“Wow,” I exclaim. “I never thought I’d talk to you about this without you threatening to harass whoever I plan to date.”
Sebastian shrugs. “Things change. Maybe we did too.”
“And he seems like a decent guy,” Logan adds. “We checked him out.”
I giggle. “Of course you did.”
“We’re doing business with him, so he probably checked us too,” Logan says.
For the hundredth time, the door bursts open, and Christopher sticks his head in. “Okay, freaky family council over. We need all of you out here to start this party properly.”
Recognizing defeat, the three of us leave the room. Max waits beside Christopher. Taking advantage of the opportunity, I wiggle myself between the twins and take each one by the arm.
“What are your plans for the next few weeks?” I ask them.
“We have quite a bit of work, but we’re planning to spend some time with Mom and Dad at the ranch,” Christopher answers. My parents decided to turn the ranch Sebastian gifted them into a B&B and are now busy overseeing renovations there. The ranch is about an hour away from where they currently live, so they commute every day.
“Make sure Dad isn’t overworking himself, thinking he’s still in his twenties,” Max adds.
“That’s a great idea,” I say.
; Dad is micromanaging everything, but that’s because he built that ranch with his own hands. “So, Christopher, when can I expect you to follow in Max’s footsteps and return to San Francisco?”
“No idea,” he says.
“We have to talk Christopher into changing his mind,” I tell Max, then drop my voice to a conspiratorial whisper, acting as if Christopher isn’t with us. “What do you think? Simple persuasion techniques or blackmailing?”
“Sentimental or actual blackmail?” Max asks. “I have some dirt on him.”
We launch into a debate on the merits of each tactic until Christopher gets fed up with us and says, “Hey, I’m right here.”
I love my family.
Chapter Six
Eric
Julie woke me up at seven o’clock today, dragging me to the zoo and a shopping mall. We arrive back home shortly after one o’clock. I carry Julie’s shopping bags in her room, which looks as if a hurricane swept through it. Clothes lie everywhere, along with sketches and shoes. It looked like that this morning too, but I hadn’t had enough coffee in my system to admonish her for it.
Before I even open my mouth, Julie dutifully starts picking up her clothes, folding them neatly like I’ve shown her a hundred times.
“What are you doing?” I ask her. Usually, I have to negotiate with her for at least ten minutes to convince her to clean up.
“I want my room to be clean when Pippa sees it. If she likes it, maybe she’ll come again.”
Something catches in my throat. “You want her to come again?”
“Yeah. She’s cool. I can talk to her about stuff like girls do with their moms.”
Her words stab me. “Sweetheart, you can talk to me about anything.”
Julie sighs, peering at me. “Not everything. It doesn’t work like that.” The pseudo lipstick Pippa bought her lies on her desk. My daughter didn’t even contest Pippa’s explanation.
“Okay. Need help?”
She shakes her head. “Go make the rest of the house pretty for Pippa.”