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“I hope and pray everything goes well.”
“So do I. Andre and his mother have been apart for far too long.” Rose ate a piece of croissant. “The wedding was absolutely lovely, wasn’t it? Skye was such a beautiful bride.”
Benicio nodded his agreement. “She was. I’m glad she’s officially part of the family now. Thank goodness Ethan had the good sense not to lose her.”
“Agreed,” Rose said, a sad little smile touching her lips.
Mierda. He’d said the wrong thing because he was the fool who hadn’t had enough sense not to lose his wife.
He made a big show of examining the croissant. “I had forgotten how delicious these things are,” he said, to break the tension in the air.
“Rodolfo got the recipe from that place we went to in France. Do you remember, where we stayed in the Loire Valley? It was ages ago, but the location was heaven.” She sighed.
He noted the nostalgic smile on her face, and his heart became heavy again. “That was a nice trip. We should go back.”
Rose laughed. “We should.” She took a sip of wine.
Her tone and dismissive laugh made it plain that she didn’t take him seriously.
“I’m not kidding. We should go back.”
She pursed her lips, her expression indulgently amused. “The two of us?”
“Yes.”
“Ben.”
“I’m not just saying that.” Benicio placed his glass and croissant on the tray. He made direct eye contact with her, and the smile disappeared from her face.
“Oh.” She looked genuinely shocked.
“Do you want to?” Benicio held his breath.
“No, I…” She shrugged.
“You obviously want to.”
“I didn’t say that to guilt you into anything, Ben.”
“I don’t feel guilty. I want to take you back there.”
“A year hasn’t passed since we visited Greece, and you want to take another vacation?” She sounded skeptical.
“Why not?”
She studied him in the ensuing silence, a frown line creasing her brow. Slowly, she placed her food on the tray and dusted crumbs from her hands. “We’re not a couple.”
“We don’t have to be a couple to take a trip together. We’re friends, we get along, and friends can take trips together.”
“I don’t think it’s a good idea,” Rose said quietly.
“Why not?”
“You know why not.”
“No, tell me. Tell me why we can’t go on a trip to a place we both enjoyed and had a wonderful time. Because we’re not married? We don’t have to be married.”
“It would muddy the waters, and you know that.”
