I didn’t want this little thing between Tristan and me to destroy the relationship that he had with my brother. I wasn’t sure why I wanted to preserve that friendship, but I felt like it needed to be done. A part of me also knew that when I told Jason, he would definitely be pissed off enough to cut Tristan off, and I wasn’t sure if I was ready to let go of him that completely. At least this way, I would still hear about him through Jason.
“Distant?” Jason repeated.
“He just… He was working all the time,” I said. “He didn’t have time for me.”
His expression relaxed a little. “Is that the reason you quit?”
“I was angry and emotional,” I admitted. “I made a split-second decision.”
“So…you didn’t quit because…”
“Because what?” I pressed.
“Because you saw him with another woman or anything, right?”
I gulped inwardly. “No,” I said, hoping that I sounded convincing enough. “No, that wasn’t it.”
“Oh, okay,” Jason nodded. “Because if that had been the case, I would have flown down to Hawaii just to kick his ass.”
I smiled. “Thanks, big bro.”
“Anytime,” he said willingly.
I nodded and looked down at my hands, feeling slightly more depressed than I had this morning. Talking through the whole thing had made me realize how rash my decision had been at the time. I had been impulsive, and I remembered what Meryl had told me on the flight back home. Should I really have let a man get in the way of my career? I loved my job independent of Tristan, and I should have stayed at it, for no other reason than to prove to him that he didn’t have power over me.
“Hey,” Jason said, calling my attention back to him.
“Yeah?”
“What’s going on in your head?”
I smiled. It was a phrase that Dad used to use on us when we were a little too quiet at the dinner table. “I guess I’m just sad,” I said.
“About Tristan or your job?”
“Both,” I said. “But with Tristan, I tried. But my job I loved, I wish that I hadn’t quit it.”
“Don’t you have a contract?” he asked.
“Yes,” I admitted.
“How long is it?”
“One year,” I replied. “I didn’t really consider my contract before I quit, though.”
“It’s not like Tristan will do anything about it,” Jason pointed out. “But it is a good excuse for you to go back.”
“What do you mean?”
“Go back and tell him that since your contract is still in play, you didn’t feel right about quitting halfway through.”
“But…”
“It’s going to be hard for Tristan to replace you,” Jason said. “He’s not going to make an issue about it.”
“But—”
“If you really want your job back, then you shouldn’t let Tristan stand in your way.”