14. Tristan
CHAPTER 14
TRISTAN
O ver the next few weeks, Tristan felt more and more like a father to Jamie, Jacob, and Jasmine.
He began joining them for breakfast each morning, even eating alongside them instead of fasting as usual. He hurried home from work each day to be there for dinner and bedtime, and on the weekends, he spent the day playing and visiting local parks and pools with the kids. He read bedtime stories and dried tears and cajoled the triplets into trying new vegetables.
More and more, Tristan felt confident in his new role. When one of the kids started crying, he no longer felt panicked. When they were full of energy and bouncing off the walls, he now knew that he should suggest something active to burn their energy. And when they turned their noses up at dinner, he had an idea of how to help encourage them to eat. He even understood more and more of their babble.
Part of his newfound confidence came simply from the time he was spending with the kids, but most of it came from Ria. She was by his side every step of the way, gently offering tips and advice when he stumbled. She made breakfast with him while teasing him about eating so early in the morning. She danced around the living room with the triplets when they had clean-up parties. She advised him on toilet training and balanced diets and nap requirements with the instructive tone of a teacher.
And after the triplets were in bed, she joined him in the kitchen for dinner. Tristan cherished his time with the kids during the day, but he cherished this time alone with Ria, too. They talked, often into the night, about everything and nothing. Often, their conversations circled back to the triplets, but they also had long discussions of everything from Tristan’s college days to Ria’s first nannying job to their hopes for the future. He found out that Ria hoped to resume her teacher training someday. He told her that his dreams revolved more and more around the three tiny people sleeping upstairs — though he didn’t mention that she’d begun to feature in his dreams, too.
Every day he spent with Ria confirmed for Tristan that he had more than just a fleeting attraction. Ria didn’t just have superpowers when it came to toddlers. She was an amazing woman on every level. Yet Tristan made sure to keep his distance from her, still. Ria was his nanny, and he couldn’t make her uncomfortable by suggesting that he had feelings for her. No, he had to wait for the right moment. He had to make sure she felt the same way too.
“What’s for dinner tonight?” Ria asked, sidling into the kitchen and breaking Tristan’s train of thought. She’d taken a shower and changed into her pajamas after a particularly messy toddler dinner of sloppy joes. Her red hair was wet and hung loose around her shoulders. As always, she was smiling.
“Leftover sloppy joes and celery,” Tristan told her. He’d put on the radio in the background, and a pop song he didn’t know played softly.
“Really?” Ria made wide eyes as she slid into the seat opposite Tristan. “There’s no kale in that. No turmeric, either.”
“Ha-ha.” Tristan rolled his eyes. “I know. Here, I made you a plate, too.”
“Thanks.” Ria twirled a celery stick between her fingers. “How was work today?”
“It was fine. We’re working on an acquisition, but it’s mostly boring legal stuff. I prefer the tech-development side — there’s always something new and interesting going on. How were the kids today?”
“They were great. Jacob is a talented artist — did you know? He’s completely stopped drawing on the walls, and his pictures actually look like the things he wants them to look like — at least some of the time. You should be proud.”
“I am.” Tristan took a celery stick. “I’m proud of all my kids.”
“Tristan.” Ria’s face lit up as though she’d just won an all-expenses-paid trip to Hawaii. Her green eyes were sparkling.
“Yes?”
“Didn’t you notice?” She was beaming now, and her cheeks were pink with excitement. “You said my kids. I don’t think you’ve ever said that before.”
“You’re right.” Tristan took a breath. “I did. I guess I’ve started to think of them as my kids, not just my nephews and niece. I hope my sister wouldn’t mind.”
Ria reached for his hand across the table. “Your sister would be thrilled. I’m thrilled, too. This is great progress.”
“Thank you.” Tristan smiled at her. Carefully, he flipped his hand so that he could intertwine his fingers with hers. Warmth thrummed between them. “Thank you for everything. Any progress I’ve made as a father has been because of you and all your help.”
“No.” Ria shook her head, causing her hair to fan across her shoulders. “I may have given you a bit of advice, but the hard work was all you. I’ve seen how much you’ve shown up for the kids. For your kids. I think my work here is almost done.”
Fear surged in Tristan’s chest. He wasn’t ready for Ria’s work here to be done, not at all. It was a good thing that she considered him ready to parent his triplets, but it wouldn’t be a good thing at all if she left. Not before he had a chance to see if she shared his feelings.
“I think I still have a lot to learn,” he said, as casually as he could. “You might need to stick around.”
“Sure. I could do that. For a little while, at least.” Ria looked up at him from beneath her long lashes, then quickly took her hand away. “All right, we’d better try these sloppy joes. I’m excited to see if we can eat them any more neatly than the triplets did.”
