by Ashley Blake
“Come on, they will love you, you’ll see.”
“Do you think Barbi is here yet?”
“No, she’ll be here tonight.”
“Oh, okay.” I tried to disguise the disappointment in my voice and as much as I hated to admit it, I kind of wished that Barbi was already there because if she were, I would know at least one person besides Jonathan and his parents.
We stepped inside the house and immediately several people that I did not recognize came rushing toward us.
“Jonny! You made it!” A stunning, elegant woman in her mid-twenties with long blonde hair walked toward us and she was so pretty that it was hard for me to stop staring at her. She had a huge smile on her face, wrapped her arms around him in a big bear hug and must have kissed his cheek 10 times. His face was beet red as he tried to pull away.
“Claire, you’re embarrassing me!”
His sister was more beautiful than he had described.
“I know, but I miss you!” She gave him a once over. “You look thin. Are you eating enough?”
He rolled his eyes. “Oh my gosh, yes mom. Okay, okay enough about me, I want you to meet someone.”
Claire turned to me with a huge smile on her face. “I know who this is, Skylar it’s so nice to meet you.” She gave me a big hug and I was instantly put at ease.
“It’s nice to meet you too Claire, Jonathan has told me so much about you and your sister. It must be pretty amazing to be able to dance professionally all over the world.”
“I have to admit it’s not bad!”
We both giggled and I felt an immediate connection to her, she seemed really nice.
“There he is!” A gorgeous clone of Jonathan’s father gave him a huge hug and then smiled at me. “And I think I know who this lovely young lady is.”
“Hi uncle Jake, this is my girlfriend Skylar.” Jonathan was beaming as he introduced me.
I mean, talk about good looks running in the family, his uncle was beautiful!
“It is nice to meet you Skylar, I hope you will excuse the craziness of this weekend. My family can be a bit goofy at times but we’re harmless.” He gave me a quick wink and I could feel my cheeks getting warm. These Hunter men have that sexy, masculine thing down to a science!
We were having a good chuckle when a beautiful older woman joined us. She smiled at me and gave me a hug.
“You must be Skylar, you are simply gorgeous! Jonathan, you described her perfectly.”
I looked over at him and he winked at me as I smiled back at him.
“Sky, this is my aunt Lauren.”
“It’s so nice to meet you Mrs. Hunter.”
“Oh please, call me Lauren.”
“Um, okay.”
Jonathan chimed in next to me. “My uncle Jake and aunt Lauren are super laid back, you’ll see as the weekend progresses.”
“That’s true Skylar, my brother is the much more stuffy one of the two of us, but don’t tell anyone I told you that!”
“What was that I just heard? One of my sons disparaging the other?” A regal, elderly woman slowly walked into the room shaking her fist at him and Jake looked like he reverted to a little boy before my eyes.
“I was just joking mother!” He laughed.
She walked over to us and you could see the love in her eyes as she looked at Jonathan. She reached out and wrapped her arms around him and gave him as big a hug as she could muster.
“Jonathan, it’s good to see you sweetheart.”
“It’s good to see you too Nana Bunny. I’d like for you to meet my girlfriend Skylar Miller.”
She looked at me and immediately smiled at me and then hugged me. “Hello dear, it’s lovely to meet you. Please call me Bunny, okay? Jonathan has told me so much about you and it’s nice to finally meet the girl who has captured my grandson’s heart. I hope you enjoy yourself this weekend, we know it must be difficult to be away from home so we want you to feel at home here.”
“Thank you Bunny, that means a lot to me, and it’s nice to meet you as well.”
I finally started to relax because everyone was so nice to me and didn’t make me feel out of place at all. I was chatting with Jonathan and his aunt Lauren who told me that her kids were coming the next day, when I heard a vaguely familiar male voice echo across the room.
“Abigail, this discussion is over, do you hear me? You are forbidden to see that man again, is that clear?!”
Mr. Hunter’s deep voice boomed at the younger woman who was walking behind him with a full on pout on her face. Jonathan’s mom followed them into the room and I saw her roll her eyes in disgust and glance at Jonathan’s uncle Jake and aunt Lauren. They both had a look of concern on their faces and they walked over to Mrs. Hunter and began speaking in a low voice, but they were so close to where I was standing I could clearly hear their conversation.
“Sarah, what happened?” Lauren sounded very worried.
“They got into a fight and he left her at the side of the road, can you believe that? Anything could have happened to her!”
“I thought Joshua told her to break it off?” Jake sounded just as concerned.
“He did, but she claims that she loves him and can’t live without him. Ugh, I wish he would just go away, he is nothing but trouble!”
“I know, but look at the bright side, at least she’s not pregnant.”
“Bite your tongue!”
