Book Two - It Should Have Been Us

Chapter Thirteen Page One

{James’ POV}

Hey, you wanna talk about it? Nadine sitting next to me.

The party’s over. Everyone left – well, almost everyone. The guys – Ivan, Bret, Henz, and Sam all went up to the entertainment room to play videogames; Yassi and Andre are sleeping over in the guestroom, and Ash is practically family so she’s staying over too. Reese retired early and he’s sleeping in Jack’s room tonight.

It’s a good thing we hired caterers for this. Less clutter to clear. I gulped from my beer.

Hmmm. Dodging I see. Fine. I won’t ask. She sipped from her wine glass.

We settled into companionable silence for a moment. Just drinking quietly while watching the reflection the light makes on the pool.

Si Paulo?

Umuwi na. Aki has another party to attend to tomorrow. He needs to get him to LJ and Paolo’s place early.

Hmmm. Their name plays in my head and I couldn’t keep myself from chuckling.

What? Nadine looked at me like I’m crazy.

Wala. Just the names. LJ replacing Paulo with Paolo. It sounds funny haha.

Right. Coming from the guy who replaced Nadz with a Nath. She smirked.

I laughed a humorless laugh at that. She’s right.

Thank you by the way.

Hmmm? I glanced at her as I sipped from the bottle.

I’ve never had this much fun in years. And Reese was in cloud nine. He loved all your friends.

They’re your friends too. I looked at her. And you’re welcome. Besides, all this (motioning around us) is all Lauren and Yassi and the guys really.

Still. I’m sure it was your money they spent and you let them use the place. She looked around. Actually, trashed the place more like.

I chuckled. First off. This is technically our house not just mine. I bought it under our names. Second, I’m still married to you – legally at least, and we don’t have a prenup, which means you own exactly half of whatever I own including my money by the way.

Fine. Thank you pa rin.

I had a great time myself. I smiled at her.

Really?

What? You don’t believe me?

Hmmmm. Then she just looked at me.

What?

Nothing. I knew there was more to it. But for some reason she wouldn’t tell me. I chose to ignore it. But after a few beats of silence, I couldn’t take it anymore.

Tell me.

We’re friends right? I mean as friends as we can get…

Yes.
And I mean it. I think if anything came of this arrangement, it’s that we have a bit of the friendship back.

And friends tell each other when they have problems yeah?