Baby Come Back(5)

“Why are you so sure that the baby is Tristan’s?”

“I just am,” she said, shrugging. “I’ve never doubted it.”

We got my suitcase and headed out to the parking lot.

“So, do you want me to take you to Jo Anne’s or to Tristan’s?”

“Tylar, what makes you think Tristan is going to welcome me back? What makes you think I even want that at the moment?”

She rolled her eyes, clicking the remote to unlock the hatch on her SUV.

“Fine,” she said, “Where to?”

“Jo Anna’s.”





Jo Anna updated me on how things were going at the club since I had been gone. She made it a point to tell me that Tristan had been spending twelve to fourteen hours a day there.

“It’s as if he has no place to go home to or no one,” she remarked. “Not that Sunny minds him being there so much. She is offering to take anyone’s shift for them just so she can hang out with Tristan.”

“Hmm, perhaps she has some sort of ‘daddy’ issues,” I replied impassively. Inside my blood was boiling. I pictured Sunny’s face at the receiving end of my f*cking fist.

“Daddy issues? Come on, Gina. Sunny is like two years older than you are, so what are you saying? Do you have ‘daddy’ issues?”

“Why are you telling me this, Jo Anna? What can I possibly do about it?”

“The Gina I know would claim what was hers,” she remarked with a shrug.

“Yeah, well I’m not about to go down there and claim someone who has made it perfectly clear that he is no longer mine. How hard up do you think I am?”

“Just sayin,” she replied with a smile.

“Payroll is out tomorrow though, isn’t it? Perhaps I will stop by to pick up my check. I’ll see if Tylar wants to go shopping in town.”

Tylar picked me up the following afternoon. Trey was working at home with a new junior partner that had started at the firm. Her name was Amber Stratton. It was obvious that Tylar didn’t care for her one bit.

I was half-listening to her rant and rave about the bitch. Something about her having big, brown eyes, shiny brown hair, pouty lips, and graduating at the top of her class from Stanford Law School. She was convinced Amber wanted Trey; yada, yada, yada.

I was focusing on what Jo Anna had told me about Sunny. Had she only done that to see my reaction? If that was the case, I was pleased that I hadn’t given her one. I was doing very well these days in keeping my emotions under check. That included my Italian temper. I was especially pleased with myself about that. I truly hoped that tempers couldn’t be genetically passed down.

Then I thought about Jo Anna. She was a friend to me. She wasn’t my BFF like Tylar, but still, I couldn’t picture Jo Anna telling me the stuff about Sunny for the purpose of upsetting me. She didn’t roll that way. She was trying to warn me. In her own way, she was letting me know that if I did still love Tristan, I needed to take action of some kind. It was clear to me now; Sunny wanted Tristan.

“So what is your take, Gina?”

“The bitch wants him,” I snapped.

“I knew it!”

(What? I hadn’t even told Tylar about Sunny!)

“Who are you talking about, Tylar?”

“The same person I’ve been talking about for the last ten minutes, Gina; Amber Stratton, the new partner that Trey is mentoring at the firm. Who did you think I was talking about?”

“Sunny,” I said, my cheeks now warming in anticipation of seeing her at the club. The bitch better not be sniffing around Tristan. I still had the authority to fire her and any other bitch that looked at him that way. In fact, I may just use my authority to incorporate some new hiring guidelines. The first guideline would be that any new hires had to be approved by both owners. That should solve a few problems.

“Who the hell is Sunny?”

“Really, Tylar? Do you always come late to the party?”



When we arrived at the club, Tylar parked and turned her car off.

“I’m just going to be a minute, Tylar. I’m just picking up my check.”

“I know. I just want to say ‘hello’ to Tristan. We don’t see him as much as we used to and I wanted to invite him out this weekend for dinner on Sunday. That’s about the only day he doesn’t spend hours on end at the club.”

“Yeah, so I heard,” I replied with a shrug. “Suit yourself.”

I had taken pains with my hair and make-up this morning. My hair was growing out and I liked the way it framed my face in a softer, more feminine look. I had visited a colorist when I was in Jersey. I had her tone the blond highlights down and put some low-lights in as well. It brought out my brown eyes which my mother had always claimed was my best feature.

I was still fitting into my skinny jeans, though they were a bit harder to button these days. My bulky sweater managed to cover the tiny bump nicely. My boobs were bigger than before. I secretly hoped that Tristan noticed. He was definitely a breast guy.

I popped a piece of bubble gum into my mouth. It was my crutch for when I was nervous. I didn’t want my mouth turning to sand if by chance Tristan and I managed a conversation. There was nothing worse than getting dry mouth when you had something important to say. My stomach was doing flip-flops.