AlTonya Washington - Indulge Me Tonight

It was pretty amazing to hear, and Tielle listened to the recap in awe.

“It’s been a year and I still can’t quite wrap my head around what happened.” A shiver touched her arm, and she began a slow rub to rush warmth to the limb. “We loved each other—wanted each other all the time.” Tielle let her lashes drift downward and swallowed with effort as emotion promised to close her throat while memories set her arousal mounting. She shook her head in a poor attempt to ward them off.

“What went wrong between us didn’t have to.” She looked out at the sunny environment beyond the long windows running past the tables in the staff cafeteria where she and Laura had their lunch.

“I’m sorry, Ti. It—it’s none of my business.”

“It’s okay.” Tielle leaned over to warm her fingertips against her teacup. “Maybe talking about it will help. Nothing else does.” She looked at Laura squarely then. “Grae wanted me to stop talking to his brother and I wouldn’t. I thought I could fix whatever was wrong between them.” She considered the shade of the blueberry tea then. “I didn’t know how impossible that was until I lost him—until I lost my husband. It’s not like I didn’t see it coming, but helping people find their way back to one another is what I’m supposed to be best at, right?”

Laura replied with a sympathetic smile. Yes, if anyone had a knack for fixing things between people, it was Tielle Turner. She got it honest. It was, after all, in her blood.

Named for her grandmothers, Tina and Danielle, Tielle had continued the women’s legacy for helping mend relationship fences. Tielle had never met a lost cause she turned away from. She had continually found great success in helping people—families, especially, through their trials.

That was before she’d taken on the task of trying to fix what was broken between her ex-husband and his brother.

“He wanted you to go against who you are,” Laura noted.

Sighing, Tielle raised her brows in a resigned fashion. “I’m just as much at fault. I should’ve left it alone...at the very least I should’ve suggested that they talk with someone else, and then I should’ve just let it go.”

“But what was wrong was hurting him, and that’s hard to turn away from,” Laura argued gently.

Tielle finally gave attention to the chef salad she’d ordered. “I thought it was hurting him—” she sprinkled on pepper “—but it was just the way things were between them. The way they’d always been. No need to be fixed—Grae had accepted it long ago and had accepted it so much that I didn’t get how serious he was when he told me to leave it alone or we were done.”

Laura munched through her salad for a time and then looked up at Tielle. “Do you think he’ll come to the retreat if it all goes through?”

“Sounded like he was fishing for something...” Tielle’s voice had a faint introspective quality. “He’d need to be here to get what he’s after, right?”

“And what does that mean for you?”

“You know I never stay around for the retreats.” Tielle favored Laura with a wink. “That’s what I pay my team of savvy fixers to do.”

“But aren’t you curious?” Laura’s voice was hushed.

“I’m not even a little curious.” Tielle gestured as though she were wiping her hands. “I plan to call Faro, hash out the details for the event and then get the hell out of here before the first Clegg arrives.”

“And what’ll you do if you’re one of the Cleggs he wants here?”

Tielle only hesitated momentarily before saying, “I’m not a Clegg anymore.”

“Because of him,” Laura reminded. “What if he wants to fix what he broke between you and Grae?”

“Faro didn’t break anything, Laura.” Tielle shook her head defiantly. “The prize for all that goes to me and my ex-husband.”

* * *

Though the decision was already made, Tielle gave herself a couple of days more before making things official with Faro. His unexpected call the week before had better prepared her to hear his voice when his assistant patched him through. Yet memories stirred of the good and bad times comprising her old life and made getting through the call more of a chore than was expected.

“My assistant, Laura Cooper, will be your facilitator for the event. We’ll be forwarding an information packet for you to review and sign,” she said as the call rounded out. “You can give her a call with any questions.”

“And can you be reached at this number, or is your cell still the best?”

“No, they’re both fine, but you won’t need to talk to me since Laura will be handling it all.”

“Smart move. That way you’ll have the chance to enjoy the retreat as a guest.”

“Guest?” Tielle stopped the idle tap of a pump-shod foot against the bottom drawer of her desk. “Faro, I’m no longer involved once the initial organization of the event is handled. I never take part in the retreats—least of all as a guest.”

“Understood. But I will need you to make a special exception in this case.”

“Faro...I—”

“This is your family, too.”

“Faro, not even when I was married to Grae. It was never my family.”

“Don’t you think it’s time to change that?” he challenged.

Tielle puffed out her cheeks, her taps to the bottom desk drawer gaining force. “Faro, considering the fact that your brother and I are divorced—”

“For only a year.”

“Divorced is divorced.”

“He still loves you, Ti.”

“Don’t do this, Faro. It’s long past time. I’m as done with this as Grae is.”

“Humph. Well, Ti, that’d mean you aren’t done at all. Honey, Grae...well, he’s changed a lot since he lost you.” Faro’s sigh carried on a defeated breath. “That...bad side that people hope they never see, much less have directed their way, is pretty much all they have to work with these days.”

“That’s got nothing to do with me.” Tielle gave a nervous tug to the end of her low ponytail. “That bad side is pretty much all I saw toward the end and that was before he lost me, Faro.”

“He lost you because of me—”

“Faro—”

“That kind heart of yours won’t let you admit that, but you know it’s true. I need to fix things with you as much as I do with my blood relatives.”

“Faro, listen to me.” She kept her tone measured as though she were speaking to a recalcitrant child. “I have no anger that I’m holding on to toward you. I need you to accept that.”

“All right, Tielle, all right. But I need honest emotion from everyone. I won’t get that from Grae unless you’re there.”

“So Grae is coming?” Tielle tried to sound airy, but merely came off as nonplussed.

“I’m still working on it, but my chances would be better at encouraging him if you—”

“I don’t want to play those games, Faro.”

“Tielle, I need you guys there if I plan to start mending those fences. That’s all. I’d think you of all people could appreciate that.”

Tielle pushed out of her chair and gave the air a frustrated kick when she stepped from behind her desk.

“Ti?” Faro called when long silence had held the line.

“I’ll do my best to be there and that’s the best answer I can give you right now.”

“Understood.” Faro sounded as though her words translated into a flat yes to his request.

Tielle heard the glee loud and clear, but she had no energy to stifle it then. “Goodbye, Faro.” She disconnected without waiting for a farewell from his end.

* * *

Back in Portland, Oregon, Faro Clegg’s smile mirrored his inner glee. That emotion, however, was short-lived when a knock hit the door and his brother walked into the office without waiting on permission to enter.