Her hair is long and platinum blonde now. She has the barest hint of makeup on, the most noticeable being the mascara that coats her long lashes, making her blue eyes stand out. She’s wearing a stunning black dress, but unlike mine, hers is glorious. It’s the kind of dress only certain women can wear, and I know for a fact that it probably cost a few grand.
“Oh, this?” Leandra notices me noticing her stunning outfit. “It’s from the boutique I run. You should check it out. I’ll give you a card. Come down any day. Granny says you make the prettiest jewelry. I have a spot if you’d like to sell.” She winks at me. “Or maybe you’d trade me a few unique pieces for a few dresses? We could share and work together.”
“Ugh, clothes,” Taylen says, wrinkling his nose. He pokes Leandra in the shoulder with his finger like he used to do when they were much younger. I remember how annoyed it always made her, and sure enough, her lips curl up in a snarl. “It’s always about clothes with her. Clothes are her life.”
“Yeah, dumbass…” Leandra quickly covers her mouth and looks around for Milo, but Granny is across the room with him, listening intently to something he’s telling her. “I mean dumbbutt.” She rolls her eyes. “I went to design school, and now I own my own store. How are clothes not supposed to be my life when I make a living thanks to them?”
“I…yeah. That’s right. Just like jewelry is mine.”
“I’m glad you stuck with that. You always had the best things. I remember you made this necklace once, the one that hung down to your belly button and had all those glass beads…Do you still have that?”
I nod. “It was one of the first ones I made. It wasn’t very good.”
Leandra gasps. “But I loved it! If you think it wasn’t good, your pieces must be crazy good now!” Her eyes fall to the opal necklace I’m wearing, then fly to my ears. “Oh wow! Those are yours, aren’t they? Holy hot dogs! I love them.” She grabs my arm. “I know you’re here for pleasure, and by pleasure, I mean not business…” She skirts her gaze over to her oldest brother, then whispers in my ear, “Thank you for giving him another chance. I mean, not him, and not like romantically, but thank you for this, for Milo. It means the world to him. I’m so happy that you came into his life right now. He really, really could use this. Everyone could see he was in a rut, just working all the time. He was lonely, but you know Toren. He’d never admit it. He always said he was fine. As if “fine” is supposed to be a good thing. But anyway, what was I saying? Oh yes. Pleasure, you, Toren…I mean, not you and Toren. Anyhow, you have to talk to me about letting me sell some of your pieces. It would be great. Or really, I could trade you the most fabulous clothes…”
Leandra steers me away from the guys, who are closing ranks in their own tighter circle. Ellis rushes off to the kitchen, giving them all dirty looks, probably to protect the cake in there or to see about what we might be having to eat or drink.
I get led to the chaise lounge in the living room, which is Leandra’s favorite piece of furniture. Ash’s house still kind of looks the same, even though it’s been five years. I guess antique pieces only become more antique as time goes on. He wanted his furniture to match the house and antiquey in itself, though it does have modern updates throughout, especially in the kitchen.
I know Ash received a lot of flack for his modern kitchen and the way the brick was covered up in parts of the house, but he made up for it with the furniture, which is all old and impressive. Some of it looks like it might have come all the way from some castle or other, which according to Milo, really does fit the house.
However, the best feature is still the staircase going up to the second floor. It’s made of wrought iron, and it’s fancy with lots of charm. It definitely looks very castle-ish.
I sit down on the chaise beside Leandra and only half-listen to her details about doing business together. Normally, I’d be totally tuned into this as it would be a great opportunity to have my stuff in someone else’s boutique. I can only imagine how many more orders I would get and how much more traffic to the website and even the store there’ll be. Yeah, normally, I’d be tuned in, but right now, my brain is still burning over what she said about Toren.