Apart from having the most gorgeous green eyes Maria had ever seen, Alex’s short, round minder was also smart and very funny, albeit in an understated way. And then, when they were nearly done eating, the star of the evening swooped down upon the table, hustled Lauren toward the ballroom exit, and took her... somewhere.
“That’ll be interesting to watch,” Nava murmured, and she wasn’t wrong.
Ramón’s phone buzzed atop the table. One glance at the screen was enough to make him sigh. Meeting Nava’s inquiring gaze, he gave her a tiny nod.
She groaned. “Again?”
“Sadly, yes.” Leaning back in his chair, the director laced his hands over his belly and told the assembled group, “So that was my ex-wife, for approximately the thousandth time in the last couple of weeks. As soon as she heard I was in a committed relationship with Nava, the barrage of texts and calls started. Which I don’t get, since we’ve been divorced almost a decade now, and the decision to split was mutual.”
“Wants what she can’t fucking have.” Carah shook her head.
“We’re just waiting her out.” Nava patted Ramón’s thigh consolingly. “Thank goddess I don’t have the same issue. Dottie’s been great. Very supportive of my relationship with Ramón, especially around Carlie.”
“I would have expected my ex to be the same way, but...” He lifted a shoulder. “Like I said, I don’t get it, but I’ve heard it’s a pretty common phenomenon.”
Poor Ramón. Maria couldn’t even imagine how frustrating that would be, for him and for Nava too. Given the circumstances of Maria’s own breakup with her only significant ex-lover, she was entirely certain she’d never know from firsthand experience.
Ramón, obviously ready to stop discussing his own woes, twisted in his chair to face Peter. “What about you? Any exes come out of the woodwork after you and Maria got together, asking you to give them another chance?”
Maria fought a wince and nudged Peter’s leg with her own.
Yes, Ramón wanted to change the subject, but that was clumsy of their former director. After all this time, he should know Peter didn’t share sensitive information in public. Or at all, generally.
To her surprise, though, Peter didn’t seem bothered by the question.
“My only significant ex is married to a thoracic surgeon now, so the good news is that she’s extremely unlikely to come calling the first time she sees me kissing Maria in a tabloid photo.” Turning his head, he met Maria’s eyes and . . . smiled. Not a forced or fake smile, but an expression of genuine joy. “No, I take it back. That’s not the good news. The good news—the best news—is thatif she’d stayed with me, I wouldn’t have Maria. So I’m glad she left me. Thrilled.”
A chorus ofawwwwws greeted his declaration, and for good reason. Coming from a man like Peter, that was a public declaration of love.
Smiling back at him, she squeezed his fingers and absently rubbed at her chest, which seemed to have... melted, somehow?
Nava turned to her. “What about you, Maria? Any persistent exes?”
Well, that took care of the melting. Immediately.
After six years together, she still hadn’t told Peter about Hugo. And maybe it was a tale better told privately, but he needed to hear it one way or another, sooner rather than later, and she wasn’t embarrassed or heartbroken anymore.
Hugo’s behavior didn’t indicate her worth. Or, rather, her lack thereof.
As Carah would say:What the fuck. Do it, bitch.
A big gulp of wine, a deep breath, and Maria prepared to offer the briefest explanation possible. Hugo hadn’t deserved her time then, and she wouldn’t waste an extra moment of it on him now.
“Like Peter, I only have one significant ex,” she said. “Hugo. He was a banker in Stockholm. We’d been a couple for two years and were talking about buying an apartment together when his company transferred him to their London office. Our relationship became long-distance.”
Later, of course, she’d found out the transfer hadn’t been forced on him without warning, as he’d implied. He’d asked for it. Asked to move away from her, to an entirely different country.
“A long-distance relationship is...” Nava’s face creased in sympathy. “It’s hard to make it work. I know that from very personal experience.”
Hmmm. Maria had always wondered whether endless months spent apart as Nava filmed on location had broken her relationship with Dottie. She’d also wondered, however, whether her own experiences were coloring her suspicions.
Both could be true. Likely, both were true.
“Frankly, I don’t see howanybodycould make one work,” Maria told her. “I certainly couldn’t, anyway.”
And Hugo never tried. He didn’t remain faithful for even a month. Which she knew for certain, based on a single piece of evidence.
In her defense, it was a very good piece.