He shakes his head. “This doesn’t feel right. I can wait.”
“I’m under his protection here. He’ll be hard-pressed to admit it, but you don’t have to worry about my safety. Trust me. I’m not. Go home. Find that job, but take a salary until you do. But I know someone who could really use you.”
“It won’t be the same.”
“Collin needs you more than I do right now.”
He nods. “Way to guilt me, Cee.” He runs a hand over his jaw. “Fuck, I feel like my band is breaking up.”
“It’s just life. People come and go. But I don’t want to lose you, totally. Not you, Ryan. Promise me that you’ll eventually reach out to me.”
“I will. I was going to stand by and watch you marry another man. I promise we’re good.” He runs his hands along the steering wheel before bringing his dejected gaze back to mine. “I had to try, didn’t I? Isn’t that why you’re here?”
I nod. A piece of my heart breaking. This is the damage I’ve caused by just showing up to Triple Falls. By setting Collin free. Another casualty to add in the wake of my reckless heart. “I love you,” he says with surety. “No matter what.”
“Love you too.”
Defeated, he thumps his head back on the rest and turns to me. “Now get out of my car, you reek of weed and teenage angst.”
Smiling tearfully, I step out and stare up at the house. Feeling my hesitation, Ryan speaks up from where he sits behind me.
“He loves you, you know.” I turn back to where he sits. “Not that I’m encouraging this shit because let me make myself clear, I hate him. He’s a pompous, French asshole. But no man can rage that much over a woman that means nothing to them. He’s fighting it.”
“Thanks for that.”
“I would wish you luck, but the asshole is toast.”
If only that were true. Then it might make all my sacrifices worth it.
“Call me when you land?”
“I’ll text you.” He drops his gaze as I step away from the car.
Ryan’s been in my life for years, and I can’t imagine not seeing him on the regular. I’ve dismantled my life, my company. People I love and work for because of a fucking bad dream, because of a past I can’t outlive. And my resentment only grows.
The gravity of it strikes me as I close the passenger door and he drives off, granting me the freedom, per my request, to face this alone.
Your move, Mr. King.
The first four days of the following week, Tobias avoids me at all costs by locking himself in his office when he decides to show up after missing every morning meeting. I don’t bother to call him out on it, because it’s pointless. Regardless of his intentions to block me out, Shelly and I have spent endless hours going over the financials and programs to be set in place. And for the most part, we’ve accomplished a lot. If I left now, I’m confident she would see it all through. Tobias has been working on similar ventures most of his career, but I’m not quite done yet, and it’s my loyalty to the workers that will keep me here to see it through. But the fact that he’s avoided me so artfully makes my mission that much harder. But even on the days he keeps his office sealed, I can feel his curious stares and the weight they hold. I have no idea what it’s going to take to get my answers, but the more time that passes, the more I’m starting to believe I’ll never get them. And for that, my anger only grows.
Desperate for a friendly face, I park my rental and exit the car locking it up before I make my way through the door. A bell jingles at my arrival.
“Be right there,” she calls from the dressing room. The shop has changed in appearance, newly renovated, fresh paint on the walls, a new and improved logo. As I search the rack for new dresses intent on helping her make her quota for the month, I smile. It’s good to know some things haven’t changed.
Tessa rounds the corner, her focus back on the woman in the dressing room. “Let’s try a size up.” She turns in my direction. “Feel free to look arou—” She stops mid-step, mid-sentence when she spots me in the middle of her shop.
“Hey, Tessa. Been a long time,” I smile, giving her a little wave a second before her eyes drop. She bites her lip before walking past me to a rack. When she finds the dress size she’s looking for, her eyes again lift to mine. “How are you, Cecelia?”
I revive my smile, baffled by her initial greeting. Is she angry I left without a goodbye? It’s not like we were girlfriends. We never ventured out together.
“I’m good. In town for a few weeks, and I wanted to stop by and see how you’re doing.”
She dips her chin. “Good. Give me a second.”
Maybe I expected too much, but her reaction was not at all what I hoped for. Rattling with uncertainty, I sort through a rack grabbing a few dresses in my size before she reappears. Her hair is a little longer, but she looks very much the same. Curvier in the hips but still a stunning blue-eyed blonde. She’s got a bit of color despite the winter temperatures. And before she saw me, she looked…happy. She approaches me, just a little shorter in stature, and addresses me with a lifeless tone.
“So, who are we dressing you for today?”
I frown. “Just me. I haven’t been back in ages, and I just really wanted to see you and stop by and pick up a few dresses. I love what you have in here. How is business?”
“Business has been good for a really long time,” her words are laced with a little contempt. And I feel the stab as she eyes me. “You look…incredible.”
“Thank you.” I almost want to make my reply a question because of the way she said it.
“You always were gorgeous.” This is not a compliment.
And I’m no longer hurt, I feel insulted. And I’m not as beat around the bush as I used to be. “Tessa, have I done something to—”
“I’m ready, Tessa,” the lady calls from the small dressing room, exiting the door. “Come see what you think.”
Tessa’s eyes roll over me before she tears them away. “Some people just don’t know when to give up,” she mutters, “I’ll be back.”
Briefly, I consider taking cover before she does return. The last thing I need is another confrontation with someone I once considered a friend. But the way she’s regarding me, it’s as if I’m raining piss all over her parade.
I pick out a few more dresses as Tessa checks the woman out. I step up to the counter with an armful, and she rings me up. It’s the diamond on her finger that draws my attention while she bags them, and then it dawns on me.
Oh, Karma, you disloyal bitch.
When I tried to play matchmaker with her and Tyler years ago, I’d been vetting her for the wrong man.
“Tessa—”
“Tyler wasn’t the one who walked in my shop after you left. It’s Roberts now,” she says, lifting biting blue eyes to mine. “We named our son Dominic. He’ll be four next week. Baily is two. We named her after his grandmother. But you never did get to meet her, did you?”
Fighting the lump in my throat, I shake my head as Sean’s wife holds out her hand. “That’ll be one seventy-three.”