Clear Skies Ahead, Chapter Two

Chapter Two: Old Friends
Isabelle Wayne

———

Skylar Wayne glanced up from her phone as the limo pulled to a stop.

"We're here, ma'am." said the driver. He was a new one, he hadn't been around the last time Skylar had been in Amethyst Shore.

"It's that building?" Skylar pointed up at a glass and steel apartment building. She was used to the skyscrapers of Coral Sands, which this building was decidedly not, though it was one of the tallest buildings in town. It was in a nice part of the town, the part affectionately called downtown, though it wasn't particularly urban. They weren't far from the Amaranthine, the luxury hotel here in Amethyst Shore, so it was that sort of region of town.

"That's the one." the driver nodded. "Mr. and Mrs. Wayne are the penthouse."

"Right." Skylar said with a sinking feeling. Thinking of Izzy as Isabelle Wayne was going to take some getting used to. She'd withdrawn pretty hard from her hometown friends, pulled away by the allure of life in Coral Sands, and some of that withdrawing had meant she'd skipped certain important events in their lives, such as Sam's wedding, or Jace's. There were very different reasons she'd skipped both weddings, but despite what she told herself, she knew that it was not the fact that she was busy that had kept her away.

It made for a nice excuse, though.

She thanked the driver, and climbed out of the limo, glancing up and down the street. Most of the buildings here were one or two stories, the only exceptions being a handful of apartment buildings and the Amaranthine, rising up over the buildings with a gorgeous view of the ocean. Skylar had spent some time in their hotel rooms before, most notably in her senior year and the summer before going to college.

With a sigh, Skylar checked for passing cars, a bit amused at how few there were compared to home, before she crossed the street briskly. She breezed into the lobby, glancing at the woman behind the desk, almost daring her to say something. Wisely, she held her tongue, and Skylar stepped into the elevator. She jabbed her finger at the button labeled P for penthouse, but the button didn't light up. With a growl, Skylar stalked out of the elevator, coming up to the desk.

"I'm trying to get to the penthouse." Skylar told the woman.

"And do you have a key?" the woman asked politely, but to Skylar, it just felt patronizing.

"Obviously not." she muttered. "Look, my brother lives there, can you just make the button work?"

"I'd have to check with Mr. or Mrs. Wayne." the woman apologized.

"Are you- I'm Skylar Wayne. Maybe you've heard of me?" Skylar arched an eyebrow impatiently.

"I know who you are, ma'am. But I can't just let you up without confirmation you're welcome." the woman explained. "It'll just be a second."

Skylar pushed off the desk with both hands, turning around and grumbling while pacing with an anxiousness she couldn't quite distract herself from.

"Hello? Ah, Mrs. Wayne, hello. I have a Skylar Wayne here at the front desk asking to be let up." the receptionist said, and Skylar paused her pacing, watching the woman's indecipherable customer service face as she listened to whatever Isabelle Wayne was telling her.

"Understood, ma'am. I'll take care of it." the woman nodded.

There was a quick pause before the woman spoke again. "Of course. Have a good day, Mrs. Wayne. Goodbye."

The woman hung up the phone, and she opened a drawer. She drew from it a keycard, which she handed wordlessly to Skylar.

"Did she say anything?" Skylar couldn't resist asking.

"Just to send you up." the receptionist shrugged.

Skylar's fingers tightened around the keycard as she walked back to the elevator, inserted the keycard into the slot by the P button, and pressed the penthouse button. It lit up this time, and the elevator doors slid open. A second later, it began rumbling upwards.

Skylar leaned back against the railing along the elevator walls, settling her ass onto it and sighing. Was she ready for this? Her and Sam had had quite the argument when the debacle with Izzy came out, but she felt justified in her anger. Her twin brother and her best friend had been fucking behind her back for months by time Skylar found out. She'd demanded to know why they'd kept it secret from her, why they'd felt so comfortable lying to her. Her and Sam had devolved into a shouting match before Skylar stormed out and drove home to Coral Sands. She hadn't seen her brother since. Or Isabelle, for that matter.

