It was Thanksgiving Day, a day that Faye was going to spend alone. As she prepared her meal for one, she wondered how so much could have changed in one year. Last year she had a full house, Chloe and Lia had been present, along with Hayes and his girlfriend of the moment, and Alyssa with a few of her friends. This year Lia was with Ben's parents, Chloe was working, and Hayes and Alyssa were spending the day at a friend's house. They were in town, they just weren't interested in spending the day with her.
It had been almost three weeks since the rumor at the hospital had started about Chloe and Silas. They had neither confirmed or denied a relationship, but everyone believed that there was one. Especially since they had been out on the town on several occasions since then.
She did her best to pretend that none of it was happening, but it was wearing on her. Her heart hurt because of Silas, but Chloe had hurt her too because she had pulled back from their friendship. Lia had been so absorbed with her concern with Ben she was almost non existent in her life, so even if Faye had wanted a friend to share what was going on in her world, there didn't seem to be anyone with whom she could share.
Faye checked her turkey breast and was closing the oven door when Hayes and Alyssa entered the kitchen on their way out the door.
"Do you two have a minute? We need to decide what you want to do about the house."
"We already told you that we want to sell it," Hayes said, crossing his arms defensively.
"We know you don't want to sell Faye," Alyssa looked upset, "but this house is a burden on you and us, we would rather have the money and be free of it. Wouldn't you?"
"Have you both thought about what that really means?" Faye asked, watching them closely.
"Yes!" Hayes said with impatience as he rolled his eyes and moved to open the door, letting the cold air into the house. He was ready to be gone. "It means we will have some money for a change."
Faye shook her head as she threw her towel down on the table. "No, it means you will lose your home and if things get bad you will have nowhere to go. Right now you have a place to live rent-free, but when this house is sold you won't have that anymore, you will really be on your own. Neither one of you have a job, no security, nothing."
"But once we sell the house we will," Alyssa said, following Hayes's move and crossing her arms defensively.
"You'll be lucky to each come out with two hundred thousand cash. If it is used wisely and is supplemented with a job it will get you through, but without jobs, you are looking at four- or five-years living expenses, less if you travel."
Hayes snorted his disbelief. "You have no concept of what this house is worth, do you? I talked to a friend and he says we could easily get 1.5 million for it." Haye's voice had started to rise.
"Sure, if it was in perfect condition, as it is now, we would be lucky to get half of that. It needs a new roof, new plumbing and electrical, everything in this house is outdated."
"Then why didn't you keep it up better!" Hayes yelled at her. Faye closed her eyes, it was the same argument that she always had with him. Alyssa was watching them with wide eyes. She had only ever heard Hayes's side of things and didn't know the facts because she had never wanted to know them.
"As I've said before, I had to pay for you and Alyssa's education which meant taking out a mortgage on the house and that has to be paid back before you even get your share of the money."
"You did not ask us about a mortgage, that can come out of your share. We're not responsible for that." Hayes insisted.
"The estate is, and the estate owns the house." Faye's voice started to rise. "If you want to talk about fair, you and Alyssa can pay me back all of the money I have sunk into this house to keep it going since most of that came out of my personal savings!"
"That is even more of a reason to sell the house, Faye, we don't need to keep putting money into it, it's a sinking ship," Alyssa reasoned. "We both want to sell the house, and we will be fine with the money that we get."
Hayes opened the door all the way as Alyssa moved towards him.
"I know that you're scared of the real-world Faye, but it's time to let go, we need to sell the house." Alyssa sent her a look of such pity that Faye could only look at her with shocked awe.
"I've been the one living in the real-world Alyssa. You and Hayes have no clue what your lives will be like when this house sells and the estate stops paying your bills. I'm trying to make sure that you know what you will be getting yourselves into once this house is gone." Faye looked at them both, but they seemed less than impressed with her speech.
"Just get the house on the market and get it sold!" Hayes said.
"No," Faye turned her back on them. "Let this be your first lesson, if you want the house sold, you take care of it. Let me know when I need to be out of here, I already have a place to go and a source of income. I can be out as soon as I need to be." She looked over her shoulder at them and notice that Hayes's face had turned red in anger.
"You see children, I do live in the real world, and I have been making plans."
He charged out the door with Alyssa following him, slamming the door behind them.
Faye turned off the burners and the oven because she was no longer hungry, and she moved towards the living room and curled up in a chair, letting her mind wander.
It wasn't the house that had her so upset, she would get over losing it, and she would land on her feet because she had a plan, what was so upsetting was that she would be utterly alone in the world. Hayes and Alyssa were her only family, and after today's little scene she didn't think they would ever have much to do with each other again.
