Xeni Read online

  “This isn’t about my ego. I genuinely want to know. If you had a shit time, please tell me. Critique me. I want notes.”

  “You want notes?”

  “If you have notes. I want ’em.”

  “Ugh. I’d love to crush your spirit right now because there’s nothing I love more than putting a man in his place, but I have no notes. You made a bitch greedy for more. Happy now?”

  “Yes, I am.”

  “Uh huh.” She opened the fridge and pulled out a pitcher filled with ice water and lemon slices. “Water?”

  Mason moved closer, taking the pitcher out of her hand. He pulled her to him, cupping her beautiful cheeks in his hands. Her brown skin was practically glowing.

  She rolled her eyes and groaned, but didn’t stop herself from settling against his stomach. Her fingers lightly stroked his back.

  “When you have to go, go,” Mason said. “But while you’re here…”

  “Oh, we fucking, I know. Beeteedubs, it’s tomorrow. You said you would tell me what’s going on with this debt of yours tomorrow.” Just then, the doorbell rang.

  “I’ll tell you everything tonight. Have dinner with me?”

  Xeni was quiet for a moment, but she didn’t step away. “I’ll think about it, okay?”

  “Okay.” She let him kiss her on the lips, then went to answer the door.

  10

  Xeni was trying her best to play hostess, but even after Mr. Barber, Ms. Jordan and Bess were settled around her aunt’s large kitchen table with the refreshments Xeni had prepared, she felt like her skin was trying to relocate to another country without the rest of her vital parts. All at once, she was anxious to get this process over with and dreading the reality of taking on her aunt’s estate. Her brain couldn’t process other stuff at the moment, like what had happened the night of her birth or little pesky facts, like who her real father was.

  It didn’t help that Mason was in the room. She tried to shove the time they’d spent together out of her mind, but that wasn’t happening. She’d been thinking about him since she’d woken up alone in his bed, surrounded by his scent. Her stomach had tied in little knots when she realized he’d brought her car over from Liz’s house. A trek across the farm would have been adequate penance for their wedding night booty call. Things had gotten a little out of hand and, unfortunately, Mason was now her bright spot. She could feel all types of ways about her mom, her aunts, the money, even the secrets she was keeping from her friends, but one thing was clear. She was desperately attracted to her new husband. The way he touched her, the way he made her feel? Xeni felt high from it and, if she knew herself, that feeling could only go wrong.

  She waited until Mr. Barber was settled at the kitchen table before shoving the necessary paperwork in his face.

  “Here’s the marriage certificate.” She’d stopped herself from cussing Deborah out when she stopped by the clerk’s office to pick it up that morning.

  “They threw together a fun party,” Bess said, offering Xeni a genuine smile. It was a fun party. Didn’t make the reality of the situation any less fucked up. She was legally married to a man she barely knew and she couldn’t wait to get under him again.

  “Why don’t we get Mason squared away first?” Mr. Barber suggested. “Then let him get on with his day.”

  Mason looked over at Xeni, waiting for her to give the go ahead. “Yeah, of course. I think I’m going to have to set up the pull-out for Ms. Jordan anyway, if my stuff takes as long as I think it will. You get started.”

  Xeni wanted to get up and go pace in her aunt’s garden, but she needed to stick around. This was part of Mason’s truth. Part of Sable’s plan. She sat quietly as Ms. Jordan recapped the details of his inheritance and Mr. Barber gave him various pieces of paperwork to sign.

  “Can I have a portion of this transferred directly into another account?” he asked.

  “Yes, if you have all the proper routing information,” Ms. Jordan replied.

  “I have it right here.” Mason opened the folder he’d brought with him and slid a bank transfer slip across the table. He’d already filled most of the information out.

  Ms. Jordan looked everything over. “It’s after business hours in Scotland right now, but I can initiate the transfer in the morning. It should go through Tuesday morning our time, at the latest.”

  “That’d be fine.”

  “Just confirming the amount,” Ms. Barber turned the paper back to Mason and pointed to the amount with the tip of her pen.

