“You’re strong no matter what. You’re strong for speaking up about Peter, you’d be the same degree of strong if you’d stayed silent.” He tapped her shoulders, and she consciously lowered them. “It’s not a weakness to take care of yourself. Asking for and taking what you need to function should never be considered a weakness.”
“I don’t think I know how to ask for what I need.”
“Think of it this way. You delegate a million and one things at work, right? Lakshmi makes your plane reservations. Suzie runs interference on marketing stuff. All of your employees take something off your plate, either because they’re better at it or because it’s stuff you don’t want to do.”
“Yes.”
“So delegate in your personal life.”
“Delegating. That I understand.” She licked her dry lips. “Trust is harder to figure out.”
“Mmm.” He looked off into the distance, and a soft smile played on his lips. She knew that smile. He was thinking about his fiancée. “Trust is the only reason the world ever functions as it should. Sometimes it works out and sometimes it doesn’t, and I know that uncertainty is scary, but that’s the only way you figure out who your closest people are.”
They sat in silence and listened to the birds chirping. There were no traffic noises here, no concrete. Out of habit, she patted her pocket. No phone.
She inhaled and released a deep breath and finally allowed herself the freedom to think about the man she’d been forcing herself to avoid obsessing over since yesterday. Hell, since she’d left him, standing in a home that belonged to neither of them. “There’s a guy.”
“Samson Lima.” Gabe smiled at her surprised expression. “I watch the videos. Not a huge football fan, but I know of him. He seemed cool and you were clearly into him.”
“Clearly?” She’d thought she’d done a good job of maintaining a friendly distance between them on camera.
“Clearly to anyone who knows you like I do.”
That was a relief. “He . . . it’s a long story.” She ran through what had happened at Annabelle’s home.
Gabe wrinkled his nose. “Gave him the old Rhi-Rhi dead-to-me treatment, huh? How do you feel about that decision?”
“Not good. I mean, I was miserable about it before, but now I’m pretty sure he didn’t actually tell Annabelle about me and Peter. I jumped the gun and assumed the worst. Probably because I was already low-key freaked out about how close we’d gotten.” The first time she’d cut him out, he’d at least done the thing she’d accused him of doing, extenuating circumstances or not.
Her stomach churned. The way she’d treated him at Annabelle’s hadn’t been fair.
Gabe shrugged and bent his leg, resting his arm on his knee. “So tell him you’re sorry.”
“He probably wouldn’t take my call. I’d never take anyone back if they treated me like that.” She twisted her fingers together. Why would he want someone as difficult and downright annoying as her? She’d watched the video Matchmaker had released last week, of Samson with a pretty young woman.
He hadn’t told her he’d gone on another date, though it must have been filmed before they’d met up at Annabelle’s home, during that week when he’d been wooing her by sending her food. Sweet, kind, loyal. The girl had been a kindergarten teacher, for crying out loud, and their rapport had been excellent, both of them smiling, nice people. She couldn’t compete with that.
“Even if there were extenuating circumstances for their behavior? I mean, your trust issues didn’t happen in a bubble, Rhi. You have a traumatic history. It’s not like you were being a dick for no reason.”
A little sliver of hope peeked through her gloom. The truth was, she had given someone a second chance, fairly recently: Samson. He was so much nicer than she was. Surely he’d take her call, at least? “You think there’s hope?”
“Only one way to find out. Text him. Call him. Hell, your phone is off. He may have already contacted you.”
“I’m scared.”
“Trust is scary. I learned that, for sure, with Eve. But when it’s right, Rhi? When the stars align, and you have a partner you can be vulnerable with? There’s no such thing as weakness or strength or power battles. There’s just a person who loves you. And it’s amazing.” He shrugged. “You could use a ride from the airport when you get back, I’m sure. Perfect excuse to call him.”
She fiddled with the corner of her book. This was so much to think about, when she was already overloaded, but her brother made sense.
More importantly, she wanted him to make sense, because she wanted to call Samson, wanted to talk to him enough that she’d risk him sending her to voice mail. “I’ll think about it.”
“Do that.”
“When did you get so wise?”
“It’s been there all along, sis. You should listen to me more.”
She grinned, happy for the sliver of humor. “Got any more wisdom for me?”
“Call Mom more.”
“I’m going to.” She grimaced. “I love her. I hate feeling guilty and wrong and she makes me feel guilty and wrong a lot.”
“She makes me feel guilty too.” Gabe lowered his voice. “But that’s how she is, and it comes from a huge place of love. Ignore the guilt and try to focus on the love.”
“I’ll try. Be more saintlike like you.”
“There you go. Also, tell Eve what a saint I am.” Gabe got to his feet and dusted off his jeans. “You want to stay longer?”
The question was casual, and Rhiannon knew her brother wouldn’t judge her either way. She thought of her staff, who were probably working around the clock today to help her and protect her business. This was her family, but so were they. “I’ll stick to my plan and fly back tonight, after the party.”
“You sure you’re up for the party?”
No. But she didn’t want to bail on her brother’s moment of happiness. “Yup.”
“Whatever you want.” Gabe walked back to his ax.
“What would you have done to Peter anyway? If you’d known, at the time.”
Gabe cast her a measuring look, then leaned over and picked up the ax. With a heave, he flung it. It spun in the air before it thwacked right into the trunk of a tree.
“Daaaaamn.” She cocked her head. “When did you learn how to do that?”
He winked at her. “When you were off making your first million, I suppose.”
RHI FOUND HERSELF tensing up as they neared the Chandler mansion. She was here for her brother, and she was eager to celebrate his impending nuptials, but this town had been nosy as fuck when she hadn’t gone on national television and alleged sexual harassment by a rich and famous man. What would the reaction be to her tonight?
Gabe seemed to have sensed her nervousness, because he’d kept up a running commentary on all the familiar and kind people she’d be seeing tonight. It was all Livvy’s baby is so big now and Jackson’s opening a new restaurant, and she appreciated the sentiment, but it would have been kind of nice to brood in silence.
“. . . you know Jia, right, Rhiannon? She’s actually thinking of moving to L.A. soon. Maybe you can have a talk with her tonight.”