No fool, Amber knew there was more going on, but she wasn’t willing to try to pry it out of Willa in this setting, so she merely agreed.
Before Willa walked away she asked Amber if she’d seen Sky and Pete. “They’re on the patio with Nina,” she answered.
Willa walked toward the patio with the wine in hand. The sight that greeted her stopped her in her tracks. Pete, Sky, and Nina were sitting at one of the tables, playing cards. They looked very comfortable together, and Willa experienced a jolt of jealousy she didn’t expect. Shit, she thought, this is not good. Making her way outside, she approached quietly, attempting to make out the conversation and gauge any attraction between Pete and Sky. But as soon as Pete saw her, his eyes lit up. She could see it, and the jealousy evaporated. Thankfully. He looked at her with questions in his eyes, but she smiled to put him at ease.
“Hey, Nee, Granny wants you,” Willa announced.
As they had just finished their game, her timing was perfect.
“OK,” Nina said, jumping up from the table and running inside.
“Does she walk anywhere?” Sky murmured, watching her.
“No,” Pete and Willa answered at the same time.
They all laughed.
“What’s up?” asked Pete.
Willa sighed. “I need you both. I just talked to Lex, and he’s come to some decisions that he wants me to present to Lu.” At Pete’s quizzical look, she sat down heavily in the chair. “I can only imagine he was speaking to me as her lawyer, but I can’t be sure. If he wanted a diplomat, he would have asked for you,” she said, reaching across and taking his hand.
Pete nodded his head. “Maybe he didn’t want to have to face me with his ideas,” Pete said, knowing his brother well. “Will I be disappointed in him when I hear this?”
Willa looked away, not sure how to answer. Shrugging her shoulders, she barreled forward. “The fucker’s giving her six months to get everything together to move to England. He says he can’t see any other solution. Selfish ass!”
Sky reacted first. “You can’t be serious. She’s just supposed to pick up everything and move over there. What about her life here?”
Pete remained quiet. Willa watched him, waiting for his reaction. She wanted, expected him to react to the audacity of Lex’s plan. But the longer he stayed quiet, the more she began to fear that his reaction wasn’t going to be what she wanted.
“Pete?”
“I don’t know, Willa.”
“What don’t you know?” she said, knowing that his contemplation meant he agreed with Lex’s position.
“It’s not such a bad idea,” he answered.
She pulled her hand away from his.
Reaching for her, he said, “Don’t … Don’t …” while he attempted to reestablish their connection.
Willa stubbornly refused to acknowledge his plea.
Knowing he wasn’t winning this right now, he chose not to argue with her. “What do you want from us?” he asked, looking towards Sky.
“I want you to be with me when I talk to Lu.”
Pete felt the pull—the loyalty to his brother, the desire for Willa. Struggling against the tide of his conflicting feelings, he braced himself for the force of Willa’s anger. He winced. “I don’t think I should be there, Willa.”
She’d known he was going to say that, but it hurt nonetheless. She didn’t even look at him. Turning to Sky, she silently waited for her answer.
“Of course,” Sky said, “I only have one horse in this race.”
Willa looked at her gratefully while Pete flinched. Not even acknowledging his presence, Willa rose from the table, waited for Sky to join her, and went off to talk to her sister. Pete leaned his head back on the chair, frustrated. As much as he wanted Willa, he didn’t think they would be able to do this with the gulf widening between their families. Equal parts thankful and regret-filled, he thought of his decision not to sleep with her last night and wondered if it was the best or worst decision he’d ever made.
Willa and Sky found Lu at the computer in Amber and Chris’s office going through email.
“Anything interesting?” Willa asked as she put three glasses on the coffee table, pulled out the corkscrew, and opened the wine.
“Just some feedback from my professor on my dissertation.”
“Did you and Lex ever get around to discussing your work?”
Lu turned away from the computer and walked toward them. Sitting on the floor, she thought over their conversations. “No, it never really came up.”
“He wasn’t curious about what you were doing with your life?” This struck Willa as odd and annoyed her.