Moving On

Chapter 4 - Part 1

Once Kate heard the door shut, she moved toward the railing and saw Tyler coming up the stairs with his luggage.

"Is everything all right?"

He nodded without looking up at her.

What is wrong with this guy? She was leaving when he told her to stay. Now, he was refusing to look at her. "Okay, I guess I should go, too." She figured it was better to stay away from him until his resentment of her faded.

"Where are you rushing to?" he asked as he continued up the stairs.

Away from you. She wasn't interested in getting insulted by him again. "Work. I—"

"Why did you choose to forfeit the house?" he asked as he walked past her, still not looking at her.

She drew in a slow, deep breath. This was why he'd asked her to stay—to pick a fight with her.

Help me to ... to ... help him. She wanted to roll her eyes when she heard those words play in her head. Why? Why did she make that promise?

Keeping her anger under control wouldn't help Tyler get his house back, but it would keep him alive—for now.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Hayes. I have no wish to start my day fighting with you." She turned and took a step away from him.

"I didn't mean ..."

She paused and turned back to him.

"I wasn't trying to insinuate anything. I just want to know."

She stared right at him, seeing dark-gray ripples amid the dull amber in his eyes. In that split second, she realized he had been concealing his turmoil as aloofness.

This was only his second time in the mansion after twenty long years. The memories, even if he could remember any happy ones, were probably giving him nothing but misery.

The knowledge that he would never see those in his memories again and never be able to enjoy another smile with them must be painful.

The nostalgia could bring about such an ache that, sometimes, it would seem better to forget about everything.

It was a feeling she could empathize with.

Tyler waited, his eyes unblinking, seemingly giving her time to consider how she wanted to react.

She sighed softly and gave him a small smile. There wasn't any need for her to add to his agony.

He nodded and turned away from her, heading toward the master bedroom.

"Tyler," she said when she saw him reaching for the knob. Her fingers moved to the silver locket on the chain she wore around her neck.

Tyler didn't respond; he didn't even look over at her. His hand hovered over the doorknob as if a force field was keeping him from touching it.

She waited and noticed the scars on his right arm. They looked like teeth marks, huge teeth marks.

Her head tilted to the side as she observed the scars, but abruptly, he dropped his hand and turned to face her.

She took her mind off the scars and continued. "Your grandfather never made any changes to the room. The housekeepers have been keeping it clean, that's all."

He gave her a wry smile. "Just like the living room."

She pursed her lips and nodded. "The photos, the furniture, it's all the same."

Silence seemed to be his favorite style of response. He stared back at her, seemingly studying her, or maybe he was just glaring at her.

Again, she couldn't help feeling that she was annoying him with her presence.