No more movie nights.
No more cooking dinner together.
No more grocery shopping trips.
And no more patio talks after Pip went to bed.
Nowadays, they were simply two strangers, sharing a house and co-parenting a child with the minimum amount of association they could manage.
Belle continued to do the morning shift, while he took the world’s longest runs, followed by intense hours-long workouts in his gym. By the time he showered, they’d had lunch and Pip was down for her nap. Belle no longer hung out in the living room during Pip’s naps but instead hid in her own room. The midday activities all happened out of the house, and Victor wasn’t included in those trips to the park or the library. Once they returned home, Pip found him for “pool time,” but Belle didn’t join them.
The first morning after that second kiss, he’d found a chart tacked on his refrigerator next to that week’s menu. Apparently, Belle had decided a new list was required—and this one told him which nights were his to cook and which were hers. The three of them still ate dinner together, but the conversations were driven by Pip, the two of them talking to the little girl rather than each other.
After dinner had previously been his favorite time of the day. Before he fucked shit up, they all usually watched a movie together, or played a game, or did a puzzle before the bath and bedtime story routine, followed by that perfect quiet time on the patio.
All of that was gone now, as he and Belle took turns finding ways to excuse themselves after the meal. One night, Belle went out with a couple girlfriends. Another, he retired early, claiming he had a headache. By tacit agreement, they’d found bullshit excuses on alternating nights…because they were still a great fucking team. Except instead of working together seamlessly, perfectly, they’d figured out how to nail doing the same, just separately.
But there were repercussions. And the worst one wasn’t the loss Victor felt over not having Belle to talk to anymore…but the fact that Pip could tell there was tension between them. His wise, observant niece had asked him this afternoon in the pool why Belle never swam with them anymore. And two nights ago, after he’d finished reading her a bedtime story, she wanted to know why he looked so sad.
Kids saweverything, and Pip was no exception.
“Hey.”
Victor looked up, frowning when he spotted Belle standing just inside the kitchen door. That was another new development that he couldn’t stand. The physical distance she maintained between them.
Then he realized just how deep in his head he’d been, because he hadn’t even heard her come down the stairs.
“Hey.”
She jerked her thumb over her shoulder. “I went ahead and helped Pip take her bath. She’s in her pajamas and set up on the couch, ready for movie night.”
He nodded without saying anything.
“You remember I have a date tonight.”
True to her word, she’d given him two days’ notice, dropping the date information on him the night before last. Nice of her to give him extra time to stew in his jealous fury over her going out with Sean, the prick, again.
Jealousy flickered. Low. Persistent. And beneath it, something else.
Something he couldn’t fully name yet. Didn’twantto name. Because once he did…
It would change things.
Victor closed his eyes briefly, taking a steadying breath, trying to beat back the green-eyed monster clawing to get out. “I remember,” he said, unable to mask the sheer menace in his tone.
If Belle heard it, she gave no indication.
“I shouldn’t be too late,” she said. “We’re just going out for a drink.”
Victor nodded, studying Belle. She hadn’t just cleaned up Pip while she’d been upstairs. The woman looked incredible in her floral sundress and strappy sandals, her hair pinned up in a loose bun with a couple tendrils waving around her face. She’d done something to enhance her bright brown eyes, making them look even bigger, and her lips…
Fuck. His gaze locked onto her mouth, with that shiny lip gloss, and got stuck there.
Seeing her looking so gorgeous as she prepared to go meet another man hit him hard.
Something feral stirred within him.
Victor rose from the island, every semblance of control stripped away.
