*
Nolan hired meunder an agreement that I wouldn’t ask his mum about her past. He didn’t say she wasn’t allowed to talk about it on her own.
“You’re quite fashion forward, Nellie. I bet you’ve always had an eye for it.” Not a question—just a statement. I watch her rummage through rack after rack of secondhand clothes, picking out only the most hideous and outdated pieces.
She stops and looks at me with her head cocked to the side like she’s searching for an answer, but I didn’t ask a question. It’s her past. She’s trying to remember if in fact she has always had an eye for fashion.
I grab a fancy wide-brimmed black hat with three soft pink roses in the front and slip it on. Nellie’s gaze moves to the hat and becomes even more intense.
“I liked hats,” she whispers like she’s not really sure if it’s true. Her face pales a bit.
“You look like you could use some lunch. What do you say?”
Her vacant eyes shift to me, yet I know she’s still sifting through something from her past that’s not clear. After a few moments, she seems to let it go as her smile reappears, her eyes more focused again. “Yes. Lunch would be perfect.”
We go out for lunch. Lorne drives us around town so Nellie can give me the history of Savannah that Nolan already gave me when I arrived. She can’t rememberherpast, but she remembers everything about Savannah’s past. I like Nellie. Theo said before the ‘incident’ she was a rich southern bitch, and maybe she was. However, she’s not now, and I hope if or when she gets back her memory, she keeps the part of her that is grounded in secondhand clothes and supermarket coupons.
When we pull up to the house, she reaches over and rests her hand on mine. “You’re welcome.”
I smile, feeling a laugh building in my belly. She’s sincere, as if I’d thanked her, and I had planned on it, but she beat me to that part of our conversation.
“Thank you.” It’s so backwards, but she doesn’t seem to notice. “Maybe we can do something together again tomorrow.”
She nods. “If you need me, I’m here for you.”
Lorne opens her door just as mine is opened as well.
“Hey!”
Nolan offers his hand and helps me out. “Did you two lovely ladies have a pleasant day?”
“We did.” I grin because it’s the truth.
“You two will give me lovely grand babies.”
Nolan wiggles his eyebrows in the first really flirtatious look he’s ever given me. I roll my eyes as we follow Nellie inside.
“I’m going out to the house to check everything over before I put a sign up. Want to ride along? When I was there yesterday, I noticed you left a plant.”
“Aplant?” I laugh. “I left thirty odd plants. I’m sure they are dying. I should get the ones that are salvageable, but—”
“No.” Nolan shakes his head as we both give Nellie and Sofia a wave goodbye. “One. There was only one plant that I saw. Something with white blooms.” He shuts the door behind us.
I hike my rucksack over my shoulder.The peace lily.
“It didn’t look dead. He’s clearly been watering it.”
I stop a few feet from my bike. “I’ll go with you.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
My name is Scarlet Stone, and I’ve been told I have a fiery personality when it comes to men. Of course, the only people who tell me that are men.
Nolan looks overat me after he turns off his car. I stare at Theo’s truck in front of us.
“You good?”
I nod, but I’m far from good. This is a bad idea. So he kept the lily, it doesn’t mean anything.
