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“Oh, puh-lease.” She crosses her arms, her lawyer face coming on.
Her eyes narrow as she paces short steps in front of me. I can imagine her like this when she’s working on a case.
“You tell me this isn’t real, yet he’s handsy.” She waves her hands. “Well, not handsy handsy, but he holds you close and wraps his arm around your shoulder. This doesn’t seem fake.“ Her perfectly arched brow is back and intimidating me. No wonder she wins cases all the time.
“It is.“ I widen my eyes. “We were out in public, so he was acting the part. Wouldn’t it be weird if I had a boyfriend, and he was totally distant?” I throw my hand in the air.
Her eyebrows quirk and I know she’s considering this.
“No.” She shakes her head. “Something about you two together . . .” She snaps her fingers and smiles as if she’s discovered electricity.
“He looks at you differently. With admiration and something else.” She turns her back to me as she continues to pace.
What Julie said not too long ago comes to mind. She also mentioned that Tristan looks at me a certain way. I think they’re both crazy.
“Daisy, if something were going on, you’d be the first I’d tell.” I smile. “Trust me.” I squeeze her crossed arm.
“Fine,” she breathes out, dropping her arms and hugging me. “I just want you to be happy, and I know these last few years have been difficult for you.”
I return the hug, squeezing her tightly.
“I know, and I am happy.” I lean back and smile at her. “See you tomorrow? I’m off work.”
“You’d better believe it. I have lunch with my parents.” She rolls her eyes. “They invited some of their friends. I’m pretty sure their friends’ sons, too.”
I bite back my laughter and shake my head. Daisy’s family is wealthy. Not like Tristan’s, but they still have money. Her parents would love for her to meet a nice young man to settle down with. And I secretly think they want her to move back here, so they’ll try to get her to fall in love with a local.
“Good luck. Call me when you’re done or if you need an escape plan.”
“If?“ Her brows jump onto her hairline. “You know I’m going to need one. I’ll send an SOS.”
I chuckle and shake my head. “See you tomorrow, friend. I’m so happy you’re here.”
“Me too.” She blows me a kiss and walks to her car.
I laugh to myself as I get in my car and check my phone before driving off. I open a message from Tristan before pulling out of my parking spot.
Tristan: Hey, hope you didn’t mind that I crashed your dinner.
Sage: It’s okay. You didn’t crash it, we invited you.
What he’s crashing is my heart. Head-on collision. I don’t think I’ll overcome this relationship. Somehow, something that’s meant to be fake feels more real than anything else in my life.
As I drive home, I try to recall the different ways Tristan looks at me. None of them seem out of the ordinary. I can’t lie to myself, though. A small piece of me wishes I were the woman on the receiving end of Tristan’s true affection.
Rubbing my forehead, I sigh and focus on the road. His parents want us to go over again this week, something about an early Easter dinner, so I need to be on my A-game. Prim and proper, not a casual hot mess.
15
Sage
“Paul, Sage here could be amazing for the position in your company. She’s a computer engineer,” Mr. Remington tells his friend across the table.
We came to their house for an early Easter dinner, and I was surprised to see other guests. Instead of an intimate family affair, it’s an event full of business talk and one-ups as they all try to overshadow the other, and now I’m the center of it.
A swooshing sound echoes in my ears, and I turn to Tristan with wide eyes. Throughout dinner, his parents have been going on and on about how wonderful I am. I can’t even tell anymore if it’s honest, with how much they’re pushing me to their friends.
“Is that right?” Paul looks at me with a polite smile.
