“He won’t be tied up with the house forever. Have you tried helping him?”
Stella had a big heart but no real life skills. She grew up with a butler and maid, and sometimes it showed.
“Of course I did. I might be spoiled, but I’m not lazy. The stubborn mule won’t even let me touch a paintbrush. Apparently he doesn’t trust me because last time I tried to help, I set the house on fire.”
“While you used a paintbrush?” I asked, wondering how she managed to start a fire with paint.
“No, while I was making dinner. I burned the eggs.”
Luca had now moved on to taking everything Lena threw out the window back inside the playhouse. He was getting more and more agitated when she wouldn’t stop, and I knew I had only about thirty seconds left before they would start fighting.
“How do you start a fire when you burn eggs?”
“Forgot they were on the stove and they burned to a crisp. Then the pan got really hot and started catching fire.”
Wow. I had nothing. Absolutely nothing. “I’m impressed. That’s quite the feat.”
“Mason didn’t think so. And now I’m not allowed to do anything anymore.”
“Maybe that’s for the best,” I said, snickering.
“Shut up. Some friend you are.”
I remembered why I called and asked, “You didn’t happen to leave a few things in my yard, did you?”
“I haven’t been there since I watched the kids last time. Why?”
“Nothing, all good.”
Luca was shouting at Lena to stop messing up his house, and I made my way over. “Honey, I have to go. But we’ll talk tomorrow, okay?”
“See you then,” she said.
“Bye,” I said and took the small pot off Luca, who was lifting it to throw at his sister.
I herded the kids back inside, our progress resembling a zigzag rather than the straight line I was hoping for. “Let’s see what we can find for dinner.”
When Lena started wailing whenever Luca got too close to her, I knew I needed a distraction while I made dinner.
“How about you guys hide, and I’ll find you,” I said, pulling pasta out of the cupboard.
The kids ran off to hide, and I counted to forty before I looked for them. It gave me enough time to put the water on and start the sauce.
It only took four times of hiding before dinner was almost ready. As long as I continued counting, they usually stayed hidden. Not my finest parenting moment, but it worked.
Dinner was quiet compared to how we’d spent the last two nights. How could I miss the guys after only having met them a few days ago?
The kids kept asking why the guys weren’t eating dinner with us. When they were finally in bed, I went to the kitchen, ready to take some time and wallow in self-pity. Tomorrow I’d pick myself back up and pretend I was fine. But I’d allow myself one night of ice cream and chocolate liqueur debauchery.
I decided tonight was a four-scoop-and-five-shots kind of emergency situation. After adding bits of crushed chocolate to my boozy dessert, I jumped up to sit on the counter and dig in.
I was only three spoonfuls into my pity parade when a key turned in the front door and it opened.
Sebastian appeared in the entry to the kitchen, looking like an angry god with his stormy eyes and wild hair. “Is this how you’re going to play this? Have your fun, take a walk on the wild side, and then disappear without a word once you got what you wanted?”
“How dare you say that to me, you… you… you banana-sucking turd,” I said, my voice barely controlled, my body shaking. I wasn’t the one who’d done something wrong.
I took measured breaths in and out, willing my hands to stop shaking and my heart rate to return to normal. I braced my hands on the sink and hung my head.
“Why did you leave without a word?” he asked, his big boots appearing in my line of sight.
I didn’t lift my head, worried I’d do something embarrassing if I looked at him, like drizzle him in the rest of my chocolate liqueur and then slowly lick it off.
“Was everything a lie?” I asked his shoes.
He shifted his weight but didn’t step closer. “What do you mean?”
His voice was hesitant, all the earlier anger gone.
“Did I ever mean anything more to you than a way to get closer to Jim?” I asked, my voice steady despite my inner turmoil.
“Baby, what happened between the time I left you last night to this morning?” he said, his voice soft.
It took everything in me to lift my head and meet his eyes. The intensity of all that was Sebastian hit me and sucked all the anger out of me, leaving only devastation behind. A fist took hold of my heart and squeezed.
I sucked in a breath and studied his masculine features, drinking them in like it would be the last time I’d ever look at him. “It’s okay, you don’t have to answer the question. I know I was only a means to an end.”
His hand came around my neck and turned me around so we were facing each other. “That’s bullshit and you know it.”
I shook him off and put space between us. “I heard you.”
His face blanched. “What do you mean?”
Not wanting to go back and forth, I tried a different line. “You lied to me.”
One of his hands went to his hip, and he looked down at the ground before focusing his attention back at me. “I never lied. I might not have told you everything, but I never lied.”
The fist around my heart tightened. “Lying by omission is as bad as the actual lie. You made me believe you liked me.” My voice broke, and I studied my nails. I’d painted them a dark maroon last night, a color I usually loved but right now couldn’t stand