  “Yes, forty-seven thousand dollars, US.”

  “To Jameson McInroy.”

  “Correct.”

  “Okay, thank you. The remaining balance will be transferred to your account. Unless you have any more questions for us, you’re all set.”

  “No more questions from me, but I have your information if anything comes up.”

  “You do.”

  “We don’t have to discuss it today, Mr. Barber, but if you have time soon or can refer us to another attorney who might handle this, I’d like to sit down with you and Xeni and discuss post-nuptial terms,” Mason said as he stood up from the kitchen table.“When we dissolve the marriage, I just want to make sure there’s nothing legal that says she has to share any more of the estate with me.”

  “We can definitely do that.”

  “Excellent. Well, I’ll be going.” Xeni was still a bit in shock from his offer. Not that she thought Mason would try and take half of everything that wasn’t even officially hers yet, but she didn’t know him that well. Clearly, money made people do crazy things, and thanks to Aunt Sable’s ridiculous terms, he was well within his rights to take Xeni to the cleaners when she eventually filed for divorce. She appreciated that he was doing what he could to protect her.

  She cleared her throat when she realized she’d been gazing at him a moment too long. She stood and motioned toward the door. “Here, let me walk you out.”

  He gathered up his things, saying goodbye to the rest of Aunt Sable’s legal dream team, then followed Xeni back through the house. When they stepped out onto the small porch, Mason turned to her, crowding her personal space again. She wanted to hate the overfamiliarity, the closeness, but she couldn’t. Mason reached up and smoothed the pad of his thumb down the side of her neck. A shiver ran over her. “Do you want me to stay? I’ve heard I’m very good at offering emotional support.”

  “No, but thank you for asking. I feel like there’s more bullshit that I’m not ready to hear and I just—I know me. It’s better if I have a little while to process on my own.”

  Mason glanced at his watch. “Let me come back at six and make you dinner. I’ll feed them too if they’re still here. One less thing for you to worry about.”

  Xeni didn’t want him to go to the trouble, but she knew it was foolish to turn down the offer. She had the massive, newly remodeled kitchen. He knew how to cook. Having him back for dinner was just good sense.

  “Okay, I would appreciate that. Thank you. Oh, I don’t know if I told you, but—”

  “No meat, but seafood’s acceptable. Liz told me.”

  “Right. I’ll see you at six.”

  They both stood there for a moment, looking at each other. Mason didn’t turn to get back in his truck and Xeni didn’t hightail it back into the safety of the house. Not that she needed protecting from him. No, she needed to stop herself from letting this go on longer than it already had. They could talk. They could share a meal. She was definitely going to sleep with him, but this thing between them? It wasn’t a pulsing heat. It was starting to feel like warmth, comfort, and she knew her emotions were too muddled to handle it like an adult. She forced her gaze away from his and took a step back.

  “Six,” she said.

  “I’ll see you then.”

  Xeni’s head was spinning. She’d spent hours going over everything with Mr. Barber and Ms. Jordan. She was grateful to have Bess there to hold her hand. All Xeni could think over and over again was how her aunt could have
possibly kept all of this from her family and why her family had kept so much information from Xeni. She wanted to know why her aunt had dumped it all in her lap. There were the two houses to deal with and the liquid assets—she double checked what that meant—her stocks and investments. What scared Xeni were the music publishing rights. Ms. Jordan gave her the information for a Martin Hooper who actually handled everything for her aunt. She’d call him in a few days, but she was terrified of what he would tell her.

  Finally at five, Ms. Jordan called it quits. “I have to get back to the city, but call me if you need anything and Monday we can go over any questions you have.”

  “I will and I’ll give you a call anyway after I meet with the realtor.” Ms. Jordan had given her opinion on what the best move would be with her aunt’s properties, but she didn’t know much about either local market, so Xeni was handed off to the next expert. She thanked Mr. Barber and Ms. Jordan as they rushed off so Ms. Jordan could jump back into bumper-to-bumper traffic on her way back in Manhattan. Bess hung back.

