10. Chapter Ten
10
CHAPTER TEN
December
Eight Months Earlier
New York
“So? How’d it go?” Ren asked as soon as Sam answered the phone back in New York.
Freshly showered, Samantha scrubbed the back of her head with a towel, then plopped onto the edge of her bed. “Well hello to you too,” she responded. Exhaustion made her eyelids heavy, yet her endorphins were so high she hadn’t been able to rest yet. She fell back on her comforter, not caring that her damp hair made her bedding wet. “It was amazing, Ren. Better than amazing. I’m so glad you made me go.”
Last night, she’d felt like a teenager who’d received her first kiss, because every moment with Tristan would forever be etched into her memory. If she closed her eyes, she could still feel the hug that had engulfed her at the airport. His grip was so firm that she practically had to pry herself away from him. “Tristan, it’s time,” she’d said, her voice no more than a whisper as she pushed at his chest.
He handed her backpack to her, his eyes red-rimmed and glassy as he stepped backward. “I’ll see you soon,” he whispered, knocking her chin playfully with his fist.
She was too choked up to speak, so she only nodded, then turned around so he wouldn’t see her cry.
“Did you ask him about my dad?” Renee asked, bringing Sam back to her bedroom again.
Sam wiped at a stray tear and shook her head, then rolled to her side and shoved a pillow beneath her cheek. “No.”
“What do you mean, no?” Renee practically yelled.
“I had exactly sixteen hours with him. I didn’t want to mess it up by talking about things that were unpleasant.”
She remembered his words when he returned from his phone call with Penny. “We have exactly four more hours until you get on that plane…”
She’d thought about arguing with him, thought about making him tell her what he’d been hiding from her. A million questions had burned in her mind in that moment, but she realized he was right.
“Back when Tristan and I first got together,” she said,” I made a promise. To you, to him, and myself. I promised I’d never use my relationship with either one of you to my advantage. Do you remember that?”
“Yes…” Renee said suspiciously. “What are you getting at?”
Sam pushed herself to sit, dangling her feet off the edge of the bed. “If it wasn’t for you, I wouldn’t even know about the phone calls. If it wasn’t for you”—she rose to stand, letting the towel drop from her neck to the floor—“I wouldn’t know anything about your father.”
“So!”
“Tristan will tell me when he’s ready. Not because I forced him to by knowing something I shouldn’t—something I knew only because of my relationship with you .”
Renee was silent, but soft music played in the background indicating she was still there.
“Something is bothering him,” Sam continued. “He took a phone call from Penny in the other room. I can’t tell if it’s work that’s stressing him out, or your dad, or the fact that we’re living apart for months—but he’ll tell me when he’s ready. I need to trust that he’ll do that. I need to allow him the space to come to me on his own.”
It was painful, because there were moments she wanted to shake it out of him, but she knew in this case that she needed to be patient.
Renee chuckled, her voice soft and tired when she finally spoke. “Why do you always have to be so mature, Sam? It’s really irritating.”
She closed her eyes, remembering the deep hollows under Tristan’s eyes that hadn't been there before she’d moved to New York. “Everything will be fine,” she whispered, but even as the words left her lips, she wondered if they could take another eight months of this.