Hero(24)

“Uh …” Go home to an empty apartment or have a chat with a funny lady who seemed to know a heck of a lot about Caine? “Sure, sounds great.”

Mrs. Flanagan beamed and stepped aside to let me pass. I was immediately hit with how different her penthouse was in comparison to Caine’s. It was crammed with traditional, expensive furniture that would probably last for hundreds of years. Photographs cluttered every space, oil paintings every wall, and she had a thick Aubusson carpet taking up most of the floor space in the main room. The layout was like Caine’s except Mrs. Flanagan’s kitchen was more French country than sleek and modern, and there was a partition wall between the kitchen and the living space that gave an illusion of them being two separate rooms.

“Wow.” I grinned at her. “This is amazing.” And it was. I could see her whole life in the place. My attention was caught by a black-and-white photo of a beautiful woman staring off into the distance. It looked like a head shot for an Old Hollywood actress. “Is that you?”

Mrs. Flanagan nodded, smiling. “I was Maria in West Side Story on Broadway.”

“Really?”

She nodded. “I moved from Boston to New York when I was fourteen to work on Broadway. Met my husband, Nicky, after a show one night. He was a wealthy industrialist from Boston. We married when I was twenty-three.” She gestured to a photograph of her in a beautiful wedding dress standing next to a handsome young man. “In love right up until he passed ten years ago. Still in love.” She smiled sadly. “Thankfully it was enough because unfortunately babies just weren’t in the stars for us.”

“I’m sorry, Mrs. Flanagan.”

“Don’t be, sweetheart. I’ve had a beautiful life. I still have.” She grinned and started waving me toward her dining table. “Sit, sit.”

Once she’d prepared tea she returned to sit at the table with me—a table now laden with biscuits and cakes. I helped myself to both.

“So.” Mrs. Flanagan poured tea into the gorgeous china cup she’d put in front of me. “Were you running errands for Caine again?”

I snorted. “When am I not?”

“Tsk. That boy.” She shook her head, eyes bright with humor and affection. “He’s certainly going out of his way to piss you off.”

I gave a huff of laughter. “And I bet you think that’s deserved.”

“Well, you did ambush him at a photo shoot and once again in his office.”

My suspicions were correct: Caine told the old bird everything! Intrigued, I leaned forward. “How did you and Caine become friends?”

“Caine, is it?” She threw me a cheeky smile.

“Mr. Carraway,” I corrected myself, holding her steady gaze and refusing to give anything away.

She chortled. “You can call him Caine, sweetheart. He’s not a god.”

“Do you think you could tell him that? Because I don’t think he knows.”

Mrs. Flanagan threw her head back in laughter. “Oh, Caine was right. You are a smart-ass.”

I wrinkled my nose. “I can’t help it. He brings it out in me.”

“Well, I can see how that might happen, what with him trying to piss you off every chance he gets even though he says he’s not.” She shook her head. “I don’t know what to do with that boy.”

“I can take it,” I assured her. “I get it.”

“You do?” She raised an eyebrow. “Because I don’t think you do. I don’t even think Caine gets it yet.”

“It’s about our history. About my father and his mother.” I was suddenly suspicious. “I thought you knew all this.”

“Oh, I know all about that, and I know it’s not your fault, so get that out of your head right now.”

“I know it’s not my fault, but I get why it’s hard for Caine to separate me from it,” I admitted. “He’s been through so much because of my father and what he did to destroy Caine’s family. I guess it would make me feel better if I could see Caine happy. He deserves to be happy, even when he is being a grumpy, relentless, unbending pain in the ass.” I took a sip of tea. “Did you meet Phoebe?”

Mrs. Flanagan seemed amused by the question. “Oh no. I’ve never met any of Caine’s lady friends. But Caine told me about her.”

“She was perfect for him. He just dumped her,” I huffed. “I do not understand that man.”