I had been thinking the same thing over the last few days. The thought had popped into my head a few days ago and refused to budge until I had given it proper credence. I had suggested to Tristan that we make another visit to his private island for a little alone time. He had smiled and nodded and told me we would do exactly that when he had a day to spare, but that had been two weeks ago, and no trip had occurred.
I had been to the island only once, but I had formed a deep connection with the house and its picturesque surroundings. I longed to be alone with Tristan in that space again. It felt like we were cut off from everyone and everything…including my fears. I wished we could go back there, but I was trying to be considerate of Tristan’s workload.
“I don’t know,” I replied honestly. “I keep going back and forth. Sometimes I think we’re both mature enough to work together even if we did split up. But then… I really think about it, and I know that I couldn’t do it.”
“Oh, Molly…”
“I’ve been in love with Tristan for ten years, Alani,” I said. “If my feelings for him haven’t faded in that time, then they’re not going to. How can I possibly continue to live here and work for him? I’d have to watch him move on with his life, date other women, build a life for himself separate from me… It would be torture.”
Alani’s eyes were sympathetic, but I could tell she didn’t like the idea of me leaving. “This is all very premature,” she said. “Who knows, you and Tristan could end up married one day.”
I smiled. “I don’t know if Tristan is the marrying type.”
“Convert him.”
I laughed. “Easier said than done.”
“I have an idea,” she said, clapping her hands together.
“What?”
“I think the main problem here is that you don’t get enough time with him, right?”
“Well, yeah,” I said uncertainly.
“You’re both busy, it’s perfectly understandable,” Alani continued. “So what you should do is make time.”
“Uh…”
“What I mean is be spontaneous,” she said. “Surprise him when he least expects it.”
“Um, I’m not sure I understand.”
“I heard Ben talking with Tristan this morning,” she told me. “Tristan mentioned that he would be heading to his suite this evening to check on something… I’m not sure what, I didn’t hear that part. Why don’t you head on over to his suite and surprise him? Even if it ends up being a quickie in the shower or a fifteen-minute conversation, it’s something. Given how fast-paced your lives are, that’s what you’ll need to do to keep connected.”
I considered that for a moment. “You know, that’s not a bad idea.”
She smiled. “Excellent.”
“Wait,” I said. “I don’t have a key to Tristan’s suite.”
“You don’t?”
“Well, he’s always in my suite,” I said, with a shrug.
“It’s not a problem,” Alani smiled. “I can give you the staff key.”
Alani and I headed over to the reception where she handed me the staff key to Tristan’s suite. I thanked her and headed up to his room to surprise him, feeling slightly more positive and very excited.
Alani was right—given how much we both worked, I needed to be pro-active about time with Tristan, as opposed to brooding about it. If I wanted things to work out between us, I needed to try as hard as I could.
I got to Tristan’s suite and opened the door softly. I tiptoed inside and looked around. We were rarely ever in his suite. It was slightly smaller, and my view was far better. Still, it was a large and beautiful room. I heard the shower running in the bathroom, and I headed over there. I pushed the door open slightly and peered in. The shower was running, and someone was inside, but one look told me that it wasn’t Tristan.
I could see a faint outline through the smoky curtain. I could see the perfect silhouette of a naked woman. I froze in shock as my body reacted to seeing a strange woman in Tristan’s shower. Her clothes were all over the bathroom floor, and I could hear her humming softly under her breath. Realizing that she hadn’t noticed my presence, I backed out carefully and shut the door.
I stood in Tristan’s bedroom for a minute, trying to process what I had just seen. Was it possible that Tristan had just been stringing me along this whole time? Had he been sleeping with other women the whole time he had been sleeping with me? I felt hurt and disappointed and betrayed.
But most importantly, I felt like a complete and total fool—a fool who had clung to a perfect daydream instead of facing cold hard reality.