Page 105 of Best Kept Vows

Our evenings had settled into a comforting rhythm. Dinners filled with gentle conversation, moments of unrestrained laughter, and stretches of contemplative silence where the unspoken was as meaningful as words.

Amidst the comfort of our shared routine, I had unraveled and learned more about myself.

I lifted the glass to my lips, taking a measured sip of winebefore placing it back with deliberate care, my fingers tapping lightly on the delicate stem. “I want to go back to school,” I confessed.

Lia’s eyes lifted to meet mine, and she asked softly, “To…?”

“Study psychology. I haven’t figured out the exact path or specialty yet, but I feel this pull—this need—to help people live fuller, more meaningful lives.” I let out a small, self-conscious laugh. “It sounds kind of lofty, I know. But working with Dr. Ryan…the way she helped me see myself, to change, to actually feel happy—it made me want to do that for someone else. To be that kind of light in someone’s life.”

Lia regarded me thoughtfully. “I think you’ll make an excellent therapist.”

“You do?” That surprised me. “I didn’t pay any attention to you or your needs, so?—”

She placed a hand gently over mine. “Sebastian, honey, we can’t keep living in the past. Youdolisten to me. You’re a wonderful listener. Just last week, you helped me pull together that presentation—took the whirlwind in my head, all abstract—and shaped it into something clear, something I could actually share.”

Her compliment gutted me and built me up all at the same time.

I remembered the days when I didn’t stand by her, didn’t support her—and now I was proud of myself for being her friend, confidante,and lover.

“Oh, I forgot to tell you, I ran into Stacy the other day,” Lia suddenly said.

“Where?”

“At the Savannah Wine Cellar. She told me things weren’t great at Boone Metals. She heard it from some people.”

Stacy left two weeks after I resigned, whereas Marek and the others walked out on the day of the executive meeting. Bryce had tried to bully them, demanding a two-week notice, but since their contracts didn’t require that, he only succeeded in pissing them off more.

I released a weary sigh. “The company is falling apart. Bryce is driving it into trouble faster than even I imagined.”

I knew that Bryce would be a disaster, and he was.

“It’s so bad that he tried to hire Jane back. She said, ‘No thank you.’”

Lia drank some wine. “What was going on with Jane?”

“I have no fuckin’ idea, baby. I don’t know how she got the wrong idea, simply because we worked together. But her behavior was so unprofessional and inappropriate that she’s lucky we didn’t sue her for sexual harassment. That would’ve made her virtually unemployable.”

Jane had landed on her feet. It had taken her a couple of months, but she’d gotten a job in Michigan and had left Savannah. I was happy to know that there wouldn’t be any accidental run-ins with her.

“Were you attracted to her?” Lia asked.

I frowned. “Why do you ask?”

Lia shrugged. “Just…she’s a good-looking woman.”

I smiled. “I noticed. Jealous?”

She rolled her eyes and then added thoughtfully, “Not of how she looked, but yes, of the time you spent with her.” She raised a hand when I was about to speak. “I know. I know. It was only work. Still, she had you, and I didn’t.”

I weighed my words before speaking. “Baby, not once, since I met you, have I wanted another woman sexually…well, not counting Scarlett.”

She burst out laughing.

I chuckled. “Do you know that Scarlett Johansen is considered beautiful by men and women because her face is bilaterally symmetrical?”

“I did not know that.” Lia’s eyes brightened. “Has someone been brushing up their psychology basics?”

“Yes. And, according to how our brain works, a woman who is symmetrical makes men think, subconsciously, that she experienced relatively low oxidative stress in the womb, meaning she is more likely to be healthy, which means that she is more likely to be fertile, and that if the man breeds with her, he will have a higher chance of spreading his DNA.”