We started making our way back to the museum but not before Wes dragged me to his favorite hot dog stand which was just down the street. He told me it was the best in the city, but I was still feeling too fragile so I watched as he devoured his food.
Once he was done, we jumped in a cab and hurried back to The Met. Our little excursion hadn’t taken as long as I’d expected, so we got back in good time. We easily snuck back through the front entrance while Mr. Wagner was talking to another unlucky staff member and returned to wandering the galleries.
While our mission to my father’s office hadn’t quite turned out as planned, I knew I’d have a chance to get the information I wanted at dinner tonight. I’d also got to spend time hanging out with Wes, which was never a bad thing. Though I was still at a loss as to why Noah was at my father’s building.
When it was time to leave the museum, we took the short walk back through Central Park to the hotel. Cress and Anna chatted the whole way about the Alexander McQueen exhibit, while I smiled and nodded as enthusiastically as I could.
I didn’t see Noah again until we got back to the hotel. It was late in the afternoon, and all the students and teachers were mingling in the lobby, collecting their luggage and preparing to get back on the bus to Weybridge. I hadn’t seen Noah at The Met or on the walk back, so he must have skipped the visit completely.
Maybe Wes was right, and Noah had told the teachers he was too sick to go to the museum. Instead of resting in his room though, he was visiting my father’s office. I was dying to pull him aside and ask him what he’d been doing there, but there were too many people around, and I wasn’t sure how to ask him without it sounding like we’d been following him. It would be especially embarrassing if I questioned him and he had a simpler reason for why he was there, as Wes suggested. So, I left it, hoping I could come up with an appropriate way to ask him about it at another time.
Cress, Anna, and I said our goodbyes to everyone getting on the bus back to Weybridge before we took a cab to Cress’s house. The journey only took a few minutes before the cab stopped in front of a beautiful old brownstone townhouse with tall arched windows that looked out onto the street. It was in a pretty neighborhood with gorgeous tall trees that had truly embraced the golden hues of autumn. Leaves softly fluttered down as we got out of the car, and the sidewalk was covered in a carpet of reds and yellows that crunched pleasantly underfoot as we walked to the front door.
Cress had a big smile on her face as she led us up the front steps. She looked so happy to be home, and I felt a hint of envy. I would have given anything to be walking through the front door of my apartment in Rapid Bay.
I was surprised as I entered the townhouse. I wasn’t sure exactly what I expected the interior to look like, but it certainly wasn’t something so bohemian. The tiles were all patterned, giving off a Moroccan feel, and large wrought iron lanterns hung from the ceiling dispersing shards of light in pretty patterns. The home was colorful and bright, and the furnishings were completely eclectic. I’d never seen a place quite like it before.
“My parents aren’t home,” Cress said, as she threw her keys down on the entrance table. “I think they’re in Istanbul this weekend.”
“They’re not here?” I felt sure my mom wouldn’t be comfortable with me staying here if she knew there were no adults looking after us. She probably wouldn’t force me to head back to school or anything, but I imagined she’d be up all night worrying if she knew.
Cress must have sensed my concern because she waved a hand, dismissing it. “Our housekeeper lives here, so you don’t have to worry, we’re not totally unsupervised.”
That didn’t make me feel much better, but I guessed that one adult on the premises was better than none. It was probably best I didn’t let my mom know all the same. There was no need to freak her out unnecessarily. We were all capable of looking after ourselves.
Cress gave us a tour, starting with the courtyard out back where she introduced us to two massive koi fish she’d named Crabbe and Goyle—because apparently she didn’t like fish and she thought they looked a little thuggish. She then quickly flitted past the massive kitchen that housed no less than three ovens, perfect for the many parties her parents apparently threw when they were in town. I barely got a look at the living and dining rooms as Cress only gave them a passing wave as she headed for the stairs.
The place was enormous. I’d spent most of my time in New York gawking at sparkling glass skyscrapers and towering brick apartment buildings. I’d never really imagined the city had such beautiful family homes. I lost count of the number of rooms we passed as we climbed up the floors, and it was only steps from the park. It must have cost a fortune. Cress was so down to earth I often forgot she came from just as much wealth as everyone else at Weybridge Academy.
When we finally reached the top of the house, Cress waved us into her bedroom. It was completely different from the rest of the home with none of the bold and unconventional furnishings I’d seen in the other rooms. Her walls were painted a subtle shade of pink and plastered in posters of bands and pictures of models plucked from fashion magazines. She had fairy lights twined around the posts of her bed and LED strips along the edges of her ceiling. It was much more suited to Cress than the rest of the place.
