The Beauty of Us Read online

  “You don’t think he’s got something going on with her?”

  “No.” I shake my head impatiently. “I believe him. I think this is her trying to make waves again, and I just don’t understand why she won’t go away. Trevor spoke to her and told her to hit the road.”

  “Sounds like she’s psycho,” Kat replies. “And I’m a psychiatrist, so I can say this with some authority. Be careful. People like her are dangerous.”

  “She doesn’t live anywhere near here,” I reply. “Maybe it’s time for me to take a break from social media for a while.”

  “Is that even possible for you? With all of the social media stuff you have to do for Seduction?”

  “No.” I rub my forehead with my fingertips. “You’re right, it’s not possible. But I can delete the apps from my phone and just post stuff on the computer when I’m here.”

  “That could work,” Kat says with a nod, and turns to walk away. She spins back around, sticking a finger in the air. “Oh! Forgot to tell you. There’s someone named Stephanie here to see you.”

  I frown and glance at my schedule. “I don’t have any appointments today.”

  “She didn’t say what she wanted, just asked for you.”

  “Okay. Thanks. I’ll be out in a minute.”

  Kat nods and shuts the door behind her, leaving me in the office by myself. I wish Trevor would call me back now. I wish he would truly talk to me and tell me what’s going on with him. I wish his stupid phone would work right.

  I trust him.

  But I miss him.

  And it hurts more than I ever thought it would.

  It doesn’t look like he can call, so I walk out of the office and to the hostess area. There’s a beautiful brunette sitting on the bench, her hair and makeup perfectly seen to. She’s in a red sweater and black slacks with red heels.

  “Stephanie?” I ask as I approach.

  “Yes,” she says, and smiles. Her teeth are almost blindingly white against her red lips. “You must be Riley.”

  “I am. I’m sorry, did we have an appointment?”

  “Oh no.” She blushes and smiles with apology. “I’m sorry I didn’t call ahead, I just thought I’d take my chances that you’d have time to see me today.”

  “I wish you had called. I’m afraid we’re not hiring right now.”

  “Oh, I’m not here for a job.” She shakes her head and hooks her expensive designer bag over her shoulder. “This is a personal matter.”

  “I see.”

  I don’t fucking see at all.

  “Come into my office.” I motion for her to follow me, and when I get there, I hold the door open for her. “Go ahead and have a seat over there. I’ll join you in a moment.”

  “Thank you.”

  I rush into the bar and find Kat behind it.

  “I’m meeting with this woman in the office. I don’t know her, and she says this is personal, not regarding the business.”

  “I’m coming along.”

  “Wait.” I hold my hand up. “I don’t think I have a reason to be afraid, but I wanted someone else to know I’m in there with her.”

  “I think I should go in with you.”

  I chew the inside of my cheek for a moment, and then nod. “I guess it doesn’t hurt to be careful.”

  We both walk into the office, clearly surprising Stephanie.

  “I’m sorry,” she says, clearly not sorry at all. “I was hoping to speak with you privately.”

  “Kat is my business partner and my best friend. Anything you have to talk about can be said with her here.”

  She sighs, and then nods. “If that’s the way you want it.”

  I don’t reply as I sit in my chair opposite her and cross my hands over my desk. Kat sits at her own desk, facing us.

  “My name is Stephanie Cooper.”

  I blink at her for several seconds. She doesn’t elaborate, as if I should recognize her name, but I don’t.

  “Okay.”

  She licks her lips and frowns. “You don’t recognize my name?”

  “No, I don’t.”

  “Riley—” Kat begins, but Stephanie speaks over her.

  “I’m Trevor’s wife.”

  And just like that, a cold sweat spreads over my whole body and my heart pounds against the wall of my chest.

  “I can see that I’ve surprised you.”

  “I’m not sure what you’re doing here,” I reply, proud of myself for sounding so calm.

  “Well, I wanted to come meet you in person. You see, Trevor and I divorced a few years ago.”

  “I’m aware.”

