Room-maid(83)

She reached out, grabbing my arm. “You do not know him. Not the way that I know him. He does not care about women. He uses them and moves on. You will be just another broken heart in a long line of broken hearts.”

Was this sour grapes or was she trying to get in my head? Because if her goal was the second one, it was working a little. “That doesn’t sound like Tyler to me.”

“It is Tyler. He doesn’t make commitments. You may think he is the hero, but he is not. He will do whatever he has to do to get what he wants. He is not the good guy. He is ambitious and can be ruthless.”

I finally jerked my arm away, not wanting to hear any more. I had lived with Tyler, eaten dinner with him, gone out to restaurants and events with him, watched television with him, shared a dog with him, and slept across the hall from him. I’d kissed him and listened when he said he wanted to be with me. I felt like I knew him pretty well. I knew him well enough to be in love with him.

“I’m not going to listen to this,” I told her. “You can see yourself out. I won’t be coming down here to talk to you again.”

She was shouting at me in what I assumed was Russian as I left the lobby. I wasn’t going to let Oksana ruin what I knew to be true about Tyler. Although, a voice in my head whispered that maybe what she’d said had merit. Why else would she bother coming over here just to talk to me? Maybe she really had been trying to warn me.

Or had Tyler hurt her when she ended things and now she was lashing out? Trying to hurt and confuse me, someone who was, as far as she knew, his friend and roommate?

I couldn’t see her angle or why she had made this kind of effort. It wasn’t like Tyler was going to get back together with her after he heard what she’d said. So I had to assume that this was a mission sent solely to destroy me and the feelings I had for him.

Maybe I should have told her she’d failed.

I didn’t believe he was capable of being a bad guy. I’d seen too much kindness and goodness in him. But the commitment thing? If that was her main hang-up? That could very well be true. Given his financial situation, maybe it was easier for him not to be serious with anyone because of how much he took care of his mother.

Would I be okay with that? But, how could our relationship not be committed and more serious if I was living in the same apartment with him? That could be a problem, too. We would be starting out from a more serious place.

When I got back up to my apartment, my phone was ringing. I’d left it on the counter when I went downstairs.

At first I assumed that it was Shay or Delia calling, trying to see what had happened with Oksana.

It was my oldest sister. I quickly answered.

“Hi, Violet. What’s going on?” I wasn’t going to assume that she needed anything. Maybe this was just a sisterly call and she was checking on my well-being.

That hope was dashed a second later when she said, “You know that favor you owe me? I’m cashing it in. I need you to come to Mom and Daddy’s Christmas party tonight.”





CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

“What?” I asked. This was more than a little alarming. It was also the very last thing I’d expected her to ask for. Come to my parents’ annual, as they called it, Christmas Eve Eve party? They didn’t have it on Christmas Eve because they were worried that if they did, people wouldn’t come. That they would want to do silly things, like spend the evening with their families. So it was always the day before Christmas Eve and for many members of Houston society it was a tradition kept like any other Christmas tradition.

The party was an event for their company, family, and friends to show off their wealth and hopefully generate some goodwill by stuffing people with alcohol and food. It was the last place I wanted to be, especially since I knew Brad and his family would be there. Was this another lame attempt on my mother’s part to get me to reconcile with him?

“Why do you need me to go?” I did consider the fact that she might just be lying to me if our mom was manipulating her.

She let out a big breath. “Because I’m going to tell our parents that I’m not marrying Howard and that I’m in love with Santiago.”

My head jerked back, almost as if she’d been able to smack me through her phone. “You’re going to what? Do you want to die just before Christmas?” Or possibly send my parents to the hospital after they had dual heart attacks?

“It’s time. I have to tell them before things go any further. I know Howard’s planning on proposing tonight. Mother’s going to make a big show out of it. I have to stop it, and I need you there with me. If you want to be.”

“Of course I will be! Whatever you need. Only, I don’t have a dress to wear.” This event was always black tie.

“I can send over one of your dresses from your room. Or I could get one of my personal shoppers to pull some gowns for you and send them over.”

The idea of a new dress sounded intriguing, and would technically be no cost to me (since I knew Violet would cover it), but I wanted to stop being indebted to people. I couldn’t claim to be standing on my own two feet if my sister was buying me ball gowns.

“Maybe the dark-green velvet that we got in Milan two years ago?” I asked. “That would work for a holiday party. And I’ll borrow some jewelry if you have some extras lying around.”

“Done!” Violet said, and I could hear real happiness in her voice. “I can’t believe I’m doing this!”