Chapter 6 It's for My Fiancé

The watch boutique was two doors down.

Elena hadn't planned on going in. She'd walked past the window, and then she'd stopped and turned around.

She was going home to marry a man she'd never met. She couldn't show up with nothing.

"I'm looking for something for a man," she told the salesman. "Something classic. Nothing loud."

He brought out a tray. Gold, steel, a few with diamonds around the face.

"Not those," Elena said. "Something he'd actually wear."

She ended up with a white gold Patek Philippe Calatrava with a plain dark face. No diamonds. Nothing to show off. The kind of watch a man could wear every day for 20 years.

She paid with the black card her father had cut off three years ago. Someone had switched it back on the morning after she called Dante. It was the first time she'd used it since she left New York.

Back at the house, she put the watch box at the bottom of her suitcase and went on packing.

She was folding scrubs into a box when the bedroom door opened.

Julian leaned against the frame with his hands in his pockets. "You almost done?"

"Almost."

"Elena." He waited until she looked up. "Isn't there something you want to say to me?"

She frowned. "Like what?"

He didn't answer right away.

The truth was, he'd turned the car around.

Halfway down the block, with Bianca talking in his ear about his mother's dress, he'd kept seeing Elena's face at the counter. No tears. No anger. Nothing. It bothered him enough that he told the driver to go around the block.

By the time they pulled up across the street from Maison Delaunay, Elena was already walking out. He watched her go two doors down and stop in front of the Patek Philippe window. He watched her go in.

Bianca had seen it too. "Is she buying a watch? With what?"

Julian didn't answer her.

A man's watch.

And he'd understood. She knew she'd gone too far at the ring counter. She'd bought him something to make up for it.

Fine. He could meet her halfway. He'd let her give him the watch, apologize for his tone, say a few nice things. She always came around when he said the right things.

She was still upset, clearly. Not ready to hand it over. That was okay. He could go first.

"I was harsh with you at the store," he said, gentler now. "I'm sorry. Don't be mad."

Elena sighed and looked up at him properly. "I'm not mad."

"Come on. You're obviously mad."

"Think whatever you want."

That irritated him. "I already apologized. Can you not do this right now?"

She went back to folding. "You don't need to apologize."

Julian watched her for a few seconds.

Then, a little awkwardly, he said, "So where is it?"

"Where's what?"

"The gift."

Elena turned and looked at him.

"I saw you," he said. "The watch. You bought it to make up with me, right? I'm standing right here. You can stop playing hard to get. It's not cute anymore."

"Playing hard to get." Elena tilted her head. "When have I ever played hard to get with you, Julian? In three years? I rearranged my call schedule around your dinners. I picked you up at two in the morning whenever you texted. I learned to cook for your stomach."

"That's not what I..."

"So which part was me playing hard to get?"

He didn't have an answer for that, so he skipped it.

Elena laughed. She didn't mean to. It just came out of her.

Julian's brows pulled together. "What's so funny?"

"You are." She set down the scrubs. "Yes, I bought a watch. It isn't for you. And I don't think I did anything wrong today, so I don't know what I'd be apologizing for."

The color climbed up his neck. His hands came out of his pockets and closed into fists.

"It's not for me? Then who's it for?"

"That's none of your business."

"None of my business?" His voice went up. "I'm your boyfriend! You buy another man a gift and it's none of my business?"

Elena looked at him with real curiosity. "I thought you were Bianca's boyfriend."

"Bianca and I aren't like that." It came out fast, without thinking. Then he took a breath and tried again, slower. "Okay. Today. Going to look at rings was my mother's idea. Not a ring for Bianca. For my mother."

Elena waited.

"Bianca made it sound like the ring was for her," she said.

"That's just Bianca. She likes to tease." He waved it off. "My mother bought a new dress for the foundation gala next month, and she says she doesn't have anything to wear with it. She thinks Bianca has a good eye. So she sent us to pick out a whole set. Ring, necklace, earrings, bracelet. All of it."

He rubbed the back of his neck. "I knew you'd gotten the wrong idea. But I was angry, so I didn't explain. I wanted you to be jealous."

"You wanted me to be jealous," Elena repeated. Her voice had gone cold. "So you do know I get jealous."

He had the decency to look away. "I'm sorry."

"Apology received," she said. "Not accepted. And the watch still isn't for you."

"Then who's it for?" He was almost shouting now. "Tell me who it's for!"

Elena picked up the next set of scrubs and folded it in half.

"My fiancé," she said.