Mrs. Hunter’s voice was full volume when she said that and everyone turned to look at her, including me. Her eyes met mine and she instantly smiled and rushed over to hug me.
“Skylar, I’m so happy you made it! Please forgive the rude display a few minutes ago, we had a small emergency to deal with.” She pulled Jonathan into a big hug and kissed his cheek. “Hi darling, I’m glad you made it safely.”
She glanced around the room and I could tell that she was looking for someone. “Speaking of rude display, where is Abigail?” Her question was posed to no one in particular but Mr. Hunter walked over to us to answer her.
“She went to her room to change her clothes and freshen up, she’ll be down in a few minutes.” He gave Jonathan a hug and he turned to look at me and smiled. “Skylar, it’s nice to see you again. Was your flight okay?”
He was so masculine, so handsome, and he had this super confident thing going on, that it was very distracting to look at him. Yep, this is Jonathan in 30 plus years. Somehow I was able to collect my thoughts and put together a coherent sentence.
“Yes, it was wonderful. I have never flown in a private jet before. Thank you for flying me here.”
“You are very welcome my dear, I hope you enjoy your time here this weekend. We are certainly very happy to have you here.” He winked at me and I could feel the warmth flood my cheeks.
Just then I heard heels clicking on the floor and a statuesque brunette, wearing a form fitting, simple black dress and black high heeled boots walked over to Mrs. Hunter. She was pretty but nowhere near as stunning as her twin sister.
“Mom, I can’t find my phone. Do you or daddy have it?”
She didn’t so much as glance in my direction.
“Abigail Hunter, where are your manners? We did not raise you to behave so rudely toward our guests.” Mr. Hunter’s voice was firm and Abigail’s eyes gave me a withering once over and then she plastered a saccharin sweet smile on her face.
“Oh how rude of me, I apologize. Who is this?”
His parents seemed satisfied once they heard her apology and walked over to talk with Bunny, Lauren and Jake, and Jonathan was not pleased and I could see him tense up as he spoke to her.
“Abby, this is my girlfriend Sklyar who I told you about, remember? Sky, this is my sister Abby.”
She slowly gave me a head to toe once over and her cold, dark eyes settled in mine as her lips pulled across her teeth to make a forced smile.
“Oh, right, right, Skylar. Well Sky, it’s nice to meet you.” I don’t know if it was possible for her to sound any less thrilled to meet
me.
Nervous butterflies fluttered in my belly and I could feel my mouth go dry as I tried to speak.
“It’s nice to meet you too Abby. Jonathan has told me so much about you. I was telling your sister I thought it must be pretty awesome to be professional ballerinas.”
“You were, huh?” She glanced over at Claire who was chatting with Lauren and rolled her eyes. “And what did my perfect sister say?”
Whoa, what is going here?
“She agreed that it was awesome.” I glanced at Jonathan and then back at Abby and managed a cautious smile.
“I’ll bet she did.” There was definite snarkiness in that comment.
“Abigail! What is wrong with you?” Jonathan’s irritated voice caught me off guard and I could tell that he was not pleased.
“Nothing Jonny, I’m just getting to know your little friend here.”
“You need an attitude adjustment right now! You’re being rude, now cut it out!”
She cut her eyes toward me and apologized but it just didn’t ring true. “I’m sorry if I was rude Skylar, I had a huge fight with my boyfriend and I’m not in the best mood right now. Can you forgive me?”
The sincerity did not reach her eyes so I didn’t know how to respond her. I decided that the best thing to do was just play along so as not to cause any sort of drama with the entire family there.
I forced a smile. “Of course, I’m just happy that I was able to finally meet you.”
Jonathan seemed satisfied by our exchange so we joined the rest of the family and talked about the plans for the weekend. A few minutes later, Jonathan’s mom showed me to my room which was absolutely gorgeous. I felt like I was in a fancy hotel by the way that everything was set up, I even had my own adjoining bathroom! My bags were already in my room and I started to unzip my suitcase when Mrs. Hunter asked if she could talk to me for a few minutes. Oh no, what have I done wrong? I was terrified of what she was going to say to me.
“Sure.”
“Have a seat next me, Skylar.” She patted the spot next to her on the edge of my bed and I felt a very uncomfortable and scared to death of what she was going to say. Is this where she tells me that I’m not good enough for her son and the only reason I’m there is because he insisted that I join them?
When I looked at her I was able to relax a bit because the look on her face was so gentle and kind. I sat next to her and turned so that I could see her face.
