Oceans Apart Book 1 (Oceans Apart #1)(17)

Ginny :P: I will. I promise. Have a good workout!





After Tristan had said his goodbyes, I scrolled through my phone to find Kari’s number so I could find out what she wanted to do, but luckily, my best friend was making her way out of the club already, coming to stand beside me on the sidewalk in front of the club.

“You okay?” she asked, resting a hand on my shoulder.

“Yeah, I think so. I just…really wasn’t expecting to see him. I mean, I know we live in the same city, but still…does this qualify as stalking?”

Kari shrugged. “I don’t know the technical definition of stalking. We could look it up at work. I don’t think we could have him arrested for being at the same club as us.”

“Right,” I sighed. “And it’s not like we have any proof he was following us. He could have been lying about that. I mean, we do come to this club a lot.”

“Yeah, well, I told him you’re better off without him. He didn’t look too happy about it, but he went to go dance with some other girl, so maybe he got the hint. If not…I guess we’ll deal with him when it happens.”

“I don’t know what else we can do. Tristan thinks we should go to the police. Or I should, anyway.”

Kari made a face. “Of course you’ve already talked to him. Isn’t it like some ungodly time in the morning over there?”

“Not really. It’s like seven tomorrow.”

“Oh, that’s not too bad,” she replied.

“Can we just go?” I asked. I was tired, and I didn’t feel so confident anymore. I found myself looking around as people walked past us, wondering if Brad was lurking in the shadows ready to pounce.

“Yeah, probably a good idea,” Kari agreed. “Let’s get out of here.”





Chapter 10 — Tristan





Sunday night dinners at the Armstrong house were always an affair. Ever since I’d moved out five years ago, my mother insisted on having me over for dinner every Sunday night.

“It keeps us close, Tristan,” she always said with her crisp, refined diction. And there was no way I could turn my mother down, so I didn’t even try. Instead, I agreed to keep every Sunday from six to ten p.m. free so I could have dinner and drinks with my parents.

It wasn’t as bad as I thought it could be; Mum made me and my father promise not to talk about work while we were there, so at least it wasn’t like being in the office all over again. The food was always good, as was the wine and brandy we drank afterwards, and I usually left feeling good about my family and relaxed before the next day’s work.

Until tonight. I was caught off guard in the middle of the soup course. We’d been idly chatting about the extended family, the news, nothing in particular when my mother suddenly declared “Tristan darling, you know you’re getting to be of a marriageable age and I worry about your happiness.”

I coughed on the leek and potato soup, trying not to swallow the wrong way and ended up choking, but damn, what was this, some kind of period drama? “This isn’t ‘Pride and Prejudice’, Mum. I am not in want of a wife.” I mumbled under my breath: “…unless we’re moving to the States or something.”


She laughed and wiped her mouth on her napkin. “To the States, dear? What do you know about the States? And darling, you’re my only child, you’re almost thirty. Time is wasting away and I want to be a grandmother some day.”

“Mum, I’m twenty-six. I have plenty of time.”

“And your father and I had been married for three years by the time he was twenty-six. Isn’t that right, Martin?”

My father looked up and groaned. “Please don’t drag me into this, darling. You know he’s going to argue with whatever you say about this. He should have stayed with the Belington girl; she comes from a good family, has good bloodlines. In fact, she’s practically royalty. However, our son only thinks of himself. Selfish child that he is.”

I had to take several fortifying gulps of wine before I could even try to deal with the conversation. “I am still right here, you know,” I said dryly. “And she left me. I was not the selfish one in that relationship.”

My mother coughed, covering her mouth with one hand. “Don’t look so offended, dear. We just think you’d be happier if you had someone to settle down with. You’re on the board of Directors with us at the company, your position is safe, and you have a comfortable place to live. Don’t you want someone to share it with? Someone you love? All we want is for you to be happy, you know.”

I sighed. “I’m okay, Mum, I promise. I like my life. If there’s someone who comes along and makes me want to settle down, then I will, but I’m not going to go out looking for someone. That’s just asking for trouble.”

My parents traded looks; I knew they wanted me to be with Vanessa. She was the last person I’d been serious about, and they knew her family. Her dad was one of the few investors in Armstrong, so when we broke up, my father was outraged and hasn’t let up since. I knew they’d talked to her about marrying into the family, but fidelity is more important than social status or money. Try explaining that to my father.

Luckily enough, the chef brought out the main course, a braised roast with potatoes and asparagus. It was one of my father’s favorite meals, so at least his attention was on dinner for a while, even if I could feel my mother’s eyes on me for the rest of the meal.