Not long after that, Skylar had launched Clear Skies' bikini line, moving away from solely lingerie and opening up a whole new market of customers.

Too quickly, the elevator reached the top, and the doors slid open to reveal a familiar face standing there, looking hesitant.

Skylar straightened, standing up off the railing. She pulled the keycard free before cautiously stepping out of the elevator into the penthouse apartment. Isabelle Wayne was standing there silently, looking as apprehensive as Skylar felt. Her once-best friend wore a loose gray shirt that she definitely did not have a bra on beneath, judging from the quite obvious protrusions in the fabric. The shirt was too big to show what Izzy had on her lower half, but it had to be either panties or a tiny pair of shorts. Isabelle's blonde hair streamed freely down her shoulders, a good bit messier than she'd usually worn it back in high school.

Isabelle was obviously older, just like Skylar was, but she was still a hottie at 23, also like Skylar. Unlike Skylar, however, she had a little girl on her hip, a cute girl who couldn't be older than five, with blonde hair and blue eyes.

"I didn't think you would ever come here." Isabelle broke the silence.

"Nor did I." Skylar admitted, glancing around the apartment. It seemed to be an open floor plan, a living room beside a huge wall of windows, a kitchen off to the right, and stairs leading up somewhere. Bedrooms, likely.

"If you're here to have an argument, I'd like you to refrain from yelling." Isabelle said quietly. "I only just got Jonathan to sleep."

Jonathan. The name hit Skylar hard, before she realized Isabelle must mean a second child of hers. Skylar's nephew. She'd missed the baby announcements, rather purposefully. She almost never logged in to her personal social media accounts these days, sticking only to her business one. No one had texted her directly about it, or called her, and so Skylar had never really found out. She'd assumed in four years of marriage that it was likely, but she hadn't known for sure.

"I'm not here to fight." Skylar shook her head. "I just wanted to talk."

"OK." Isabelle nodded. "Come have a seat."

"Who is she?" the little girl on Isabelle's hip asked, and Isabelle glanced at Skylar.

"That's Daddy's sister." Isabelle told her daughter. "Your Aunt Skylar."

"I have an aunt?" the little girl asked, wide-eyed. Skylar quirked a smile at that, unable to resist doing so for her cute niece.

"We've told you that before, silly." Isabelle admonished lightly. "We showed you pictures, remember?"

"Nope." the little girl admitted readily, making Skylar laugh.

"Who's this?" Skylar asked, gesturing to the girl.

"Oh, you... that's right." Isabelle said quietly. "This is Rosalie."

"Rosie." the little girl told her mother sternly, making Isabelle giggle.

"Yes, this is Rosie." Isabelle agreed, setting down Skylar's niece. Rosalie came quickly towards Skylar, holding up her hands for a hug. The girl had outgrown her teetering toddler years already, and she ran at Skylar with a purpose. Another reminder of just how long Skylar had been ignoring things here.

Uncertainly, Skylar knelt to hug Rosie, and her niece threw her arms tightly around Skylar's neck.

"Hi, Auntie Skylar." Rosalie mumbled.

"Hi, Rosie." Skylar replied hesitantly, patting the girl's back. She wasn't good with kids, never had been.

Rosalie let go of the hug, and returned to Isabelle, who had already sat down on the couch. Skylar walked over as well, sitting down opposite Isabelle as Rosalie climbed deftly into Izzy's lap.

It was incredibly odd seeing Isabelle with a kid (two kids, Skylar reminded herself), but Isabelle seemed at home as a mother. Rosalie seemed very happy, and Isabelle displayed not a trace of the hesitation Skylar had felt hugging Rosalie.

"So. You're back." Isabelle invited, after a long moment of sitting in silence. Skylar had barely realized it, too deep in her own thoughts and guilt.

