CHAPTER 2
The following morning I was awakened by the sound of Preston crying. I got up and went to her crib. She was standing up and held her arms up when she saw me.
“Hey there, sweetie pie. Where’s your mommy, huh? You want Aunt Gina to get you some breakfast?”
I changed her diaper then carried her out to the kitchen. I noticed that Trey had crashed on the couch. At least he had come back home. I wondered where Tristan had gone. My heart was heavy.
I got Preston settled into her high chair. I peeled a banana, slicing it into small pieces and tossing them into a bowl. She loved finger foods. I set the bowl in front of her; she immediately grabbed a slice of banana smashing it into her mouth. She was such a cutie. I got her sippy cup out and put some apple juice in it for her.
Tylar came into the kitchen looking like hell.
“Thanks for getting to her, Gina. I guess I fell into a deeper sleep than I expected.”
“No problem, Ty. I see the ‘Hot Nazi’ made it home,” I said, nodding towards the living room.
“Yeah, I saw him. Tristan?”
I shook my head ‘no.’
“Gina, he will be back-”
“Ty, don’t try to cheer me up. I should have told him. You were right; I was wrong. I can’t talk about this now. I have plans to make.”
“What kind of plans?”
“I have to find a place to live, for one thing.”
“Gina, please. Come stay with Trey and me at the house. We have plenty of room out there.”
“Thanks, but no thanks, Ty. I’ve imposed enough. Don’t worry. I’ve got some calls to make.”
I left the kitchen returning to my room. I wasn’t going to argue the matter with Tylar. I was determined not to be some pathetic leech. It was time that Trey and Tylar had their lives back to normal.
I showered, dressed and packed my clothes up. I phoned Jo Jo to see if I could crash at her apartment until I found a place of my own.
“You can stay as long as you like,” she told me.
Trey helped me load my suitcases into my car. There was an uncomfortable silence between us. I kissed Tylar and Preston; telling Tylar to call me once they were settled in the new house. She looked like she was getting ready to cry. That was Tylar; always emotional. She knew I would weep around for a day or two; then my survival instincts would kick in and I would be fine.
I spent the next two days hiding out at Jo Anna’s doing just that. I appreciated that Jo Jo didn’t fuss over me like Tylar would have; she let me cry; didn’t say a word when I spent an hour ranting and raving in my room at Tristan, as if he were there listening to everything I said to him.
On Day Three I was ready to get back on track with my life. It was Wednesday, my normal day to open the upstairs bar with Eddie at three o'clock. I showered, dressed in my bartender garb and headed to the club.
I breezed into the club, not daring to look around to see if Tristan was in sight. Eddie was hanging the clean glassware overhead when I lifted the bar counter to get behind there with him. I shoved my purse under the bar and tossed my coat on top of it.
“Well, you didn’t drop off the face of the earth as rumor had it,” Eddie said, turning his full attention to me. “Are you okay, Gina?”
“I’m fine Eddie. I’m ready to get back to work and keep busy.”
“Is Tristan okay with that?”
“What the hell, Eddie? I own half this club. I don’t need Tristan’s permission to work here.”
“It’s just that -”
“Just what?” I asked, flashing him an angry look.
“Uh . . . nothing,” he replied, looking extremely uncomfortable.
We worked in silence for the next few minutes, getting the bar stocked and ready. I was busy filling the cooler with ice and didn’t notice the girl who had come up to the bar, dressed in the same outfit as me. She had long, reddish-brown hair; she was tall, slender and had major cleavage to boot. I saw her name tag. It read ‘Sunny.’
“Did I misread my schedule?” she asked, looking between Eddie and me. She opened her purse, pulling out a copy of the bar schedule that was posted weekly.
“Today is Wednesday, right?”
Eddie was looking extremely uncomfortable by this time. He remained silent. I wiped my hands on a bar towel and went over to her, holding my right hand out.
“Hi Sunny; I’m Gina Hatton, co-owner of the bar. I don’t think we’ve met before.”
She smiled taking my hand and shaking it. She had a lovely dimple when she smiled.
“Oh, I am pleased to meet you, Gina. No today is my first day. Tristan hired me on Monday. I worked over at ‘Peaches’ and he was in there at the bar last weekend. He told me there was going to be an opening here. Well, I couldn’t turn down the great hours he gave me. Plus, the tips here will triple what I was getting at ‘Peaches.”
