Butterflies in Honey (Growing Pains #3)(101)

“What do you think?” he asked from a world away.

In point of fact, he was on the other side of the room messing with the drapes, so he was a world away. A galaxy, even. Krista felt totally out of place.

“Sean…It’s huge!”

“That’s what she said.”

Krista turned and looked at him. His expression was playful, but also looked for approval. She wasn’t so sure she wanted to give it. How would he ever pay for this? Why would he want to?

Seeing that she didn’t think his joke funny, he went on the defensive. “It’s not that bad.”

“You have three guest rooms. Then maybe two more downstairs? In addition to a half-used play room. You’re a single guy. What do you need with all those extra rooms? You only have one sibling. Cripes, Sean, the closet alone…I doubt you’ve walked into half the rooms downstairs, let alone used them. What do you need with all this space? Planning some big parties or something?”

“Well…It won’t always just be me.” Sean was getting uncomfortable.

Krista shouldn’t have been so blunt, but she was literally blown away. Her sensible side was screaming that the house was too expensive. She sat down on the edge of the bed. She needed a second to process.

“I was hoping…I mean, someday I hoped…” Sean took off his jacket and draped it across the couch in front of the fireplace. “I hoped to have a family someday.”

He was bending to light the fireplace—it was gas—and therefore effectively avoiding her gaze.

“How big of a family?” Krista asked sarcastically.

“Truth?” Sean turned to her. He didn’t seem like he heard the sarcasm.

“Uh, sure?”

“I have always wanted two kids, but planned for an oops just in case. Then the kids need a play room. So then downstairs we would need guest rooms. The rest just came with the house so why not dress it up, you know? We have everything we need.”

Krista got a thrill when he kept saying “we.” The thrill pulsated between excitement and fright. Sean was largely planning his life around them getting married. He moved to L.A. with that in mind. And she really wanted that; had always wanted it. She just worried that he wouldn’t make the time for her that he’d promised. She worried that he’d work crazy hours and leave her all alone in this giant house. She didn’t know if she could live as second best to his job—it would kill her.

“I’m not sure what to say,” Krista said quietly.

“Then don’t say anything at all,” he said as he stepped to her, kneeled, gently grabbed her face and kissed her lightly. What he was saying scared her a little, but the feel of his lips were a godsend.

His body pushed her back and into the soft bed. The mattress was fantastic quality. It was like floating on a cloud. She wasn’t done with the questions about the house, though. She resisted slightly and Sean easily rolled to the side.

“How can you possibly afford a house this big, Sean? Family doesn’t constitute eternal debt.”

“I turned thirty a year or so ago.”

Krista waited for more. Maybe a hint, or a pop-up bubble next to his head helping her make sense of his statement. She didn’t get any.

“Uh. Okay. But a lot of families have decent sized houses with plenty of space for two and a half kids. Like Ray, for example. Why all this? And what does thirty have to do with anything? When you’re thirty you are supposed to buy houses you can’t afford?”

Sean looked at her askew. “I thought you knew. Everyone at work—Dexico, I mean—seemed to. I’m a trust fund baby, and thirty is the magic number. Cassie, too. When I was young I thought I would donate it to throw it in my dad’s face, but…well.” Sean gestured around him. “Wait until tomorrow morning. You’ll see why this place was worth it.”

Krista reeled a little from the trust fund stuff, especially since she wanted to ask how much. But that was a gold digger question, which she wasn’t, so she couldn’t; but also…there was no “but also.” She was reeling. Trust fund? She actually knew someone with a trust fund? She was hob-knobbing with a rich kid and never knew it? Kate would laugh herself silly. So would Jasmine. Because if there something none of them were, it was trust fund material.

Sean was trying to read her. Then he must have given up because he said, “Krissy…I love you. You know that. I have since I saw you, which sounds corny, sure, but it is what it is. I don’t have you yet, I know this, but I am going to try and try until I do. Okay? So, yeah, I went crazy and got what I thought might be your dream house. Mine, too. But it’s just a house. If I live the rest of my life pining for you, then I can sell it and buy a hut in the middle of the woods and be a hermit. No big deal.”

“Don’t people get their inheritance when their parents are gone?”

“I’ve told you the story of my parents—how they decided having kids was the pits. Well, my dad has all the money. My mom has a bunch she got when her parents died, but when we were born, that money was still in her parent’s hands, and they hated my dad, so they held onto it. Out of spite, my dad set up a fund for us—Cassie and me—that my mother couldn’t touch. The grounds were that when we hit thirty, we got the moolah. He hoped that by that time, we’d hate our mother and wouldn’t give her any. He must not have thought her parents would ever die. And before you ask, I work as hard as I do because it is not enough to live on for the rest of my life. Plus, screw him.”