Chapter 13

Chapter Thirteen

Elena

Being home for the last couple of days has felt different. My parents didn’t take the news of my moving out too hard, though they didn’t exactly understand why I would want to move out and live with Eliott. When I dropped the bomb that I’m taking a break from college, it did not go down as well. They think I’m throwing away my future for no reason.

I explained to them how, since breaking up with Blake, I’ve had more time to think about my life, and that I’m no longer happy simply being someone’s wife. I want more. Mom cried because she hoped Blake and I would get back together, but I made it very clear that will never happen.

I didn’t tell her how I moved on. Instead, I said I did a lot of soul searching at Eliott’s while I was snowed in. No way would I ever reveal three masked men broke in, broke down all my walls, and made me see there’s more to life than being a wife who stays home and keeps having babies. While there is nothing wrong with that life, if it’s what you choose, it’s not what I want at twenty-one years old. I have my entire future ahead of me.

It’s been strange. I have missed the guys. We’ve been texting a little here and there, but I don’t want to come across as a stage-five clinger—not when I only recently got out of a relationship. I don’t want them to think they were a rebound.

“Lenny, can you come and help me in the kitchen? The Turners will be here any minute.”

Dread fills the pit of my stomach. This will be the first time I’ve seen Blake since he started dating his receptionist, and the first time seeing Codey since he spilled his guts about us sleeping together. Today is going to be awkward. I’m just thankful Ana will be here to help me get through the day.

“Coming,” I say, standing from the lounge and walking into the kitchen, though at a glance I think Mom has it under control.

“I need you to set the snack table. I have everything over there.” She puts the wooden spoon between her teeth and points to an array of snacks she has made that no one will eat. She always cooks way too much food, and we eat leftovers for days. We do nothing by halves. She has a ham cooking, there are ribs somewhere, and I’m pretty sure she has other meats as well.

I take the plates of cookies and gingerbread men out first and place them on the perfectly decorated table. Dad has moved the living room furniture to make room for the extra table Mom has brought in for all the food. The main table is artfully decorated in red, white, and green. You can really tell she put her interior designer brain to work.

The front door opens, and Eliott and Morgan shuffle inside, taking off their jackets and throwing them into the mudroom. Mom is going to have kittens when she goes in there later.

“It’s about time you got here,” I whisper, and Eliott laughs.

“They’re your parents, you had to be here early,” Eliott throws back.

“She was your sister first. Her crazy is about to come out. I’m putting the snacks out slowly so I can avoid her.”

“Where’s your dad?” Morgan asks.

I shrug. “Probably in the basement, drinking already and hiding from Mom.”

Morgan laughs and kisses Eliott on the cheek. “I’m going to give him a hand with the drinking.”

The doorbell rings, and I freeze like a deer in headlights. “Lenny, can you get that?” Mom bellows from the kitchen.

I straighten my blood-red dress, which I know I look hot in. It’s the kind that buttons at the front but stops under my bust, and I have a white long-sleeved top underneath.

Taking a deep breath, I walk to the door and plaster on a fake smile as I open it to the Turners all standing there. Ana pushes through them all and tackle-hugs me, picking me up and spinning me around. We haven’t seen each other since I arrived home, as her boss has worked her to the bone this holiday season.

“You look so fucking cute,” she says, placing me back on my feet.

“It’s good to see you,” Mr. Turner says with a nod, and Mrs. Turner smiles.

“It’s good to see you too,” I reply automatically as everyone makes their way inside. “Dad is in the basement with Morgan, and Mom is in the kitchen.”

They both split off, leaving me, Eliott, Ana, Codey, Blake, and his girlfriend awkwardly standing in the living room.

“You look beautiful as always,” Codey says, pulling me into a hug. “I met someone.”

I pull back and smile up at him. “You did? You need to fill me in as soon as I find some alcohol.”

Blake scoffs. “Don’t you think you’ve been drinking enough lately?”

I turn my gaze to him, and Ana goes to step forward, but I grab her arm. It’s been months since we broke up, and he no longer has the right to be in my business.

“You don’t get to tell me what to do anymore,” I seethe, trying to keep my tone low and even so he can’t hear the wobble in my voice. My heart beats insanely fast and I feel like I might have a damn heart attack until I take a deep breath. “You cheated on me with her, and yet you bring her here to my family’s house and rub it in my face. If I want to drink, I will.”

“We are together now. Of course he would bring me,” the girlfriend snipes, looking directly at me as she says it.

