Free Beauty from Pain by Georgia Cates Page B

won’t
be today because she’s already gone.”
    “ Because of me?”
    “ No. She’s gone home for the
holidays.”
    That’s right. Christmas is only a few days
away. “So she doesn’t live in Wagga Wagga, either?”
    “ No. I employ her the same way I
do Daniel. They go where I go.”
    They go everywhere with him. How much does it
cost to have employees like that? I can’t imagine it being cheap.
“Daniel is on holiday as well?”
    “ Yes. All the vineyard employees
are gone until Monday, so it’s just the two of us.
Alone.”
    Was that supposed to scare me? “So, no one’s
around to hear my screams?”
    “ Now you’re catching on. Come with
me and I’ll show you the rest of the house.”
    We enter the living room and there is a
beautiful black baby grand in the corner. I’m in love. “You
play?”
    He laughs at my assumption. “Not a
note.”
    I walk over and stroke the ivory keys. “It’s
beautiful.”
    “ The interior designer thought it
would be a pretty piece to take up some of the void since the room
is so big.”
    I toy with the keys, playing the chorus of a
song I’d been working on before I left home. Its tune is
perfect.
    “ It’s a shame it
never gets played. I’m hoping it will get some use over the next
few months.” The piano isn’t the only
thing he hopes will get some action. “I’d
love to hear you play.”
    “ We’ll see,” I say as I run my
hand down the keys and walk away, even though I’m dying to sit down
and put it to use. There’ll be plenty of time for that later. Three
months to be exact.
    “ The bedrooms are this way.” I
follow him down the hall and he uses the tour to inform me that the
previous owner, who died in a freak accident, now haunts the room I
will be sleeping in.
    Nice one. He wishes he could pull one over on
me like that.
    “ I usually get along with ghosts
and poltergeists pretty well, so I should be fine.”
    He takes me across the hall. “If you decide to
stay in the guest room and get scared in that big lonely bed all by
yourself, this is where you’ll find me.”
    His bedroom is gender neutral and
contemporary. The bedding is a modern geometric pattern of mostly
gray and white with yellow and black accents. Everything from the
flooring to the ceiling coordinates. The bedroom is aesthetically
appealing, but there’s nothing romantic about it, so it matches our
relationship perfectly.
    Every room in the house is spotless, and I
wonder if it is Mrs. Porcelli’s doing or if he likes things orderly
because he is some kind of neat freak.
    I think we are finished with the tour of the
house, but he takes me to one more room we haven’t visited. “Last
stop.”
    He opens the door to a room with wall-to-wall
mirrors. The floor is covered with different kinds of exercise
equipment, some I’ve never seen before. “Gee, someone likes to see
himself while he works out.”
    “ The previous owner had a
ballerina in the family and this was her studio.”
    “ Okay. That’s a little more
acceptable.”
    “ You’re welcome to use this gym
any time you want. It has surround sound for music or you can watch
the idiot box.” He points to a cabinet against the wall. “The flat
screen and receiver are in there. It has Bluetooth so you can play
your own music or you can stream anything you like.”
    There he goes assuming again. “You think I’m
going to stay long enough to need a workout?”
    “ Since you’ve not given me an
answer, that still remains to be seen.”
    I walk over to an elliptical and step up. I
make a few strides. “I exercise at home, but this isn’t what I do.
Exercise equipment bores me.”
    He wiggles his eyebrows. “So what is your kind
of workout?”
    I slow the speed of my stride on the machine.
“If you’re going to be like that, I don’t think I’m gonna tell
you.”
    “ Please.”
    I think for a minute, trying to decide if I
want to tell him. “I dance.”
    “ Dancing is great
exercise.”
    I pick up speed again