“Skylar, I know that this world we live in can be intimidating because there are so few people in the world that are able to live this way. But I want you to know something, this family is very accepting and what matters most to us is how much we care for one another. Things are just that, things. I didn’t come from this world, I grew up with basically nothing and I worked my way to the top, and it didn’t matter one bit to Joshua that I didn’t have a pedigree. All that mattered was how much we cared for one another, money has never been an issue. I’m telling you this just to let you know that it's what's in your heart that matters to us, not what's in your bank account. I hope I haven't made you uncomfortable with this little talk, that wasn't my intention at all. I really want you to enjoy yourself and feel comfortable while you're here this weekend.”
“Thank you for telling me this Mrs. Hunter because, to be honest, I was feeling very out of place and a bit insecure.”
"There will never be any reason for you to feel that way around us, I just want you to know that. Our son adores you so that means that we adore you, okay?” Her smile was so incredibly genuine and welcoming and I couldn’t help but smile back at her.
“Okay.”
"Alright, I will let you get back to unpacking and when you're done just come on downstairs, we’re going to have hot chocolate and sit by the fire and chat.”
“Okay, I’ll be down in a few minutes.”
She closed the door behind her and I sat on the bed and took it all in for just a minute. I could not believe that I was in a gorgeous mansion in the Hamptons. What? Who really lives like this? It was all so crazy to me and I was going to enjoy every single minute of it.
I heard a light tap on my door which snapped me out of my daydream, and I told the person to come in. Jonathan stood there, beautiful as ever, with a big smile on his face.
“Are you getting settled in okay?”
"Yes, everything is great. Jonathan, this house is so amazing and your mom is so amazing. She had a talk with me a few minutes ago and she really put me at ease.”
“Oh good, I’m glad. What did she want to talk to you about?”
"She just let me know that this wasn't the world that she grew up in and what matters most to your family is how much you all care about each other. This is all so new for me and I'm just not used to being around people who have so much. I know I'm probably starting to sound like a broken record, but it’s true and I was beginning to feel really insecure about it. But she really put me at ease and I feel so much more comfortable now. I think I’m going to really enjoy myself here with you guys this weekend.”
"I hope so Sky. While we’re talking about that, I have to apologize for my sister Abby, she can be a real bitch sometimes and I just didn’t expect her to treat you like that, you didn’t deserve that.”
"Yeah, what was her deal? Your sister Claire was the polar opposite of Abby, she was so sweet to me. I don't think Abby likes me, and she doesn’t even know me!”
"It's not personal, Abby has her issues and has this silly feud with Claire, there's a long-standing sibling rivalry there which has never really been resolved. Claire tries to talk to her but Abby doesn’t seem to want to let her get close. Our parents have even suggested counseling for them but Abby doesn’t want to do it, so they continue to argue but deep down I know that they love each other. At least that’s what I keep telling myself.”
“Wow, heavy.”
"Tell me about it. Anyway, let's not let that ruin our time here this weekend, Abby will just have to get over herself and my mom will see to it that she does. Are you ready to go downstairs and have some delicious hot chocolate?”
“Sure, let’s go.”
Chapter Three
We were sitting around the dinner table when I heard a familiar voice enter the room.
“Hi everyone, sorry I’m so late. I couldn’t fly with Jonathan and Sky so I had to fly commercial and my flight was delayed.”
Barbi strolled in wearing a low cut tight sweater, tight jeans, tall black boots and a mink fur, her blonde extensions flowing down her back. She looked ridiculous.
“Hi Barbi, why did you have to fly commercial?” Abby looked thoroughly concerned at the thought, like the world was ending.
“Jonathan thought it was best that I get my own flight.”
Um, girl, you’re not going to throw him under the bus like that. I surprised myself because I didn’t even hesitate to defend him in front of everyone.
“Barbi, we both know he had his reasons. If you had not tried to break us up, he would have welcomed you on the flight with us, right?” My eyes held hers as she tried to look away.
She looked visibly uncomfortable as she was forced to tell the truth, and all eyes were on her.
She glared at me and then answered me. “Yes, and I apologized for the misunderstanding.” Her glare became even stronger.
We had settled things back in the park that day, but it had not turned into any sort of friendship, not by a long shot. I had tried to give her the benefit of the doubt and I thought she might have had some redeeming qualities, but I wasn’t seeing them and I still didn’t trust the girl and neither did Jonathan.
"Let's be clear Barbi, there was no misunderstanding, you blatantly tried to break us up. But we've already covered that and it's water under the bridge now, so let’s move on.”
I glanced around the table and realized that his family was looking at me with awe and admiration, everyone but Abby, of course.
“Jonny, sweetheart, this girl is a keeper.” Bunny had a big grin
on her face as she winked at Jonathan, and then her look turned to disgust as her eyes landed on Barbi’s outfit.
“Barbara please go change into more appropriate clothing, no one here is interested in seeing your bosom and the outline of your figure.” Bunny did not mince words and I really liked that about her. Jonathan was right when he told me she was the spryest little thing I would ever meet.