Balling my fists, I inhale deeply, trying my best to be the bigger person. Yet I so desperately want to tell her to enjoy my sloppy seconds.

“Shut up, bitch. No one is talking to you,” Ana snaps. It makes Codey and Eliott laugh, and Blake glares at his sister.

“How about we all act like adults and get through the day? Blake and I have both done things we shouldn’t have, but there is no point in ruining Christmas lunch for others. I’m moving on, and hopefully everyone else can as well.”

Codey wraps an arm around my shoulder and pulls me into his side. “Look at you being the bigger person, and excuse me, but is that a hickey?”

I slap his hand away with a laugh. “So, I might have met someone as well.”

“We definitely need some alcohol,” he says.

“Already on it,” Eliott replies, holding out something Mom made. It’s a fruity cocktail with so much alcohol you would combust if you drank too many.

“Thank you,” I say, taking the drink.

I avoid anywhere Blake is loitering. I might be the bigger person, but it still hurts that although we have known each other our entire lives, he couldn’t give me Christmas—the holiday I enjoy the most. With the breakup being so raw, you would think he would have at least waited until next year, but no such luck.

Mom eventually calls everyone to the living room, where we all open our gifts. I had one for Blake, and I contemplated what I should do with it. He wanted some concert tickets, and I bought them months ago. I could have kept them and taken Ana to be spiteful, but I want to be done with that part of my life.

I hand the envelope to Blake. “Merry Christmas.”

He reaches out and takes it, sliding his finger beneath the seal and pulling out the card. It’s a generic one. I tore the heartfelt, mushy one to pieces and replaced it with this, and his eyes light up when he realizes I got the tickets. Then his stupid girlfriend takes them from him.

“Oh my god, these have been sold out! We are going to have so much fun.”

I bite down on my lip to keep all the snarky comments inside.

“There is one gift left,” Mom says, picking up the box. “It’s for you, Lenny. I wonder who it’s from?”

My gift to Blake was the last one to exchange, so I shrug my shoulders as I take the box. Ripping off the paper, I cautiously open the lid, and I laugh, pulling out a glow mask and Santa hat. It’s nice to know they are thinking of me.

There’s a knock at the door, and my eyes widen as I jump to my feet, dropping the mask and Santa hat. I almost trip over my own feet on my way to the front foyer—I don’t think I have moved so fast in my entire life. Swinging the door open, I find Ford, Zeph, and Taylor standing on the doorstep, each one looking fine as fuck. I snort at Zeph, who’s wearing a Santa hat.

“Merry Christmas, little gift! I hope we’re not intruding,” Ford says.

I throw myself forward, and they close me in between them. “You could never intrude. Mom cooks way too much food, and we live off it for days.”

A throat clears and I turn around to see everyone crowding around the doorway, staring at us.

“Um, I would like you to meet my friends—Ford, Zeph, and Taylor.”

“Apologies for interrupting your day,” Ford says, stepping inside and holding his hand out to my father, who takes it. “Ford Wells, it’s a pleasure to meet you.”

I will have to ask him how he knew that was my father, but I can do it later.

“Ford Wells, as in Wells International?” Blake says.

“That’s the one,” Ford replies, taking my hand in his, and my stomach swirls with butterflies. Zeph and Taylor stand beside us.

“Come in,” my mom says. “We have plenty of food, and we can pull up a few extra chairs from the basement.”

“Blake, be a good man and get some chairs,” my father says, and I have to hold back a laugh.

“Let’s all go sit while Lenny takes her guests’ coats.”

My family clears the entry, and the guys shrug off their coats. I take them into the mudroom, and they follow me inside, the space cramped with four bodies in it.

“It’s good to see you,” Taylor whispers. I drop their coats and turn around, throwing my arms over Taylor’s shoulders.

“It’s so good to see you, but what are you doing here? Don’t you have somewhere you normally spend Christmas?”

“You wanted to have felons show up as your date for Christmas. Plus, well, Zeph did a little digging on your ex, and it turns out he works for a company who relies on my company for business. So I thought, what better way than to have the man who controls his pay sitting right at the dinner table?”

I snort at Ford’s reply.

“And we were kind of hoping you missed us as much as we missed you,” Zeph adds.

“I didn’t want you to think I was a stage-five clinger if I kept messaging you.”

“Little gift, cling away. If it were up to us, we would have you right by our side, and I’d be touching you all day. If anyone is a clinger, it’s one hundred percent me,” Taylor jokes.