“As long as you don’t get any filling between your toes, you should be good,” Tristan said with a wink.
“That was pretty funny, though. Jamie seemed so proud that he’d done that.” Ria giggled. Then she lifted her sandwich and took a bite.
“So,” Tristan said, “you told me a few days ago that your sister was applying for an internship. The one who’s in college, Nora.” He bit into his own sandwich.
“Yes.” Ria swallowed her food as she nodded. “And she found out yesterday that she got it. Isn’t that wonderful? She’ll start in a few weeks, at the beginning of June.”
“Is June really just a few weeks away?” Tristan shook his head. “That’s hard to believe. Time’s really been flying since the triplets arrived. Anyway, good for your sister. You must be proud.”
“Very.” Ria smiled. “I was on the phone with her for almost an hour last night after you went to bed. She told me all about the professor she’s interning with and the other students she’ll be working with.”
Tristan imagined Ria sitting on her bed with her phone, laughing and chatting with her younger sister. “You’re a good sister.”
“I try to be.” Ria sipped her water. “I don’t think we did a great job with these. Half the filling from my sloppy joe is on my plate.”
“Mine too. Want a fork?”
“Yes, please.”
Tristan got up to fetch the silverware. As he passed the radio, he turned the volume up slightly as a new song came on. It was a love song, and it sounded familiar, though he wasn’t sure where he’d heard it before.
“This is my favorite song,” Ria said. She got to her feet, rinsed her hands, and did a quick twirl around the kitchen. Tristan took his seat again, setting one fork beside her plate and another beside his own.
“You dance a lot.” And you look beautiful when you do.
“I do. I love it. And you should join me.” She held out a hand. “Come on, Tristan.”
“Ha. No way.”
“Come on.” She grinned, swaying back and forth with her hand outstretched. Her eyes crinkled. “It’ll be fun.”
“It won’t, I promise. I’m a terrible dancer.”
“Like I’m any good. Trust me.” Ria grabbed his hand and pulled him to his feet. She took his free hand with her other and swung their hands back and forth between them. It was the same move he’d seen her do with the triplets during their spontaneous dance parties.
“All right, all right.” Tristan chuckled. “If we’re going to do this, let’s do it right.” He released her hand and placed his palm on her hip. He guided her free hand to his shoulder and led her in a simple box step around the kitchen.
“I thought you couldn’t dance!” Ria looked up at him, her eyes shining and her lips curved into a smile.
“I’m not good at dancing, but I do know the basics.” He spun her beneath his arm and brought her back into the starting position, a little closer this time. “It’s hard to grow up in a wealthy family without mastering the basics of ballroom dancing.”
Ria’s hand fanned against his shoulder. “What other skills did you learn?”
“I had piano lessons.” Tristan swayed her from side to side, savoring her nearness. “I played tennis. And my parents taught me about business from grade school on.”
“You must have had quite the lemonade stand.” Ria grinned.
“No, I always liked technology more than anything else, so I did some coding work when I was little.”
“Coding?”
“Yeah. My parents put me in a coding camp the summer I was twelve, so I did some coding after that. I even got paid a few times.”
Ria whistled under her breath. “See, as much as you said earlier that your success is thanks to your parents’ support — and it is, at least somewhat — you clearly worked hard to be where you are, too. You should be proud.”
Tristan twirled her again and watched her hair whirl out around her head. Then the song slowed, and he pulled her close again.
“Ria—” He wasn’t sure what he was going to say. Part of him wanted to admit that he had feelings for her, but a stronger part knew that would be a mistake, even now. Just because Ria was kind to him, just because she helped him, just because he saw her eyes sparkle when he held her close, that didn’t mean she was interested in the same things he was. If he pushed, he could lose her. And he still wasn’t quite sure what she meant to him or exactly what he wanted to do about it.
Perhaps, then, it was for the best that the sound of crying came over the baby monitor at just that moment. Ria quickly stepped back, blushing.
“I’ll go see what’s up.” She disappeared, leaving Tristan alone in the kitchen, the love song still playing over the radio. With one hand, he shut it off, then leaned back against the counter. It was the second time they’d come close to… something. Tristan wasn’t sure if he’d been about to lean in to kiss her or if he’d simply wanted to share how he was feeling. Either way, it was better that they’d been interrupted.
Ria came downstairs a few minutes later.
“Everything’s fine — Jamie just needed a little water. I gave him a drink and he fell right back asleep.” She looked up at him. “I should… well, I should go sleep, too.”
“Of course.” It was barely nine o’clock, but Tristan understood. “I’ll see you in the morning.”
Then, in a puff of warm vanilla scent and a flash of bright curls, Ria was gone.