Chapter Twenty
Emilia
I wondered who Vivian was the entire meeting. I assumed a girlfriend, but since Gabrielle said sign, I leaned towards marriage.
He did say he was divorced, I just didn’t realize he meant that recently. Ouch.
Maybe that was the hurt he didn’t want to talk about. I couldn’t ask him about it. I already said we couldn’t do things anymore. We could be friends. I knew that would never go well. So, I pushed it aside and got to work.
Gabriella was a real…piece of work. She was excited to get married, though it seemed like she didn’t even want to because she changed everything. And then Tristan. He was such a tease. His knee kept brushing over mine, the table was so close his thigh touched mine too, and he made use of the advantage. My whole body was on fire the whole time.
I should have known he wouldn’t make it easy to resist him. I knew he wouldn’t force me, but his teasing was getting to be something I couldn’t handle. By the time we left, I was flushed, and I felt the familiar wetness between my legs.
He walked us out, and Gabriella took off in her flashy car.
“Told you she was a handful.” He smirked. I just shrugged.
I had forgotten he drove me here, so we walked backed to his car together. His hand wasn’t on my waist like last time, but we brushed together with every step.
“It’s okay. I suppose I should get used to it for weddings. At least she isn’t mean about it.” If she had been rude, I would have called her out on it. But she wasn’t. She is just very specific.
“Maybe. We could get some dinner on the way back.”
I arched a brow as I looked up at him, “Two meals in one day?” I asked.
“It’s just as friends. Promise.” I didn’t believe him, but then again, I didn’t believe myself either. I was hungry anyway.
“Well I am hungry, I hope you don’t think I eat too much.” I giggled. He opened the door for me, even taking it upon himself to strap me in.
“Your hunger is refreshing. I can’t stand girls who don’t eat.” He chuckled.
On the road, he asked what I wanted, but I had no particular craving. We ended up at a diner.
“I love diners.” I said as we sat down. I ordered coffee too, even though it was late, I was so mentally exhausted I needed it.
“Really?” he asked.
“Yeah. My dad and I go when we see each other.” I thought of him. I should call him more. “And the wallpaper usually has my favorite flower. Maybe it’s a diner thing.”
“What’s your favorite flower?” He looked to see the wallpaper, but this one didn’t have it.
“Buttercups.” I answered, and he smirked. I sipped my coffee slowly. It was far too hot.
“You remember mine?” He asked.
“Yeah, lilacs. I had them at the front of my store…”
“Before you thought I was a cheating bastard?” He interrupted. I blushed from embarrassment. I still regretted thinking so badly of him so fast, but I couldn’t help it.
I was glad he wasn’t, anyway. Though it didn’t change that I still couldn’t be with him. I was too early in the game to mess things up for a man that isn’t guaranteed to be in my life.
“Um, I guess. I’ll put them back up, they looked good up there.”
He grinned and sipped his sweet tea, which was mostly sugar.
“So, your dad, are you guys close?” Was he trying to get to know me? I wasn’t sure I could open up to him, but I think I already had.
“Yeah, I don’t see him too often though. Just the holidays.” I couldn’t tell him how different he was since my mother died. I looked exactly like her, maybe it was just too hard for him.
I ordered a chicken finger basket, and Tristan got a BLT.
“What about your parents?” I asked. He arched a brow.
“You really don’t know who I am, do you?”
I racked my brain. He wasn’t an actor. And he wasn’t on any house wife shows and that’s all I watched, so I couldn’t place him.
“No. School me.” I shrugged.
“My parents, the Cox’s, own half the real estate in the state. They probably own the building you lease. And I used to own one of the largest tech startups of the century before I sold it for three-and half billion dollars.”
My eyes widened on their own accord.
That was a lot to take in at once. Basically, he was old money rich and new money rich. And people usually knew who he was.
I was probably a complete mystery to him.
“Oh…why did you sell it?”
He shrugged. “It was always meant to be a startup. The revenue got to a certain point and then I just wasn’t in it anymore. But my parents and I are relatively close. I have a sister, Natalie. She’s a psychologist.”
I smiled softly, he beamed when he talked about his family.
“Does she try to make you her patient a lot?”
He laughed.
“Yeah, all the fucking tine.”
I could tell he was annoyed, but not so much because it was his sister. It was sweet.
When our food arrived, we both ate like our lives depended on it. He would still ask me stuff—when I opened my shop, why I did. But I wouldn’t talk about my mom yet. It was still too hard.
We continued to chat, but my curiosity was eating me alive. I sipped the rest of my coffee, there was no alcohol, so it served as my liquid courage.
“Who is Vivian?”
He stared back at me, a coldness washing over his otherwise happy green eyes. I saw his throat bob as he swallowed with a sharp inhale. Maybe I overstepped, I averted my gaze to my crumbed plate. I didn’t think he would answer me.
“She’s my ex-wife.”
I suspected that. I didn’t know how it made me feel, honestly. He had a life before me.
“You were married?” Dumb question, but I was blanking for good responses. He nodded.
“Yeah, for ten years.”
I exhaled.
“That’s a long time…can I ask what happened? If you don’t mind, of course.”
His tongue pressed against his cheek, his jaw gritting. I was immediately distracted by the strength of his jaw. As his fists clenched, the veins of his arm protruded against the fine hairs. This woman really hurt him. It made my blood boil, why? I had known him two days, collectively. But for a month I had pictured him, imagined him, built him up as a person. I attached myself to a maybe, and now here he was. I told myself it was natural. That I wasn’t crazy, overthinking things.
“She cheated on me. With her optometrist.”
I stifled a gasp.
I was mad at the woman. Yes, mad. How could she hurt him like that! Tristan was seemingly kind and genuine, I couldn’t imagine anyone betraying him like that.
“That’s low. I’m so sorry.” I didn’t resist the urge to reach out and touch his hands gently.
He let out a breath and overturned his hands to take mine. They closed over mine, large and warm. It soothed my entire body. This was already too dangerous, too deep.
“It is what it is. Anyway, we’re divorced now. She took a lot of my money, but I’m just glad to be rid of her.” He tried to brush it off. But I knew it hurt, I could hear it in his voice. Feel it; I saw it in the tenseness of his body.
“I can’t imagine why she would do that. You seem like a really good man.”
“Seem?” His playful smirk returned, and I relaxed.
“For now.”