"For a week." Skylar agreed.

"So short a time?" Isabelle frowned.

"I'm... here for work." Skylar confessed with a sigh. "I need some models for my new summer line."

"I hope you didn't come here just to ask me to model lingerie for you." Isabelle furrowed her brows.

"Well, I certainly planned on asking you." Skylar admitted. "But I did just want to say hi as well."

"I'm definitely not doing any modeling any time soon, Sky." Isabelle huffed. "I've had two kids, I'm not about to go pose in lingerie."

"Oh, come on. There's no way you don't still look great." Skylar snorted. "I'm not going to pester you into modeling, but you do need to agree you're still sexy as fuck."

"Skylar!" Isabelle exclaimed, jerking her head meaningfully to the little girl in her lap.

"Oops. Sorry, Rosie." Skylar winced.

"Auntie Skylar said a naughty word." Rosalie giggled.

"Ugh, am I going to have to filter myself the entire time here?" Skylar grumbled.

"Yes, you are." Isabelle told her firmly. "If Daisy can manage it, you can too."

"Yikes, you've got Daisy being family-friendly?" Skylar shuddered. "Can't imagine it."

"Well, around Rosie and Jon. She's still Daisy, after all." Isabelle said wryly.

"You still close with your cousins like that?" Skylar wondered.

"Oh yeah, they're like my siblings at this point. Alexis moved away, of course, and Mom still has her job over in Redwater, so they've been like my siblings and Aunt Dani and Uncle Jerry have been like my second parents. Mom loves Rosalie and Jon though, she's visited them more than-" Isabelle trailed off awkwardly.

"More than me." Skylar finished grimly.

"Well, yeah." Isabelle sighed. "Your mom spoils my kids something fierce, by the way. Sam swears she was a strict mom, but I gotta say, I don't see it."

Skylar scoffed. "Mom was definitely not the type to spoil us. We had plenty of money for stuff, sure, but she was always on our ass-"

"Another one!" Rosalie exclaimed delightedly.

"That's strike two, Sky." Isabelle chimed in, but she was smiling.

"Maybe your kid shouldn't know so many swear words." Skylar said, glaring playfully at Rosalie, who giggled.

"I know all the bad words." Rosalie confided in Skylar, making Skylar smirk.

"And she knows not to say them." Isabelle put in, making Rosalie nod severely.

"Good girl." Isabelle smiled, ruffling her daughter's hair.

"Where's Sam at?" Skylar wondered, glancing upstairs.

"Oh, he's not here. He's over at Wayne Incorporated." Isabelle explained.

"He works there?" Skylar asked in surprise. "I thought he never wanted a role there."

"Well, the girl who did want a role left." Isabelle said as gently as she could.

"I'm running a smaller company before taking over the big one!" Skylar exclaimed, bounding to her feet. "They replaced me?"

"Skylar!" Isabelle hissed. "Do not wake my son."

Skylar scowled, but she quieted down, dropping back onto the couch with her arms folded beneath her breasts.

"Sam did not replace you." Isabelle told Skylar. "He is working at the company, yes, but he's doing a lot more marketing things than anything else."

"Sam's doing marketing?" Skylar raised her brows. "I guess he always was good at convincing people of things."

"He's pretty good at it." Isabelle agreed. "And he enjoys the work."

"And you're the trophy wife, then?" Skylar wondered, glancing out the wall of windows, which had a great view of the beach, though too distant a view to make out anything.

"Stay at home mom." Isabelle corrected.

"Gotcha. Less push up bras and more milk stains?" Skylar asked wryly.

"More or less." Isabelle said, though she shot Skylar a little glare which made the heiress snicker.

"So... do you know any of our friends who would be interested in the modeling gig?" Skylar waggled her brows. "I am here in town on a mission, you know."

