MVP (VIP Book 3) (29 page)

They were due to arrive any minute and I was a nervous wreck. I had mentally tried to prepare myself over the last two weeks, but the more I thought about it, the worse it got. I wanted her to like me. How asinine is that? I fucking stole her husband. I was literally the whore that took him away from her. I never once thought about her feelings when I was sleeping with her husband for a year, and here I am hoping that she cares about mine.

I waited in the kitchen and made sure that all the food was perfectly placed on the island. I had my chef prepare some authentic island food and then displayed it nicely for them. I hoped they were hungry. I had spent the last two days cleaning the house from top to bottom and made sure that the guestroom was immaculate. Christian’s bedroom was finished and I decked it out with everything he said he liked during Christmas.

When Sebastian suggested to Julia that they stay with us, she jumped right on it. She said she thought it was a great idea and it would give us time to get to know each other and show Christian that we could all be a family. I’m not going to lie, it gave me anxiety that she was being so nice. I couldn’t help but be reminded of Madam always saying to keep your friends close and your enemies closer, maybe that’s what she was trying to do, or maybe that’s what I was trying to do.

I heard the garage door open and I took one last look around, and then at myself in the mirror. I dressed in a maxi dress with some wedges.

“Dad! Wow! Your house is huge!” Christian yelled, walking in with everyone following.

Chance immediately darted toward them, jumping all over Julia’s white dress.

Shit!

“Chance!” I scolded. “Get down!”

She waved me off. “Oh no, don’t worry about it; we have a dog, too. It’s fine.”

Christian got down to his level and Chance licked him all over his face, making him laugh.

“I’m sorry, he has no manners. Sebastian’s always telling me I need to discipline him more, I guess he’s right,” I embarrassingly justified.

She kindly smiled at me, and I thought for a second I saw something behind her eyes, but just as fast as it appeared, it was gone.

“Wow! That’s a lot of food. It’s beautiful, Ysabelle, where did you buy all those serving trays?” she asked, looking it all over.

“I actually got them online. I do a lot of online shopping; it’s easier for me. The bar and Sebastian keep me busy.”

She nodded. “Oh yes, I remember needy Sebastian.”

I raised my eyebrows, feeling somewhat uncomfortable.

“Is this what you guys are going to do the entire time?” Sebastian asked, laughing.

“Awe! Sebby,” she sympathized, patting his back and looking back at me. “He’s very sensitive. I’m sure you already know that.”

I shyly smiled. “Yeah,” I lied.

“Can I see my room?” Christian chimed in.

“Of course,” I replied. “Come on.”

They all followed me toward his room, admiring the house as they went.

“This is really beautiful. Sebastian has finally found someone who loves the water as much as he does. He wanted to decorate our house with all this Caribbean feel.”

I smiled, feeling a bit more relaxed.

“This is your room,” I announced, standing aside so everyone could walk in.

“Wow! This looks awesome. Dad, you did a great job.”

“Actually, bud, this was all Ysabelle.”

Julia looked at me with glossy eyes and it surprised me. “Thank you,” she said with sincerity.

“It’s not a problem. I remember him saying all the stuff he liked in Colorado, I have a good memory.”

“You didn’t have to do all this. Thank you so much for including Christian in your home.”

“Of course,” I replied.

“Christian, what do you say?” she scolded.

He walked over to me and smiled. “Thank you.”

I gave them a tour of the house while Ysabelle got dinner ready. She said she had to warm up some of the food that was brought over earlier.

“This is quite a house you got here, Sebastian,” Anthony stated, looking at the water from the lanai. Julia was unpacking in the guestroom.

I handed him a beer.

“Thanks, I can’t really take credit for it. Ysabelle picked out the house.”

“She has good taste,” he said, taking a sip of his beverage.

“She does.”

“How do you like living on the island?”

“I love it. It’s great. I’m living the dream, you know?”

“Yeah, although I doubt I could ever get Julia to move somewhere like this.”

I chuckled. “Good luck with that. I used to have a hard time getting her to go in the water.”

“I really admire how you guys are handling this whole co-parenting thing. You know most divorced people fuck everything up for each other. I’m a divorce attorney so I would know.”

“Right…Julia had said something about that.”

“It’s admirable, man, seriously. I respect it.”

“I appreciate that. We seem to have a good grasp on it so far. It’s been fairly easy. How are you guys doing?”

