“Hi, Jesse,” I said with a forced smile when he walked over to me. He was wearing basketball shorts and a baggy tee. He seemed like he had come back from playing ball and bullying kids by the look of his grin on his face.
It’s not like he was a bad person. He was good—sometimes. But he was not a good boyfriend.
He checked me out, and I wondered why I ever found his dull eyes attractive. Sean’s dark eyes were mesmerizing, even when he was not looking at me. His hairstyle was definitely better than Jesse, and the way he dressed?—
Stop comparing them.
“Marie didn’t tell me you were coming,” he said and kept looking at my jeans and tee shirt. “You look good.”
“Thanks,” I replied dryly.
He nodded at the suitcase and asked, “You coming back? Left the city of dreams?”
“That’s New York.”Dumbass, I added in my head. “I live in LA.” I tried to say it proudly, raising my chin, but I failed.
“Whatever, who cares?” He scoffed and ran a hand through his mussed hair. “Glad you’re back, though. We should hang sometime.”
“Why?” I clutched the strap of my handbag tighter, wanting to end the conversation and meet my mom.
He frowned and crowded my space by leaning closer. “What do you mean why, Chels?” I cringed at the stupid nickname he had given me. When we were dating, I had found it adoring, but now it made me want to puke. “We were a thing. We have a past. I’m going to see you again.”
He wasn’t asking, he was ordering me. I stared at him. Sean ordered me too, but why did I find it hot when he did it but wanted to punch Jesse when he did the same?
I opened my mouth to snap at him, but someone stepped behind me. I smelled the scent of familiar masculine cologne.
“She’s not going to ‘hang’ with you, kid,” Sean’s deep voice made my stomach flutter and I looked over my shoulder to find him glaring at my ex. He glanced at me and his eyes softened. “Right, Chelsea?”
I nodded, blinking at him and wondering,What the hell is he doing here in front of my house?
Shit, that was his car!
“Who the fuck are you?” Jesse asked, and I didn’t turn to face him when Sean picked up the heavy suitcase in one hand and took my purse in the other without any effort.
He’s my Daddy. I thought proudly, looking between them and pursed my lips. While Jesse wore baseball shorts, Sean, in a suit and shiny shoes, seemed significantly taller and hotter.
“You don’t talk like that in front of a lady,” Sean said, looking down at him. “You should wash your mouth with soap,kid.” Sean pinned his eyes on me and said, “Come on.”
I followed him without glancing back at my ex. I knew that he wanted to call me Princess.
“What are you doing here?” I whispered when he opened the door to my mom’s house as if he owned it and walked right in.
It smelled like home, with the smell of old books and a hint of vanilla. My eyes roamed over the photos of our childhood on the hallway wall until I heard her voice.
“Sean, I found the album—oh, hi, honey!”
My mom found Sean keeping the suitcase down and me in the living room as she held her old album in her hands. She looked the same, and I was glad to see her healthy and smiling. Her blond hair had a touch of gray, but her blue eyes were still beaming with her youthful energy.
“Mom, I missed you,” I beamed and reached her for a hug. She enveloped me in her arms, and I smelled the familiar scent of bread, warmth and vanilla essence. She smelled like home and all the sweet things she’d bake for me.
“My sweet sunflower, I missed you so much!” She said and pulled away to cup my cheeks and touch my hair. “Still as beautiful as ever!”
I giggled and blushed at my mom’s compliment. I looked over at Sean and back at her. “You know Sean?”
She had called him by first name. I wanted to know how they knew each other. What he was doing at my mom’s house in the first place?
She squeezed my hand and looked at him. My smile wavered when I glanced between the two and the strange closed off look on Sean’s face.
“Sean was my high-school boyfriend,” she said happily, my smile freezing. “We were theitcouple back then, weren’t we, Sean?”
