Page 48 of Not the Billionaire

“Understand what?” Franky looked intrigued.

Sebastian filled him in on the situation, and Franky started laughing and could not stop.

“Hey, come on, cut me some slack,” Sebastian said. “You know my track record with relationships.”

“Oh, man, I’m sorry.” Franky attempted to breathe. “I’ve never known you to get into a situation like this.”

“I know. It was impulsive and sudden and—”

“Stupid,” Skylar inserted.

Sebastian narrowed his eyes at her again.

“So, what’s she like?”

He was sure he got a far off, dreamy look in his eyes when he described her and her personality and the conversations they’d had so far. “She’s spectacular,” he concluded.

“Spectacular? Wow!” Franky nodded and smiled. “You’re in love already, my friend.”

He waved Franky off.

“I haven’t seen you like this in years. Not since your crush on Adelia.”

“Okay, Adelia and I were—and still are—friends.”

Skylar stared at Sebastian with her mouth hanging open. “You had a crush on Adelia?”

“No!” Sebastian laughed, partly to hide the fact that he had. “I was twenty-two, and she was seventeen. Way too young. Plus, I’d never date my sister’s friends. That just seems wrong.”

Something about that made Skylar glance down uncomfortably at the deck.

“Do you talk to Adelia much?” Franky asked Sky.

She looked up at him. “She actually called and left a message in the middle of the night. I don’t know why she can’t remember that California and Michigan are in different time zones.” Sky pulled out her phone then. “I didn’t listen to her message yet. Does that make me a bad friend?”

Franky grinned at her. “Yes.”

She scrunched her nose up at him, but smiled when he bumped her knee with his. When she opened her voicemail to listen to Adelia’s message, the smile on her face quickly faded away as she listened.

“He’s there,” she told them as she hung up.

“Who’s there?” Franky asked.

It dawned on Sebastian who she meant. “Gus is in California? With Adelia?”

Skylar nodded, tears filling her eyes. “I have to tell Mom and Dad.” She stood and started walking toward the house.

“Sky!” Sebastian called after her.

She looked back over her shoulder.

“I told you he’d be okay.”

Her mouth turned up in a little smile, and she brushed away a few tears as she walked inside.

He only hoped that was true.

SIXTEEN

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