Surprisingly, through all of this, Barbi didn't really say very much and I don't know if it was because she was on my side or she just didn’t want to get in middle of it. In any event, I decided that I was going to have fun with Jonathan and the family members that did like me.
We pulled up to the rink a few minutes later and I was amazed at how enormous it was. When we got inside the area where you rent skates, Jonathan’s parents and his aunt Lauren and uncle Jake were already there. Bunny stayed behind at the house to prepare her special dessert. The family’s personal chef and his team were preparing our Thanksgiving dinner so no one had to worry about cooking anything.
We got our skates and were lacing up when Barbi started flirting with a guy who was taking a break from skating. That left me, Jonathan, Claire and Abby to skate together. We decided to tem up in pairs and race each other around the rink. Abby insisted on skating with Jonathan since she hadn’t seen him in so long, so I skated with Claire, which was fine by me.
We all decided to warm up for a few minutes before we started our race so Claire and I chatted while we casually skated around the rink.
"So things seemed pretty serious with you and my brother, I'm happy to see that he met someone who is so nice. My family really likes you Skylar and that means a lot because they can be kind of harsh if they think someone is not right for one of us.”
“Things are pretty serious I guess and I’m so happy that your family likes me, well, except Abby seems to not care for me.”
She waved her hand in the air to dismiss what I was saying. "Oh please, don't even think twice about Abby, she has her own stuff that she’s dealing with and I promise you it’s not personal toward you. Her loser boyfriend broke up with her last night and kicked her out of the car by the side of the road. My parents have been begging her to break it off with him and are threatening to cut her off if she doesn't. Hopefully this is the end of him and we won't see him anymore. But really, don't worry, it's not you.”
I felt a little bit relieved to hear her say that but it still didn’t help that Abby was so nasty to me every time I saw her.
“What about you? Do you have a boyfriend?”
"A huge smile spread across her face as she answered me. "I do, his name is Keegan, and he will be here later today to join us for Thanksgiving dinner. I can’t wait for the rest of the family to meet him.”
“How long have you been dating him?”
“It will be a year and a half next week.”
“Oh, cool.”
“So, what’s the deal with you and Barbi?” Claire raised an eyebrow as she glanced at me.
“Barbi and I have a bit of history so I have to admit that I find it difficult to be anything more than just cordial toward her.”
“What happened with you two anyway? That was a weird exchange between you two last night.”
“She has not been happy about me and Jonathan from the second we first got together. She tried to break us up and it almost worked. I found her in his bed and it looked like she was na**d but it turns out she had clothes on under the covers but wanted me to think she was naked. When Jonathan confronted her about it she said she did it for the attention and she felt like she was losing the only family she’d ever had.”
I glanced over at Claire as we continued to skate and she looked thoroughly disgusted.
“First of all, my brother would never in a million years look even once at a girl like Barbi, she’s not his type at all. Second, she tried to pull that ‘whoa is me I don’t have a family’ crap with me and I’m not buying it. Both she and her mother are opportunists and I’m just waiting for the day Ethan finds the next wife. He doesn’t stick with one woman for very long.”
“Why not?”
“Let’s just say he has a wandering eye.”
“Jonathan seems to like Barbi as a person, he’s always been very friendly toward her.”
“My brother has a heart of gold and he is extremely kind. He doesn’t like to see anyone feeling sad or lonely in any way, so that probably has a lot to do with why he is so nice to her. I can almost guarantee that she won’t be around much longer.”
We skated over to Abby and Jonathan and marked where we would end the race. Their aunt Lauren decided to sit it out since she was so comfortable inside, so it was just going to be the four of us. We were going to go around the rink three times. Claire and Abby were super excited and were acting like little girls. It was the first time I saw a glimpse of the nice side of Abby. This ice skating thing must be a big deal with them. We all stood at the imaginary starting line, counted to the three and took off.
Claire and I got a good lead and we made it once around before Jonathan and Abby caught up with us. Both teams were talking trash to the other and we were all neck and neck as we rounded the last turn when Jonathan and Abby pulled out ahead of us and won.
“Yay!” They high fived each other as we all erupted into breathless giggles.
“That was so awesome!” Abby had a huge grin on her face as she hugged Jonathan. “I knew we could pull it off baby brother!”
“Great job Abby.” A rich, deep voice interrupted us and we all turned to see a tall, dark, rugged guy watching Abby, his gaze full of hunger. He had that sexy, smoldering thing going on and I could tell that he was not from the same world the Hunter’s were. It was obvious.
Abby was speechless as she stared at him and I could see it written all over her face that this was the guy she was in love with. You know that look when your eyes light up and sparkle because your belly is doing somersaults over a guy? Well that was the look she had on her face.
“Zane, what are you doing here?” She tried to sound pissed but it wasn’t working. She really should have been more pissed off because this guy just left her by the side of the road the night before, but she appeared to turn to putty right before my eyes.
“I need to talk to you.” He was zeroed in on no one but her.
“I have nothing to say to you Zane, go away.” Abby skated off and I could see that Jonathan was tense in case he had to step in.
Zane started to walk around the rink to follow Abby as she skated away from him, when I heard a thunderous male voice sail across the rink. “Zane Andrews, you have one minute to leave this facility on your own or I will see to it that you are carried out!”