“I see,” I replied, immediately suspicious of Tristan’s motives. “May I see your schedule, please?”
She handed it over to me. Tristan had given her all of my scheduled shifts.
(What the fuck?)
I handed it back to her, flashing a smile.
“Is Tristan in the office, Sunny?”
“He was when I came in. He made my name tag for me and showed me where to clock in.”
“Excellent,” I replied, turning to Eddie. “I’ll be back in a few, Eddie. Go ahead and start with Sunny’s training.”
Eddie nodded.
I took several deep breaths before I entered the office, closing the door loudly behind me. Tristan looked up quickly from where he was sitting at the desk. His eyes flashed relief momentarily, then quickly masked to impassiveness as he stared at me, waiting for me to say something.
“What the hell, Tristan? You went behind my back and hired someone to replace me? How fucked up is that?”
(God he looked so fucking hot sitting there, staring back at me with those gorgeous green eyes . . .)
“Gina,” he stated calmly, “I don’t need permission to hire someone. There are no such restrictions in our partnership agreement that I can recall.”
I was staring an angry hole right through him. I closed in on him, standing in front of the desk. I lowered my hands down, bracing myself on it as I leaned in towards him.
“I want to know why you have hired someone to take my shifts. What is it that I am supposed to do?”
“You don’t have to do a thing, Gina. Stay home - wherever that happens to be at the moment. You will still share in half the profits. I just think it will be better this way.”
“Better? Better for whom, Tristan?”
“Better for both of us,” he replied, looking away from me. He stood up, raking a hand through his thick, dark hair. He turned away from me as if it was painful for him to face me.
“What? So you can’t stand the sight of me now?”
“I didn’t say that, Gina. I just think for now it is better for the business if we don’t become some soap opera to entertain the staff and patrons. I don’t want us to become some humiliating sideshow.”
“Oh, I get it. You feel like people think I’ve made you look like a fool? You allowed Ian to succeed in doing exactly what he set out to do haven’t you?”
“Gina - I don’t want to discuss this now. I’m not up to it.”
“When Tristan? When will you be ready to discuss it?”
“I’m not sure. I just know that it’s not now.”
“I see. So you’re not comfortable having me here; you’ve got this all played out in your head already, don’t you? Well let me tell you this, Tristan. I should have told you about Ian and I hooking up once I found out I was pregnant. The only reason that I didn’t was because first and foremost, I thought he was sterile. Secondly, I guess I didn’t want you to think badly of me for jumping back in the sack with my low-life cheater husband. I mean we both know I couldn’t have had much pride in doing that, right?”
“Stop it, Gina,” he snapped, turning back around to face me. “This is my problem to deal with, not yours. This has dredged up memories for me that have nothing to do with you. This has caused me once again to question my own judgment. Having you near is a constant reminder of that. If you insist on staying here, I will simply hire someone to take over for me as co-manager and return to Bristol to run the winery.”
I panicked now. I couldn’t let Tristan see how panicked the thought of him going away made me. I couldn’t bear it if he left Atlanta. That would mean that it was truly over and it couldn’t be. My mind was screaming, ‘Baby come back!’ Outwardly I remained composed.
“No Tristan, I get it. It’s not a problem. I think I could use some time away myself. Maybe I should pay a visit to my mother in Hoboken. It’s been awhile.”
“Okay then,” he said, quietly. “I will take care of things here. Please don’t worry.”
“I won’t Tristan. Goodbye.”
I wasn’t sure how I had managed to collect my things and find my way back to Jo Anna’s apartment, but I did. I refused to shed another tear over this. It wasn’t good for me; it wasn’t good for the baby. I just needed to know that Tristan would stay in Atlanta. I needed to know he wasn’t done with me.
I booked a flight to Newark leaving at 7:18 that evening; I phoned my mother and told her what time to pick me up at the airport. I left a note for Jo Anna. I phoned Tylar to let her know. She insisted on driving me to the airport. I looked down as the plane lifted from the runway and watched as Atlanta disappeared beneath the cloud cover. What I needed right now was not in Atlanta; I needed the comfort of my mother. I hadn’t needed that in a long time, not since my heartbreak over Ian. It was what I needed now, once again.