He could tell by the way Lizzie squared her shoulders and measured her stride that she was nervous. Was that why she had dressed like that? As armour? The ugly thought intruded. Or to look good for her ex?
She only had seconds to pace the floor by herself before she was joined by a tall guy wearing grey trousers and a lightweight sweater. Lizzie had always said her cheater of an ex was a good-looking guy. Yeah. He could see that. The Frenchman was big with broad shoulders and a powerful body.
The first thing they did was kiss each other. Twice. Once on each cheek. Jesse knew that was the European way, but still he gripped tight onto the arms of the chair at the sight of Lizzie in an embrace with another guy. Not just another guy. The man she’d married, had intended to spend her life with, the father of her child. Someone she’d loved.
Ex-husband and ex-wife started to talk. Jesse hadn’t hidden close enough to hear their actual words, just the sound of their voices. The conversation seemed to be more intense than angry with Philippe doing a lot of the talking. They were switching between English and French.
It was a shock to see Lizzie speaking French. She looked different—her mouth, her face—and she gesticulated with her hands in a Gallic way. This was a Lizzie who seemed to slip right back into a different persona altogether. It made him wonder how well he actually knew her.
He wished he’d sat closer so he could hear but he would have risked exposure. Was Philippe laying down terms for custody of Amy? Or was he putting his argument for his family to return to him in France? If the dude got angry with Lizzie, Jesse would be up there like a shot to protect her.
But, far from being an angry confrontation with her ex, Lizzie’s meeting seemed amicable. Very amicable. Too amicable.
Lizzie smiled. She laughed. She hugged the guy who she’d told Jesse had made her life hell. The ex smiled too. He seemed too damn happy for a man who was being told his ex-wife would not give him custody of their daughter. Any sense of fun Jesse had felt in staking out Lizzie and her ex was quickly replaced by bitter disbelief.
There was too much laughter and goodwill going on. Lizzie had said she dreaded the meeting but it looked to Jesse as if she was enjoying every minute of it.
Lizzie had problems with jealousy? Jesse had never before been bothered by it, had never understood the emotion. He sure as hell understood it now. Violent jealousy flamed through him at the sight of Lizzie with her ex-husband.
He felt excluded and it wasn’t a feeling he liked. All the foundations he’d been building around Lizzie felt threatened.
They hugged again. Then they walked out to the lobby and towards the exit, chatting as they went.
Jesse got up from his lounge chair, slammed the newspaper on the table and headed towards the side door that led to the terrace. From there he would actually be able to hear their farewells unless Lizzie walked her ex to his rental car.
But no. They stayed put and did the one-kiss, two-kiss thing again. Then Lizzie looked up into her handsome ex-husband’s face and said very clearly in English. ‘I will see you in Lyon. For the start of a new life.’
Then she watched him get into the car and waved as he pulled out of the hotel driveway and headed north to Sydney.
Those final words reverberated through Jesse’s mind. I will see you in Lyon. For the start of a new life.
What the hell had that meant? It was difficult not to draw the obvious conclusion.
He’d been played for a fool again.
He wouldn’t make the same mistake he’d made with Camilla. He was in deep with Lizzie, but he had an out. The job in Houston.
But first he’d give her a chance to explain herself. If she didn’t come clean then he’d know he had been lied to again. That Lizzie intended to have her fun with him until it was time to go back to her other man. Like Camilla had.
His hands fisted by his sides, he stepped out from the terrace so Lizzie could see him as she approached.
Her face lit up when she saw him and she hastened her steps to get to him quicker. It made his gut churn at how much he had come to care for her.
‘So there you are,’ she said. ‘I’ve been looking for you. I’ve got good news.’
‘Fire away,’ he said gruffly.
‘Philippe has dropped his plans to sue for sole custody. He flew all the way here to apologise about the way he behaved during our time together and to tell me—and to tell me...’ She spluttered to a halt.
‘To tell you what?’ He felt choked by a grim foreboding.
‘To...uh...to tell me how much he cared for Amy and how she would always be his first priority.’
She was lying. He couldn’t fail to notice how she’d pulled herself up. No way would her ex come to the other side of the world just to tell her he was sorry for his behaviour of years ago. He believed the guy had apologised. But what had come next? Reconciliation? There’d been a lot of smiling and hugging. What the hell had that been about?
‘That’s good,’ he muttered.
‘You were a big hit with Amy, by the way, Uncle Jesse.’ Lizzie chattered on, seemingly oblivious to his dark change of mood.
‘Yeah, she’s a great kid.’ He’d been working at the café, educating Nikki in the finer aspects of pulling espresso shots, when Lizzie had brought Amy in to show her the café. Her little face had lit up when she’d seen him and she’d come tearing up to him to hurtle herself at him with a squeal of delight. ‘Uncle Jesse!’
Laughing, he’d swept her up into his arms. It had taken him a long time after the fire to be comfortable around kids. He’d loved Ben’s little boy Liam. It had seemed disloyal to pay attention to other children when his nephew had gone. He had taken his role as uncle very seriously. What role in his life might Amy play?
‘Be flattered,’ Lizzie had said. ‘She doesn’t take to everyone.’
‘I wanted to introduce you to Philippe,’ Lizzie said now.
He frowned. ‘Why would you do that?’
So he’d be friendly to him when they got back together?
He thought back to one of the reasons he’d resisted pursuing Lizzie—if things went wrong he’d still have to see her at every family gathering. Her and her current man—perhaps her reconciled husband.
Not if he was in Houston, he wouldn’t.
‘Because, well, because he was here and because he’s Amy’s father I—’
‘You told me how this guy cheated on you and made your life hell. Why would I want to shake his hand?’ He paused. ‘Unless things have changed between you.’
She looked confused. ‘Well, yes, they have changed.’
Here it came—the confession.
‘What I meant is, he’s changed. Grown up at last. Admitted his mistakes.’
‘And?’
She frowned. ‘What do you mean “and”? I don’t know what you’re talking about.’
‘Haven’t you got something to tell me?’
She flushed. ‘Well, yes. I do.’ She looked around her. ‘But this isn’t the time or the place to talk to you about it. What it means for us.’
He cursed inwardly. So he hadn’t misunderstood those overheard