But, like everything else about her relationship with Tristan, this did not follow the standard guidelines. He wanted to marry her. He wanted a committed relationship all right, Rayne thought. You don’t get much more committed than that.
Then a cold chill ran down her spine as she remembered what she’d heard when she’d been eavesdropping at the door. Like the others, she had heard of Mel’s offer, as well, and was eager to see how Tristan was handling it.
But she’d just heard him say he was going back to Albany. Did that mean he thought she would be going with him? Did he honestly think she would just give up her club and follow him to some small upstate town?
No, he couldn’t possibly expect that. Could he? She stood from her desk. They definitely needed to talk. But before she even reached the door, she heard the crowd roar as the band took the stage and she knew she’d missed her chance. She would have to wait until they came off the stage again.
As the evening went on, Rayne became more and more restless. She went out into the club and greeted her guests, but her eyes kept returning to the stage and the handsome front man who was watching her with equal attention.
Her mind kept trying to wrap around the idea of being Tristan’s wife. The idea of sharing their lives, together, forever. But after a lifetime of conditioning herself to reject even the suggestion of marriage, it was hard to finally accept that maybe she’d found the one man with whom she could make it work.
For the first time, she broke her own rule of not drinking while she was working and helped herself to a glass of claret from behind the bar. It had just the calming effect she wanted. She sat at the end of the bar enjoying her drink and watching the band play, and she was starting to think she could make it through the night. Then Tristan raised the stakes in their little game of love and with a few poorly chosen words shot her nice little buzz all to hell.
“This next song is about a very special lady.” He quietly strummed his guitar and the band picked up the chord and joined in as he played the beginning of “Beats of My Heart.”
“She’s the light of my world…my beating heart.” He continued to play as his eyes found Rayne’s. “She’s my everything.”
Rayne’s eyes widened as she realized he was announcing their relationship to everyone in the club. So much for professionalism.
“And,” Tristan continued, “tonight I asked her to be my wife.”
The crowd went wild as he played the song and it became apparent who he was talking about. Heads began to turn and Rayne tried to ignore the stinging sensation in her brain, as even the band members seemed to look at her differently.
How could he? Rayne stood and hurried back to her office. She stormed in and slammed the door shut, not realizing the music coming from the club had changed.
A second later the door opened again and Tristan stood there. “Rayne?”
She spun around, still raging from the embarrassment he’d just caused her. “How dare you?”
He closed the door behind him. “What?”
“How dare you announce our relationship to the whole world? This may be a nightclub, but it is still a business!”
“What are you getting so angry about? It’s not like I gave your answer.”
“You had no right!”
“Rayne, I think you are overreacting.”
“Am I?” She picked up the ring and threw it at him. “How’s that for overreacting! Now take it and get the hell out!”
Tristan looked down to where the ring had fallen at his feet and then back up at the woman whom he’d offered it to.
Without another word, he bent and picked up the ring and then turned and walked out of the office, closing the door behind him.
Fifteen minutes later, when Rayne finally calmed down, the impact of what she’d just done reached her brain. Covering her mouth with both hands, she sat down in her chair. “Oh, God, what have I done?”
A week later, Tristan was back in Albany, sitting down to have dinner with his family at his parents’ house. It was one of the quietest meals they’d had in years.
Everyone seemed afraid to ask what had brought him back to Albany so suddenly, but he knew their curiosity was burning.
He was thinking about the fact that before leaving for New York, his family had often eaten together. Just the five of them—his parents, Tracy and Calvin and himself. But somewhere in the back of his mind, Tristan had always expected there to be a sixth person added to the family meals. He’d always planned to marry.
He glanced at the clock again, and considered where Rayne would be at this time of the evening. Probably at the club, in her office.
“I saw Chad earlier today,” Kate cut into his thoughts. “He said you reapplied for your position at the school.”
Tristan nodded. “The new school year will be starting in a few weeks and he hadn’t filled my position yet.”
The table fell silent again as even Tracy seemed at a loss for words. The clanking of silverware filled the void, but it could do nothing for the tension in the air.
“Are you going to go back to playing local clubs?” Calvin asked, seeming desperate to have something to say.
“Maybe,” Tristan muttered. “I’m not sure yet.”
He ate a little more, but it was becoming obvious to him that he was the reason for the discomfort. He wiped his mouth and stood.
“I’m going to get going.”
“So soon?” Kate asked, reaching out to touch his hand.
“Yeah, I still have some unpacking to do. The storage unit I kept it in apparently flooded and some of my stuff got messed up. I need to fill out the damage report before it’s too late.”
“Sorry to hear that, son,” Ben said.
“Thanks, Dad.” He gently pulled his hand from his mother’s. “Good night, everyone.” He turned and headed to the front door. As soon as he was out on the porch in the fresh air he felt as if he could breathe again.
He understood what they were feeling, but didn’t know how to make it any better. Truth of the matter was that he was mourning. He was mourning as surely as if someone had died. He’d lost something very important to him. And there was nothing to be done but to let it run its course. It took a man time to come to grips with losing the love of his life.
