The ending to that dinner had been a strange one. Jamie had worn a melancholy face toward the end of it and had to quickly excuse himself soon after eating. Rhoen had made a comment about how odd it was but I had a feeling I knew what it was about.

Right before Rhoen had came out of the office Jamie had looked like he wanted to say something. He never said anything though. He never brought it up again, even when Rhoen had to step out again to answer another phone call. He just kept conversation light and casual. It would have appeared normal if I didn't know Jamie like I do.

I hear a knock on my office door and push my seat back before going up to it. Once I open it, i see a man on the other side with a set of dark green eyes and chestnut hair. He gives me a guilty smile before asking if I have a minute to talk. I look at him with hesitation before nodding my head for him to join me in my office.

"How's everything, Mr. Edison?" I ask as I close the door behind me.

"You can call me Cole now, Amelia. You no longer work for me." I walk around him and go to take a seat at my desk.

"Okay, Cole." I pick up a pencil and tap it a few times on the desk before saying, "so, what can I do you for? Is your sister here to take another go at me or?" His features fall automatically. "Or are you here to do it this time?"

"No, god, no." He shifts uncomfortably in his seat. "I had no idea Diana was going to come here and speak to you that way. If I knew she was going to come in here and act like that I never would've let her. I mean, for fuck's sake, the initial tabloids were already bad enough without Diana being Diana on top of it."

"When you say Diana being Diana do you mean Diana being a bitch?" I deadpan which makes him frown.

"Diana is a good woman, Amelia. She's just struggling right now." I let out a disbelieving snort at that.

"Spare me, Cole." I wave a hand at him dismissively. "If you're here to justify your sister's behavior you can think again."

"I'm not. I'm here for her and Rhoen." I cock a brow at him. "Amelia, if you're going to be with Rhoen you're going to have to learn to deal with Diana. She's the mother of his children." He said it like I wasn't already aware of the fact.

"She called me a whore a good amount of times, Cole. How could you send her in here when you knew she knew next to nothing about our business arrangements?"

"She said she wanted to get to know the woman Rhoen was sleeping with before they'd finalized their divorce." I don't say anything to that because I honestly don't know what to say to that. Before their divorce finalized we'd slept together and started out relationship. "So, while you were working for me, back in Boston, you were sleeping with him, right?"

"That's a terribly inappropriate question to ask, Cole." He fidgets uneasily in his chair as he looks anywhere in the room but at me. I let out a sigh and answer him, "yes, Rhoen and I were seeing each other. I knew he had a family too. Yes, I knew it all and we'd still had an intimate relationship. Yes, maybe they were still legally married but they'd been separated for a long time, Cole."

"You're right, I'm out of line for asking you such a personal question." He stands up from his seat. "Again, I'm really sorry about the entire Diana situation. I just wanted to apologize. You're a good woman, Amelia, you don't deserve everything they're saying about you."

"You mean that I'm a gold digging whore who ruined a marriage?" I deadpan again which makes his features fall. "Do you think I'm that?" I ask it honestly.

"Of course I don't think that about you, Amelia. I would never think that about you."

"Why not? Everyone else these days does. Diana is your sister too, why wouldn't you take her side? I mean, you essentially did when you let her come in here and tear me down."

"I thought she just wanted to meet you because of the kids. I swear." He looks genuine and I believe it since Cole has never been the malicious type. "And I would never think that about you, Amelia. You are such a smart and funny woman with so much to offer. You've got a great personality. Just because you're a young woman who is extremely attractive doesn't make you a whore." Extremely attractive. We both just stand there, awkwardly for a moment. "Rhoen's a lucky man." He finally adds after another uncomfortable second, "I, uh, yeah. I should get going." He rushes to the door and quickly opens it.

"Cole, wait..." He doesn't listen, or hesitate as he opens the door and exits quickly.

Cole likes me. Cole is attracted to me. How long has he felt like that?

"Hey girl, heyyy." I look up to see Adriana entering my office. "Sorry, saw the door open and thought I'd poke my head in to see what that fine piece of ass was doing in here after sicking his sister on you."

