you could literally get blown right off and dashed on the stones below.”
“Where’s your family living now?”
“All over. My parents died in a car accident when I was young. And my siblings and I all went our separate ways. There was some ugliness over the inheritance.” He walked over to the chess set and picked up a pawn, weighed it in his hand. “That’s why I left Ireland, yeah? I hated all the squabbling over money. Decided I’d rather find a way to live on my own devices, in a place where my name didn’t