Feeling the cool air of the early autumn evening, he blew on his hands and headed down the stairs to his car. There was a slight upside to coming home, he’d found. Where New York was a walking town, the people of Albany had no shame in using cars to get around. And he had all his stuff back, even if some of it was slightly damaged. There was some comfort in being surrounded by his own things. As he climbed into his car and started it up, he hoped now his family would be able to enjoy the rest of the meal in his absence.
Chapter 11
As Tristan pulled away from the curb, Kate let the curtain fall back in place where she’d been looking out at him. She straightened her spine and turned to her family with a solemn expression. “We did this.”
“What?”
“Huh?”
“Uh-uh.”
Confused responses came from the table, as they each denied responsibility in their own way. But she knew they all understood. Their little surprise trip to New York had ruined her son’s relationship.
No, Kate forced herself to be honest. It wasn’t the trip, it was her reaction at seeing the daughter of Monique Phillips cuddled against Tristan’s side. In her mind, it was like watching her baby boy cuddle up with a snake. But he loved that snake. That much was now painfully obvious.
“Did he say what happened?” Ben asked.
Kate shook her head. “He won’t talk about it.”
“Well, I say good riddance to bad rubbish.” Tracy added, “That woman was nothing but trouble.”
“But, it’s pretty obvious he was serious about her,” Calvin said.
“She probably used him and dumped him. She had that look about her,” Tracy said.
Kate thought about that for a moment. Tha
t sounded like something Monique would do and she couldn’t help but wonder was daughter like mother?
Her son was trying to rebuild his life when it was so obvious he was devastated by whatever had happened between them, and that woman was probably going on with her life as if nothing had happened.
She listened to the table conversation that was now flowing freely, as the restriction of Tristan’s presence had been removed. Her mind was working; she wanted Rayne Phillips to know that she couldn’t just go around breaking hearts without concern for the consequences. She had not been able to stop Monique Phillips from trampling over everyone and everything in her path, but damn if she couldn’t stop the next generation!
Kate stood outside the nightclub, wondering if she could go through with this. Of all the women for him to fall in love with…Monique’s daughter.
“The heart wants what the heart wants,” she muttered out loud. She pulled the door open and entered the club and a feeling of familiarity rushed over her. It had been a long time since she’d been in a place like this, but once upon a time clubs like Optimus had been home.
No one was around, but she could hear music coming from somewhere in the distance. “Hello?”
When no one answered, she moved toward the bar farther into the light. “Hello? Anyone here?” she called again, but no answer. She glanced at her watch. It was six o’clock, so where was the staff?
She walked down a long hallway lined with pictures of the club during its creation. She stopped and just stood staring at one that had Rayne smiling at the camera as she lifted a paintbrush.
Kate shook her head again, still amazed that the girl looked so much like her mother. She had suffered such humiliation at the hands of Monique Phillips, and now her son was a victim of the daughter. The Phillips women were apparently a pack of vipers, destroying everything and everyone they touched.
One look at those pictures and anyone could see what a proud, arrogant creature Rayne Phillips was. Would she even care that Tristan was hurting? And if she didn’t care, could Kate handle her indifference without slapping her silly?
She had not come for a fight; she’d come to let this young woman know what she’d done. But now, she was thinking that maybe this trip was a bad idea. Maybe she should just leave now, before it was too late.
No, she decided. Even if the younger woman showed no concern, she wanted her to know how her shallow actions had destroyed a life. She continued along the hallway until she came to a door that simply said “Rayne.”
She knocked and heard some commotion behind the door before a soft voice finally said, “Come in.”
Kate straightened her back, prepared herself for battle, opened the door and was completely shocked by what she saw. The woman sitting behind the desk was not the proud, regal woman staring back at her from the photos on the walls. This woman was in as bad shape as her son.
Rayne wiped her red nose and looked up with wide eyes to see Kate Daniels standing in her doorway. Quickly her eyes darted past the woman hoping to see… But he wasn’t there.
Her eyes returned to Kate as confusion came over her. “What are you doing here?” Rayne asked the question before she realized it. Tristan’s mother?
She wiped at her nose again and tried to pull herself together, but it was useless. She looked like she felt, a complete mess. She hadn’t stopped crying in the five days since he’d left, and it did not seem as if she could get a reprieve even as this woman who despised her stood in the doorway.
Kate Daniels stood in the door with a slight frown on her face. “I’m not sure anymore.” Slowly, she moved into the room until she was standing behind one of the plush red chairs that faced the desk. “I came here to give you a piece of my mind for breaking my son’s heart, but, frankly, you look even worse than he does.”
Rayne tried to fight down the burst of hope she felt in her chest, but she knew it still escaped through her eyes as she took in the words. “What do you mean?”
Kate smirked. “I think you know. But why?” She came around the chair and sat down. “If you’re both so damn miserable apart, why did you part in the first place?”