  “So he did talk about me, then,” she says with a happy smile.

  “He mentioned an ex-wife, but he didn’t ever say your name.”

  Her smile falters now, and that gives me a sick sense of satisfaction.

  “Yes, well, we parted on decent terms.”

  “Despite you deciding to have an affair,” I add. Kat gasps, but neither of us looks over at her. “What do you want, Stephanie?”

  “I don’t honestly know,” she says. “I thought I wanted to come here to tell you to stop seeing him.”

  “I’m not seeing him,” I reply. “He’s in L.A. and I’m in Portland.”

  “Oh, so you’re not together.”

  “We’re together. What I’m saying is, it’s gone past just seeing each other. We’re in a relationship, and we’re in love with each other.”

  “Oh, honey.”

  “Don’t fucking ‘oh, honey’ me.” I stand and walk to the door, holding it open for her. “If you’re warning me off, you came all this way for nothing. I haven’t done anything wrong. You’re not married to him anymore.”

  “You’re right,” she says. “I’m not. I’m actually married to another man, who’s also a very good person.”

  “So, do you just get off on fucking around with people? Why do you care who Trevor is with? You moved on.”

  “It was a mistake.” Her eyes fill with tears, and I give zero fucks. “I made a horrible mistake.”

  “Yes, you did.” I stare down at her, not feeling even one ounce of sympathy. “Women like you just think that the grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. What you don’t realize is, if you just took care of your own fucking grass, it would be just as green.”

  “I’m not much of a gardener,” she says with a frown, and I can’t help but bust out laughing.

  “Like I said, you’ve wasted your time. Now get your ass out of my restaurant, and don’t contact me again.”

  “I was hoping that I’d be able to talk to you, woman to woman, to make you understand how much I love him. I guess that isn’t going to work.”

  “Um, no, it’s not. That’s what I meant when I told you to get the hell out of my place.”

  “Fine.” She walks through the door and turns back to me, every ounce the drama queen. “He’s going to realize one day that it was a mistake for us to break up, and then he’s going to come back to me.”

  “Whatever.” I roll my eyes and slam the door shut, effectively halting anything else she might have said.

  “So, the ex-wife is a bit of a drama queen,” Kat says as I walk back to my desk and sink down in my chair. “Rough day.”

  “And it’s only ten,” I say, and reach over to call the kitchen.

  “This is Mia.”

  “Hey, it’s Riley. Would you please have someone bring me a bag of ice? I have a killer headache.”

  “Coming right up.” She hangs up and I cover my eyes with my hand.

  “What are you going to do?” Kat asks.

  “Well, I’ve already called him about one crazy girl pining away for him this morning, and he hasn’t returned that call, so it’s a waste of time to try to call again.”

  Mia walks through the door and passes me a bag of ice.

  “You didn’t have to bring it yourself.”

  “I needed a break. My sous chef is gonna drive me to drink.”

  “Please do
n’t fire another sous chef,” I say desperately. “I think this might be the last available one in the Portland metro area.”

  “I won’t fire him,” she says, and tucks a stray hair behind her ear. “But I needed out of there for a second. You okay?”

  “Aside from dealing with more than one jealous woman where Trevor is concerned, and not having actually talked to said man in the past four days?” I nod sarcastically. “Yeah, I’m peachy.”

  “Men suck,” Mia mutters. “And I get to go back to the kitchen now and deal with one. Let me know if you need anything.”

  She walks to the door and stops, looking back at me. “Riley?”

  “Yeah?”

  “You don’t deserve that. Any of it. Don’t let him get away with it.”

  “I won’t.”

  She nods and leaves and I rest the ice on my head.

  “Oh, that feels good.”

  “She’s right,” Kat says.

  “I know.” I’m glad the ice bag is covering my face because tears fill my eyes. “I love him, Kat. I really do. And despite these crazy bitches who can’t seem to get over him, I trust him. But this long-distance garbage is hard. I know I’m strong, but I don’t know if I’m this strong.”

