I nod my head. “I am. I didn’t know how it would be coming back and taking over for my father. It worked out a lot better than I thought it would. But it isn’t that bad.” He looks at me.
“I’m sure he’s happy you are here,” he says, and I look at him. “I heard about you.” My head goes to the side. “Your father takes care of my finances,” he tells me, and I look at him with my mouth hanging down. “That’s how I got your number. It was in the email.”
“Tim has to take you as a client,” I tell him. “I don’t even know how I’m going to tell them. I might have to bring my mother in or Veronica. Are you close to your parents?”
He nods. “I am but not as close as I would like to be. But I’m working on it.” He chews a piece of chicken. “Murielle doesn’t really like when they come down, so they don’t.” I swallow down the lump in my throat. “It was a rough time for a bit there. I didn’t know how to tell them that she didn’t like having people in her house. I felt like I was choosing her over them, and it killed me.”
“Did you talk to her about it?” I ask, not knowing what to say. I don’t know how I would feel if Dex had told me that my parents were not allowed over. “It put you in a very difficult position.”
“It did. I was kind of left out of certain things and family functions because they didn’t know if I would go or not, and then they didn’t want to put additional pressure on me.” He looks down. “My only regret is Jaxon not knowing them as well as he should. But we are working that out now. I bring him to see them when I can, and we FaceTime my mother once a week.”
“She must love it.” I smile at him when he puts his fork and knife on the plate.
“She does. He tells her all about his week.” He brings the water to his mouth. “How long were you with your ex for?”
“We met while I was in college. The four of us always hung around with each other. He was roommates with Joshua.” I swallow now. “Close to ten years. He called me today,” I say, and I’m shocked that I’m sharing it with him. “It was weird talking with him, but I think it was a good time because it made me see that we weren’t the ones for each other.” I look at him. “I think in the end we stayed because it was easy. What about you?” I ask, and unlike with Dex, I get a burning sensation in my stomach when I ask him this question. I mean, it’s stupid because they have a child together.
“About the same,” he says. “It would be less if she would just give me the divorce.” I look down.
“Where does she think you are?” I ask, and he shrugs.
“I don’t know, don’t care. I’ll be home when Jaxon wakes up, and that is all that she needs to know.”
“But,” I start to say, and he pushes away from the table. “She doesn’t come into this,” he says to me. “This.” He points at him and then at me. “It’s mine. It’s the only thing I have that is mine and mine alone.” I look down, and he puts his finger under my chin, raising it so I see him. “It’s you. It’s only you.” He bends his head, and he kisses me. I swallow back down the dread that I have there. That I’m sinking deeper and deeper with him, and I’m not sure if I’m going to be able to survive this.
Chapter 21
Manning
“I hate leaving you,” I tell Evelyn while she walks me to the door. I spent the night with her in my arms. She stood with me until I was ready to go to bed. She tilts her head back, and I push her hair away from her face as she stands there in her robe naked underneath it. “I’ll call you later.”
“Okay,” she says, giving me one last kiss.
“Lock up,” I say and walk out, and she stands there looking at me as I drive away right when the sun comes up. I fucking hate this. I hate that I had to leave her.
I take my phone out and send Becca a text.
Me: Did you hire him?
I don’t know if she is going to answer me right away, so I put my phone down. It rings right away. “Yes,” she says, and I hear her panting. Becca has been one of the best people to have in my corner. She came to me about five years ago, and if it weren’t for her, I wouldn’t be as successful. She guided me in the right direction, and I would do anything for her.