Don't be ridiculous, Michelle. He's not your man. You have no right to be jealous,I tell myself, but for some reason, it doesn't work.
She's beautiful: long dark hair, big brown eyes with long lashes, chiseled cheekbones. Her long legs in tight skinny jeans with a high waist seem endless. She's approximately a head taller than I am but skinnier.
She doesn't look like the women Christopher usually dates—fake Barbies with pumped lips and silicon breasts. She's not even wearing makeup.
"Christopher!" A little girl, approximately six years old, enters the hotel and runs to Christopher. He steps aside from the woman, grabs this girl into his arms, and then starts spinning her around the hallway. The little girl giggles, and it looks so cute and funny that I smile, too.
"Hi," the woman says, and then I realize that she’s talking to me.
"Oh, hi," I say awkwardly, extending a hand to her. "I'm..."
"I'm sorry, I completely forgot to introduce you," Christopher interrupts and comes closer. "This little angel distracted me." He plants a kiss on the cheek of the little girl and sets her down on the ground.
"I missed you," the girl tells him, and it's too sweet to be believed.
"I missed you too, pumpkin." He smiles at her and turns to face us. "Michelle, this is my sister, Celeste, and her daughter Abigail."
Celeste. That's the name of his new hotel, the one we're standing in right now. I didn't know it was named in his sister's honor. I didn't even know he had a sister. No wonder I thought she was his ex-girlfriend.
I smile, realizing that I just exhaled with relief as he said it. I hope no one noticed.
"Celeste, this is Michelle." Christopher takes a look at his sister. "My...interior designer."
"It's so nice to meet you," Celeste says with a smile and, instead of shaking my hand, she leans in for a hug. "I've heard so much about you."
He told her about me?
"Yes, because Michelle designed this hotel,yourhotel," he clarifies, and it sounds weird as if he’s stopping her from saying more.
"Your hotel?" I ask with surprise, and Celeste laughs. "I didn't know that! I didn't even know that Christopher had a sister. I only knew about Conor."
Conor is Christopher's younger brother and his right hand. They work together every day, but I’ve only met him a couple of times, and each time Christopher didn't let us have a proper conversation, constantly reminding us that we were at work.
"Yeah, sometimes he forgets about me." Celeste puffs out her lips, pretending to be offended.
"That's not true; you visited only two weeks ago," Christopher justifies himself.
"Yes! The best trip! I want to go to New York again!" Abigail says suddenly, and we all laugh, probably because of her positive energy. She's so cute.
"Anytime, pumpkin," he says, looking at her and gently petting her long chocolate hair.
"You spoil her," Celeste says to her brother, even though her smile tells me otherwise.
I've never seen Christopher like this before. For some reason, I thought he didn't like kids. Maybe it's because I’ve only seen him at work, and he's so strict with his employees.
I wonder if they had been visiting the weekend when he told me he was busy and canceled our meeting. I thought it was unusual since we meet every Saturday for lunch to discuss project designs. But now I know why.
"Anyway, I'm glad that you're finally home," Celeste says after a long pause. "I know you're here for work, but I'm counting on you for Sunday dinner." And then she faces me. "Both of you."
"I don't know," I say uncertainly. I don't want to interfere with their family reunion. "I thought maybe..."
"Of course, we'll be there," Christopher interrupts me. "Both of us."
"Yay!" Abigail screams and gives her uncle another hug.
I'm gonna kill this man someday.
Chapter Eight