  “Talk to him tonight,” she says. “And I mean really talk. Voice your concerns and see what he says. He might just make you feel better.”

  “Yeah.” I sigh and let the tears fall. “I’ll talk to him. If he’ll answer my damn calls. He better fucking get a new phone, Kat.”

  “For sure,” she says. “He’s pissing me off over that one.”

  It’s after eight in the evening when I walk through my door. Work has been brutal and I’m exhausted. I might need to talk to the other girls about hiring me an assistant. There’s so much on my plate now that I could use the extra help.

  Rather than take the time to change my clothes and settle in, I call Trevor right away, immediately using FaceTime.

  And he doesn’t answer.

  “Fucking hell,” I mutter, and hit send again. This time he answers after about four rings.

  “Hey, babe,” he says, and smiles at the phone, and just like that the lead weight in my stomach lifts.

  “Hi. I really need to talk to you.”

  “I know.” He looks away from me—toward the TV, I’m assuming, because I can see the lights bounce off his skin. “But tonight isn’t great. It’s Wednesday, so gaming night.”

  “Trevor, I really need you tonight. I haven’t talked to you in days.”

  “I’m sorry.” He pulls the earpiece out of his ear and looks at me. “I know things have been crazy, and that you’re taking the brunt of it. I really am sorry. Tonight is kind of a big deal with the guys, and they are counting on me to play with them, but I have nothing happening tomorrow evening. We can FaceTime all night if you want.”

  I want to say no. I want to yell and cry and throw a fit. I hate feeling like his game is more important than me. That his job is more important. That his damn broken phone is more important.

  And I have important things to discuss with him, but he’s not even paying attention to me anymore. He’s already hung that earbud in his ear and is back to playing with the boys.

  “Trevor.”

  “Yeah.”

  He doesn’t look my way.

  “Why don’t you give me a call after you’ve grown the fuck up.”

  I hang up and turn off my phone, then toss it in my handbag and walk away.

  Fuck this.

  I don’t need it. I don’t deserve it.

  And I won’t stand for it.

  Turns out I’m not made for the long-distance thing after all.

  And fuck me, it feels like my heart is being ripped from my chest.

  Chapter Eighteen

  ~Trevor~

  I’ve spent the morning trying to call Riley and she hasn’t picked up the phone, nor will she return my text messages. I’m fucking pissed off.

  The last thing she said to me last night was basically grow the fuck up, which I heard all too often from Stephanie, and it never failed to piss me off then either.

  My reaction to Riley saying it had the same effect.

  She knows that I play on Wednesday nights. That was never a fucking secret, and she said it was fine before. But now that I’m in L.A. it’s not okay?

  I didn’t sleep much last night as I chewed it over in my head, and now this morning she won’t pick up, so I’m not in the best mood.

  Not to mention, Scott and his wife, Wendy, are due here at my place any moment because Scott’s going to be my Realtor, and if I’m going to move to Portland, I need to sell my place.

  I hit send on my phone, and Riley finally picks up.

  “Hello.”

  “I’ve been trying to call you all morning.”

  “I know.” Her voice doesn’t exactly sound inviting. “I’ve been at work, Trevor. I can’t just always pick up when you call.”

  “I texted too and you didn’t respond. All you had to say was that you’re busy. I’m frustrated.”

  She barks out a laugh and I scowl at the phone.

  “Oh, you’re frustrated? Well, I don’t know what to tell you. Maybe it’s good that you have a taste of your own medicine. Now, I have to go back to work.”

  She hangs up and I’m left staring at the phone. What the fuck just happened? Before I can call her back and ask her what the hell flew up her ass, Scott and Wendy show up. I slide my phone in my pocket and answer the door.

  “I haven’t seen you since you’ve been home,” Wendy says, and gives me a hug. “Scott’s been telling me all about your love life, so there’s no need to fill me in.”

  “Oh, good,” I reply with a smile. Wendy and Scott have been married for the better part of twenty years, and I consider them both good friends.