  “You’re doing great,” she said once they were alone.

  Xeni sagged against the counter. “You think so?”

  “This is overwhelming as hell and part of me wishes I could go back in time and talk some sense into Sister Sable, but we’re here now.”

  “Yes, we are.”

  “Take it. All of it. Don’t be afraid to embrace this blessing, even though it feels like too much right now.”

  “I will. Would you like to stay for dinner? Mason is coming back over to cook.”

  Bess smirked as she hoisted her bag over her shoulder. “Do you need a chaperone?”

  “No. I just figured if Mason was already planning to cook, you could stay and enjoy the meal as a thank you.”

  “No, I have to get home and make sure I see Sydney’s face before she tries to disappear with her friends for the weekend. Maybe another time.”

  “Okay.” Xeni walked Miss Bess to the door and they said their goodbyes.

  When she was gone, Xeni dug into her contacts and pulled up her Aunt Hazel’s number. They weren’t close, even though they should have been. Her grandmother had started having kids so early, still in her teens. She’d taken a break, then had four more kids. As a result, Xeni was actually older than her Aunt Hazel, the baby of the bunch. Xeni’s mom had always treated her like a child and after a while it had put a strain on their relationship. It was a strange dynamic, but Hazel had always been nice to Xeni, even when she wasn’t getting along with her mom. It took Xeni a few tries to get the wording right, but eventually she finished drafting the text and sent it off to her aunt.

  * * *

  Hi Aunt Hazel.

  Sorry to bother you.

  I need to ask one of your sisters

  some questions about Aunt Sable.

  Who has the most information

  and is likely to give me the least push back?

  She responded right away.

  Hi Baby.

  You need to speak to your Aunt Alice.

  Thank you.

  No problem.

  Don’t be afraid to call me if you

  need anything else.

  I will.

  Xeni thought about waiting, especially with Mason on his way over, but she wanted to at least try to get her Aunt Alice on the phone. The oldest of the Everly sisters, Alice was a retired backup vocalist, living in their grandmother’s Victorian mansion. Even though there was a pretty good chance she was busy, Xeni risked the call anyway.

  “Hello?”

  “Aunt Alice? It’s Xeni.”

  “Couldn’t get a word in edgewise with your mother, so you decided to call me?”

  Shock closed Xeni’s throat before she could respond. “I—”

  “It’s fine. She called me all in a huff yesterday. So, you know?”

  “I—I know that Aunt Sable is my real mother. Is there more?” Please don’t let there be more.

  “No, that’s about the sum of it. Listen, your mother and Sable could never get it right. They were fighting since the day Sable was born and then, after Sable’s titties came in, it was like they were at war with each other day and night.”

  “So, how did she end up giving up her baby to the person she hated the most?”

  “Who said anything about hate? This is what you only children don’t understand. You don’t know what it’s like to share your life with a sister. And you sure as hell don’t know what it’s like to share your life with seven of them. My momma had eight girls, Xendria. You can’t understand what that bond was like. So yeah, we’re at each other’s throats sometimes, but there’s nothing we wouldn’t do for each other.”

  Xeni closed her eyes. Her mom and her Aunt Alice were very different people, but just like all of the Everly sisters, her Aunt Alice sure knew how to get worked up on a tangent.

  “I just want to know what happened.”

  “Sable got pregnant. The label wanted her to go solo. They told her to get rid of the baby, of you, but she wouldn’t. So, your mother agreed to take you.”

  “Okay, well, that sounds simple enough, but why not tell me? Why spend years of their lives fighting? Why wait until now to drop this in my lap?”

  “Well, it’s hard to stop people from doing shit when they’re dead,” Alice said bluntly. “We all agreed not to tell you because we wanted you to have a normal life. The Everly Sisters was done. We all decided we were going our separate ways. Me, Janice and your mother were done with that side of show biz and none of us wanted you raised in it. Before you were born, we all sat down, your grandmother and Grandpa Sandy too. We all agreed. Sable would go on with her career and Joyce would give you a normal, stable childhood.”

