The air in here smells like peppermint tea and old money. It’s a sharp contrast to the tension bursting at the seams of the apartment I now technically call home. We’re so deep into a debate about the latest reality TV gossip that I nearly forget to document her vitals.
“Did you see that one couple finally broke up? The ones we predicted?” Ms. Lilly asks, leaning in, laughing.
“OMG, yes! They didn't even make it past two months.”
We have this thing where we predict which couples onSightUnseenare going to last or how long, and we’re usually spot on. Jesse and April, however, didn’t even survive the ninety days we’d given them. Apparently, he didn’t appreciate her beingso “friendly” with one of her exes. And by friendly, I mean the cameras caught her during a surprise visit to her Pilates studio. Your girl was mid-pelvic bridge with her ex on top of her.
I’m pretty sure those aren't exactly sanctioned Pilates poses, but they make for world-class gossip over tea and biscotti.
Ms. Lilly cackles. “Well, at least she was working on her flexibility,” she says, her eyes twinkling with mischief.
I finally reach for my tablet, forcing myself back into “Nurse Aspen” mode.
“Hold on, Ms. Lilly. If I don't get your blood pressure recorded, your nephew is going to think we spent the whole hour trashing-talkingSightUnseen.”
“Well, we did. But I’ll make sure to tell Eros that you can multitask.”
I smile, but as I wrap the blood pressure cuff around her thin arm, my mind starts to drift. It’s been two weeks of living with Luca, and his discipline is actually starting to get to me more than the drama ofusever did. He is keeping his promise to stay away with a level of commitment that feels unnatural. But I guess that’s what makes him good on the field. The focus.
“Where’d you just go?” Ms. Lilly asks, her sharp eyes tracking my every blink.
“Huh? What do you mean?”
She smiles, leaning back into her plush chair. “I can always tell when your thoughts drift. You’re actually quite easy to read.”
I wave her off, trying to focus on the digital numbers on my tablet. “I’m just thinking about my ownSightUnseendrama.”
“I was wondering if you were ever going to bring that up,” she says.
“I just didn't know where to start.”
She tilts her head. “Have you told your parents yet?”
“Mostly,” I sigh. “But I’m withholding more than I probably should and calling it boundaries.”
She laughs, the sound dry and knowing. “Okay. Let me know how that works out for you.”
“I’m sure it’ll fail miserably.”
I spend the next twenty minutes just venting. I tell her how Luca has been on a streak of incredible discipline since I moved in, and honestly, it’s the most frustrating thing about him. Because if you combine that with everything else he’s doing, it makes him seem far too perfect.
He assured me he assured me he was like his father, not romantic, but the little things he keeps doing tell a different story. It’s like he’s retraining me on my own fucking love language. The way he insists on hobbling into my room with coffee and toast every single morning. I can see him wincing with every step, but he does it anyway, turning dark and broody if I don't let him take care of me. Then, just yesterday, he was talking to his agent on the phone but I caught him sneaking a protein bar into my bag before I headed out for work. He didn’t think I saw him.
He’s looking after me on the low, even though that definitely isn't in the contract. For a man who claims he doesn't have a romantic bone in his body, he’s being suspiciously thoughtful with his sexy acts of service.
But still, the question lingers, why didn’t he choose me?
Ms. Lilly reaches out to pat my hand. “Honey, men are rarely as complicated as they think they are. They just have a habit of getting tangled in their own promises.”
“How do you mean?” I ask.
She sits back and tells me about her fiancé, Jimmy. They had the kind of love people write songs about, and he’d proposed to her on their third date. But there was a tiny problem. When Jimmy was thirteen, he’d promised a girl he grew up with that he’d marry her one day.
“Of course,” she adds with a wink, “he hadn’t met a dimepiece like me yet. But once he did, he knew he couldn’t marry her, but he also didn't know how to break the news without looking like a villain. So he stalled. He acted hot and cold until he finally realized that losing me was worse than hurting her.”
I frown, leaning in. “So you knew about her the whole time?”
“Of course. Me and Jimmy told each other everything. We were best friends. And I knew what it meant for a woman to have her hopes and dreams shattered, so I was patient. Within reason.”