“We better get back out there before someone thinks we are banging in here. I’m already not the favorite because of what Codey and I did to Blake.”

Zeph growls. “So there will be five men at the table who you’ve slept with.”

“Yep, that about sums it up. But there are only three men who I would like to sleep with again, sometime very soon.”

Ford takes my hand and pulls me from the room. “If we stay in there, things will happen, and I want to make a good impression on your family.”

“And why would you want to do that, Mr. Wells?”

“All in good time,” he says as all eyes fall on us. I laugh when I see that the three spare chairs are directly opposite Blake, which I’m sure he did on purpose.

I move to sit, and the guys follow suit with Ford to my left beside Codey, Taylor to my right, and Zeph next to him, beside Ana.

“So, what brings you here? Are your families not missing you?” Mrs. Turner asks.

“Actually, Zeph and Taylor are estranged from their families, and my father is somewhere warm with his new girlfriend. My mother is currently on a spiritual journey. When Lenny invited us to dinner, we were not sure if we would be able to make it—being snowed in really put us behind with work. Fortunately, we managed to finish in time and thought we would surprise her.”

“So how did you meet?” my mother asks, and Eliott snorts. I kick his leg under the table.

“We were headed on a holiday for a few days when the storm hit, and we needed to find shelter. Luckily, Lenny helped us out. We will be forever grateful she didn’t slam the door in our faces. I mean, we could have been kidnappers for all she knew, or we could have tied her up and done unspeakable things to her.”

“But they didn’t,” I interject quickly, and Zeph laughs.

I know exactly what Ford is doing, and he looks Blake dead in the eye as he talks.

“Is that a handprint tattoo on your neck?” Blake asks Taylor. I can hear the malice in his tone. Our parents are very conservative, and tattoos are not something they approve of.

“It’s my hand,” Zeph says, smiling.

Everyone fires questions at them, and I’m so glad this all seems to be going reasonably well.

Then, out of nowhere, Blake throws a curveball, and it’s clear he now has some liquid courage.

“So, what, are you dating her now?” The table falls quiet, and Ford places his cutlery down on the table. “You’re old enough to be her father.”

“To answer your first question, no, we’re not dating... yet. But I was hoping to ask Lenny on a date. Call me old-fashioned, but I wanted to meet her parents first and let them know that I... we plan to court their daughter. To answer your second question, maybe I am old enough to be her father, but I most certainly am not her father. To add something else, we actually came here with a job offer for Lenny, and I’m really hoping she accepts.”

“You want to give me a job?” I blurt out. “And you want to date me?”

“We do. You would start as my assistant because I know earning your own money is important to you, and one day a week, Taylor will take you around Wells International and explain what each department does. If any of them appeal to you, I would love to train you up for a position within one. Before you answer, I need you to be aware that just because you know me, it doesn’t give you any special treatment. Ask Zeph and Taylor. They work hard,” he says, squeezing my leg under the table. “But I am fair.”

“I accept both offers,” I say excitedly.

“Hold on a second. So you plan to sleep your way to the top? Maybe you leaving me was a good thing. I dodged a bullet.”

Mrs. Turner squeals as Zeph leans over the table, quick as a flash, and grabs Blake by his shirt.

“I have been trying to behave myself, but now I will have to apologize profusely for my actions. However, a man should never speak to a woman like that, and it’s worse coming from a man who loved her—or claimed to love her. If you really want to know,” Zeph grits out as he releases Blake’s shirt, “Lenny is more than qualified, and she will work as hard as the rest of the team.” He looks around the table, then addresses my parents. “I’m truly sorry for my outburst, but I feel very strongly about your daughter, and I will let no one disrespect her in front of me. That being said, I will understand if you would like me to leave.”

“Nonsense,” my father says. “You did what I should have done. Blake, I have known you since the day you were born, and you have been like a son to me, but if you cannot respect my daughter, then I am going to have to ask you to leave.”

My heart swells at my father’s words and the fact that he stood up for me. He normally sits in the background and agrees with whatever Mom says, but not this time.

The Turners say nothing, but I can tell there will be one uncomfortable conversation between them and my parents.

I don’t know how we will make this work, but I’m excited to give it a shot. I spent so many years with Blake, thinking everything was perfect, but that blew up in my face. Now I want to take the risk and see where it leads me. Could I end up right back where I started? Sure, but at least I will have tried. And with the way my three men are looking at me, I know I have been a very bad girl. I think tonight might end with Daddy bending me over his knee while Zeph and Taylor watch.

Merry Christmas to me.

The end.

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