“Yes, really. Come here.” He drew her to her feet and into a warm hug. “And thank you for refusing to gossip about them.”
“It was the truth,” she said with a scrape in her throat. “I barely know them. Their marriage doesn’t affect me, so I have nothing to say.”
“Except?” he prompted, as if he heard the word silently tacked to the end.
“Unless...” she corrected into his tie, then lifted her gaze to his, making herself put this into words. “Unless their marriage makes you regret ours?”
“No,” he said firmly, frowning with confusion. “Why would it? My only regret about our relationship is that it caused me to hurt Eden. I feel like I led her on.” His mouth curled with self-disgust. “That wasn’t fair. If she has since found consolation with Remy...” He shrugged. “More power to them.”
She studied his expression, searching for shadows, but he looked and sounded as though he was being completely frank. She offered a crooked smile.
“Thank you. I was feeling really sick about that.” She nodded toward the party. “I felt like I’d been rude to a customer and was about to be fired.”
He snorted. “First of all, if one of us tries to fire the other, a lot of lawyers will get involved, so let’s save it for a truly heinous offense, like leaving the cap off the toothpaste. Also, that woman isn’t your customer. She is definitely not always right.”
“True, but...” She slid a finger along his tie. “I feel like I have to impress people and I’m not... impressive.”
“I was thinking the complete opposite.” He rubbed her back. “You’re better at putting people at ease than I am. They enjoy chatting with you.”
“Oh, please,” she scoffed.
“Hey.Iwanted to spend more time with you. That’s the reason you wound up in my room last year. If I’d found you boring or unpleasant, I wouldn’t have invited you to join me there, killer legs notwithstanding. Be yourself, Amelia. Be polite until someone breaks that social contract, then do what you did and stop giving them your time.”
She was so touched, she hugged him and the words almost came out of her.I love you.
For an extra second, she held on to him, eyes closed as she absorbed the rainbow of refracted emotions that shot into every corner of her being. Sparkling gold and passionate pink, earnest orange, possessive green and a true blue edged with dark indigo shadows of knowledge that he didn’t love her back.
He kissed her temple.
“And listen. I don’t care if people think I sneaked away with my wife to neck in a stairwell, but if that’s what you want to do, we should go home and do it properly.”
“We’ll stay for another twenty minutes. Let’s not be obvious.”
“Deal.”
Over the next weeks, things settled into a comfortable routine.
Hunter went into his downtown office a few times a week, but worked from home on the other days. He took her to Calgary for a two-night trip, mostly so she could visit with Vienna while he was at work. Auntie Vi suitably spoiled her niece with dozens of outfits and toys, admitting while Amelia opened them that she and Neal had been trying to conceive for two years.
“I’m so sorry.” Amelia let the panda-patterned romper drop into her lap. “It must have hurt so much when I came along with my unplanned, first-try surprise.”
“Not at all. I’m happy for my brother. And I’m only twenty-five,” Vienna dismissed with an overly cheerful smile. “We have time to explore options if it doesn’t work out naturally.”
“I’m sure it will.” Amelia left it at that, but it was a good reminder that even someone like Vienna, who seemed to have everything she could ever want, still struggled with things that felt basic to existence.
Amelia mentioned it to Hunter when they were back in Vancouver a few nights later, enjoying a rare evening at home. “Did you know Vienna and Neal are trying for a baby?”
“I did.” He hesitated, as though not wanting to say too much. “She’s wanted to start their family for some time.”
Does Neal?She closed her mouth against saying it, but while Vienna had taken every opportunity to cuddle Peyton, Neal had barely looked at his niece. Not everyone liked other people’s children, Amelia understood that, but for a married man starting a family, he talked an awful lot like a bachelor on his way to a sporting match with his toxic friends.
“How long have they been married?” she asked curiously.
“Four years.” He mentally calculated. “Coming up to five.”
“Gosh, she married young.”
“Unlike us,” he mocked drily, then sobered. “I tried to keep her from rushing into it, but Vi had her reasons.”