Cress put her bag down on her bed and slowly picked up the stuffed bear sitting in the center of the pillows. She frowned as she glanced down at it.
“That’s cute,” I said.
“My ex gave it to me,” she replied, still considering the bear. “I should probably get rid of it.” She walked over to her desk and dumped the bear in the trash can.
“Brutal.” Anna chuckled.
“What?” Cress shrugged. “It’s about time I put him in the past. Fluffy toys and all.”
It was time I did the same with Noah. Any lingering hope I might have had that the rift between our families was something that could be repaired had been stamped out when I spoke to him last night. I hoped my conversation with Matthew at dinner would only help me accept that fact.
“Speaking of time, you should probably get ready for dinner with your dad,” Cress said as she glanced at her watch.
I checked the time on my phone and was surprised to find she was right. The car would be picking me up here in just twenty minutes.
“I was going to wear this,” I said, gesturing at the clothes I’d been in all day. “It’s just dinner at his place.”
“Oh, I’m sure that’s fine then,” Cress replied.
“I might run a brush through my hair though,” I said. “And maybe clean my teeth.” Even now, my mouth still felt gross from being sick at the theater.
Cress gestured toward her door. “There’s a bathroom across the hall.” I nodded and gathered my things to freshen up. It was hard to concentrate on simple things like brushing my teeth when all I could think about was the difficult conversation I had ahead with my father. It hadn’t been easy talking it through with Noah last night, and I felt sure it would be just as hard to hear my dad’s side of the story, especially when it came to my aunt. At least I could be thankful I wasn’t going into it completely clueless.
When I was done in the bathroom, I came back to Cress’s room and found both girls on her bed.
“What are you guys going to do tonight?” I asked.
“The twins want to go for sushi,” Anna said.
My eyes widened with surprise. “Sawyer wants to go for sushi? Didn’t he have food poisoning too?”
“No one ever said he was smart.” Anna shrugged.
“The place is just around the corner from here though,” Cress explained. “Give me a call when you’re on your way back, and depending on the time, you can meet us at the restaurant, or we can come back home.”
“Sounds good.”
My phone buzzed, and when I checked the screen, I saw a message letting me know the car had arrived to pick me up.
“That’s my ride.”
“We’ll walk you out,” Cress said, jumping from the bed as Anna slowly pushed herself up to follow suit.
We made our way down from the top of the house, descending the many flights of stairs before walking out the front door.
At the bottom of the steps, I could see a large black vehicle with darkened windows waiting by the curb. One of the back doors opened and out stepped my father.
“Matthew?”
He smiled brightly in response. I knew he was sending a car for me, but I didn’t expect him to be in it.
“Hello, Isobel,” he replied as he climbed the steps toward me. When he reached the top, I wasn’t sure what to do. We weren’t exactly at the stage in our father-daughter relationship where we hugged in greeting. Instead, we both stood waiting awkwardly.
“I thought I’d be meeting you at your place,” I said.
“I managed to get off work a little early so I could come meet you.
“Oh.” My cheeks flushed, but I didn’t know why. It was nice that he’d gone to the effort, but it wasn’t that big a deal. For some reason though, I felt like it was.
“These are my friends, Cress and Anna,” I said, hoping to divert his attention away from me.
“It’s a pleasure to meet you both.” Matthew smiled at them in turn.
“You too, Mr. LaFleur,” Anna and Cress responded with polite smiles.
“Please, call me Matthew. How has your trip been so far? Have you enjoyed it?”
“It’s been good,” I replied.
“Isobel got food poisoning,” Anna interrupted.
I shot her a glare.
Matthew faced me. “Are you okay? Do you need a doctor?”
“No, I don’t need a doctor,” I responded quickly. “I’m fine.”
“Are you sure?”
“Certain.” I shot Anna another scowl, but she just shrugged like she didn’t see the problem. I didn’t want Matthew babying me, and I definitely didn’t want to see a doctor. I had enough on my plate tonight without my father worrying about me being sick.
“We should probably get going,” I said before Anna could add anything else.
“Of course.” He stood to the side and gestured for me to go ahead of him, but I raised a hand. “Just give me one second.”
He nodded his understanding. “I’ll wait by the car. It was lovely to meet you girls.” He smiled at Cress and Anna.
“You too, Mr. LaFleur” they chimed in response.
I hovered by my friends as I watched him walk down the steps and over to the waiting SUV.
“Okay, wish me luck,” I said to the girls.
“Good luck,” Cress replied. “You won’t need it though. It’s just your dad.”
“Your superhot dad,” Anna added with a whisper. “Why didn’t you tell us he was so dreamy?”
