“I don’t understand any of this, Piper. Ignoring the fact of my one night stand with him eight years ago, I watched him for years in the media. He was always sporting a new woman on his arm, attending the best of the best parties, getting openly drunk and making a fool of himself. We’re in split-personality territory here, and how is that possible?”
“I don’t know, darling. I just know what I’ve found out. And this guy is pretty much a girl’s dream come to life, if you ask me.”
“It doesn’t really matter though, does it?” Elena said.
“Why would you say that? He obviously worships you, and he’s pretty much perfect. I would think you’d be elated right now.”
“There’s a big difference between worshipping someone and enjoying sex with them, Piper. Yes, we’re having great sex, but that doesn’t change the fact that we barely know each other, and that there’s no way this will end with me in a wedding gown. I’m enjoying him, but it’s only until this job with his contracts is done.”
“How do you know that?” Piper asked. “Maybe this is the man you’re supposed to be with for the rest of your life. If you don’t give it a real shot, you might always wonder about what you could have done differently.”
“And if I let myself believe that this is something more than it really is then I’m going to be devastated when everything goes down in flames.”
“Don’t do that. You haven’t had the best of luck with men. But maybe you haven’t because Tyler is the one you were supposed to wait for. If you had settled with some guy that makes you kind of happy instead of ecstatic then you would never know what real passion and real love feels like.”
“I think you’ve been reading way too many of your library books — from the romance section, of all places,” Elena told Piper. “Real love doesn’t exist, sweetie. Good sex can happen, companionship can happen, but I’ll say it again — real love doesn’t exist. I’ve seen far more examples of bad relationships than good. Divorce rates are higher than ever before, and if you look around you, even right here on this street, everyone will have a story of a failed romance. I think what you’re looking for is a myth. We can enjoy each other for a while, but we eventually grow bored, or we discover that we really don’t have anything in common after all. Or maybe the eyes begin to stray. Sure, it’s amazing in the beginning because the hormones are running rampant, but in the end, our imperfections come to the surface and the epic romance we felt in the beginning is all over in a flash.”
“You’re depressing the hell out of me, Elena. I refuse to believe that real love doesn’t exist”
“I don’t have to try to prove it to you, darling. You’ll see it for yourself when I’m sitting at home eating ice cream because I miss this man. I have no doubt that when it ends, I’m going to get hurt. I’m just trying to prevent total devastation.”
“I’ll bet you a hundred bucks that you’re wrong,” Piper said.
“Would you be serious for five seconds?” Elena sighed.
“I’m deadly serious. On your wedding day to this man, you will hand me a hundred-dollar bill,” Piper told her.
Elena smiled. “And when he dumps me as soon as he grows bored, you’ll be handing one to me. At least then I can go get a pedicure and soak my sorrows away.”
Piper grabbed her hand and shook it. “It’s official. Now, no more lying to me. I want all the sordid details,” Piper said. “Especially the size of his biggest tool.”
Elena found herself blushing, blushing hard, though she really didn’t know why. Of course she was going to tell Piper everything. It’s what friends did.
“You’re definitely right. I need to tell you all. It will be good for me. But for now let’s stop talking about any men.”
Piper agreed and they strolled through the market. Elena had started a game that Tyler had quickly overtaken her at. She could be depressed about it, or she could just agree that at least she was on one hell of a good ride for now.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Be ready at midnight.
That was the text message Tyler had sent to her phone and for several hours Elena kept changing her mind on whether she was going to be ready or not. She wrote back to ask what they were going to be doing so late.
No response.
Just that short message and then nothing. When it hit eleven thirty and she found herself dressed and pacing the small apartment she knew she couldn’t fool herself any longer. She was going because she had to go. She had to see what this was about, had to know what Tyler had planned.
His driver picked her up right as the clock struck midnight and Elena said nothing; she just followed him to the car and climbed inside. They took maybe half an hour’s drive and then the car stopped at what appeared to be a private flower garden.
She knew that questioning the driver would do her no good, so she waited as he held open her door and smiled.
“Right down this path, ma’am.”
Turning she moved to the path and was surprised when she saw that it was marked by lanterns every few feet. The darkness still surrounded her, still made the trek slightly spooky, but Elena knew nothing bad could happen.
Curiosity kept her moving forward.
Even knowing she was safe, she looked at shadows and her heart thudded as she continued to walk along. Why did this have to be at midnight and what was the secrecy all about?
“Elena.”
His voice was a whisper in the wind, and she stopped at the end of the trail when she finally saw Tyler, another shadow among the trees.