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“When did you meet her?” I ask, that curiosity overriding my good manners and discretion.
“Are you questioning my judgment?” We both laugh.
“No, I’m just wondering, you’re complete opposites,” I say honestly and he sobers a little.
“I was in Australia for a swim meet. I was just eighteen. And she was in Australia for a fashion thing. We met at a night club, hit it off and that was it. Honestly, Luc, I didn’t put much thought into things, then. Not for years. I swam and when I wasn’t swimming, I was working at Artemis. My parents discouraged the marriage and that just made me want it more. We eloped to Vegas. And she didn’t really want anything more than fame and I was just a vehicle to get there. So, we grew apart pretty quickly. She started cheating on me. So, I stopped fucking her.” He grimaces and says, “Sorry, I stopped sleeping with her.”
“Call it whatever you want. Either way, it makes me want to vomit. You can skip this part,” I say with a grimace.
His expression is sheepish as he continues. “Anyway, she was gone a lot for work so she didn’t notice. When I was injured, I moved in with my parents because she was gone on jobs for months at a time and I needed help after the surgery on my shoulder. That’s when I found out about . . .” He pauses and looks at me before he says, “Everything that happened with Julian.”
Hearing him say Julian’s name pokes at the never-healing crack in my heart and I feel myself wince.
Reece stops talking. “I’m okay, Reece. Go ahead.” I prod his calf gently with the toe of my shoe. He looks unsure, but goes on.
“It scared me straight and it got me fired up to do something. And that was when things with Fabi really started going south. Before, our relationship had been kept alive by a sort of mutual indifference.” He grimaces.
“Then she lost her contract with her agency and all of her work along with it. She was still beautiful, but she’d stopped taking care of herself and designers weren’t booking her anymore. So she moved home. And that’s when she decided that it would be fun to make both of our lives a living hell. I put up with it for a while because I’m Catholic. Divorce is frowned upon. And I didn’t want to hear my parents say I told you so. So, I stuck it out. She wanted to party, travel, shop, snort coke and fuck. I was trying to get my foundation off the ground and I’d just gotten my first major promotion at Artemis. We just wanted different things from life. So she started traveling, partying and fucking . . . without me.”
He says this, smiling so broadly, I wonder if I’ve missed something. But so captivated by his smile, that I don’t want to ask and risk that he’ll stop smiling. He’s such a beautiful man. I want to pinch myself. I can’t believe this is my life.
Our waitress approaches the table and I slip my hand out of Reece’s as soon as I see her. Reece’s smile disappears. I groan inwardly. We’re going to have to talk about this.
She places my napkin in my lap for me; I almost slap her hand before I realize what she’s doing. She walks off quietly, leaving Reece and I to eat and talk.
“Eat up, I want to get to my parents’ soon. We have to meet the guys for dinner and I don’t want us having to rush from place to place.”
I drop my fork at that.
“Wait, we’re going to your parents’ house? Today? Are they there?”
Reece doesn’t stop eating, and nods casually.
“I’m not ready to meet your parents, Reece! Isn’t your dad recuperating?”
“We won’t stay long. Don’t worry, they’ll love you.” And then he digs back into his steak.
I can’t imagine how that could be true and I have a hard time finishing my meal after that. But Reece seems so unbothered that I decide to try and relax. I tell him about the first time I met Jessica.
“She started the nickname thing right after that first class. We’d started talking while we were packing up. She said, “you’re such a little treat, aren’t you? You remind me of all my favorite pastries.”
When we get up to leave, we’re in a good mood. As we approach the front of the restaurant, Reece stops short. He loops an arm around my waist and starts to walk back into the restaurant. His face is a mask of barely controlled anger.
“What’s happening?” I whisper, looking around the restaurant in alarm.
“Someone called the paparazzi.” I look over my shoulder and through the tinted front windows of the restaurant, I see a throng of people standing outside with cameras. He stops again and when I look back at him, his gaze is focused on something and when I follow it, I see that he’s staring at Fabienne. She smiles maliciously and widens her eyes in feigned innocence.
He shakes his head in disgust pulls his phone out as he walks us back toward our table. “Liza, send a car to Spago. Back entrance. And please, send someone to pick up my car. I have it valeted here.”
The man in the tie who’d taken us to our table walks up to us. “This way, Mr. Carras, I’m so sorry, I didn’t realize they were outside. Someone must have just called them. Can I order you a car?” His nerves evident in this rapid-fire line of questioning.
Reece is calm when he responds. “I have a car on the way. We’ll wait at our table until they get here.” He leads us back to the table we just vacated. It’s cleaned and reset and he leaves us to sit down and practically sprints away.
He sits down and pulls me into his lap. When he looks at me his eyes are full of regret. “They don’t know who you are, yet. But we’re going to need to get y
ou a publicist sooner rather than later.” He looks stressed and I want to alleviate that. I look around and see that we’re back behind the wall that had hidden us from the rest of the restaurant.
I wrap my hand around his neck and massage it with my fingers. “Mmmm, I need that,” he murmurs.
