Oceans Apart Book 1 (Oceans Apart #1)(18)

I usually stayed for a while after dinner, but not this time. I cut short our after-dinner drinks, claiming I wanted to get home and get some sleep before work; but really, I was already counting down the minutes until I could get home and talk to Ginny. I’d downloaded an app that would tell me what time it was in LA, and I knew she was working from home that day, even if it was Sunday. With any luck, she’d have some time for me because I wanted to get this shit off my chest and lately she was the only one I trusted to talk to anymore. Even Mike had become difficult discussing these things. My dad did sign his paycheck, after all, so that was to be expected.

Ginny had an uncanny way of calming me down that no one had been able to do before. I don’t know what it was about her, but just talking to her made my day worth it. And I should have seen the warning signs, because I’d been getting the urge to talk to her more and more lately.

Luckily, for me, she was online when I got home, so I settled on the couch with a glass of whiskey and my laptop.





Tristan: Hey there. You busy?

Ginny :P: Not really. I’m supposed to be looking up dates for a case, but the attorney hasn’t emailed me all the info yet, so I’ve got time.

Ginny :P: What’s up?

Tristan: Just came back from dinner with my parents.

Ginny :P: How was that?

Tristan: …

Ginny :P: That good, huh?

Tristan: Pretty much. My mum started in on the whole “why aren’t you married yet” thing.

Ginny :P: Ouch. My parents are happy for me to focus on my career right now, so I’ve been dodging that bullet so far. Was it terrible? Did they have a line-up of mail order brides for you to choose from?

Tristan: You’re funny.





But I was already laughing. It was strange how just talking to her for five minutes made me feel better than I had since my mother had first opened her mouth and let the word “marriage” slip out.





Tristan: Not as bad as all that. Just pulled the “you’re almost 30” card.

Ginny :P: Ah, yes. There is a law, you know. That you have to be married or engaged before you turn 30 or the Feds will come get you. Or whatever you have in England. The English equivalent of the Feds.

Tristan: Apparently my mother thinks so. God. I don’t even want to think about getting married right now. Imagine word getting out that Tristan Armstrong is looking for a wife. It would be a feeding frenzy.


Ginny :P: True. Probably would end up with a lot of drama. Did you tell your parents you’re not interested in getting married?

Tristan: Yeah. Tried to. They think I’m unhappy. My mum does, anyway.

Ginny :P: Getting married doesn’t always fix unhappiness. Sometimes it just makes things worse.

Tristan: True. But they aren’t totally wrong. I have wanted companionship lately, I guess.





There was a pause before the little pencil started moving, and I wondered if I’d said too much. The two of us had been getting closer in the nearly three months that we’d been talking to each other, and honestly, if Ginny were living in England or even anywhere close, I would have made a move long before now.

When I saw her pictures on Facebook, I always spent so much time looking at her smile and the way it lit up her grey eyes. My own eyes usually ended up following the curves of her body and wishing I could be there with her to make her smile. I also wanted to tell her ex-boyfriend to f*ck off. Ginny mentioned she had been seeing him around more after the encounter at the club the week before, and all I wanted was to be there so I could protect her. I felt completely stupid as well, because neither one of us was in a position to be anything more than virtual pen pals, nor was there anything I could do about it.

I also didn’t know if Ginny felt the same, and it would be embarrassing if I said something about it only to find out she really did only think of me as someone to talk to when she had time. And f*ck, insecurity was not something I was used to, and I didn’t like it at all.

Maybe that was another reason I liked her so much. Because she put me off balance and made me feel different than anyone else ever had.





Ginny :P: I know that feeling. I told myself I needed some time alone after my boyfriend cheated on me, but I’m never really happy being alone, I guess.

Tristan: Nothing wrong with that. You’ve more than proven you can take care of yourself, so wanting companionship makes sense. It’s human nature.

Ginny :P: Yeah. It’s just really hard to find someone around here. Everyone my age is interested in drunken hookups and booty calls.

I laughed out loud at that.

Tristan: Those hooligans! LOL. You know, I’m a lot older than you.

Ginny :P: Ya, old man, by a whole three years.

Tristan: Still older.

Ginny :P: What are you saying?





What was I saying? I didn’t know what had possessed me to say that, other than the fact that I wanted her. I couldn’t deny it anymore. It’d been almost three months of talking to her and getting to know her, and the more I did, the more I wanted her.

The little part of my brain in charge of doing logical, reasonable thinking was trying to remind me of all the reasons why this was a bad idea, but I didn’t care anymore.





Tristan: I think about you a lot. When we’re not talking. You’re so beautiful, did you know?