At No Time || Bruno Mars

Year 1, 2, 3, & 5

Year 1

The decision to continue living in California was an easy one for Trystan. Georgia, with most of her belongings, her plants, her job, the life she had re-invented, no longer felt like home. Where she had watched Raina take her first steps was not where she wanted to watch her skip out the house ready for preschool. Waking up in bed with a man she merely tolerated or even alone, was not how she wanted to spend her mornings anymore. She wanted to reinvent her life yet again, only this time, with Peter.

She giggled as he did his best to hold back his excitement with her decision. They stayed up the entire night after Raina's beach day, discussing how they were going to move forward.

"I know you've got some stuff to handle before moving back here. How long do you think it'll take? Two weeks?" Peter asked like a child hyper off candy.

Trystan's brows rose in incredulity and she chuckled, "Bruno, it's gonna take me a bit longer than that. It's not just packing—I still have to set up some new things at my job, make sure the guys'll be able to handle the workload there while I get things ready here . . . it's a lot. I was thinking more like two months, if that."

"Damn," Peter mumbled, knowing from business experience that she was right. He had the crutch of having inferiors do a lot of the gritty work for him; he had forgotten what it was like to have to do nearly everything by himself.

"Well, I can help you out to make the process quicker. I can speak to some contractors about getting you an office building out here. That way, you only have to worry about the Georgia branch. I've got some connections with people who would probably be interested for working with Sovereignty, too. Associates are usually wary of working with newer businesses, but once I show them your yearly reports and how much revenue you've pulled in, they'll probably be scrambling to connect with you."

"Really?" Trystan grinned, inwardly noting the pluses of having a man who had so much pull in the business. If Peter were not by her side, it would probably take her years versus months before truly stepping foot in the hectic business world.

"Yeah. You know I got you, Trys. Go back to Georgia and handle your business, and by the time you come back here, you'll have some meetings lined up. I promise."

Trystan did as Peter suggested and went back to Savannah with Raina. They had to fight the child tooth and nail because she did not want to leave Peter behind. "But I don't wanna leave Daddy here; I want him to come with us! Jewel, too!" she would cry, and continuously Trystan had to explain to her that they would be back to rejoin him soon. She finally conceded, but not without Peter's promise of talking to her on the phone every day until she and Trystan returned.

Working things out with her Sovereignty crew was easier than Trystan expected. Jacob was all but ready to take things over in the Georgia branch, having secretly been waiting until he could take more sole control of the company. Trystan had always been privy to that, but warned the man: "Don't screw any of this shit up, Jacob.  Everyone knows I'm usually the voice of reason to stop you from making ill-thought out decisions. If you need help with anything, call me first. I know we butt heads sometimes, but I'll always have this company's best interest at heart."

The cocky man had no other option but to agree; he did not have to fight her. She trusted him to lead things in Savannah, something she would not have just given to anyone. He pushed his glasses up the bridge of his nose and promised he would do his damnedest to keep the company flourishing on the east coast, and Trystan left him with her trust.

The harder parts of Georgia was the moving out of it. Not the finding of a listing agent or even setting up her home for potential buyers to come and view, but the moments when she was alone within it, at night when Raina was asleep, and had to come to terms with the fact she was finally leaving the place she wished to escape.