I thumped her in the arm. Hard. “You did not just say that.”
“What? He is.”
I shook my head and did my best to ignore her. I did not want to think about whether my father was good-looking, let alone discuss it with my friends.
“Enjoy the sushi,” I called out as I jogged down the steps. “I’ll let you know when I’m on my way back.”
When I reached the car, Matthew was waiting by an open door, and he stood back to let me in. I gave my friends a brief wave before he closed the door behind me. The driver in the front seat nodded at me in the rearview mirror.
Matthew slid into the seat beside me, and once his seat belt was fastened, the car pulled away from the curb. My fingers fidgeted at the hem of my sweater as I considered launching into one of the many questions I had for my father. I wasn’t sure the car was the right place to ask him, especially with his driver in the front seat, but it was hard to wait when it was all I could think about. I’d been wanting answers for weeks.
“I’m sorry to hear you’ve been unwell. Are you truly feeling better?” Matthew asked.
He sounded so concerned, and I found myself holding back a smile. Noah was convinced my father was a terrible person, and maybe I would have agreed when I’d first met the man. He hadn’t given me the best first impression. But the more I got to know him, the harder I found it to believe that was possible. Maybe I was being naïve. Maybe when I finally got a chance to question him, I wouldn’t like what I discovered.
“I’m still a bit queasy,” I replied. “But I’m not going to be sick or anything.”
“Do you feel up to having dinner with me? I can drop you back if you’d rather rest.”
“No!” I protested the idea a little too forcefully. “No, I’m okay. I promise.”
He slowly nodded. “But if you start to take a turn for the worse, just let me know.”
“I will.” I highly doubted I would. At least, not before I’d had a chance to talk with him properly.
The traffic was bad as we drove to Matthew’s place, and the constant sound of horns and the flashes of brake lights surrounded us. We moved at such a crawling pace I wondered if it might be quicker to walk. I couldn’t imagine Matthew walking anywhere though, especially not in the expensive suit and strikingly shiny shoes he wore.
His place wasn’t far from Cress’s though, and despite the traffic, the car pulled over not long after we’d set out.
“Here we are,” Matthew said as the driver got out of the car and came to open my door. I stepped from the car and craned my neck back to look at the building that reached impossibly high into the sky above us. Matthew lived here? I shouldn’t have been surprised considering the gorgeous home he’d purchased in Weybridge and the skyscraper that housed the headquarters for his business.
I followed him in through the revolving doors at the front of the building and gasped as I got my first look at the foyer of Matthew’s New York home. The place was incredibly lavish with white marble coating almost every surface and shiny gold finishings on all the doors and light fittings. It was opulent but also light and bright—surprisingly so, considering we were on the ground floor of a high-rise building.
“Good evening, Mr. LaFleur, Miss Grace.” An older man in a deep-green suit smiled at us from behind a desk as we entered the foyer. He came around to greet us as we approached.
“Good evening, Edward,” Matthew replied. “Have you had a good day?”
“It was very good, thank you, sir. And yourself?”
“Hectic,” Matthew admitted with a chagrinned smile.
“I would expect nothing less,” Edward replied, smiling back. He walked beside us to the elevator as he spoke.
“Did you catch the game this afternoon?” Matthew asked.
Edward blanched. “Oh yes, it was terrible.”
Matthew’s eyes widened a fraction with surprise. “Worse than last week?”
“Much worse.”
“So I shouldn’t bother watching the highlights?”
“I’m afraid I wouldn’t recommend it, sir.”
“Okay.” My father laughed and shook his head. “Thanks for the warning.”
When we reached the elevator, Edward pressed the button for us. The doors spread wide immediately, and he held them open as he gestured for us to walk inside.
“Will you be needing anything this evening, sir?” he asked.
“No, nothing tonight. Thank you, Edward.”
“Have a lovely evening,” the man replied, pressing the button for the top floor.
Once the doors were closed, I turned to my father. “He was nice.”
“Yes, Edward’s great,” my father agreed. “He certainly makes this place feel a little more like home. It’s nice to have someone around who I can talk football with. We follow the same team although I think we’re both regretting that choice at the moment. They aren’t doing very well this year.”
“Are you talking about soccer?” I asked. “You like soccer?”
“Well, I call it football, but yes. I don’t get much time to watch the games these days, but Edward keeps me up to date.”
“Huh.” I frowned and faced the elevator doors once more. Every time I thought I had Matthew pegged, he said something or acted in a way that shifted my perception of him. I tried to picture him sitting down with a beer and watching a soccer match, but I just couldn’t visualize it.
