They all turn to me in unison. The guy doesn’t have a dog with him, so I don’t know what he’s doing here.
“Thanks, Lena,” Naomi says, almost blushing, and I’m pretty sure it’s the sexy stranger making her react this way.
“Yeah, of course, and how may I help you, sir?” I turn to the man. I throw Rita a few glances for an explanation but she seems totally dumbstruck by him.
He stands up.
“Hi Lena, I’m Tristan, I know we haven’t met. I’m a friend of Drew’s and I was wondering if we could talk.”
I have spent the past ten days trying to forget about Drew. I still lie awake at night, tossing and turning and reliving those moments I had with him. The kisses. The way he touched me. How sure I was that I would end up spending the rest of my life with him.
I was so stupid.
I say nothing, but turn and walk back into the grooming studio. I can sense Tristan following me inside. He shuts the door behind him. I busy myself with washing up the grooming station. I don’t know why, but I don’t want to look at him.
“What are you doing here? How did you find me?” I ask.
“Our friend Shane and his girlfriend Effie were able to track down your details through the wedding guest list. They know it’s not technically allowed, but these are special circumstances,” he replies.
Right. I should have known. I left a trail.
“How is Drew?” I ask, scrubbing and cleaning unnecessarily.
“He hasn’t forgotten about you. The trouble is that I don’t think he will.”
I can’t help myself. I have to look at him now. Hearing this has made my heart race faster.
“It was a mistake. We jumped in too quickly. I’m not a one-night-stand kind of girl,” I tell him.
“And he isn’t a one-night-stand kind of guy. At least not where you are concerned.”
“I left because I didn’t want things to get too complicated between us. He deserves to be with someone who will accept all the aspects of his life, especially the thing he is most passionate about.”
Tristan is glaring at me.
“Yeah, the thing is, he is most passionate about you.”
***
Tristan and I are sitting together in the chairs in my grooming studio. He invited me to sit down so we could talk and I had to agree. I definitely needed to sit down. My feet have turned to jelly.
I spent the past ten days imagining how quickly Drew must have gotten over me. He is a sexy man. Strong and compassionate. The kind of man who would easily find a woman who wants all of him.
I imagined that he was already with someone else. Some lucky girl who isn’t afraid.
But now Tristan is telling me differently.
“He can’t get over you, and you walking away from him has really broken him. He pretends like everything is okay and that he’s moved on, but I know he hasn’t,” Tristan says.
“Did he tell you about my brother?”
“Yes, he did and I get where you’re coming from. But if you feel the same way about him, you shouldn’t let your past experiences hold you back.”
Tristan is a good friend. Does Drew even know how good Tristan is to him? Drew doesn’t need me when he has people like him in his life; I remind myself.
“I don’t know how I will ever move on from losing my brother. I would always live in fear of losing Drew.”
“And you’d rather live without him?”
“I hardly know him. This relationship may not even work. We had a strong connection…a chemical, physical response to each other. It may end up going nowhere. And six months apart…I don’t want to put either of us through that.”
Tristan watches me speak and then he slowly nods his head and stands up.
“Look, I’m not here to talk you into doing something you don’t want to do. In fact, if Drew ever finds out I came here and spoke to you, he might actually kill me.”
I stand up. My hands are clasped together. Is it crazy that I’m excited that Tristan found me?
“I just came here to invite you to a party,” he adds.
“A party?”
“Yeah, Drew’s deployment party,” he says and reaches into his pocket for a card. It’s Shane’s business card with details of a place and time scribbled on the back.
“You don’t have to come if you don’t want to. I won’t tell Drew anything. He doesn’t know you’re invited. But I know he’ll be very happy if you choose to come.”
I’m clutching the card like my life depends on it. I nod and Tristan turns to go.
There’s a part of me that wants him to stay. Tell me more about Drew, tell me the things I don’t know about him…
But it’s important for me to remember that Tristan and I are not friends. He seems like a nice guy, but I am in danger of forming attachments to Drew’s life that won’t be healthy.
Realistically, I should tear up the card and throw it in the bin. I’m not going to this party. I shouldn’t see him again.
But I slip the card into my pocket. Just in case.
Drew
My deployment party has been organized at the bar, which means that all the guys have shown up. A tab has been opened up at the bar, endless pool will be played tonight and nobody is going to curtail the number of drinks Jimmy has tonight. Effie even got some farewell-decorations that she’s put up around the bar in my honor.
The guys raise a toast to me and we are all drinking a little more than we should be.So when I see Lena walk in, I’m pretty sure I’m just seeing things.
It’s been two weeks since I last saw her.
