Sexy Jerk(60)

I open the door to my Rover and hop in. "Text me the flight details. I'm on my way."

Once I hang up, I take a moment to contemplate what to do about Tess. I could blow her off altogether, but I can't seem to do that. I want her to see my name. Remember me. Feel something when she reads my name, even if she is with him now. And so I send her a quick text.

Not going to make it tonight. Something came up. I have to fly to Miami. Don't know when I'll be back.

Feeling like my heart has just been ripped from my chest, I start my car. And then as I put the car in drive, I look up at her building. I hadn't thought much about her six year relationship with Ansel Gaspard since the two of us got together. It didn't appear that he was ever on her mind. And hence, I never thought of myself as the rebound guy.

I guess I should have.

My bad.





Tess

TODAY IS THE first day the temperature has reached above fifty degrees in five months, maybe six.

Outside, I sit on a bench beside Fiona and watch Max climb the stairs to the top of the slide.

This playground is one of the ones Nick and I took him to make a snowman. That seems so long ago now.

Fiona places a gloved hand on my shoulder. "Don't look so sad, Tess. Ethan said there's something serious going on in Miami. I'm sure Nick's just trying to take care of it, and that's why he hasn't called."

I blow out a breath and run a hand raggedly through my hair. "No, Fi, something else is wrong. It's not like him to cancel on me the way he did, and then not to text or call me either. I really think I scared him the other night when I started talking about how things were meant to be. Christ, I should have just shouted from the rooftop that we were meant to be."

Her gaze shifts from Max to me. "Stop it right now. It hasn't even been a full day since he left. Don't start thinking negatively. He'll call, just give him time."

"How can you be so positive when just yesterday you told me to be careful?"

"Because I know you really want this to work, and I want what makes you happy."

With a sigh, I pull out my phone and check it again. I've texted him and called him, but he has yet to respond.

Her voice is soft when she speaks again. "Do you think Ansel saw him last night and said something to him?"

With a shaded hand on my forehead to block the sun, I shake my head. "Even if he did, what would he say, I proposed to my ex-girlfriend and she turned me down."

Fiona laughs, but then covers her mouth trying to stifle it. "I'm sorry, but how stupid was that?"

"It wasn't stupid, it was desperate. And I told you, I don't want to talk about it."

She makes a tsk sound. "Tess, you shouldn't feel bad about telling him to fuck off. He deserved it."

"I didn't tell him to fuck off. I told him I wasn't in love with him anymore. That I loved someone else. And regardless of everything, I spent six years of my life with him. If nothing else, that gives me license to feel a little bad about hurting him."

"Well, he didn't feel bad when he fucked all those women over and over, and hurt you," she mutters.

"Fi," I warn.

She raises her hands in surrender. "I'm just saying, but fine, the conversation is over. Want to hear about my night?"



       
         
       
        

"Oh, my God, I completely forgot. Did Jace come over? What happened?"

She scoots closer to me on the bench. "He got the nanny to keep Scarlett and came over around eight. We'd just gotten Max to bed so it was perfect timing. At first, the three of us sat in living room drinking a glass of Ethan's brandy-"

I cut her off. "He pulled out his brandy for the occasion?"

"Yes, he does that when he's nervous."

"So it's when he's nervous. I couldn't figure it out. Nick said he'd only had two glasses, once when he found out you were pregnant, and then after Jace's wife died."

Her face goes solemn. "Yes, after Tricia died, Ethan was a nervous wreck over how Jace was going to be handle everything. He was really worried about him."

"Wow, I had no idea. He's doing okay though, from what Nick and you have told me, anyway."

Max goes running past us over to the small jungle gym. "Slow down, Max," Fiona calls, and then says, "I guess as okay as a person can do when they lose a spouse. Well anyway, one minute we each had a brandy and were talking, and the next I just stood up between them, crooked a finger, and said come on. I sauntered right up to my bedroom without even looking back, and the entire time I undressed, dropping my clothing as I went."

I stare wide-eyed at her. "And, what happened next? Did they follow?"