"Fine piece of ass?" I quirk a brow at her and shake my head. Adri was so crass, she reminded me a lot of Jamie in that regard. Well, Jamie when he wasn't at work.

"Yeah, Cole is one fine ass piece of man. Rumor is he's good in bed too." She wriggles her brows at me and I roll my eyes. "You know, I kind of always wanted to find out but," she shrugs, "kind of in a relationship now so that's not happening. Too bad since he's in Vegas too."

I don't make a comment about her wanting to sleep with my old boss I just ask, "Are you here to see your father or Jamie?"

"A little bit of both. I picked up some lunch for them." She closes the door with a look on her face that I can't read. "I uh, I have something I wanted to talk to you about. I have a question or two. That is if you don't mind talking to me about it and asking them."

"Yeah, sure, shoot." I lean back in my chair. "Talk away."

"Well, I know you've been friends with Jamie for a really long time. I know you guys were also in an intimate relationship." I nod, a bit unsure of the way this conversation is heading. "Well, last night he came over to my place without even calling or anything. He just kind of barged in and fucked me like crazy. Like, don't get me wrong, I was into it but it was just different."

"Oh." That was a lovely thing to hear about, probably the last thing I want to hear about.

"Sorry, that was weird. This is weird. I just don't know who else to talk to about it and since you know him so well..." I swallow down any feelings I'd begun having.

"No, no, Adri, go ahead and ask your question." I urge her to continue. "It's alright. The intimate aspect of our relationship ended nearly nine months ago. It's fine. It doesn't bother me that the two of you are together." Okay, maybe that wasn't entirely the truth, but still. Adri has been nothing but kind to me ever since I moved here.

"So, Jamie came over last night after your dinner and seemed kind of sex-crazed." Interesting considering he'd seemed completely out of it at dinner. "Well, I was kind of wondering if he had a weird thing about wearing protection with you. Because last night we didn't use any and he kind of freaked out. Then I told him I loved him and it was this whole big fucking thing. He said it too but then said he had to go and he looked a little freaked out. And just now he was kind of short with me." She blows out a long exhausted breath after her ramble. "I'm sorry for putting this on you but I just didn't know who else to ask."

"What exactly is your question?" She'd just spewed way too much to pick out one specific thing from all of that.

"Well, first of all, was he weird at dinner last night?" I shake my head no at her. "Okay, so then if he wasn't would there be any reason he'd come over for just sex like that?"

I nod my head yes at that and answer, "stress, most likely. We'd had a stressful day at work." What exactly his exact stress was I'm not entirely sure. I'm just hoping it doesn't have to do with me.

"That makes sense. Alright, um," she looks at me kind of odd but ultimately says, "I know this is a weird one but, was he weird about using protection with you? Like did he always make sure he had a condom on no matter what?"

I bite the inside of my cheek trying to maintain a handle on my emotions. The question is personal, almost too personal. That was the thing with Adri though, she really had no boundaries or a filter. She always just said what was on her mind.

"Um," I swallow heavily before continuing, "Jamie and I had a lot of trust before. So, we didn't really think too much about protection when we should have," Her face turns into a questioning one. "Jamie didn't tell you about what happened?"

"What do you mean?"

"I had a miscarriage when I was pregnant with Jamie's baby."

"Shit, Amelia, I'm so sorry for prying. Sometimes I can be way too blunt and I don't think about the things that come out of my mouth. I'm really sorry. I had no idea. If I did the last thing I'd be doing is talking about my sex life with you. I just—"

"It's fine, Adriana. Relax." She bites her bottom lip nervously. "He's just hyper aware of the repercussions of unprotected sex. It's nothing to do with you personally, I can promise you that. He really likes you." I stand up and go over to her, putting a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "He told you he loved you back, right?"

"Essentially, yeah."

"Then you're fine, Adri. Everything will be fine with the two of you." There's a knock on the door and then the door slowly opens.

"Amelia, do you have a second?" Jamie's face peeks through the door and when he sees the two of us together he freezes.

"I was just about to leave." Adri says to him before looking back to me. "Thank you so much for the talk, Amelia. You're great."

"You're welcome, Adri." She heads toward the door as Jamie steps inside and before she leaves she places a kiss on his cheek.