Page 6 of Falling for the Hot Billionaire

“You dressed up like that and he passed?”

“He didn’t, I did. Nice guy, but like I said, not my type.”

What was her type? I wanted to ask her, find out everything I could about her. That was how I made decisions and got my way in business. There was always some information that was needed to tip the scales. I just needed an angle.

When we walked into the dining room, she asked why there were only two plates. I didn’t know how to respond because I had no idea what she was talking about. Didn’t she know that it was just going to be me and her? What had I said? Justine had me second guessing everything, another habit that I didn’t take on too well.

“I thought you knew that it was going to be just the two of us?”

“Oh,” she said and nothing else.

“Is there a problem?”

“Well, I mean, isn’t your wife going to care that you are having dinner with me alone?”

I realized now my error, or at least what I thought was the reason Justine was acting the way she was. She thought that I was still married and knowing that Monica had made it hard on her, she was waiting for her to come around the corner. I assured her that it wasn’t going to happen.

“Where is she?”

“In my house, well, her house now. She got it in the divorce.”

“The divorce?” Justine asked, looking up finally and having a wisp of a smile on her face. She wasn’t supposed to be happy, no more than I was, but I could see it, and I started to relax. I wasn’t as far off as I feared.

“Yeah, didn’t I tell you?”

Justine shook her head that I hadn’t. “Yeah, we broke up not long after I got out of the hospital. I should have never married her to begin with. It was time to fix that wrong.”

“Wow, you have been busy.”

I agreed and asked her if she was hungry. “I will never say anything more about it, but I think you did the right thing.”

There was more said there than her words used. I suppose that through my time in the coma, Justine had gotten to know Monica herself. She didn’t like what she had seen, that’s what I was getting from her comments.

“It was. I feel freer now.”

“I bet. So, you really cooked? You didn’t have to.”

“I did. Like I said this morning, I never got to thank you properly.”

“It was just a job, Tyrell.”

I didn’t like how she said it and if there hadn’t been more emotion in her eyes earlier, I might have been offended, but I didn’t think that was what was called for in this instance. She wasn’t trying to offend me; she was making it like we were just strangers. We were in one sense, but I knew what she had done when I couldn’t protect myself. She had been there; everyone I’d talked to had asked about her. Justine was special and everyone who came in contact with her knew it too. I didn’t need the validation, but it was nice.

“Maybe so, Justine, but I don’t know if I would have navigated it all so easily. You had a hand in a lot of it. I have talked to many people, and they agree that you are an angel.”

She shifted uncomfortably and I knew I had to rein it in. She was just so pretty, and she was finally here. I had high hopes, and nothing seemed able to bring me down from them, whether I had a right to have them or not.

6

Justine

Several times, I asked myself what I was doing at Tyrell’s place. He was a patient, after all, but I felt a bit different about it when I found out that he had divorced his wife. I shouldn’t be happy about that, naturally, but Monica was a piece of work, and I didn’t have too many nice things to say about her. She was rude and I didn’t like her. That was something I knew for sure.

Him talking about it like I had saved him though, that made me uncomfortable. I didn’t want to hear things like that. I was just a nurse. I wasn’t a doctor, though I had tried to keep it all going. Life made it impossible to have it all, and I’d finally settled on being a nurse. I could help people in other ways, even if it seemed like sometimes I couldn’t help myself.

“Sorry, I didn’t mean to say that if you took offense to it,” Tyrell said.

“No, it’s just weird to hear. I am glad you are feeling better. I can’t believe that you now live next door to me. It’s surreal to say the least. I mean the odds must be astronomical.”

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