She shook her head, red tendrils falling from the messy bun she wore on top of her head. “I didn’t need to read any story, Antonio, I have eyes. I saw how close you were standing, the heat as you gazed down at her. I’m not blind and I’m not stupid. You loved her enough to marry her and have a kid with her, it’s a connection that won’t ever be severed.”
“She severed it when she almost let my daughter die so she could feed her addiction!” I shook my head and took a step forward. “Trishelle is the last woman on earth I would ever sleep with, never mind while I’m already sleeping with someone else.”
She nodded and the tension in her shoulders faded, a little. “I believe you, but it doesn’t matter.”
“It does matter, dammit. Trishelle ambushed me on the street, set this little meeting up for her stupid, fucking show and you’re going to let it come between us? You’re gonna let her come between us? Un-fucking-believable.”
Augusta smiled, it was sweet but sad, and tore at my heart. “It isn’t your ex-wife coming between us, Antonio. It’s us. You were never going to be serious about me and it’s probably best that this all happened now, because I’m not sure I could sleep with you for much longer without falling for you.” She sighed as if just saying those words were like a weight off her shoulders. “So you see, you don’t need to feel guilty about being with your ex. I won’t hold it against you.”
“Daddy! Daddy! Did you make the tacos?” Rosie barreled down the stairs full of energy after her nap, unaware of the tension between the adults. “Nurse Gus, you’re here!”
Augusta smiled down at Rosie’s wide grin. “I am, and I was expecting to eat dinner with the Taco Princess.”
Rosie turned wide eyes up to me. “Is that a thing?”
I shrugged. “You’re a princess, you can make it a thing can’t you?”
My daughter gasped and her excited eyes bounced between me and Augusta. “Be right back!”
“Taco Princess,” I repeated with a smile. “I’m curious to see what she comes up with.”
“Me too,” Augusta agreed, her words quiet and sad.
She sat through dinner, indulging Rosie’s questions about her life as a nurse while we ate our fill of fish tacos, fresh chips, salsa, and cheese dip. Sadness filled her eyes and she barely looked at me through the meal.
When she finally walked away and left me with a sad smile, I realized just how much Augusta meant to me.
Damn.
Gus
I don’t care. That was my mantra for the past day or two. I don’t give a damn. Not about the fact that Antonio got cozy with his ex-wife while he was in New York and then came home to me, and yeah, gave me some of the best orgasms of my life. Not about any of it.
Okay, I cared, but I wouldn’t care for much longer.
Antonio was a temporary lover and that was it. There were no promises that existed between us, other than the promise of mutual pleasure. And that was just fine by me.
Totally fine.
I slapped on a happy face as I clocked in for my shift, hoping that my canary yellow scrubs would brighten my gloomy disposition. The pediatric patients needed me and I wouldn’t let them down, no matter the mess of my personal life.
“Are you all right, Gus?” Melanie’s voice pulled me from my thoughts and I looked up with a smile I didn’t feel.
“Of course. I’m fine,” I assured her. Fine was my default state. No matter what happened in my life, maternal abandonment, paternal alcoholism, I was always fine. Always. No gorgeous bad boy with a hard-on for his ex-wife would change that. “Why do you ask?”
“Your eyes seem sad.” Melanie tipped her head to the side as she studied me, a clear sign she didn’t believe that I was fine. I just hoped she didn’t want to talk about it.
“I think it’s just exhaustion,” I assured her with a half-hearted grin.
“You sure?”
“Completely.”
“Because it could be all the lies about Antonio and his skank of an ex-wife. You do know it’s all lies, don’t you?” She shook her head. “They lie about everything just to get you to buy a magazine or click an article. You can’t believe a word of it.”
That much was true, but I also couldn’t believe in the word of a man. A mortal man. “Sure.”
Melanie shook her head and let out a long, frustrated sigh. “Honey, it’s okay to be sad. It’s okay to be angry about what you saw online.”
I nodded. “It is okay, and if I felt anything, I’d be fine with it. But I don’t.”
Melanie shrugged. “All right. If you need to vent or to talk, I’m here.”
“Thanks, Mel. I need to start my shift now but if I get the urge to talk, I’ll find you.” It was time to get to work, it was just what I needed to think about anything but Antonio and his ex-wife. They were irrelevant to my life as it was today. I got what I needed from Antonio and now it was time to move on.