Aiden groans, and drops his head back against the booth. “See? You’re already causing problems, Hux.”
Huxley grins wickedly, unbothered. “Buddy, if she’s survived your mother, your father, and your mid-life CEO crisis, I think a little delusion isn’t going to scare her away.”
We all laugh.
God, it feels good to laugh.
The waiter brings warm bread, with whipped butter and sea salt.
Aiden gets a bottle of Australian Syrah, which is rich and velvety. Huxley complains about it. He’s a French wine snob.
It feels like the old days, when we’d go out for dinner with friends, except…better.
There’s no pressure to perform. No pretense. Just a quiet understanding that we’re working on being a couple again.
We order plates to share—roasted duck breast with sour cherry glaze, handmade gnocchi with mushrooms and sage, seared scallops that nearly make me moan at the table.
About halfway through the meal, Aiden gets a call—some board thing—and he steps away to take it.
That’s when Huxley leans across the table, his eyes more serious than they’ve been all night. “He’s been a mess, you know. Since you left.”
My heart jerks.
“I mean, he was…hollow. Like someone put him in a suit and propped him up at the desk.”
I swallow. “I know…now. But for a while I thought….”
“Thought what?”
“That he’d move in with Diana.” I shake my head.
“Come on, Mia, you know him better than that,” he scolds gently.
“I thought I did, but then he….” I trail off.
“Kissed Diana?” Huxley finished.
“Are you going to be a cliché and say it’s just a kiss and I should get over it?” I remark dryly.
“Fuck no! A kiss is far more intimate than if he stuffed his dick inside her.”
“Christ, Hux.” I grimace. “Subtlety is not your thing.”
He laughs.
Worry assails me, and I frown. “He won’t give me details, but it looks like the board is rallying around his father.”
Hux snorts. “Only because Nelson is good at strong-arming people, and Diana’s a walking spreadsheet with no soul.”
I shake my head, amused. God, but I’ve missed Hux. “Tell me how you really feel.”
He smirks. “Look, I’ve known Aiden since he was a cocky undergrad who read economic policy papers for fun. He never fit into that family. You saw that, didn’t you?”
“But he tried, Hux.”
“I know, and you paid for it,” he says somberly. “But that wasthen.”
I nod slowly. “Andnow?”
