Clear Skies Ahead, Chapter Four

Chapter Four: Family Dinner
Sophia Wayne

———

Skylar Wayne stood in front of her mirror, the pink hues of the sunset streaming in through the window. The mirror was built into the wall, tall enough to show her entire body. She turned slightly this way and that, glancing down at her body and the way her green satin dress hugged her curves. It was tight all down through the hips before widening slightly for her legs to allow some freedom of movement. It had two thin straps over her shoulders, and had a nice deep cleavage. Did she need cleavage for a family dinner? Of course not. However, she really liked showing cleavage.

She'd been cursed by having tits smaller than all her friends throughout high school, but she'd learned quick that if she showed off what she did have enough, people tended not to complain much about the size. When they did grow to a respectable D cup, she never lost the habit. Her cleavage just became even more magnificent.

A knock came on the door, and Skylar walked over to answer it. She was barefoot currently, her feet padding across the carpet as she went to answer the door, but she had a nice pair of strappy black heels waiting for her feet to slide into when she went down for dinner. A nice dinner meant a lot in the Wayne household, so everyone would be dressed to the nines. She opened the door to find Isla standing there in a black dress which was tasteful and elegant, showing off a lot less boob than Skylar's dress did.

"Hey, you ready to go downstairs?" Isla asked, her heels clicking as she walked into Skylar's bedroom. Her assistant mouthed a wordless 'wow' as she looked around Skylar's admittedly quite impressive bedroom. Her and Sam's bedrooms were in the same hallway, though on opposite ends of it, with the doors facing each other. They had a secluded wing to themselves, with a game room halfway down that hallway on the left, and the hallway back towards the rest of the estate opposite the game room door. Well, it was just Skylar's wing now, with Sam moved out at his penthouse across town.

As for Skylar's bedroom, she had a very spacious four poster bed, the aforementioned mirror in the wall, a lavish desk that she very rarely used, a chaise to sprawl out on by the window, a mostly empty bookshelf (she really wasn't much of a bookworm), and a huge walk-in closet. The walk-in closet was also where her dresser was, as it had plenty of space in there to accommodate everything. She didn't spend too much time in her room growing up, preferring to lounge around in a game room, or in the hot tub, or in the pool, or in the pond, or out riding Thunder, or doing any number of things other than sitting in her room.

"Just about." Skylar nodded. "I've just got my earrings to put in."

"Diamond?" Isla asked wryly.

"Emeralds, actually." Skylar replied with a smirk. "They make my eyes pop. You want Diamond though, Whitney's the girl to talk to."

"Who's that?" Isla asked curiously.

"You've never heard of Whitney Diamond? The heiress apparent of Diamond Corp." Skylar asked in surprise.

"Nope." Isla shook her head.

"Huh." Skylar squinted at Isla. "Do you watch anything other than your boat show?"

"I watch... other reality TV shows?" Isla offered, making Skylar groan.

"We gotta get you onto something less brain-numbing." Skylar shook her head.

"Absolutely not. Live Loving is getting really good." Isla insisted. "Josh just broke Amber's heart, and then that bastard got with Rose like, right in front of her."

"Isla, darling-" Skylar began, but Isla just let out a sigh.

"I'll stop talking about it." she shook her head.

"Hey, never be afraid to speak about your interests." Skylar said, looking Isla in the eyes over her shoulder. "You just need better interests."

"Hey!" Isla complained, making Skylar laugh. "I thought you were genuinely being nice at first."

"Rookie mistake, Iz." Skylar shook her head.

"Um..." Isla hesitated, looking surprised.

"What is it?" Skylar asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Nothing, nothing." Isla waved a hand dismissively.

"O...kay?" Skylar squinted in confusion, but she picked up her earrings and focused on the mirror as she put them on.

"Alright, what do you think?" Skylar asked, doing a little twirl for Isla.

"Gorgeous as ever, boss." Isla saluted, making Skylar scoff.

"Thanks." she said amusedly as she put on her strappy black heels. "Shall we?"

Isla offered Skylar her arm, and Skylar linked hers through her friend's.

———

Skylar and Isla descended to the main floor to discover that Sam and his family had already arrived. Sam was wearing a dark green dress shirt, an open black sports jacket, and a nicely tailored pair of pants. He was neat and clean-shaven, looking more mature than she'd ever seen her twin brother. He was speaking to Sophia with a smile on his face, one that slipped from his mouth when he spotted Skylar. His eyes flicked idly towards Isla, before refocusing on her.

Skylar walked forwards, feeling indescribably anxious. After her reception at Jace's house, she was significantly less confident about confronting the people she'd once been so close with. Isla's arm slipped from hers, and the brunette waited a respectful distance away as Skylar approached Sam.

