Baby Come Back(16)
“I missed you too, sweet baby.”
CHAPTER 9
It had been another couple of weeks and I hadn’t talked to Tylar. That was a record for us. I probably should have called to apologize to her; I had been pretty snippy. It would have been nice if she had picked up the phone first, though.
Tristan and I had the nursery in order. The only thing we still needed was a wooden cradle. That was Tristan’s idea. I frankly thought that a bassinet served the same purpose and they were easy to find. Tristan was adamant that we find just the right wooden rocking cradle for our room. We had been to several places, but nothing suited him. He was being extremely particular about this.
I was meeting Tristan at the club this evening. He wanted us to have dinner there together. As promised, he had hired a night manager and his hours had been reduced. We had more time together which was great. Ian had not bothered us any further. Everything was going well, which always put me on edge.
I showered and dressed for my dinner date with Tristan. My baby bump was very obvious now and I wore it proudly. Tristan and I enjoyed feeling the baby kick and would lie for hours in bed watching and feeling.
The doorman buzzed up that my cab was waiting out front. Tristan didn’t want me driving in Atlanta traffic at night. He was being overly protective, which I was starting to get used to.
Tristan saw me immediately when I entered the club. It was fairly crowded but it was Friday evening so there were a lot of professional people still enjoying happy hour; others were arriving for dinner.
“Hey sweet baby,” he said, lowering his face to kiss me. “You look very beautiful this evening.”
“You don’t look so bad yourself, babe,” I said, kissing him back.
“Hey,” he continued, “I heard that Trey and some of his partners are here. Let’s go say hello before we go to the dining room. I was told they’re sitting at a table on the other side of the bar.”
“Sure, let’s go say our hellos.”
(Show time!)
Tristan escorted me over to the table, his arm around me. I saw immediately that Amber was sitting next to Trey. There were two other male lawyers at the table both looking as if they were in their late forties or early fifties. All eyes were on Amber as she was going on about something. Trey spotted us and raised his eyes off of Amber to look up as we approached.
I watched as Amber turned her attention to follow Trey’s gaze. Her eyes skipped over me and went straight to Tristan where they stopped and didn’t move.
“Don’t get up,” Tristan said. “We just wanted to say hello. Jo Anna mentioned you were here.”
Trey introduced Tristan and I to the other two partners, saving Amber for last.
“Of course Gina has already met Amber at our place; but I’m not sure if you’ve met my brother, Tristan.”
“He looks vaguely familiar,” she cooed, eyeing him boldly. “Perhaps it’s from being in here.”
Tristan shook her hand; his expression offered no indication that he had met her before. She continued gazing at him as he told them to enjoy their evening and said something to Trey about coming over Sunday to watch the Braves on television. He then pulled me along with him as we made our way to the dining room.
As my luck would have it, Sunny was our waitress. She maintained her professional stance in front of me. There had been no further incidents of her being insubordinate to me; Jo Anna assured me that if she witnessed any flirtatious behavior towards Tristan I would be the first to know.
After she left with our orders I asked Tristan if he wanted to switch entrees.
“Why? If you’ve changed your mind I’ll call Sunny back and change your order.”
“That wouldn’t do any good. I’m sure the bitch is going to spit in whatever it is that I order.”
Tristan chuckled, taking my hand in his. “You really do have a beautiful glow about you, Gina.”
“Tristan, puleeze,” I said.
“What? Why is it you are so uncomfortable with me telling you things like that, Gina?”
“I don’t know,” I said, shrugging, “I guess I’ve never believed that I’m pretty, much less beautiful.”
“That’s probably because Ian never told you that. He never appreciated what he had.”
“No,” I replied, “In all honesty, Ian did tell me that. I just never believed him, either.”
Tristan regarded me quizzically. He probably thought I was fishing for more compliments. The truth was, compliments made me uneasy. I didn’t feel compliment worthy.
“I guess I don’t understand. Did you have some sort of a weight problem, buck teeth, or Stage 4 acne growing up?”
I had to giggle at Tristan. He could be so damn funny at times.
“No,” I said, “I don’t know. I guess I just never ran with the popular chicks, or the sorority sisters, or the cheerleaders. I was just kind of a loner growing up. I actually wasn’t in to make-up or clothes back then.”
“That is difficult to fathom,” he said with a chuckle. “So, what was it like growing up in New Jersey? You haven’t told me a whole lot about it, or your family for that matter. I want to know everything about young Gina, teenage Gina.”
I wasn’t comfortable going there. Not with Tristan. Not with anyone. My past wasn’t all that pretty. I preferred for it to stay just where it was. I didn’t allow visitation.