The Teacher's Billionaire

by Christina Tetreault

  Chapter 14

  The electric blue Lamborghini she parked next to told her someone besides Warren and Elizabeth was there. Callie just couldn’t see either of them driving the over-the-top car. The black Bentley farther down in the garage was more their style.

  She dismissed Dylan as its possible owner. It wasn’t his style either. He leaned more toward the classy and subtle. There was nothing subtle about an electric blue Lamborghini. That meant it could be Sara’s or Jake’s—or worse, another guest.

  “Please don’t let it be Sara’s,” she said, turning off the engine. She couldn’t deal with Sara right now.

  On second thought, maybe another guest wouldn’t be the worst thing. If the car belonged to Jake and he turned out to be anything like his sister, the next several days would be torturous.

  Get moving. She wasn’t going to learn anything by sitting there. “Lucky, I’m starting to wish I could stay with you in the kennel.” With a sigh, she opened her car door.

  Before pulling into the garage, she’d stopped at the kennel and dropped Lucky off. The kennel was attached to what Warren called a stable, although calling it that seemed wrong. It was nicer than her apartment. The kennel too was like none she’d seen before. It consisted of both outdoor and indoor areas. Inside there was a sofa, as well as central air and music, of all things. The outside area was fenced in and included a small child-sized in ground pool for the dog to use. Warren had told her the kennel had been designed for Sara’s dogs. For some reason, Callie couldn’t picture her half-sister as a dog lover.

  Popping open her trunk, Callie reached for her suitcase.

  “Don’t worry about those. Paul can bring them up to the house for you,” a male voice called out behind her.

  Startled, Callie spun around and came face to face with a much younger version of Warren. Even if she hadn’t seen pictures of him, there would be no mistaking who this was.

  Jake. So much for no other relatives being around this weekend.

  “Dad is having lunch served in the Tea House for a change. I’m heading down there,” Jake explained, his voice friendly. Welcoming, actually.

  Lunch in the Tea House? He made it sound like it was something everyone did. In his world, they do, Callie reminded herself. “Okay.” Really, what else could she say?

  They walked in silence at first. Unsure of her half-brother’s feelings toward her, Callie decided the less she said, the better. While he hadn’t displayed any hatred like his sister, that didn’t mean he was happy about her existence. It just meant he was more mature about the situation.

  “Sorry I missed you last time you were here,” Jake said, breaking the silence. “I meant to get here, but things got really busy.” He sounded so sincere that Callie couldn’t help but believe him.

  Too bad Dylan hadn’t been too busy. She suspected she’d started to fall for him that very weekend. No thoughts of Dylan allowed today.

  “No problem. It was...” Callie paused, searching for the right words. That weekend had been so many things. “… overwhelming with everyone else here,” she finally finished.

  Jake laughed. “I can imagine.”

  Callie could now see the Tea House. She didn’t know how she could have missed it before. It was perched overlooking the ocean, and the building looked as if it had been taken directly from China and placed here.

  “Wow. When you said Tea House, you really meant it.”

  Abruptly, Jake stopped. “My...I guess I should say, our great-grandmother loved Chinese architecture. She had carpenters from China brought here to build it.”

  His mini-history lesson didn’t surprise her. Those with the means were known for going to great lengths to get exactly what they wanted. “It’s beautiful,” she said, taking a step forward. “We probably shouldn’t keep them waiting.”

  Jake shrugged nonchalantly, reminding her so much of Dylan. “Dad’s used to me being late. If I was ever on time, he’d probably have a heart attack.” He paused for a minute. “Callie, I know you and Sara didn’t hit it off,” he said, his voice taking on a more serious tone.

  She smirked before answering. “Now that’s an understatement.”

  “She’ll come around eventually.”

  Callie was glad he didn’t try to make any excuses for his sister.

  “But I wanted you to know I’m glad you’re here.” Looking a little uncomfortable with the discussion, he continued on. “If you need anything, let me know. We’re family now, sis.” The way he said sis lightened the atmosphere and made her smile.

  She’d always wanted a sibling. Maybe after all this time, she would finally have one.

  “So you’re all right with this whole situation?”