“Can’t complain. She’s a great woman.”

“She is. You’re a lucky man.”

I heard someone clear their throat and we turned around to find Ysabelle standing there. She looked sad and I didn’t understand why, but she quickly smiled, trying to hide the fact that I noticed it.

“Dinner’s ready.”

We sat at the table. Ysabelle was being overly quiet and I never wanted to know what she was thinking as badly as I did at that moment.

“Dad, when can you take us out on the boat?”

“Oh my God! If I hear about this boat one more time, Sebby, I’m going to kill myself,” Julia dramatically claimed. “That’s all he talks about, isn’t it Anthony?”

“She’s right, he’s a bit obsessed.”

“He really is your child, he’s more and more like you every day. I’m just going to start calling him Baby Sebastian.”

“Mom.” He rolled his eyes. “I’m not a baby.”

“You’ll always be my baby.” She blew him a kiss. “I’m serious, though; do you remember that thing you used to do when we were kids? You know what I’m talking about, right?”

I snapped my tongue in my mouth, making the sound that used to annoy the hell out of her.

“Yes! That! He does it, Sebastian! I don’t know where he would learn it? You haven’t done it since Olivia—” She looked right over at Ysabelle and I followed.

The look on her face was unrecognizable. I had never seen it before and it worried me that I couldn’t read her.

Where was my girl?

She casually smiled. “You were saying?”

Julia shook her head. “Never mind.”

“So, man, tell me about this boat that I keep hearing about?” Anthony asked, clearing the air.

I grabbed her hand under the table and she let me, squeezing it back in reassurance.

“Sebastian, go hang out with the guys, Ysabelle and I can clean up,” Julia suggested.

Please don’t make me look bad…

“Ysa, you okay with that?” he asked, looking over at me.

Damn it.

“Why wouldn’t I be?” I nonchalantly responded.

“See! Go!” she insisted, patting his chest.

Dinner was eye opening to say the least. They shared so much of their lives together, as children and now as adults. It was hard to watch the familiarity of the way they spoke and acted around each other. I thought I knew him pretty well, but I realized that I barely knew anything. She had his past, and in a way, she would have his future, too. Christian tied them together for life, and part of me knew that it wasn’t just Christian. There’s this history between them that I will never be able to touch or even come close to, realizing that was a brutal awakening. They shared a love for each other that I couldn’t begin to understand.

“Ysabelle,” she said, taking me away from my thoughts.

“Yeah, I’m sorry, did I zone out?”

She smiled. “Yeah, you okay?”

I nodded, grabbing the plates off the table. “Thanks for helping me clean up, but you don’t have to; I can handle it.”

“Oh no, I know what it’s like to have to clean up by myself.”

Of course, you did. You had him first.

“Sebastian tells me that your bar is amazing. That’s inspiring that you started it from nothing.”

“It wasn’t really that hard. Tropical Island, vacation spot, alcohol, food, girls…it brings them in the door.”

“Your bar was voted top three places to visit in the Caribbean–that’s not nothing.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right,” I responded, loading the dishwasher.

I was confused when I saw her look under the sink.

“Do you have any cleaning supplies so I can clean off the table?”

“Oh yeah…umm…I keep them in the laundry room…but yeah, I should probably keep them under the sink. It would probably make it easier for cleaning the kitchen.”

She smiled. “I’ll go get it.”

Way to go, Ysabelle, you don’t even know where to put cleaning supplies. This is why Sebastian thinks that Anthony is a lucky man.

“Did it take you long to find this house?” she questioned as she wiped down the table.

“It’s actually pretty random. His parents were looking at properties and we sort of stumbled upon this house.”

“Oh, that’s right, Mom did tell me that.”

“Your mom?” I asked without thinking.

Her eyes caught mine and she looked like a deer in headlights. “No…I mean Sebastian’s mom, I'm just so used to calling her
Mom
. We’ve been calling each other’s parents
Mom
and
Dad
since we were kids. It’s silly really.” She lowered her gaze to the table, continuing to wipe it down and I returned to loading the dishwasher as if I didn’t feel like I just took a bullet. “It’s a beautiful house. It must have cost a small fortune.”

“It did but we split it so it would have been a lot worse if it was all on him,” I informed, wanting her to see that I wasn’t a gold digger, that I had my own money.

“Oh…and Sebastian was okay with that?”