Rayne had no answer for the question. None of the justifications she gave herself the day he left meant anything anymore.
Kate’s expression turned thoughtful. “I want to apologize. I know I was kind of hard on you before. It’s just seeing you caught me by surprise. It was wrong of me to hold you responsible for the things your mother did.”
Rayne simply shrugged. “It’s okay. I’m used to it. It feels like I’ve been paying for her crimes my whole life.”
“Do you mind if I ask what happened between you two? Tristan won’t talk about it.”
Rayne nodded knowingly. “Then please understand, I have to respect his wishes.”
Kate sighed. “Fine. I guess I have to leave it at that.” She glanced around the room. “Well, this is awkward. I came down here to give you a piece of my mind for hurting my son, but it looks as if you were hurt just as bad.”
Rayne swiped at her running nose with her tissue, but said nothing else. Kate’s words were an understatement. The pain she was feeling in her soul at that moment went so far beyond hurt, there was no way to describe it.
“Tell me this much. Why haven’t you called him?”
Rayne looked directly at the older woman. “Why hasn’t he called me?”
“Oh—good Lord!” Kate threw up her hands in surrender. “Is that what’s going on here? Some kind of stupid standoff?”
Rayne shook her head. “No, we just both realized we wanted different things.”
“Really? Because from where I sit it looks as if you both want exactly the same thing. To be together.”
Rayne’s eyes narrowed. “You should know better than anyone that Tristan needs to be with someone else. Someone less toxic. I’m Monique Phillips’s daughter, remember? In the end, I would only destroy him the way my mother destroyed everything she touched.”
Kate was startled by the venomous statement. “You’re her daughter, Rayne. You’re not her. Your life will be whatever you make it.”
“You don’t understand.”
Kate stood. “I guess not. Because there is no way in hell anything would’ve kept me from spending my life with Ben.” She turned to leave. “Since both of you seem to be equally stubborn, I have no idea how to help you. I really wish I could, though.” With that, she quietly walked out, pulling the door closed behind her.
Rayne sat staring at the closed door for several minutes, thinking about the woman’s words. She pulled a new tissue from the box and tossed out the old. She glanced at the trash can slightly surprised to see it was full of her worn-out tissues.
Was it really that simple? Could just wanting to be together be enough? She quickly stood from her chair, grabbed up her purse and keys and rushed to the door.
“Mrs. Daniels! Wait for me!”
Tristan was sitting at his desk in the empty classroom writing out his lesson plan when the door opened. He glanced up and his heart stopped.
At first he thought his imagination was playing tricks on him, but the vision before him did not change. He stood from his chair slowly, still fearful that any sudden move might end the fantasy.
“Rayne?” he asked, wanting to believe she was real.
She stared at him with a small smile for several seconds before turning to look around the room. “Been a long time since I was in a high-school classroom.”
Tristan swallowed hard. “What are you doing here?”
She glanced at him over her shoulder. “Your mom came to see me.”
“What?”
She walked over to the window and looked out. “She said you were miserable without me.”
“I am,” Tristan said, his eyes narrowing in on her back. “But, then again, I told you I would be. It didn’t seem to make a difference.”
She glanced at him again. “Do you like it here?”
“Rayne, what are you doing here?”
/>
She turned and braced her weight on the windowsill. “I don’t know.”
Tristan started across the room to her. “Sure about that?”
“I’ve never done the long-term thing, Tristan. I don’t know if I’m built for it.”
“That’s your problem. You keep thinking of us as a thing. We’re not a thing, Rayne. This is not some fling, or short-term affair or even friendship with benefits. This is the real deal.”
“Love?”
“There is no imitating it. And…there is no escaping it.”
“I’ve never been in love.”
“Neither have I.”
“Aren’t you scared? What if we don’t make it?”
“What if we do?”
She placed her hand over her heart. “For the past five days I have felt empty in here. It hurt so bad, Tristan. I don’t want to hurt like that again.”
He closed the distance between them. “Don’t think about that. Think about how it felt when we were together. Remember that feeling? We can have that feeling all the time, Rayne.”
He took her hands in his. “What it comes down to, Rayne, is vulnerability. In love, you’re vulnerable—that’s just a fact. But I can promise you that if you spend your life with me, I will make sure you never feel vulnerable.”
“How can you promise that?”
“Because every day I will remind you how much I love you, how complete you make me, how right we are together. I will assure you every morning that you are just where you’re supposed to be—in my arms. And I will write song after song to remind you of how much I love you.”
“I’m scared.”
“I know. You have no reason to believe me, no reason to trust me. Everyone you’ve ever trusted has betrayed you. But I won’t, Rayne. And only time will prove that.”
She looked down to where their hands were connected. “I’ve missed you so much.”
Tristan pulled her into his arms. “Not any more than I’ve missed you.”
Rayne wrapped her arms around his neck, feeling relief flood her whole being. She’d almost lost him. She’d almost missed out on her opportunity of a lifetime. All because she was allowing the past to control her future.