Chapter Thirty-One
Day five.
Isabelle sat, staring at her sister. “Come on, Carmen. Wake up,” she murmured.
“Knock, knock,” a familiar deep voice said.
Isabelle’s head jerked up to the doorway. “Hunter! What are you doing here?” she asked, feeling her face go red.
“Good morning, Isabelle. I came to see you, of course. I wanted to let you know Lori got your class schedule shifted back another six weeks, so you don’t have to rush. We’re also giving you paid family emergency leave so you don’t have to worry about your paycheck or coming to work until you’re ready, OK?”
She smiled at him. “That’s so thoughtful. What are you doing in town? It’s not Friday yet.”
Hunter dropped into one of the empty chairs. “Emergency board meeting for the club.”
“Is everything OK? Is it about Garrett leaving?”
Hunter frowned. “No, actually. He’s the one who called the meeting. I’m not sure what it’s about. I do wish you two would work things out.”
Isabelle gave him a sad shake of her head. “I can’t. He’s the reason my sister is here like this.”
Hunter leaned back in his chair. “I can’t tell you how to feel, sweetheart. But are you sure he’s the reason?”
She nodded vehemently. “I’m sure. And the bastard still won’t stop meddling.”
“Meddling how?” Hunter asked, his tone kind and filled with concern.
“Let me count the ways. He negotiated Carmen’s release after I asked him not to, because I didn’t want her to get hurt. He’s having my apartment renovated for God only knows what purpose. He won’t call off his security goons. They follow me everywhere. Oh, and the icing on the cake? He paid off my student loans.”
Hunter grinned and she felt the momentary urge to smack him.
“I’m sorry, I don’t mean to make light of your situation. But two things. Aside from what’s going on with your sister, all of those things sound like things you do for someone you love. Second, the student loan payment wasn’t from Garrett.”
Isabelle furrowed her brow. “It was you?”
He nodded slowly.
“Why on earth would you do a thing like that?”
“Consider it a perk of the job. You still owe me two years in one of my hotels, so it’s an investment.”
“I just don’t understand why obnoxiously rich people insist on being so meddlesome,” she murmured. “I suppose I owe Garrett an apology for yelling at him about the loans.”
Hunter chuckled. “I saw him this morning. He’s going crazy without you.”
“I feel like I’m going crazy without him, but then I look at the tubes coming out of my sister’s face and I can’t help but be angry all over again. Our lives are so different, and we seem to have opposite worldviews. I’ll never fit in his world. Though for a time, he seemed to fit fine in mine.”
Hunter laughed. “You fit into his world a lot more than you think, sweetie. Our world is simple to fit into. It just takes a general knowledge of some basic politics and pop culture, an expensive dress, and a good poker face. You’re a smart girl, and you rock an expensive dress—there are pictures on the internet to prove it. We’ll have to work on your poker face, though.”
She tried to stifle a giggle but failed.
“See. Gotta work on that,” he said with a wink. “My point is, you fit, and you need to stop telling yourself you don’t.”
“I appreciate the vote of confidence,” she said with a smile.
“Have you talked to him at all?”
Isabelle shook her head. “No. Not really. I called to yell at him for paying off my student loans, but I didn’t give him a chance to say anything. Apparently, it was you I should have been yelling at,” she said dryly.