  “So what changed? Why the fighting?”

  “Sable did. Every few years, she’d come back and want to take you, but she had no plan. She wanted to pull you out of school. Move you around the world. There was a tentative plan to turn you into a child actor. She regretted her decision, which we all understood, but she wanted to throw your life into chaos to make up for it. Finally, your mom and your Aunt Janice put their foot down and said they’d take her to court on child neglect claims if she tried to fight for you.”

  “Jesus.”

  “Yeah, it was a little extreme, if you ask me, and I wasn’t sure they actually had a leg to stand on since she was your real mother after all, but the threat was enough. Sable changed her tune and said she didn’t want you anyway. She didn’t mean it,” Alice rushed to say. “She was trying to hurt your mother, but you know sometimes when things get heated and people say things they can’t take back. Then she doubled down and went out and bought our publishing rights from our old label. If she still has them, I suppose they’re yours now.”

  Xeni let her head drop. Her mother was going to fucking freak. That catalog had to be worth a lot of money and Xeni couldn’t imagine the kinds of royalties their Christmas hit ‘Love You Like Christmas Morning’ alone was pulling in. It made a resurgence every damn year.

  “How are you so calm about this?” Xeni asked.

  “Your aunt kicked out a share of the royalties for a few of the tracks and the rest isn’t my business. You were loved and you were safe. Your school was paid for, we got you into your first apartment. You have a great job now. I couldn’t stop those two from going at each other, so I got out of the way. If I had thought, if we had thought, you were in danger, you know we would have stepped in.”

  “I know.” Xeni’s family was a fucking mess, but there was always a line. Yeah, she didn’t have sisters, but that same bond still existed with her cousins. Even when they drifted, they always had each other’s backs.

  “I don’t agree with things either of them did, but I do wish they had both shut up and just loved each other, because now Sable’s gone and we’re not getting her back.” Xeni closed her eyes, feeling like a grade-A dick. Her family, they were all still grieving. She wanted answers, but maybe this could all wait.

  “I’m so
rry, Aunt Alice. I didn’t mean to upset you.”

  “You didn’t. You just have to remember our time is limited. It’s silly to waste your time being angry at people you’re supposed to love.”

  “You’re right.”

  “I hate to leave you like this, but I have to go get my friend from the doctors.”

  “Of course. Thank you.”

  “You can call me anytime.”

  “I know. Thank you. Oh, Aunt Alice. One more thing. Did Aunt Sable ever tell you anything about my dad?”

  “Oh, we all knew your dad. Orlando. He was a studio musician. Handsome devil. He died before Sable knew she was pregnant.”

  “What happened?”

  “Fist fight at the airport, of all places. Other guy landed a hard punch the wrong way and your dad passed away.”

  Xeni let out another painful sigh before she thanked her aunt.

  “Dante loves you like his own, Xeni. That’s more than something.”

  “I know. Go pick up your friend. I’ll talk to you when I get back.”

  “Come on by and see me. It’s been a while since you’ve been over.” They’d seen each other during her aunt’s homegoing, but she was right. Xeni hadn’t been to Pasadena in ages.

  “I promise I will.”

  Xeni ended the call then sent her mom a text.

  Hey mommy. Just checking in.

  Everything’s going fine.

  I’ll call you and Daddy tomorrow. XP

  Okay. Thanks for texting

  Love you, baby. XM

  They needed to talk, but Xeni had a feeling she wouldn’t be able to do it over the phone. She needed time to process and gather her own thoughts. Her Aunt Alice was right about how precious life was and how little time they had to spend it together, but that realization didn’t make Xeni any less human.

  She needed time to set some of the anger and the hurt aside. She felt like a pawn and a mistake. She thought back to the times she’d spent alone with Sable. The snide comments her aunt had made about her mother, how Xeni had chalked them up to Sable being the cool aunt with no man and no kids tying her down. So cool, there was no way her mom could understand her. How would have Xeni acted if she’d known the truth? Did it even matter now?