“I’ll meet you guys at the house,” Helen says through the window. I nod and pull away from the hospital.
“This car is beautiful Sebastian,” my mother says, running her hand over the soft leather of the dash.
“It’s a rental, but I’ve become quite fond of it myself. I’m thinking about buying one.”
“You should. You can leave it here for when you come home to visit. That way Helen can drive me around in it instead of her… minivan,” she says the word with disgust, and I laugh.
“There is nothing wrong with a minivan, mama.”
She raises a brow at me. “Oh yea? Why don’t you buy one then?”
A minivan? Me? They’re more for family types. Not me. I open my mouth to respond, but one look at my mother’s face I immediately shut it.
“Mhm… That’s what I thought.”
I chuckle and shake my head as we pull up into the circular drive of the house just a couple moments before Helen pulls in behind us. Opening the back door of the car, I grab the flowers off the seat and hand them off to Helen while I help my mother out of the car and up the three steps into the house.
We step into the foyer and it’s like I was transported back in time, with the faded peach colored wallpaper, tatty woolen carpet and a dark grey fabric couch. The ornaments haven’t changed, neither have the photos on the wall. Pictures of Selena and I growing up. Guilt courses through me as I realize this is the first time I’ve been home since I left.
I walk my mother over to her chair, but she snatches herself from my grasp and sits down by herself, while Helen takes the flowers into the kitchen.
“You okay mama?”
“Oh Sebastian, don’t hover. I’m fine.”
“Okay. Well, I have somewhere I need to be, but I’ll come back later this evening. If either of you…” I pause, glancing between my mother and Helen. “Need anything, just call me.”
My mother sighs. “We’ll be fine, Sebastian. Stop fussing.”
I lean down and kiss her forehead. “I know. I’m more worried about Helen needing a bottle of wine or something to deal with you.” I duck just as my mother grabs her little pillow from her chair and throws it at me. “Missed me! Love you mama.”
“Love you too, Sebastian.”
Hopping back in the car, I head off towards downtown. This is probably going to be the smartest or stupidest decision, second to last night, that I’ve made since coming home.
As I pull up in front of the office for Angels for Heroes, I suddenly feel like an idiot. I don’t chase after women. What the hell am I doing? Tristan isn’t just any woman. With the chance that she might accuse me of stalking and call the police, I step out of the car and make my way inside. Stepping inside the lobby, I find her desk empty. Shit. I’m about to abandon the idea when a pretty, curvy brunette comes walking out of an office in the back.
“Hi. Can I help you?”
“Yeah, I’m looking for Tristan Summers.”
“Oh, I’m sorry. I sent her out on an errand, but she should be back anytime now.” She pauses for a moment, eyeing me like she recognizes me or something. “May I ask who you are?”
Before I can answer her a tall, fit, light-skinned, African American guy comes walking out of the office she just left. “Okay babe, I have to - oh, I’m sorry I didn’t know someone was here.”
“It’s okay,” she says, standing on her toes to give him a kiss. “I’ll see you later. Thank you for lunch.”
“Anytime. I love you,” he says before slipping out the door.
“So, you were saying?” she says, turning her attention back to me.
“Sebastian Abbott.”
“Mhm, that’s what I thought. Come, follow me,” she says, waving me to follow her into her office. Stepping into the back office, there’s a large cherry wood desk with a few chairs, and filing cabinets line either wall to the left and right with framed photos sitting on top of them. “Have a seat.” I take a seat in one of the chairs across from her, suddenly feeling like I’m back in high school in the dean’s office for fighting or something.
“By the way, I’m Arianna Holt.”
“The boss.”
“That’s right, remember that,” she says, folding her arms across her chest. “So, what exactly do you want with Tristan?”
“Excuse me?” I say, slightly annoyed.
“Listen… Tristan is important to me. She started out as my employee, but she’s become so much more than that. She’s a friend. Like a little sister and she’s in a really fragile place right now. I just need to know where your head is at. Because if you don’t have the purest of intentions, then you need to get up and walk out of my office and never look back.”
I sit there silently for a minute, trying to collect my thoughts before I answer her. Clearing my throat, I sit forward and rest my arms on her desk. “Look, I don’t know what is going on right now. I love my life as a bachelor, the endless women. But then I came back here to care for my mother, and I see this beautiful, slightly awkward, raven-haired woman frantically trying to get sugar out of her shirt, and I haven’t been able to get her out of my mind.
Then I show up to show a building for a friend, and there she is again. Her and her sassy mouth putting me in my place. I must admit it was a huge turn on. Then when her boyfriend turned up, I knew she was serious about having one. I told myself to forget her, that it’s wrong to pursue a woman in a relationship. But something about her called to me when she came to the bar last night. I waited for the opportunity to kiss her and I took it.
Was it wrong? Hell yes. Do I care? No. Why? Because the boyfriend isn’t who she thinks he is. He’s lying to her and I want her all to myself. I’m a selfish fool. I know. As soon as she walked into Becks with her brothers, I knew there was no way I could just walk away. So, I waited for an opportunity and then I kissed her and then she told me to stay away from her.”
“And you, sitting here in my office, is staying away from her?”
“I know how fucking obscene this sounds; I don’t even really know her. But I want to. I want to know everything about her. Her dreams, her fears, what her favorite color is, her favorite food. I want to know it all. But the more I try to stay away, the harder it is. I can’t promise anything except that I would never, ever intentionally hurt her.”
Arianna quietly examines me from across her desk. I’m sure she’s trying to decide whether she believes anything that just came out of my mouth when the lobby door opens, and the click of heels sounds against the tile floor.
“Ari, I got everything-” Tristan stops mid-sentence when she steps into Arianna’s office. My breath catches in my throat as I stare at her, unable to look away. She’s gorgeous and I know I made the right choice turning up today. Our eyes lock and my name slips from her lips in a breathless whisper. “Sebastian.”
Chapter Fifteen
Tristan
I stand in the doorway to Arianna’s office, my eyes bouncing between her and Sebastian whose eyes haven’t left mine since I walked in. My mouth goes dry and my heart feels like it’s going to pound out of my chest. What is he doing here? Why is he here?