Isabelle let out a thoughtful sigh, leaning back on the couch with a motion that made her tits bounce visibly. Those things must have got even bigger since she had her kids, Skylar thought idly. They looked huge. Depending on how old Jonathan was, she might even still be breastfeeding.

"Just girls from our year? Or anyone?" Isabelle wondered.

"Anyone's fine." Skylar shrugged. "Just need pretty girls to model lingerie and bikinis."

"Right... hmm. Oh, I bet Val would do it." Isabelle nodded. "She's still single and wild."

"Oh, yeah, I'll definitely take a Barnes. What about Gabby and Ariel?"

"Gabby might, you'd have to ask her. Ariel's got a kid now, but I'm sure she'd be down." Isabelle said thoughtfully. "Motherhood hasn't changed her too much."

"No way, someone finally-" Skylar cut off with a look at Rosalie. "Ahem. Someone finally... is knocked up gonna get me yelled at?"

Isabelle rolled her eyes, but she looked fond as she did it. "Just don't say it a lot."

"Understood." Skylar saluted with two fingers. "Who was it?"

"A guy a few years older than her." Isabelle shrugged. "Don't remember the name."

"Did he stick around?" Skylar wondered.

"Nope." Isabelle shook her head. "Ariel's got no problems with that though."

"Yeah, I'm sure. Daisy still child-free?"

"Yup, somehow she managed it." Isabelle chuckled.

"What about Amy? A ginger would be a great look for some of these shoots I've got in mind." Skylar asked curiously.

"She might be willing." Isabelle nodded.

"No husband, kids, nothing like that?" Skylar checked.

"Nope." Isabelle shook her head. "She's become quite the wild one."

"Wow, that's a little shocking to hear." Skylar mused. "You think she's into girls?"

A faint blush spread across Isabelle's cheeks. "Um, yes, she is."

"Oh ho!" Skylar exclaimed, pointing at Isabelle.

"Shhh." Isabelle shushed her, blushing a little darker. "It was a birthday gift for Sam."

"Ugh." Skylar shuddered. "You made it weird."

Isabelle rolled her eyes at her. "Anybody else you wanna recruit?"

"What about some new talent? Who's cheer captain this year?"

"Ally King." Isabelle replied.

"Audrey's little sister?" Skylar guessed, recognizing the last name. Skylar and Audrey had never been close, considering her being best friends with Skylar's nemesis Anastasia Prescott. Skylar had no ill will towards the girl though.

"Yup." Isabelle nodded. Skylar held up her hands in front of her chest questioningly, holding them out a little bit in front of her own tits.

Isabelle rolled her eyes again. "Yes, Skylar."

"Nice." Skylar said thoughtfully, adding Ally to her mental list.

"Mommy, can I have a snack?" Rosalie piped up, seemingly bored with the discussion happening between her mother and her aunt.

"Sure, rosebud. What do you want?" Isabelle asked.

"Watermelon." Rosalie said seriously, and Isabelle nodded just as seriously.

"I'm on it." Isabelle said, standing up with Rosalie in her arms and then putting her into Skylar's lap. "Sit with your auntie while I go make some."

"OK!" Rosalie said brightly, snuggling into Skylar.

"Um... hi." Skylar said, a bit uncertain what one did with a kid.

"Hi!" Rosie said cheerfully.

"Please hurry." Skylar called over her shoulder, receiving another shushing from Isabelle. Surely this kid waking up could not be that bad, what was Izzy so worried about?

"You know what time my brother comes home?" Skylar asked.

"Five o' clock." Rosalie said like it was something she had rehearsed.

Skylar pulled out her phone and glanced at the time. Yikes. Hours to go.

"Mom said something about a dinner tonight, are you guys coming?" Skylar called to Izzy, who spun around and put her hands on her hips.

"Skylar Wayne, shut up." Isabelle said firmly, pointing the knife in her hand at Skylar.

"Sorry, sorry." Skylar muttered.