I was still trying to wrap my mind around the small but altering fact when the doors opened. I expected to see a hallway in front of me, lined with doors to various apartments. Instead, I was greeted by the entrance to an entire apartment. Matthew’s home wasn’t just on the top floor. It was the top floor. The space before us was a vast open-plan space with huge floor-to-ceiling windows. The view beyond truly caught my attention. I could see all of New York from here. It was breathtaking.
“Good evening, sir, Miss Isobel,” Caldwell said as we stepped from the elevator and into the apartment. I’d been so busy admiring the view, I hadn’t noticed he was there even though he was standing right by the elevator.
“Caldwell,” my father replied. “Are there any messages for me?”
“Nothing urgent,” Caldwell said. “Dinner will be ready in fifteen minutes. I passed on your instructions regarding Miss Isobel to Jacques.”
I wondered who Jacques was and what the instructions could be, but Matthew was already dismissing Caldwell before I got a chance to ask.
“Thank you,” Matthew said. “That will be all for now.”
Caldwell stepped away, and Matthew gestured for me to follow him into the apartment. “I only bought the place recently,” he said, as we moved through the unnecessarily large entrance. “I couldn’t resist it when I saw the view.”
“I can see why,” I whispered. It was incredible, but I couldn’t begin to imagine how much the view alone cost.
“Would you like to see the place before we eat?” he asked.
“Sure.”
Matthew’s tour was much more thorough than Cress’s had been. He showed me around the bottom level first, which included the living room, dining area, and kitchen. There was music coming from the kitchen as we approached, and Matthew opened the door to reveal a man cutting vegetables behind a long island bench in the center of the room.
Matthew gave him a smile. “Isobel, this is our chef, Jacques” he said. “He’s worked for me for almost ten years now and makes the most incredible desserts you’ll ever have the pleasure of eating.”
Jacques lifted his eyes and nodded at Matthew before turning to me. I raised a hand to wave, and the chef winked in response before focusing back on the food he was preparing.
Matthew backed from the room, and I got the impression he didn’t want to bother the chef too much while he was working. As we continued the tour, he pointed at another door that led to his study but then directed me up the stairs and showed me multiple bedrooms, a library, what looked like another living room, and another study as well as a room totally devoted to a home theater.
I’d lost count of how many bathrooms he’d pointed out, and I was surprised to learn there was a third floor in the apartment, which consisted of two bedrooms separated by a long hallway. His bedroom was to the left, but he directed me to the room on the right.
“This room is yours,” he said. His voice quaked a little as he spoke like he was nervous. “You’re welcome to stay here whenever you’re in the city. I’m hoping you’ll be able to visit again soon.”
I nodded because the words stuck in my throat. Matthew had organized a room for me here too? I’d been so intent on grilling Matthew about the Hastings family tonight, but as I stood there, I realized this dinner was about so much more than that. I was flooded by thoughts of our conversation at the ball and his admission to me about how much he wanted me in his life. I was really beginning to see that he meant it.
This was just a bedroom, and Matthew clearly had more of them then he knew what to do with, but it meant more to me than he knew.
As he opened the door to show me the room, I wondered if I should backtrack on my previous thought. It wasn’t just a bedroom. It was practically its own apartment within the apartment. I had a whole lounge area to myself that was decked out with soft, plush couches and a fireplace against one wall. The bedroom itself was just as gorgeous as the rest of the apartment with sheer curtains draped over the long windows and a bed so large it could have fit three of me.
There was a huge en suite bathroom and a closet filled with clothing for me. The room even had its own balcony. Not that I had any intention of going out there. We were far too high up for my liking.
Just like it had been downstairs, the view outside the window was impossible to ignore. I could see the endless expanse of Central Park below me and the jagged New York skyline surrounding it. I could even see my father’s surname lit up on the top of his building, not far from here. I probably could have sat there staring at the view forever. It was hard not to be a little overwhelmed by it all.
I knew Matthew was wealthy, but this was beyond my wildest dreams. A familiar feeling that I’d been experiencing ever since I got to Weybridge came washing over me. I didn’t belong here. I’d slowly become accustomed to living at school, but this was a whole other level of extravagance.
“Are you ready for dinner?” Matthew asked.
I’d been standing in silence staring out at the view for slightly too long, and I somehow tore my gaze from it to turn to him. His lips were curved in a half smile like he understood just how easily the view of New York City could suck you in. I gave him a nod, but as I went to follow him, I had to wonder how ready I really was.
This was my chance to hear his side of the story. It was finally time to uncover the reason why the LaFleurs hated the Hastings family so much.
