chapter 32
Sebastian
“HERE IT IS,” I SAY, pushing the door open and stepping back so Remi can walk past me. “Mi casa es su casa.”
She eases by me, still smelling of lemon despite her plane flight here and the burritos we ate in the Raptor, and I almost reach out to glide my fingers through her long glossy hair, as if to make sure she’s not an illusion.
Because Remi is here. In Cali. In my house.
Pretty sure this is actually a dream.
Remi slips her sneakers off and leaves them by the door, then pads down the short hallway into the sunlit living room, where she pauses.
“Wow,” she whispers as I walk up behind her, carrying her bag and suitcase.
“What do you think?” I ask.
She glances up at me, her blue eyes bright in the sunlight coming through the big glass doors that lead out onto the lower patio, with an in-ground swimming pool and a beautiful ocean view in the distance. Her lips turn up in one corner.
“This is ridiculous,” she says, moving to the glass doors and pulling them open. “Who actually lives like this?” As the doors slide aside, the ocean breeze throws her hair back, and her eyes flutter closed for a moment as she takes a deep breath. “I can smell the ocean from here.”
I set her carry-on and suitcase down, then join her in the open doorway, one of my arms slipping around her shoulders. “We can go to the beach if you want.”
“Yes,” she says emphatically, looking up at me with a big smile. “I’d love that.”
“Sweet. We can bring the boards. You ever try surfing?”
She shakes her head. “No. But I’ve always wanted to.”
“You’ll be great at it. It’s like skateboarding . . . kind of.”
“I’m surprised you’re any good at it, then.” Giving me a playful smirk, she pokes me in the stomach, then slips out from beneath my arm, stepping barefoot onto the patio.
“Ouch,” I say as I follow behind her, laughing lightly.
Remi dips one toe into the pool, making the water ripple. Then she goes to the fence surrounding my patio, putting her hands on it and looking out at the ocean in the distance, the water shimmering blue under the sunlight.
It takes my breath away, seeing my desert girl staring out at the ocean I love so much. I’ve pictured her here so many times, have wondered what she’d look like under the California sun, and now that she’s finally here, it almost doesn’t feel real. Like it’s too good to be true.
I shake my head, trying to remind myself that I’m not in a dream, then step up at the fence beside her. “What else do you wanna do while you’re here?”
She shrugs. “I don’t know. Walk around LA, maybe. Get good food.”
“We can do that.” I turn, leaning back against the fence. “Would you maybe wanna . . . meet my friends?”
Remi’s eyes widen just a bit. “Do they want to meet me?”
My smile is easy and immediate. “Of course they do. They’ve been bugging me about you for weeks. And Dex and Nora invited us over to their place for dinner tomorrow, after the show. No pressure though. We don’t have to go if you’d rather—”
“That sounds great.” She gets a small smile and shakes her head, and it makes me wonder what she’s thinking. Then she adds, “Riley’s going to lose her mind when I tell her I got to meet LGC. She’s already so jealous I’m here for a show.”
“I can get the guys to sign something for her,” I offer.
Remi bumps her elbow lightly against mine. “She’d love that. Thanks, Seb.”
“Anything for you, baby.”
She rolls her eyes at the little nickname, then turns away from the ocean view and says, “Okay, show me the rest of this monstrosity.” With one hand, she gestures back at my house. “How many bedrooms does it have, anyway?”
“Five,” I say. “I use one as my bedroom, then two as a music room and a weight room.”
“And what about the last two? What are those for?”
My shoulders rise with a shrug, and I find that I can’t hold her gaze as I say, “They’re empty. I was thinking maybe, if I have a family someday, they could . . . be my kids’ rooms.”
A pause settles between us. The hedges and palm trees lining the property rustle in the cool breeze coming off the ocean, and when I glance at Remi, I find that she’s still staring up at my house, her long black hair shifting in the air.
Then, softly, she says, “Those would be some lucky kids.”
My lips curve up. “I hope so.”
She shoots me a playful smirk. “You’d spoil the shit out of them, wouldn’t you?”
Now I’m laughing, the weird weight I felt lifting from my shoulders. “Hell yeah I would. They’d be little shits for sure.”
She laughs, then starts back toward the house. “Well, come on. Let’s finish our tour. I don’t want to get lost.”
I let my gaze drift across the house one last time, thinking of those empty rooms, picturing Remi moving through them, her smile catching the sunlight, her figure silhouetted in golden sun. And I think of that little desire I’ve always had to fill this space with a family.
I push that thought down, then follow Remi back into the living room to give her the rest of the tour.