"So, the prodigal daughter returns, huh?" Sam asked, and while his tone was light, his gaze was not.

"I suppose so." Skylar said softly, hesitating before saying more. "Just for a week though. I don't know how much Izzy told you, but-"

"She explained the reasons behind your visit." Sam nodded curtly. "I think it's a bit selfish you only show up to beg for help, but hey, at least you showed up, right? Got to meet your new niece and nephew, only... huh, guess they're not that new anymore."

"Sam." Sophia sighed, but he shook his head.

"Don't waste your breath, Mom. I'm not looking for a fight." Sam said, and he turned to walk into the dining room, leaving Skylar standing there, wordless and pissed off. Dimly, she realized it might be herself she was angry at, but who the fuck did Sam think he was? Saying she was begging? Skylar fucking Wayne didn't beg.

Skylar moved to follow him, but Sophia extended a hand in her path, and Skylar looked towards her mother.

"Sam has a lot of resentment towards you for some of your life decisions." Sophia told Skylar bluntly. "Can you really tell me he's not justified in that?"

The words stung, and Skylar pointedly looked away.

"I see." Sophia murmured. "I'm not looking for a shouting match at this dinner, Skylar. Both of my children are in town at the same time, and I just want a nice meal with my children and my...."

"Grandchildren?" Skylar supplied with an innocent smile. "Say what you want about me, but at least I didn't make you a grandma at 37."

"If this is a family thing, I can go back upstairs." Isla volunteered. "I don't want to intrude, I thought-"

"Oh, no, of course not. You work for Wayne Incorporated, you're part of the family." Sophia smiled kindly.

"I do?" Isla blinked.

"Of course you do. You think Skylar magically set up a company all by herself? Clear Skies Lingerie is a subsidiary of Wayne Incorporated. One of many smaller companies we've got a controlling interest in." Sophia explained.

"I did think you were a plant from my mother when you first signed on." Skylar admitted to Isla.

"Oh, I don't need a plant to find out how you're doing." Sophia winked at her daughter, then made her way towards the dining room as well. Skylar followed, with Isla falling into step beside her.

"Hey, if you don't want me here, you can just say the word." Isla murmured to Skylar, who shook her head.

"Like Mom said, you're family." Skylar affirmed, and Isla nodded slowly, looking unconvinced.

Skylar swept into the dining room right behind Sophia, and her eyes went straight to a vision of beauty in a strapless glittering purple dress with a sweetheart neckline. Specifically, her eyes went straight to two big ol' titties that Isabelle definitely did not have five years ago.

"Holy shit, Izzy!" Skylar gasped. "Where did those come from?"

"Two pregnancies." Isabelle said wryly. "I'm still breastfeeding Jon, too, so they're this big because of the milk. They'll go back down afterwards.. hopefully."

"Hopefully?" Skylar echoed, her eyes still quite fixated on Isabelle's heavy tits.

"Stop perving on me!" Isabelle huffed. "And yes, hopefully. I mean, Aunt Dani's kinda didn't, but well, I can hope right?"

"Hope they stick around, you mean?" Skylar raised an eyebrow.

"I sure do." Sam muttered, then froze, seeming to realize he had agreed with Skylar. He made a noise of general grouchiness, then moved to sit over with his wife.

"Where's the munchkins?" Skylar wondered, glancing down like they might be hidden under the table.

"Oh, Aunt Dani is babysitting them." Isabelle let out a breath. "I was going to bring them, but we agreed this dinner might be... interesting."

"Hopefully not." Sophia said with a peaceable smile. "I'm just looking to enjoy the meal."

Sam shot Skylar a look that made Skylar roll her green eyes as she sat down opposite Isabelle, with Isla taking the seat beside her, opposite Sam. Sophia sat on the end of the table, beside Sam and Isla.

It was quiet at first as the food was brought out to them, and Skylar, for once, was at a loss for words. She wasn’t sure what she could say to improve things here, what words could make up for five years of distance?

She did keep stealing glances towards Isabelle’s tits though, because whew. Those things were looking ridiculous these days. Skylar slightly envied Sam for being able to play with those whenever he wanted.

“Hey, Sky. My eyes are up here.” Isabelle huffed after Skylar got caught ogling her again.

“Oop, sorry, Izzy.” Skylar gave a slightly apologetic smile. “Just not used to you having two watermelons on your chest.”

Isabelle rolled her eyes, then looked towards Isla.

“So, you’re Skylar’s personal assistant, right?” Isabelle asked politely, and Isla nodded, looking a little surprised to be addressed.