  “It happened a long time ago, before Dad even met my mom,” he answered. “I’m just glad you’re a woman. One older brother is more than enough,” he finished with a boyish smile very similar to Dylan’s. Throwing an arm around her shoulders, he started walking again. “Now let’s go eat, I’m starving.”

  For the first time since her initial meeting with her father, some of the anxiety about being a part of this family melted. At least someone else besides Warren wanted her there. It was better than nothing.

  Stop feeling sorry for yourself. Relax and try to enjoy your time here.

  The inside of the Tea House was just as lavish as the interior of Cliff House. Not that it surprised Callie one bit. Walking into the small structure, she actually felt as if she’d just stepped into a teahouse in China.

  “Callie, it’s wonderful to see you,” Warren said, coming to his feet as soon as she and Jake entered. Without a moment’s hesitation, he hugged her and dropped a kiss on her check. “And I see you’ve already met Jake.”

  Warren pulled a chair out for her. Memories of Dylan doing exactly the same thing for her on countless occasions flooded her mind.

  She really needed to do a better job of not thinking about him.

  “He surprised us and showed up last night.”

  Lost in her own thoughts, it took Callie a moment to realize Warren referred to Jake, who now sat next to her.

  Please don’t let there be any other surprise guests this weekend. One surprise was enough.

  Reaching for her water glass, Callie took a sip, content to sit and listen to the conversation around her. It wasn’t like she had anything to add to it anyway. They were talking about politics and the campaign.

  “Marty said you did a fantastic job in New York and Ohio, Jake. Our poll numbers among voters under thirty took a definite jump.”

  Callie choked on her water at the mention of Marty Phillips. Overcome by a coughing fit, the water in the glass she held sloshed over the sides and all over her shirt.

  Jake pried the glass out of her hand. “Are you okay?”

  Still coughing, Callie could only nod yes until it stopped. “It just went down the wrong way. I’m fine,” she answered once she could speak again.

  “Are you sure?” Warren asked, sounding concerned.

  Heat climbed up her neck and she wished the floor would swallow her up. Somehow, she managed a nod.

  “Do you want to go up and change?” Elizabeth asked, eying Callie’s wet shirt.

  Callie thought the older woman had been looking at her oddly since she walked in, and so far, Elizabeth hadn’t really said much to her.

  Does she know? Her father might not know about Dylan’s little arrangement with the campaign advisor, but that didn’t mean his wife was also in the dark. More importantly, did Elizabeth know how involved she and Dylan had been?

  Please don’t let her know. A burst of pain and anger exploded in her heart. How she wanted to hate him. Unfortunately, even as angry as she was with Dylan, she just couldn’t. Callie hated herself instead. She should have known better.

  “We don’t mind waiting,” Elizabeth continued to say, pulling Callie out of her own thoughts.

  “I’m okay. It’s just a little water. It’ll dry.”

  Elizabeth let the matt
er go. The conversation quickly returned to some upcoming campaign stops Warren was making that month. With only a few months remaining until the election, this would most likely be his last time off until November.

  During the meal, Callie ate in silence, perfectly happy to listen to the conversation around her. She wasn’t big into politics. She followed it enough in the news to know the basics of what was going on and to make an informed decision at the polls, but aside from that, it held little interest to her. Yet she did find this insider’s view into the campaign fascinating.

  “Dylan wants to know if we want to have dinner next week when we are in Connecticut,” Elizabeth said, changing the topic.

  The saltshaker in Callie’s hand slipped through her fingers, crashing into the center of her plate. Three sets of eyes turned on her.

  “Sorry, it slipped,” Callie muttered, looking down at her plate.

  Next to her, Jake started a new conversation with his father, but Callie still felt someone’s eyes on her. Looking up, she meet Elizabeth’s steely gray stare. Her eyes were the exact same shade as Dylan’s.

  Hell, she knows. She knows everything. Callie couldn’t explain it. Yet, she was positive Elizabeth Sherbrooke knew everything from Dylan’s agreement with Phillips to the fact that she and Dylan had slept together.

  Great. Just great. This weekend is going downhill fast.