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“Busted,” Sasha admitted.
“Just go get yourself one,” Leo told her. “Nobody wants to see what happens if the caffeine levels in your blood dip below ‘maintenance.’”
She hurried to warm a cup of coffee in the microwave, then threw in a sprinkle of kosher salt to cut the bitterness.
Leo watched her from the opening to the butler’s pantry. “I thought you said cardamom and cinnamon take away the bitterness?”
“They do. But I didn’t want to waste time rooting around in the spice drawer. A pinch of salt will work in a pinch. Get it?” Sasha cracked as she returned to the breakfast nook.
He rolled his eyes. Tessa laughed politely, but Sasha could see she was eager to get started. She took a cautious sip of the coffee and scalded her tongue for her efforts.
She blew on the beverage and said, “Thanks for your forbearance. I’m fortified with caffeine, so let’s get started. When we talked to Annette and Brian, they both mentioned your history with Rex.”
Tessa tossed her hair. “I’d be surprised if they hadn’t. Our history’s been a big topic of conversation over the years.”
Her tone was caustic. No, brittle, Sasha thought.
“Did that bother you?”
“Did it bother me that our friends speculated that I was an idiot for continuing to fall into Rex’s bed when he treated me like crap? Yeah, but the part that bothered me was my behavior, not their discussing it.”
“So, why did you keep seeing him?” Leo asked.
Tessa glanced at him but then directed her answer to Sasha as if she might understand more readily. “I don’t know. I was insecure and had low self-esteem in my early twenties. He’d been my college boyfriend—the great love of my life up until that point. And when things were good with Rex, they were amazing. Do you know what he did for my twenty-first birthday?”
“Nope.”
“Of course, you don’t. That was a silly question. He flew me to France. Springtime in Paris for a college junior subsisting on ramen and rice. I mean, who does that?”
“It’s a grand romantic gesture,” Sasha agreed.
“I thought so. But you could also say it’s the gesture of an entitled rich boy who knows he can buy anything he wants.”
“What did he buy?” Leo asked.
“Well, he bought me some La Perla lingerie and then got me into bed.”
“But you’d been dating for years, right?”
“Yeah, but I was a good girl. I didn’t put out. I was waiting forthe one.I was head over heels, and after the Paris trip, I thought he was, too. I honestly thought he’d propose while we were there, but it turned out that it was just a campaign to get in my pants.”
Sasha winced. Even after all these years, it was clear the memory pained Tessa. “I’m so sorry.”
“Thanks.” She sighed. “You’d think after that, I’d have learned my lesson. But we ran in the same circles. I was the coxswain on his crew team. I saw him all the time, and he had this pull over me. I thought it would get better after we graduated, and in some ways it did. I’d go months without seeing him. But then I’d run into him at a party, bar, or a friend’s engagement, and the same old pattern would start up again. He could be so charming and attentive when he wanted to be.”
“And when he didn’t?”
“Rex got bored. He had a short attention span. I knew he cheated on me—at least, I always suspected it. That was bad. But then, every so often, he’d ghost me completely as if he’d tired of me and moved on. And that was worse. It really messed with my head. But I got my act together.”
“What changed?”
“When I was twenty-six, my sister gave me therapy sessions for my birthday, which should tell you something right there. And the counseling helped. I developed some boundaries which I’d never had before. And I wasgood. I was in a healthy place. I dated fundamentally decent, kind people. I had a job that was fulfilling and meaningful. I was building a life.”
It was clear from her tone that the improvement had been temporary.
“What happened?” Leo asked her.
“Rex happened. He’d been dating somebody. I don’t even know who because we weren’t in contact. But I’d heard from our friends that it was serious. Really serious. Her dad had invested in one of his companies—not this most recent one. He’d had a different startup that had failed. Word was, Rex was going to marry her.”