  “So, we’re going to sell your house,” Scott says, and opens his iPad. “Are you sure about this?”

  “I’m sure.” I nod and look around my place. “I shared this with Stephanie, and it’s time to sell it. I had to buy her out with the divorce, so I’ve lost some of the equity, but I’m hoping to come out ahead.”

  “You should,” Scott says. He’s a successful Realtor in L.A., usually selling multimillion-dollar homes in West Beverly Hills. “The market is great right now, and your place is in a good location. Take me for a quick tour to refresh my memory, and I’ll call in someone to take photos for the website tomorrow.”

  I lead him through, room by room, while Wendy stays in the living room, working on her phone.

  “By the way,” Scott says as I lead him into the master, “I tried to call you several times this morning to let you know I was running a little late, and was sent to voice mail every time.”

  “Well, I was on the phone with Riley.”

  “For the past three hours?”

  I frown. “No. I dropped my damn phone in the water a couple of weeks ago. The rice trick worked, but it’s not dependable.”

  “You might want to go get a new one.”

  “Yeah, well, I’ve been kind of tied up with trying to get back to my girl, who is currently pissed at me for said phone, so yeah. Thanks for bringing it up.”

  “I do what I can,” he says, and follows me through the rest of the house.

  “So things with Riley aren’t great?” Scott asks as we return to the living room. Wendy looks up from her phone, listening.

  “I haven’t been able to talk to her as much as either of us would like, and honestly, she’s pissed at me.”

  I relay the last few days of conversations, getting frustrated all over again. “I’ve been busy at work, trying to get things tied up so I can go to Portland. She’s acting like I’m blatantly ignoring her.”

  “Have you told her that you’re trying to get to Portland?” Scott asks.

  “No. I want to surprise her.”

  “Not a good idea,” he says, shaking his head. “Trust me on this one. Just tell her what’s going on.”

 
“She knows my phone is screwed, and she knows I’ve been busy at work.”

  “That may not be the only problem,” Wendy says with a wince. “Have you looked at Facebook lately?”

  “No.” I scowl as Wendy stands and walks to me, holding out her phone.

  “Angie tagged you in this photo.”

  I read the caption, and stare at the photo we took together the one time we met in person, close to ten years ago.

  “What the fuck,” Scott mutters. “I thought you took care of her.”

  “I thought so too,” I reply with a sigh. “What’s her deal?”

  “Well, she’s clearly crazy,” Wendy says, rolling her eyes. “And she has a huge crush on you.”

  “I don’t get it. I barely know her. I mean, I’ve known her for a long time, but only online. She’s nothing at all to me.”

  “Sometimes you can’t explain crazy,” Wendy says with a shrug. “Just block her from everything and cut her off at the pass.” She continues to scroll through her phone and then gasps. “Holy fuck.”

  “What’s wrong?” Scott and I ask in unison.

  “So, this might also have added to Riley’s attitude.” Wendy bites her lip and looks uncomfortable.

  “Show me.”

  She closes her eyes and turns the phone to us, and my blood begins to fucking boil.

  “Steph checked into Seduction.” Scott looks from me to Wendy and back again. “That’s the name of Riley’s place, right.”

  “Right.” I pinch my nose and pace away, then back again. “Stephanie was there yesterday. Fucking hell.”

  “I’m sorry,” Wendy says, tears springing to her eyes.

  “Why are you sorry?” I ask.

  “Well, I still talk to Stephanie. I mean, you don’t go from being friends for almost twenty years to nothing. And I truly thought she’d be happy for you. She’s moved on and seems happy, so I assumed she’d be happy for you too.”

  “You told her I was seeing Riley.”

  “I did. I’m sorry, I know it’s not my place, I really didn’t mean any harm.”

  “I know,” I reply with a sigh. “So, Riley knew all of this last night when she called, and I blew her off.”

  “Oh. Ouch,” Wendy says with a wince. “And if your phone has been shitty—”

  “Who knows what I’ve missed,” I finish for her, and curse myself an asshole. “What the fuck am I going to do?”