Page 26 of Behind These Four Walls
“I apologize for interrupting whatever you were on your way to do. It was my first night here, and I’m feeling a little out of place and not sure how to get back home, Mandy.” She read the gold-plated name badge. “I’m hoping you could help me?” she asked, hoping friendliness would encourage their helpfulness.
Mandy or any one of them could come in handy. Besides, one of Isla’s past jobs had been a brief stint in hotel housekeeping, a thankless job that overworked and underpaid. Working here was probably a better gig if you learned the ways of the family quickly. Isla wagered Mandy and the rest of the house staff knew more about the individual Corrigans than the actual family knew. She’d become their friends if she could.
The house staff would know everything if they could be made to talk.
A blush spread across the sprinkle of freckles on the young woman’s face. She was dressed in fitted navy slacks and a matching top. Dark attire similar to that of waitstaff, to blend into the background, not seen, not heard. She looked around nervously, as if checking to see if anyone was around to catch her blatant frustration toward a guest. Then she dropped her eyes demurely in apology for her initial reaction. Isla could understand. Mandy was probably on a directive, and Isla was unknowingly delaying her progress. She nodded, answering Isla’s question.
“Is anyone up yet? Holland, maybe?” Isla didn’t care to run into anyone else if she could avoid it.
“Yes, ma’am—”
Thatword again. She was only twenty-six. She wasn’t nearly a ma’am yet. But Isla couldn’t fault the staff for doing what they were trained to do.
“—Miss Holland is in the breakfast veranda with her brothers.”
“Oh.” Isla’s hope for a quick getaway fizzled. The way she was feeling, she didn’t think she could put up a front for much longer, notafter last night. Rey had warned that pretending would be hard. She’d thought she could handle it. It was all to find out what had happened to Eden, but learning Eden’s true identity had been too much.
“They’re waiting for you there. Just go down this hall halfway and make a left. Would you like me to ...” She looked at Isla expectantly.
Isla shook her head quickly. “No, I can find my way. Thanks.”
But Mandy was already gone after another quick nod, on her way without insisting she take Isla there. Anyone else might have been offended at Mandy’s hasty getaway. Not Isla.
Holland was waiting near the kitchen in the breakfast veranda, where delicious smells of cooked sausage, bacon, and eggs wafted to Isla’s nose. Her stomach growled aggressively, and she slammed a hand over it to stifle its noise. Luckily, the kitchen sounds and various other chatter ensured that no one but Isla heard her stomach betray her.
Holland looked distracted from the usual lighthearted self that she’d shown Isla so far. She was probably still upset over her late-night argument with her father, Isla thought. Remembering the conversation herself and the connection she now shared with the Corrigans twisted the screw already lodged firmly in her chest. Holland wore her fencing training gear, with the suspenders of her fencing pants hanging down at her sides, the corners of her mouth turned down. She was fidgeting with her foil mask.
“Morning,” Isla greeted her, forcing cheeriness when she felt anything but. “I was hoping to get a ride back to town. Can I call a rideshare or taxi? I’ve got some things I need to take care of.”
Holland asked, “Why so soon? Did something happen? Or someone?” She sent a suspicious glare at her brother Bennett, the one Isla hadn’t officially met yet. He was too busy taking Isla in to notice his sister’s accusatory gaze right away and did a double take when he caught Holland’s eye.
“Why are you looking at me?”
“Because I know you,” Holland said accusingly.
He held his hands up to proclaim his innocence. “This is the first time I’ve seen her. I just got in this morning.”
Holland said, “What’s wrong?”
Isla wavered. “I woke up to a message this morning saying I was let go from my job. It was probationary, and I missed a job last night, so they don’t need my services anymore.” Just the way she and Rey had intended. “I wasn’t even scheduled to work last night, but oh well. I need to figure out what I’m going to do.”
“Oh no.” Holland was genuinely upset. She’d never have to know the joy and pain of getting and losing a job.
“Care for breakfast, Miss Isla?” one of the kitchen staff asked. Isla jumped. She’d materialized from nowhere at Isla’s side. This lady was older and didn’t bother calling herma’am, which Isla was happy about. She gave Isla a reassuring smile, which made Isla hate herself more for her lie.
Chapter Twenty-One
Isla struggled to think of a way out now that she’d laid the trap. Another freaking meal. This family seemed to find importance in eating together, but if it was going to be anything like last night’s dinner, she wasn’t sure she could sit through another. “I should really get back, and I don’t want to impose more than I have already.”
They looked at her as if she were speaking another language.
“More like the imposition was put on you.” Bennett spoke up with a trace of sincerity. “Since you got fired trying to do a good deed for my little sis. But everybody’s got to eat, right? And there’s no rush for you anymore, seeing as how you’re unemployed.” An easy smile spread across his face as he took her in.
Myles hadn’t looked up from his reading when she’d entered, hadn’t acknowledged her or anyone else’s existence until now, when he glanced up at his brother with disdain while Holland called Bennett an asshole.
“Am I lying?” Bennett shrugged, making no attempt to hide how his eyes blatantly moved over Isla from head to toe. “Have a seat.”
Bennett was different, more relaxed than the stiff and straitlaced older brother who sat across from him, engrossed in the papers nestled within the leatherbound portfolio he held. While Myles came across like she irritated him and had regarded her both times they’d interacted like an annoying little gnat buzzing around unwanted, Bennett, on the other hand, studiedher audaciously, and Isla, while far from a prude or shy about her curves and her beauty, still felt overly exposed beneath Bennett’s perusal of her person.