Page 48 of The Billionaire's Wife

“Really?” Megan brightened. “You’re already my favorite employee.”

“As long as I’m not your only employee.”

She shot me a grin and shook her head.

“Speaking of that, though, I have a thing tonight that I can’t miss.” I could imagine how well it’d go over to miss dinner with whoever Manny had called. The answer was “not well.” At all.

“Oh that’s no problem. I was already planning to close today. And I’ll probably have you take over mornings once you’re trained. If that works?”

“It should.” At least I thought so right now. If something happened tonight that changed it, I’d let her know.

“Perfect.” Megan scooped half of her salad out into the lid of the container it came in and pushed it across the table along with a fork. “After we eat, I’ll show you the ropes.”

13

TRISTAN

Iunlocked my front door and toed off my shoes as I shut it behind me. “Faith?”

I cocked my head to the side and listened, but the place was quiet. The kind of quiet I was used to coming home to. Or at least I had been used to it. Now, I’d already become accustomed to the little sounds of life that another person existing in my space created.

I loved it.

Was that because it was Faith? Probably. At least, I knew it helped, even though I tried to deny it. She’d made her stance clear. Even if she hadn’t signed the papers before she disappeared the last time, she didn’t love me. I should be doing something to internalize that and work on getting over her. When she left, when things were officially over between us, I needed to be ready to throw myself into the dating game right away.

If I didn’t, I’d just spend the rest of my life mooning over the one who got away.

I padded down the hall and turned toward my bedroom. I wanted to change out of the suit I’d worn today. I didn’t always break out the full lawyer look, but I’d had a court-ordered mediation session for one of my clients, and it didn’t do to show up looking unprofessional. In the end, that session had gone well and the client had been persuaded, finally, to agree to a compromise. A good one, in my opinion. He was unhappy, but I’d been straight with him from the beginning that he didn’t have a strong case, and that what he ended up with was the best he could hope for.

I shrugged out of the suitcoat and hung it on its hangar. Then I paused. Dinner at the seafood place could run casual or dressy. The restaurant didn’t care, but it was upscale and pricey and people took prom dates there. A suit wouldn’t be out of place. Would it be intimidating to the Ortegas? Or would I look like I was trying too hard?

Maybe I’d wait for Faith to get home and see what she thought made sense.

I hung up the suitcoat and went back out into the living room, stopping by the kitchen for a glass of water. I plopped onto the couch and unlocked my phone, frowning when I saw she’d read my last three texts but not responded.

I sighed and switched to social media and scrolled aimlessly through the shiny happy version of people’s lives, pausing to watch clips from standup routines and dogs being crazy. A dog.

I switched to the web browser and navigated to the animal shelter. I’d been planning on getting a dog at the start of the month. Then Faith had shown up and that got moved to the back burner. But now? Were things stable enough that I could explore that option again? Or would that just be someone else who was heartbroken when Faith left?

The sound of a key in the door shifted my attention from the amusing, dating-site-like bios of the dogs at the shelter. I clicked off my phone and stood, tucking my hands in my pockets.

“Tristan? I’m ho—” Faith broke off as I stepped into the hallway. “Hey.”

“Hey. You’re okay?” I was trying not to let her see how worried I’d been when she didn’t respond to my texts. But it probably leaked out.

“I am. I should have texted you back, I’m sorry. I got a job.” She grinned as she stepped out of her shoes and reached behind her to push the door closed. “I’m working for your friend Megan at her bookstore.”

“Yeah? Nice.” I caught myself before I made a quip about cooking the books. Probably best not to go down that route just yet. Maybe this whole situation would be funny at some point in the future, but we weren’t there yet. “Congrats.”

“Thanks.” Faith closed the distance between us.

I held my breath. In a normal marriage, this would be where we’d embrace and see where things went.

She slipped past me. “What’s the dress code for this restaurant?”

I closed my eyes against the surge of disappointment. It was stupid on about twelve levels to be disappointed. But the longer she lived here, the longer she was back in my life, the harder it was for me to keep the memories of the months when we lived truly as husband and wife out of my thoughts. And heart.

I turned. “I wanted to talk to you and see what you thought. Patrons run the gamut. I’ve seen people in shorts and flip flops in the summer and kids going to prom. Most people are probably on their way home from work or after church, so maybe a little dressier than jeans. But jeans would be fine.”

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