Tierney confessed to herself that she was hiding. Standing by the kitchen counter, she was preparing some of the ingredients for the dinner Giselle was hosting for Vivian and Mike. They hadn’t spoken more than ten words to each other, if that, since Tierney had come over to the main house this morning to make breakfast. Giselle had been pale and only answered Tierney’s questions with one-syllable words. Not that Tierney wanted to have a long heart-to-heart, but this was torture. She’d tried to figure out how to remedy the situation, which was foggy at best, and so had suffered from insomnia all night. She had battled this condition for as long as she could remember. Whenever something was unresolved, or she was worried about something, sleep eluded her. She’d ended up writing three more lyrics, despite whatever damage the first one had caused yesterday.
Checking the clock and realizing it was lunchtime, Tierney arranged a plate containing some light salad with croutons and dressing on the side on a tray for Giselle. She poured mineral water into a tall glass, hesitated, but then added two slices of lemon on a small plate beside it. After grabbing the tray, she forced herself to walk with determined steps to the music room. She could hear faint music and stopped, not ashamed to eavesdrop. It turned out not to be one of Giselle’s compositions, but one of Chopin’s etudes. Tierney wasn’t such a complete classical-music aficionado that she could pinpoint the exact one, but she could tell it was played with passion—perhaps even fury? It could well be that Giselle would be pissed off for being disturbed, but so be it. The woman had to eat. She knocked hard on the door to try to drown out the piano.
The music stopped so fast, Tierney snapped her head up in alarm. Great. Now she’d gone and done it. She didn’t hear the steps due to the insulation and jumped when Giselle yanked the door open. Good thing it went inward, or the tray’s contents would have spilled all over the place. Giselle stared darkly at Tierney with her head tossed back slightly, as in a challenge, but stayed silent. Her chest heaved in quick breaths, and Tierney realized she must have put all her soul into the Chopin piece.
“Your lunch,” Tierney said, indicating the tray with her chin. “Want it over on the table?”
Blinking, Giselle took a step back. “Yes.” She was quiet for a moment and then added, “Thank you.”
“I’m going to take Charley for a walk after I eat.” Tierney didn’t detect Giselle warming up but pushed forward. If she was going to be fired soon, she might as well try to make her mark as fully as possible. “I was thinking, since you’ll be indoors most of today, you might want to come along?” Tierney regarded Giselle cautiously, waiting for an eruption or icy, dead quiet.
“No.” Giselle sat down by the table and unfolded the linen napkin. “But you go ahead.”
“The sooner you interject yourself into Charley’s training, the easier you’ll find it to continue after I’m gone.”
Giselle dropped her fork onto the plate, wincing at the clattering noise. “Gone? Have you decided to leave earlier than agreed?” She didn’t turn to meet Tierney’s gaze but picked up her fork and stabbed an innocent piece of the salad and placed it in her mouth. Chewing with much more elegance than should have been possible for anyone to pull off, she placed the two lemon slices in the water.
“No. No. Not at all. I’ll stay as long as you need me,” Tierney said quickly. It would be disastrous if Giselle made her mind up that Tierney was leaving long before it was time. She groaned inwardly at how good she often was at digging herself into a hole and then pulling the dirt in over herself.
“Even if it’s longer than the agreed-upon two weeks?” Giselle still kept her eyes on the salad.
“Sure. I’m, um, you know, flexible.” Wanting to hide her face in her palms, Tierney remained standing there, back straight and trying to look like she wasn’t embarrassed.
“All right.” Putting down her fork, with obvious care this time, Giselle finally turned her head toward Tierney. “How far?”
“Excuse me?” Frowning now as she’d lost track of what Giselle could mean, Tierney stepped closer.
“Your walk. How far?”
“Depends,” Tierney said with new enthusiasm as the coldness had disappeared from Giselle’s demeanor, leaving only slight apprehension. “If you want to come with us, we can walk up and down your gravel road a few times. That way, we don’t risk anyone stumbling upon us and confusing Charley.”
Giselle’s expression softened. “Well. Yes. We wouldn’t want the dog to become confused.”
“We sure wouldn’t.” Tierney smiled broadly. “In half an hour then? I mean, that gives us time before Vivian and Mike arrive.”
“Sounds good.” Looking a bit ill at ease, Giselle returned to her plate. “See you out front.”
Perhaps she was starting to have second thoughts, but Tierney refused to give her time to back out. Pivoting on her heels, she closed the door behind her and returned to the kitchen. As she sat at the table eating her own salad, it dawned on Tierney what Giselle had implied. Perhaps she wouldn’t expect Tierney to leave after two weeks after all. It was a strange sensation to feel relieved about something like that, but Tierney did. Given she lived such a nomadic life by choice, it was even more unexpected.