Page 36 of The House Guest

Though I wished I could put off reading her message until after Rosie went to bed tonight, curiosity was killing me.

So I clicked on it. Because we weren’t following each other, I had the option to accept the message or not.

Once I accepted, though, she’d see that I’d read it.

So, I opted to read it first and then decide whether to accept.

Hey, Primrose. I hope it’s okay that I’m messaging you.

I saw that you’d liked one of my photos.

I then clicked over to your account to make sure it was you.

You look beautiful, and your daughter is absolutely adorable.

It’s so great to see you after all this time.

Dorian told me a bit about his trip to Ohio.

He said you got emotional when he told you about my remission.

That really touched me. I’ve wanted to reach out to you for a long time now but didn’t want to overstep.

I know the situation between you and Dorian is complicated.

I just wanted to say hello and let you know I was thinking of you.

I also followed you. I hope that’s okay.

If you ever want to talk, I won’t say anything to the guys.

I had to stop for a moment to process that.

She’d also given me her phone number and encouraged me to call her.

What good could possibly come from that?

However, I did appreciate her saying she wouldn’t discuss any conversations we had with Chandler or Dorian.

I believed her, even if that might’ve been dumb.

Candace had always struck me as a real girls’ girl.

I didn’t take her to be a liar. Yet I couldn’t accept the message yet.

Would it be a good idea to engage? That was a slippery slope.

If I never accepted the message, she could assume I never saw it.

That might be one way to leave well enough alone, if I could curb my curiosity.

What Dorian was up to these days wasn’t any of my business. Talking to her would tempt me to ask about him, and then I’d become privy to information I had no right to have—unless, of course, it was coming from Dorian himself.

** *

A couple of days went by, and I hadn’t responded to Candace’s message.

The more time that passed, the more I told myself it was better to let sleeping dogs lie.

It wouldn’t be good to obtain information I had no right to know.

Probably I should take it one step further and stop checking her damn page altogether.

Monday when Rosie was at school, though, I had an abrupt change of heart. Or maybe I just stopped kidding myself. Either way, I accepted the message. Ultimately, that’s what I wanted. And now that she could see I’d viewed it, I needed to respond.

Hey, Candace! It’s so good to hear from you.

I have to admit, I’m a bit embarrassed for being caught stalking your page.

But if it gave me the opportunity to say hello, it was worth it.

Your kids are gorgeous, and needless to say, I’m very happy to see you looking so vibrant and healthy.

My Rosie is a handful but also a joy. I’m happy we’re both getting to experience motherhood.

It’s truly a gift. Thank you for taking the time to reach out to me.

I decided to leave it at that and not say anything about a phone call. I closed the app feeling relieved about putting the whole thing behind me.

But after making a quick snack, I checked my messages again and saw that Candace responded .

It’s great to hear from you! Let me know when you have time to chat. If you’re around in the next hour, my kids are out getting an early breakfast with Chandler. Might be a good time to talk.

She’d left her number again and clearly didn’t want to drop the phone-call thing.

I looked at the time on the message, and she’d sent it five minutes ago. Wouldn’t it be rude not to call her? If I was going to do this, better to get it over with and not miss the window.

I took a deep breath and dialed.

After a couple of rings, she picked up. “Primrose?”

“Yes! Hi. Wasn’t sure you’d know it was me.”

“Well, I don’t have too many people other than Chandler calling me at this time. I’m glad you called.”

“This is a good time for me, too. My daughter is in school for another couple of hours.”

“Aren’t these little breaks when they’re out of the house like gold?”

“The only time I can think straight and get stuff done.” I exhaled.

“I know.” She paused. “I hope I wasn’t being too forward in asking you to call me. I feel more comfortable talking than typing everything out, especially since Chandler sometimes uses my phone to scroll on social media. He doesn’t have his own account.”

“Ah. Well, I don’t want you to have to hide anything from him. ”

“Oh, I know. I love my husband, but I don’t trust that he wouldn’t run to Dorian and tell him everything. I want you to be able to talk to me honestly, if you want to, without having to worry about that.”

I smiled. It made me happy that we were on the same page. “I appreciate that,” I said. “At the same time, I feel like I shouldn’t be talking about Dorian behind his back, especially to one of his friends.”

“You don’t have to say anything you don’t want to,” Candace assured me.

“I just wanted to say hello and acknowledge that I’ve thought of you, too, all these years.

When I found out the real reason Dorian broke up with you, I felt horrible that you were out there somewhere with a broken heart, not knowing the full story. ”

“Yeah,” I breathed. “Needless to say, the truth was a shock, but I’m grateful he came to find me to explain everything.

” Then I changed the subject, asking about her health.

We spent the next several minutes discussing her remission and her fears of recurrence, especially now that she had children.

She seemed to be in a good headspace overall, though—much better than mine, if I were being honest.

“So…” she said the moment there was a lull in our conversation. “I couldn’t help but notice that you liked and then unliked the photo of Dorian and Liv. I’m sure it wasn’t easy to see that.”

She had a name. Liv .

“I don’t know how to feel,” I told her. “I do want him to be happy.”

“She’s an acquaintance of mine. That’s how they met.”

