Page 24 of The Man I Love

“Are you okay, Tris?” Penny asked. “Are you in trouble? Is there something you need to tell me?”

“Everything okay?” Sam’s voice made Tristan jump. He hopped off the bed and spun around to find her standing in the doorway, a full plate of pancakes in one hand.

He met her eyes, hating the worry he saw in her expression. Covering the phone with one hand as he shook his head. “It’s Penny. I’ll be right there,” he answered.

Sam froze in the doorway, her face contorting with an uncertainty that took his breath away.

“Hurry up,” she said as she turned around, “or your pancakes will get cold.”

He watched until she left their bedroom, then ducked into the bathroom and pulled the door closed behind him.

“If they come by again,” he said quietly into the receiver, “tell them their check is in the mail.” He hung up without waiting for Penny’s reply and switched his phone to silent.

He raked his hands through his hair and gripped the back of his neck. The payment would only hold them off for so long and drain what he had left in his checking account, but what choice did he have? What would he do if he didn’t have his business? He was an uneducated, untrained man who was approaching thirty. He needed to pull it together. He needed to calm down.

He walked out of his bedroom five minutes later, finding Samantha standing at the kitchen window. He wrapped his arms around her waist and buried his face into her hair.

“Is everything okay?” she asked, turning to face him.

He forced a smile, dipping his head low so he could kiss her collarbone. “Everything’s fine.”

She craned her neck to the side. “Tris?—”

But he placed one finger to her lips, shushing her. “We have exactly four more hours until you get on that plane. I don’t want to spend it talking about work.” His voice was soft, pleading, but his words were brutally honest. He couldn’t stand the thought of spending his last minutes talking aboutthis.

At first, he thought she would argue, but then she nodded, wrapped her arms around his waist, and flattened her body against his. “I don’t know how I can leave again,” she whispered.

He squeezed her so tight he thought he may crush her.Then don’t, he wanted to say, but he forced himself to remain silent.

He picked her up off the ground, cradled her against his chest, and walked toward the bedroom.

“What are you doing?” she asked, laughing when he grabbed the plate of pancakes off the counter and made his way toward the bedroom.

“These pancakes are calling my name,” he said gruffly, “and someone promised me breakfast in bed.”

10

CHAPTER TEN

December

Eight Months Earlier

New York

“So? How’d it go?”Ren asked as soon as Sam answered the phone back in New York.

Freshly showered, Samantha scrubbed the back of her head with a towel, then plopped onto the edge of her bed. “Well hello to you too,” she responded. Exhaustion made her eyelids heavy, yet her endorphins were so high she hadn’t been able to rest yet. She fell back on her comforter, not caring that her damp hair made her bedding wet. “It was amazing, Ren. Better than amazing. I’m so glad you made me go.”

Last night, she’d felt like a teenager who’d received her first kiss, because every moment with Tristan would forever be etched into her memory. If she closed her eyes, she could still feel the hug that had engulfed her at the airport. His grip was so firm that she practically had to pry herself away from him. “Tristan, it’s time,” she’d said, her voice no more than a whisper as she pushed at his chest.

He handed her backpack to her, his eyes red-rimmed and glassy as he stepped backward. “I’ll see you soon,” he whispered, knocking her chin playfully with his fist.

She was too choked up to speak, so she only nodded, then turned around so he wouldn’t see her cry.

“Did you ask him about my dad?” Renee asked, bringing Sam back to her bedroom again.

Sam wiped at a stray tear and shook her head, then rolled to her side and shoved a pillow beneath her cheek. “No.”

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