Page 65 of Someone Like You

I wander into the bedroom, but Tristan’s not here. I gently push open the door to the en suite and my darling, gorgeous husband is in the tub, surrounded by candles and chin-deep in bubbles. Next to the tub, a bottle of Champagne is chilling in an ice bucket.

‘It’s a Bublé bubbly bubble bath,’ he declares, grinning proudly.

I burst out laughing. ‘You dag, I love you so much right now!’

He reaches over and retrieves the bottle, then pours me a glass of bubbly. ‘Well, come on! The water’s starting to cool down.’

I head back to the bedroom to quickly undress, then return and slip into the hot water. ‘Oh, that feels divine.’

Tristan hands me a Champagne flute and holds up his. ‘I’m sorry you’ve had another not-so-good day. To a better evening.’

I take a sip, then set my glass on the table beside me. I lean my head back against the rim of the tub and close my eyes, right as Tristan captures one of my feet in his hands and starts rubbing it.

‘Ahh,’ I sigh. ‘Truly, you may just be the perfect man. What did I do to deserve you?’

‘You saved me from being a miserable, lonely bachelor for the rest of my life. I’m positive I’ve come out on top in this arrangement.’

I crack open one eye and he’s regarding me lovingly. ‘Want to talk about it?’ he asks. All he knows is what I messaged him earlier – that my case has gone sideways, and Saskia and Paloma have scheduled an all-hands-on-deck meeting for tomorrow morning to figure it out.

‘Not really,’ I reply. ‘I’ll know more after tomorrow’s meeting. How wasyourday?’

‘Not great. Patrick lost twenty million pounds today.’

I sit up suddenly and water sloshes over the side of the tub. ‘What? That’s… Why didn’t you tell me?’

He chuckles. ‘I am telling you.’

‘I mean before, when I messaged that I’d had a shit day, you could have replied, “Me too”.’

‘I didn’t want to worry you, not when you have so much on your plate.’

‘Tristan,youare my plate.’

He gives me a funny look.

‘Well, you know what I mean. No one – and no case – is more important to me than you are. So, when you have a shit day, you tell me, okay?’

‘Consider me suitably reprimanded,’ he replies with a smirk.

I slide back into the water and run my foot along his arm. ‘Sorry for telling you off.’

‘Forgiven.’ He winks.

‘Do you want to talk about it? Patrick’s fuck up?’

‘Definitely not.’

‘Okay,’ I say, reaching for my bubbly and taking another sip. ‘So, what should we get to welcome Baby Sharma?’ I ask, changing the subject to something a lot more fun.

He laughs. ‘Darling, that’s months away.’

‘Yes, but Jacinda has three older brothers – all married – and I want us to be the baby’s favourite aunt and uncle.’

‘Ahh, yes, the winning-the-child’s-love-by-buying-them-extravagant-gifts strategy. That’s bound to work. I knowIloved that as a child.’

Tristan’s childhood was vastly different to mine. He had a distant father and a cold and critical mother. No wonder he and Ravi gravitated towards each other at boarding school, becoming lifelong friends at the age of seven.

‘Hmm, good point. I mean, you did turn outokaybut?—’

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