If Liesl still had reservations, she hid them. “All right, I’m in. What else am I going to do with my afternoon, anyway?”
“Really? Thank you. Thank you!” I hugged her. Though her company wasn’t crucial, I was desperate for it. Her presence helped with the unending loneliness that occupied my heart since Hudson had walked out the door.
When I let her go, she shrugged dismissively. “It’s all good. Besides, this book project is pretty much done.”
I looked around at the mess. There were still a few unmarked stacks that needed to be shelved. That could be done later. “Then I’m ready to go if you are.”
“Yup.” She grabbed her backpack from the couch. “Where we headed, anyway?”
“Greenwich Village.”
I’d told Jordan that I’d be leaving later. I texted him now and found he was already waiting in the parking garage. After grabbing my purse and my cell phone, we stepped in the elevator.
We stood next to each other, leaning against the back wall. Liesl nudged my shoulder. “Have you considered that you might not like what you uncover with all this?”
The sinking feeling in my chest wasn’t just from the descent of the elevator. “I’m pretty certain that whatever it is, it might kill me.” That was the bitch about the situation—Hudson had confessed pretty shitty stuff already. If he couldn’t tell me this, it had to be bad.
So why was I so desperate to find out?
Because that’s who I was. And whatever this was, it was who he was too. “It might kill me, but I need to know. And then I can move on, preferably with Hudson.”
It didn’t fix the bigger problem—Hudson wasn’t being honest with me. But maybe if he realized that I really would love him no matter what, he’d be able to let his last walls come down and we could finally start working on rebuilding our relationship together.
Since neither of us had eaten, we stopped to grab souvlakia from a food cart nearby before heading to the Village. By the time we got to Mirabelle’s, it was nearly four. I wasn’t positive that Stacy would still be there, or that she’d be available to talk. Or that she’d answer the bell when I rang. Their clients could only come by appointment. If she wasn’t expecting anyone, would she open the door?
Maybe showing up unannounced was a long shot, but when she’d hung up on me, this was the only way I could think of to get a few questions answered.
At the door, a sudden flashback of the first time I’d been there flooded my memory. I’d been so nervous, standing there waiting with Hudson for his sister to answer. It had been our first outing as a couple—as a pretend couple. The fear that I’d mess up the charade had been immense, but more than that, the sizzling energy between me and the man that stood at my side had threatened to light me on fire. Threatened to consume me.
In the end, it had consumed me, and that was why I was there now—burned and blistered and broken.
Before ringing, I turned to Liesl. “This is where I need you. There’s a peephole. If Stacy looks through it and sees me, I’m not sure she’ll open the door.”
“Cool. I got this.”
I moved to the side of the building and made myself flush with the wall. At my nod, she rang the bell. The door opened almost immediately.
“Hi. Vanessa Vanderhal?” Stacy asked Liesl.
She must have been waiting for a client. Before Liesl could answer, I stepped into view.
“Oh, no. Not you.” Stacy began to shut the door.
But Liesl wedged her shoulder in the entrance before the opening got too narrow. “Hey, she only has a few questions. Nothing that’s going to take more than a few minutes. You’re the only one she can ask. Can’t you help a girl out? Woman to woman?”
I’d known Liesl could be intimidating. I didn’t realize she could also be charming.
Stacy narrowed her eyes, considering. Considering was better than I’d expected, to be honest.
I looked to Liesl, mentally sending her signals to lay on more charm since it seemed to be working.
She apparently wasn’t on the same wavelength. “If you aren’t interested in doing this the easy way, I’m willing to go another route. I’ll introduce myself—I’m Liesl. I have a triple black belt in karate and I do competitive boxing on the side. So come on. Let us in.”
The extent of Liesl’s fighting skills was kickboxing at a nearby gym. But Stacy didn’t know that.
Stacy groaned. “Oh, all right. Come on in. But make it quick. I have a client in fifteen.”
I was more relieved than I realized I would be. There were too many questions about the video that could only be answered by three people. And I wasn’t about to ask Celia. “Thank you, Stacy. We’ll be in and out. I promise.”