I felt unjustifiably betrayed by that news. “Really... ”

“Yeah. I invited them over at the same time one day. I suspected she’d be a good fit for him, but I had my reservations because I knew he wasn’t over you, despite knowing you were moving forward with your wedding.”

I swallowed the lump in my throat. “It looks like it worked out.”

“They’ve been dating ever since, and I know she’s crazy about him. But…” She hesitated.

“What?” I urged, sitting at the edge of my seat.

“I’ve struggled with feeling like maybe I made the wrong decision in introducing them. I don’t want her to get hurt.”

“I’m getting married...” I said defensively.

“I know that.” She went silent.

I got the impression she was digging for my true feelings on the matter, trying to see if there was still doubt on my end. She wouldn’t have had to dig very far to figure it out. I was grateful she couldn’t see my face. She’d probably see right through me.

“I’m not going to do anything to disrupt his life again,” I eventually said.

“Not intentionally. But you’re still breathing, right?” She chuckled. “I think you’re always going to be in his heart. Anyone else comes second.”

Her candor made me sweat. “I can’t do anything about feelings Dorian still has for me. I’m not sure what you want me to say...”

“I’m sorry. You don’t have to say anything. I’m just being honest about how I see the situation. I understand if you’d prefer not to know anything. ”

“I would prefer not to know. Because it’s hard for me.” My voice shook. “It was hard for me to see him with her.” I shut my eyes, realizing I’d admitted more than I intended.

“I’m sure...” She sighed. “And I won’t continue to bring this up. It’s just… I think he’s forcing himself to move on, and while that could be construed as a good thing, it also has the potential for disaster.”

“How serious are they?”

“She told me she’s falling in love with him. But he hasn’t mentioned the L word to her. And while she hasn’t moved in officially, she’s at the mansion a lot of the time. I could see this getting serious.”

That felt like a punch to the gut. Liv was living my former life.

“If there’s any chance of you pulling a runaway bride, I wanted you to know that if you wait too long, things are gonna be a lot more complicated,” Candace said.

“I promise I’m not trying to stir up trouble.

I just want to protect my friends. I still consider you one of them.

To be clear, I’m not on anyone’s side here.

I wouldn’t have dreamed of getting involved if I hadn’t seen that you liked and unliked the photo of them.

That made me wonder if you haven’t fully gotten over him. ”

I’d never get over him.

She sighed. “I’m not gonna interfere anymore, and I’m not gonna tell anyone we had this conversation. What you do with this information is totally up to you.”

“Thank you for reaching out to me, Candace,” I said after a long pause. “I appreciate it.”

“I hope I haven’t overstepped. ”

“No. I respect you for sharing what you think is important for me to know.”

“I also hope I haven’t scared you off and that you’ll want to keep in touch. I swear, we don’t have to talk about Dorian next time.”

“It’s all good,” I said, though if I knew what was good for me, I wouldn’t initiate any additional communication with her, even if that made me sad. There was no real way to separate Candace from Dorian.

“Well, I’m sure you have things to do,” she said. “So I’ll let you go.”

“It was good talking to you, Candace.”

“You, too, Primrose. Truly.”

After we hung up, I sat in a daze, the weight of the conversation heavy on my shoulders.

I’d hoped to come out of that phone call feeling better, but it had only made me feel worse.

Dorian was getting serious with that woman.

What if he was falling in love? And more than that, why was I so invested if I wanted him to be happy?

Why did this feel so utterly devastating?

Did I expect to move on and marry Casey while Dorian pined for me alone at the mansion in perpetuity?

Of course not. That would be the most selfish thing imaginable.

I’d made my decision. I’d ended things with Dorian. And I had to come to terms with it.

The door opened. I jumped and turned to find Casey entering.

I sprang to my feet. “What are you doing home?”

“I decided to take the rest of the day off.” He dropped his bag. “Surprise!”

“You never do that.” I flashed my best fake smile.

“I know. It just hit me today how much I miss out on because of work. I got ahead on my to-do list and told Jim I needed the afternoon off. I want to surprise Rosie at pickup.”

Running a shaky hand through my hair, I forced another smile. “She’s gonna love that.”

“Just her?” He wrapped his arms around me and kissed me on the cheek. “I was hoping you’d be happy, too.”

“Of course I am.” I stiffened. “What do you want to do after we pick her up?”

“I was thinking we could get sandwiches from the deli and take them to the park. After, we can hit the zoo. We don’t use those season passes nearly enough.”

“That sounds like an amazing plan.”

Casey kissed me again. Immediately, I noticed his erection.

He whispered in my ear, “You think we can get a quick one in before we have to pick her up? I’m so freaking horny.”

My first instinct was to lie. “I just got my period.”

“So?”

“I’m not comfortable.”

“Okay.” He pouted. “I understand.”

My heart sank. Lying to get out of having sex was a first for me. But I couldn’t bear to do that right now. It didn’t feel right when I’d spent the morning agonizing over Dorian. I added another notch to the long line of things I felt guilty about lately.

That afternoon, Casey, Rosie, and I had what by all appearances was a wholesome family outing. Inside my brain, though, was a tornado of inappropriate thoughts contaminating the entire experience. I felt like the worst mother and wife-to-be on Earth.