As the meeting began to wind down, Michael chided himself for not warning Skylar about Reyna and Eric. While she seemed to be dealing with the surprise well enough, he knew she was a mess inside. Monty had always described his daughter as having a level head when it came to everything except for that boy.
If nothing else, at least Reyna appeared blissfully ignorant of the occasional sidelong glances Eric and Skylar were sneaking at each other whenever she leaned forward. Monty would’ve been kicked back in a chair, arms crossed over his chest and shaking his head over the whole thing.
Michael felt his throat start to close at the thought of his old friend. Monty was the kind of man who always had something kind to say no matter what was going on in his life. Skylar used to take after her father, but recently she turned into a sullen young woman who rarely smiled. When he told her about the one piece of good news after her father’s death, she just looked through him as though he wasn’t even there.
Maybe the old Skylar will come back one of these days, Michael thought to himself as he stood up to rescue her from the others.
“We’ll have to do lunch, Sky,” Trevor insisted.
“You’re ridiculous, Trevor. No one does lunch anymore,” Suzanne snapped.
Reyna locked her arm through Skylar’s. “Back off, you lot of vultures. No one is stealing Sky away from me until this gala is over,” she interrupted, cheerful, as usual.
“Thanks,” Skylar whispered.
Michael clapped his hands to get everyone’s attention. “Okay everyone. I think we all know what to do and I need to get everyone out of here so I can arm the alarms.”
“That’s Michael’s way of telling us his wife made something good for dinner and he wants to get home before it’s too cold to eat,” Reyna told Skylar.
Michael took pleasure in the smile Reyna’s comment caused to appear on Skylar’s face. He noticed when she hung back once everyone exited the building. After he made certain the alarm was armed and the doors were locked, he joined her in the parking lot.
“You should have told me, Michael.”
“I know, but I was afraid you wouldn’t come if I did.”
“You still should have told me.”
“I know.”
“Then why didn’t you? We both know you don’t care whether I help with this or not.”
“Would you have given Reyna a chance if I told you she was seeing Eric?”
“No, probably not.” Emotion broke across her face. “It’s not like I have any reason to be upset about them, but…It’s just harder than I thought it would be to see him again.” She shook her head. “I want to hate her.”
“Reyna’s a good person. She was the one who finally got Eric to cheer up and get back out into the world.”
Skylar smiled. “I said I want to hate her, Michael, not that I do. I spent all evening trying to hate her, but I can’t. She’s just too damn nice. It’s almost like what I used to imagine a little sister would be like.”
“She reminds me a little of your cousin, Alexa.”
“I haven’t seen her in so long, I don’t even remember.”
“Maybe you should plan a trip to California to see her.”
“I don’t know. Maybe one of these days.”
He was pushing too hard. Michael knew that, but he didn’t know when he’d have another opening to talk to her about visiting the last few members of her family who were still alive. “You know your aunt and uncle moved back to the area last year.”
“I know. We were never…close.” She let out a sigh. “That’s a lie. I just can’t stand how pretentious my aunt is. I don’t know how Alexa puts up with her.”
“Well…maybe you could start with your cousin then. You could head out there after the gala and get away from this unpredictable weather.”
Something flashed through her eyes, but it was too dark for him to tell what it was. She cleared her throat. “Um…yeah. If nothing’s going on.”
© 2010, Sydney Katt. All rights reserved. Unauthorized use of content will result in dragon attacks.
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Yep. Skylar really can’t catch a break, can she? I guess the question is whether she likes Reyna enough not to make some kind of a play for Eric or not.
Hope you have a good time.
And yep…everything is about to happen, but it may not be as far along when you get back as you think. Some stuff will be revealed, sure, but probably not the BIG stuff.
J. Nicole Whitten´s last blog ..Psychic Stress Relief
Uh Oh!! What a way to find out the person you feel you like instantly is seeing the one who was susposedly the ‘love of your life’……
I kinda wondered about Reyna and Eric when Reyna introduced him by calling him sweetie, but then I figured that was just how she addressed everybody.
Of course, now I know differently……
Looking forward to heaps of chapters when I return from holidays. I’m not going anywhere all that special. Going interstate to see some friends, then off to hubby’s sisters for her big 5 0. Then the following weekend is my Dads big 7 0, which all of the family is coming together for. Haven’t seen a lot of them for a few years, so it will be nice to catch up. We will be doing a lot of travelling to get to all the places we need to be, and once we get to my parents….no internet!!!! …….so will look forward to all of these wonderful chapters when I get back……xxxxxx
Ps: With regards to the ‘other’ one, it seems as if all is about to happen, or close to it……and I am gonna miss it…..until I get back that is!!! xxxxx
See ya in a few weeks……*hugs*