"I haven't heard about it, but I don't think it'd be a problem. I'm guessing the dinner is because of you?" Isabelle asked, in a much lower volume.

"Yeah." Skylar whispered. She was not going to tempt Isabelle to stab her. Rosalie would definitely cover for her mother, and nobody would be able to tell the police what happened.

"I'll ask Sam, but we should be able to make it." Isabelle nodded approvingly, returning her knife to cutting a watermelon slice instead of threatening innocent heiresses.

"Sounds good." Skylar said in the same whispering tone.

Just a moment later, Isabelle came back over with a small bowl of watermelon, which made Rosalie hop out of Skylar's lap and race towards it. Isabelle dodged her daughter easily and kept moving forward to set it down on the coffee table. Rosalie doubled back and sat on the floor, happily eating the watermelon.

"You seen Jace yet?" Isabelle wondered, sitting back down on the couch.

"He's probably my next stop." Skylar confessed. "Where's he living these days?"

Isabelle gave her the address, but was looking at Skylar hesitantly.

"You do know he got married, right?" Isabelle checked.

"I do." Skylar said with a frown. "I got invited, but I didn't go."

"Seems like a trend for you." Isabelle said, but without any harshness to her tone.

"Yeah. A little bit." Skylar grumbled.

"You know, I'm the one who asked him to invite you." Isabelle admitted.

"You did?" Skylar asked in surprise. "After I ignored your wedding invite?"

"I wasn't mad, Sky." Isabelle said sadly. "I know you were hurt. We shouldn't have lied to you for so long like we did."

"And perhaps I overreacted a bit." Skylar said hesitantly. "A little."

"Uh huh." Isabelle said, looking unimpressed.

"A lot, maybe." Skylar gave in a little bit.

"Little better." Isabelle raised her eyebrow.

"Damn, you've gotten so stern since you had kids." Skylar muttered.

"Bad word!" Rosalie exclaimed, making Skylar wince.

"Stop listening to me." Skylar hissed, making Rosalie giggle.

"But seriously, Skylar. Are you going to be OK seeing Jace? I know what he meant to you once upon a time." Isabelle said, looking concerned.

"Uncle Jace?" Rosie frowned. "Is he coming?"

"No, honey, he's not. We're just talking about him." Isabelle said. "Eat your watermelon."

Rosalie mimicked Skylar's earlier little sarcastic salute, making Isabelle groan.

"How are you already a bad influence?" Isabelle muttered.

"I'm special like that." Skylar grinned. "And yes, I'll be fine. I need those Holland girls in my photoshoots, though. As many as I can get."

Skylar waggled her eyebrows at Isabelle, who shook her head.

"I'm not doing it, Skylar." Isabelle maintained. Skylar sighed.

"Fine." she mumbled, standing up. "I should get going then if I'm going to see them before dinner."

"You know..." Isabelle hesitated, and Skylar looked at her. "You don't wanna hear this, but Anastasia is a model now. She's pretty popular here in the area. I know your feelings about her, but if you need models... well, she's already used to it."

Skylar groaned, but she nodded. "I'll think about it. Thanks, Iz."

"Oh, and Skylar?" Isabelle said as Skylar turned towards the elevator. "Just because I forgave you doesn't mean Sam is ready to. He's still pretty frustrated with how things went down."

"Right." Skylar muttered, her shoulders sinking a bit. "Thanks for the tip."

"Don't mention it." Isabelle nodded.

"Bye, Auntie Skylar!" Rosalie waved.

"Bye, Rosalie." Skylar smiled, and stepped back into the elevator.

She kept the smile on her face until the door closed, when it dropped instantly. Deep guilt bubbled up in Skylar's belly, guilt at not being there for her best friend and her twin brother. She was glad Isabelle had accepted her apology, but Sam... yeah, Sam was definitely going to have some words for her.

As the elevator descended, Skylar's thoughts turned to her next stop... her ex-boyfriend and his wife.