Total pages in book: 176
Estimated words: 164533 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 823(@200wpm)___ 658(@250wpm)___ 548(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 164533 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 823(@200wpm)___ 658(@250wpm)___ 548(@300wpm)
“Remember last week when you said I needed to get better at setting boundaries with people?” Rhys nodded, his lips curving as he glanced at me while reversing out of the parking spot. “Well, I just told Maeve I wasn’t comfortable talking to Nuala about Stephanie.”
The only sign he was pleased was a very slight lip twitch. “You did?”
“Yup. I’m guessing she’s not going to be very happy with me for a while, but it was worth it. At least, now, she’ll be less likely to make any similar requests moving forward.”
“You’re right,” Rhys said, a soft note in his voice that made my stomach do a funny twist. “I am proud of you.”
“Thank you.” I cast him another smile. “You’re a good influence.”
He chuckled at that, and we fell into companionable silence. A minute or two passed before Rhys said, “I actually paid Steph a visit this week.”
“Oh?”
He cleared his throat. “I felt like we needed to talk. Set things straight.”
“And did you? Set things straight, I mean?”
Rhys nodded. “We’re on the same page now. She knows that …” He fell off, clearing his throat before he continued, “That we won’t be getting back together.”
Oh, man. That sounded brutal, and I felt a little sad for Stephanie because it wasn’t an easy thing to hear.
“Did she have to get a new place?” I asked.
“What?”
“When you guys broke up, and she moved out, I mean.”
“Oh, no. Stephanie never lived with me. She always had her own apartment. I asked her to move in after we got engaged, but she wasn’t the biggest fan of my house.” He paused to chuckle softly. “I didn’t blame her because, at the time, I was still renovating, and the place was a mess, but even when all the work was finished, she was determined for me to sell so we could buy a new house together. She didn’t like my place because it’s old, and there’s no driveway. You have to park on the street, and Steph hates parallel parking.”
“I don’t blame her,” I said. “Parallel parking is nerve-wracking as hell.”
“Yeah, well, it’s probably for the best she never moved in. Makes the breakup less complicated. Finding a place to rent in Dublin is tough right now. We might’ve been living together for months while she found somewhere new.”
“Ah, right. That would’ve been awkward.” A stray thought entered my mind that I couldn’t imagine being engaged to a man like Rhys and not wanting to live with him, even if it did mean having to parallel park. I’d want to go to sleep with him every night and wake up next to him the following morning. Then again, I was probably overthinking it. Likely, they took turns staying over at each other’s places throughout the week.
“Very,” Rhys agreed, eyes flicking to me a moment. “So, other than Maeve being pushy, have you been finding it okay working at the hotel? Is everyone being nice to you?”
“Why?” I asked, smiling. “Will you wave your head of security badge around and glower at anyone who’s being mean to me?”
Rhys laughed. “Sadly, there’s no such badge though I’m prepared to have words with people if you need me to.”
Hmm, I wondered what that looked like. A shiver trickled across the back of my neck and travelled right down to my core. “Well, no need. Everyone’s been very nice so far.”
“Good. I’m glad.”
Troublingly, Friday evenings started to become the thing I looked forward to most in the week. My hour alone with Rhys in his car. It wasn’t good for me, becoming attached to him when I was still working through all the leftover trauma from my marriage.
“What’s that?” he asked the following Friday as I sat next to him in the passenger seat on the drive, looking at a figurine on my phone on an antiques website.
“A possible purchase. I collect these.”
Rhys looked amused. “You collect ornaments?”
“Yeah, I know, it’s an old lady hobby, but it sparks joy, so you can’t make me feel embarrassed about it.”
“I wasn’t trying to embarrass you. I’m just interested. Do you only collect ballerinas or—”
“No, I collect all sorts. They’re called Lladrós. It’s a Spanish brand of porcelain figurines that started in the 1950s. My grandmother on my dad’s side left me a whole collection of them after she passed, and I started adding to it over the years.” I fell silent, a hollow in my chest to know Jesse still had my collection secreted away somewhere. He’d never sell it, even though it was worth thousands of dollars. He didn’t need the money. The triumph for him was in knowing he had something I held dear.
“Charli?” Rhys said, a thread of concern in his voice.
“Sorry, I just … it’s a sore spot for me because Jesse still has my collection. I’d been in such a hurry to divorce him that I didn’t think to get my lawyer to stipulate that my collection be returned, and then when I asked for it back, he claimed he didn’t have it and that he thought I’d taken it with me.”