Faye felt a presence behind her, and she didn't need to look over her shoulder to know that it was Silas.
"I took a chance that the door would be open," he said as he walked around and sat on the low table in front of her. She had the passing thought that she was lucky he didn't break it.
"I'm sorry that your upset, I heard the yelling, was it about the house?"
Faye looked at him through red eyes, she hadn't allowed herself to cry even though it was what she wanted to do the most. "Yes," she nodded, looking away from him.
"I'm sorry your upset Faye." He reached for her hand and she pulled it back and into herself. If he touched her, she would lose it.
"If I could help you in some way I would," he said softly.
Faye didn't want to talk about it, she had gone numb and it made a nice change. She turned to look at him, her eyes were only mildly curious.
"You never did tell me how things worked out with your wife," she said because it took the topic away from her troubles.
"Ex-wife," he insisted. "She went home."
"Why was she here?" Faye asked, letting her gaze wander over his face.
"My father died earlier this year, which meant that I finally inherited the title. She always wanted the title, but she never got it because we divorced before he passed, and now she's looking for a reconciliation"
"But she refers to herself as baroness," Faye said, remembering that that was how she had introduced herself.
"Yes, it's. never been worth fighting her over," Silas agreed.
"But why was she here in Savannah, what was her excuse for coming?" Faye thought it was a brave move to visit your ex-husband on the spur of the moment.
"She claimed it was because she missed what we had, but Andrea let it slip that I was interested in someone here and she wanted to come and see for herself." He leaned toward her as he talked.
"Chloe," Faye said, nodding.
"No, you." He smiled. "But Andrea knew her mother would eat you alive, so she threw out Chloe's name because she had heard it from you, at least that's what Andrea told me." He moved to sit on the chair next to her. "Would you like to hear about my marriage?" he asked.
Faye looked at him debating, she did, but what would be the point. "You should be telling Chloe this, not me."
"No, it's none of Chloe's business," he insisted.
"But it's mine?" she said in disbelief.
"I don't love Chloe," he said softly, and Faye's heart stopped at the implication of what he was saying.
"No!" she said harshly as she jumped out of her seat, fists clenched. "You don't get to say things like that. I'm tired of you playing with me, of saying one thing and doing another, it hurts too much. I feel as if I've lost everything. I'm not talking about the house, I'll be fine without it, I'm talking about my friends, my chance at love, you if I really ever had you. It's all vanished and I don't understand why, and now you want to tell me about your ex, wanting to share as if there is something important between us, there is nothing between us, nothing." She was breathing hard, but she still hadn't shed a tear yet.
He grew pale at her words and he closed his eyes, and strong Silas looked as if he was hurting as much as she was in that moment.
"Tell me I'm wrong, tell me why all of this is happening," she insisted, desperately wanting a reason not to give up hope.
He cleared his throat. "I made promises a long time ago..." he started but Faye wouldn't let him continue.
"So, you've said before, but you won't share those promises," she snorted unimpressed with his excuse.
He stood up suddenly and walked towards her, and she could see the anger blazing from his eyes. "I will not see you hurt Faye." He grabbed her arms.
"But you are hurting me, Silas!" She looked up into his grey eyes.
"Perhaps, but this kind of pain will heal. What I will not let happen is someone physically hurt you or try to use your physical pain to hurt others. If certain people knew about my feelings for you or Chloe's feelings for you, it would be very dangerous for you." His voice was low.
"But you're here now," she insisted against his reasoning.
"And I shouldn't be, I should be keeping my distance." They stared at each other silently, they were at an impasse.
"But you're here now," she said softly, "you could stay, at least for a little while." She didn't know why she said it, maybe to test him, to test them both. If there was a physical connection made maybe it would seem more real.
Silas closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "There is nothing I would like more than that, but when we take that step, you will be mine and everyone will know it."
Although her heart leapt at his words, they weren't enough. Faye took a step back from him. "Then I think that it's best if we have nothing more to do with each other until you're ready for that step. My brother and sister are going to put the house on the market, so I think it's best if you found somewhere else to stay as soon as possible."
She looked up at him and his face was as cold as granite. She didn't know what he had expected her to say, but she had a feeling that it wasn't what she did say. He nodded and turned and left without a backward glance.
Faye fell onto the chair behind her, she was too weary to do anything, so she stared out the window vacantly.
What was it they said, out of sight out of mind?
They also said absence makes the heart grow fonder.