Platinum (All That Glitters #3)(77)

Trihn was about to tell her not to worry about it, but it seemed like she was excited to do things for her daughter. Instead, Trihn just took a seat in the living room and drank in the familiarity of it all. She’d missed this, being home. It felt right here, like this.

Linh returned a minute later with a glass of lemonade.

Trihn took it from her hand and sipped it before answering the deluge of questions, “Yes, Damon is a musician. He’s on tour right now with Chloe Avana.”

“Your father mentioned that. It must be hard.”

“It is,” she admitted. “He’s in Orlando right now. He’ll be in Atlanta tomorrow.”

“And will you get to see him anytime while he’s on this tour?”

“Well, when he’s in New York City.”

“Yes, but from the details Gabriel gave me, that’s a month away.”

“I don’t know,” she admitted. “It all happened so fast.”

“We make time for the ones we love. I’m sure you’ll figure it out.”

Trihn couldn’t decide if that was a backhanded comment about her not coming home enough or not. So, she just chose to ignore it.

“And you won the fashion show at school. You’re up against some stiff competition. Your father showed me the images he had taken of your designs.”

“He did?” Trihn asked, surprised. She hadn’t really discussed this with her mother, but it made sense that she would keep up with her daughter’s life even if she weren’t as involved as she used to be.

“Yes.”

“What did you think?” Suddenly, Trihn felt as if she were holding her breath.

After all, her mother, the fashion magazine senior executive, judged these things for a living. Normally, Trihn wouldn’t have even asked for her opinion. Her mother was a critic. That was her job. But Trihn couldn’t help herself this time.

“They remind me of you, but besides your final piece, they weren’t expressly original,” Linh said.

“Oh.”

“They are excellent for a second-year student though, Trihn. You should be proud of your accomplishments. Just because I don’t think your line is boutique wear doesn’t mean that it wouldn’t sell exceptionally well to the masses. There is a huge difference.” Linh shrugged her dainty shoulders. “You’ll find your place. Now, come on. Dinner is almost ready. We should go into the dining room.”

“The dining room?” Trihn asked.

With only three of them, it always made more sense to eat in the breakfast nook for most of their meals.

“You’re here for one night. I’m doing a bigger meal!”

Then, Linh traipsed into the kitchen, leaving Trihn feeling uneasy.

Trihn followed her mother and stopped dead in her tracks. Of course. She shouldn’t have been surprised, yet she was.

Lydia and Preston were standing side by side in front of the stove. Preston had his hip leaned up against the oven, and his eyes were fixed on Lydia as she was stirring something in a large pot. Lydia was wearing a simple sundress that came to her knees and hippie hemp sandals. Her hair, hanging loose to her waist, was a soft blonde color with platinum highlights. Preston looked as if he had just come from work in a blue plaid button-up with his sleeves rolled up to his elbows and slim-fit charcoal slacks. He was well-groomed with short hair and just a five o’clock shadow gracing his chiseled jawline.

No matter how many times Trihn saw them together, she always felt like the air had been sucked out of the room. She just remembered the time at the Hamptons when everything had flipped on its head. Preston was Lydia’s. They were engaged.

Trihn felt as if she were intruding on a private moment. But as soon as she started to inch back out of the kitchen, Preston turned his head and looked straight at her, freezing her in place. Bright blue eyes wrapped her in a spell and rooted her to the spot on the floor. A slow smirk stretched across his face. It was painful to witness.

“Hey, Trihn,” he said casually.

When Lydia whipped around, there was no semblance of his dirty smirk.

“Trihn!”

“Uh, hey.”

“So glad that you decided to have dinner with all of us.”

“Yeah…”

“Mom made your favorite.”

“I’m just going to go find Dad.” Trihn slowly eased out of the kitchen, making sure not to look at Preston. She only saw Lydia’s distraught face at her own apparent fear before she hurried from the room.

When she turned back to the living room, she found her dad striding into the room from upstairs.

Trihn walked right up to him with her arms crossed. “Thanks for the heads-up about the ambush.”

Gabriel chuckled and pulled her in for a hug. “I’ve missed you.”

“Yeah, but you said we were just going to have a small family dinner.”

“We are. There are only five of us.”

“I thought you meant just the three of us,” she accused.

“I never specifically said that, and anyway, as soon as I told your mother that you were coming, she invited Lydia. There was no way around it. You should have known that.”

Trihn sighed. “If I slip out the front door, maybe no one will notice.”

Her dad gave her a stern look that told her even he wouldn’t let that slide. He likely didn’t want to hear the complaints from everyone at the table if she disappeared.