XOXO

“Me either, beautiful. Me either.”

Chapter 48

Arietta

I glance to where Sinclair is seated on the couch. Her fingers are flying over the screen of her phone. “Who are you texting?”

Her head pops up. “Not a guy I want to sleep with.”

I let out a little laugh. “Why not?”

She drops the phone in her lap. “I have a new project coming up. My brother is giving me all the details.”

I don’t bother asking what those are because she can’t tell me.

Her work is as much a mystery to me as her romantic history. All I do know is that she’s had more lovers than I have, and there hasn’t been a man in her life since she moved in with me.

I finish plating the dinner I prepared. It’s a couple of quinoa bowls filled with all of the vegetables I found in our fridge. I roasted those, added a honey mustard dressing and a sprig of parsley to finish it.

“How’s The Dick?” she asks as she approaches our open concept kitchen. “He’s been gone forever.”

I grab two forks out of the drawer and hand her one. “It’s only been a few days.”

She spears a piece of sweet potato. “Do you miss him?”

I take a bite of the food from my bowl as I move back toward the living room. Usually, we’d sit at the dining room table and eat, but I’m hoping the noise from the television will distract Sinclair enough that we won’t talk about Dominick.

“He’ll be back tomorrow,” I say before I take a pepper into my mouth. I chew slowly.

We eat in silence while someone on the cooking competition we’re watching spills salad on the floor. They curse, but all we hear is one long-draw-out beep.

We laugh in unison.

“You’re in love with him.”

My head snaps in my roommate’s direction. “Sinclair.”

“How could you not fall in love with him?” She smiles. “He’s gorgeous, and he treats you right.”

“It’s more than that,” I confess. “He has a good heart.”

“That makes him even more perfect for you.”

I think he’s perfect for me too, but there’s a lot he doesn’t know about me. There’s a lot I don’t know about him either. Learning what he’s done for Brooks is proof of that.

“What if it doesn’t work out?” I ask softly. “What if something happens and he doesn’t want me anymore?”

Her hand moves to cup my knee through the sweatpants I’m wearing. “You can’t think about that, Arietta. Focus on the here and now. You have fun together. Enjoy that, and whatever else happens is meant to be.”

Nodding, I pick at the food in my bowl with my fork.

“I’m not an expert in love.” She chuckles. “I do know that he looks at you the same way my brother looks at Maren. I never thought Keats could love a woman, and then he met her, and boom, he was a goner.”

“You think Dominick loves me too?”

“I think he’s falling hard and fast.” Her eyes close before they pop back open. “Enjoy every second of it because one day you may be telling your grandkids about the time you fell in love with their granddad.”

That’s so far in the future I can’t wrap my mind around it. I can’t think about anything but the moment I see Dominick again.

***

“Tell Dominick that I had a great time last night.”

I wish I were having a nightmare, but I’m not.

I’m at my desk. It’s just past nine a.m., and I’m on the phone with a woman named Kallista, who apparently spent at least part of the evening with Dominick.

For the first time since I started working at Modica, I can’t bring myself to write the message down.

“I wish he hadn’t rushed off this morning.” She giggles. “Add that onto the message.”

I don’t make a sound. There’s no affirmation from my end that I even heard a word she said.

“Are you there?” she questions in a louder tone. “It’s Kallista Montgrew. Should I spell that for you?”

Finding the will inside of me, I jot her name down along with the message about how she wanted more time with him after their night together.

“I’ll pass this along to him,” I say through clenched teeth.

“Perfect!” she exclaims. “He has my number.”

That bites harder than it should.

I want to ask her if he requested it or if she was the one offering it after they fucked.

Tears prick the corners of my eyes.

I’m foolish. I was naïve to think that he’d stop doing what he’s been doing for years.

I hang up the call before she does because my stomach is threatening to send my breakfast back up.

I push back from my desk just as Bronwyn rounds the corner.

“Arietta.” My name snaps off her lips. “Why do you look like that?”

Since I have no idea what jealousy looks like on me, I take a deep breath. “I don’t feel well.”