“Uh, yes, I am. I’m here helping her get things ready for the summer line photoshoots.” Isla said with a polite smile.

“Well, I’m glad Skylar has someone helping her out.” Isabelle said with a nod, then startled and looked back to Skylar. “Oh, how did your chat with Jace go? I forgot to ask.”

Skylar hesitated before answering. “He agreed to text Dana and Daisy for me, to see if they would be interested in modeling. Maple said she might do it, too. But the actual chat was kind of… awkward.”

“Imagine that. People don’t like it when you dump them and vanish for five years.” Sam put in, making Skylar scowl in his direction. Sophia reached out and put a hand on Sam’s arm, giving him a look. It was a loaded, meaningful look, the kind that Sophia Wayne excelled at.

“Oh, Mila asked me to say hi to you two.” Skylar recalled. “So… she says hi.”

Isabelle smiled warmly. “Oh, she’s such a sweetheart.”

“Yeah, how she’s Jace’s kid, I’ll never know.” Sam chuckled.

“Jace is a sweetheart, too.” Isabelle said loyally, making Sam roll his eyes. It was pretty common knowledge, at least at the Wayne house, that Isabelle had been crushing hard on her cousin back in high school. Skylar didn’t think anything had ever happened between Jace and Izzy, but she had never been 100% positive. Izzy was always quick to defend Jace, something that apparently hadn’t changed in five years away.

Idly, Skylar wondered if Isabelle was still harboring those feelings for Jace, but she shoved those thoughts away. Clearly Izzy had chosen Sam over Jace, and from the looks of things, Isabelle was very happy with her choice.

“So, do you plan on doing anything besides working while you’re here?” Sophia asked, and Skylar looked towards her mother.

“Well, not really. Getting everything ready for that is going to take a little while, and I’ve still got to track down some models and a photographer or two.” Skylar said, counting on her fingers.

“You don’t even have a photographer?” Sophia raised her eyebrows.

“No, Mom, I don’t.” Skylar said glumly. “I was supposed to have Grayson Global’s photographers working on this, but that fell through.”

“Anastasia’s a model, she’s got to have photographer contacts.” Sophia recalled.

“Oh yeah, I was telling her the same thing.” Isabelle agreed. “I think Skylar’s too prideful to go ask Anastasia for help.”

“What? I am not!” Skylar protested.

“Then you’ll go see Anastasia tomorrow?” Sophia raised an eyebrow.

“Well…” Skylar hesitated, before groaning and nodding. “Yeah, I will.”

“Good.” Sophia said approvingly. “I think she’ll be able to offer you a lot of help. Oh, and Isabelle? Are you planning on helping Skylar out?”

“Me?” Isabelle blinked. “No, no, I’m not going to be a model, I’ve had two kids and- no, I’m cut out for that.”

“Honey, you are still a gorgeous woman.” Sophia smiled at her daughter-in-law. “If you don’t want to do it, that’s fine, but you would absolutely not look out of place modeling.”

Isabelle blushed at the praise from Sophia, and was clearly hesitating, unsure. “I… I’ll give it some thought, I suppose.”

“You would look pretty damn good as a lingerie model.” Sam put in, and Isabelle swatted his arm, looking a bit embarrassed.

“Or bikini model.” Skylar put in. “You get to pick which one you’d prefer.”

“I’ll think about it.” Isabelle nodded towards Skylar, who nodded back.

“No pressure, but you would be a very welcome part of my summer photoshoot. Oh, and you get to keep anything you model.” Skylar mentioned.

Isabelle nodded, but she still seemed unsure, so Skylar didn’t press the issue. She glanced instead towards her brother, who was pointedly ignoring her like he had been for most of the dinner. He’d barely even looked her direction, his green eyes stormy whenever he did.

“So, how’s things going for you, Sam?” Skylar decided it might be time just to say something to him, even if it wasn’t anything remarkable. “Work going well?”

Sam looked at her for a moment, like he was unsure about her motivations in asking. “Things are going alright. I’m liking what I do, so that’s good.”

It was a basic answer, the kind of surface level response that never would have happened between them five years ago. They were twins, for fuck’s sake, they were supposed to be super close. Yet, Skylar didn’t feel close to the put-together, handsome father version of Sam. He felt distant to her, like she didn’t know who he was anymore. She hated it.

When Jonathan Wayne had died, Skylar and Sam had both been so young. They’d relied on each other heavily, as their mother had been grieving and left with a company to run. The Wayne twins had grown up practically inseparable, and it felt like a missing limb seeing Sam now, looking at her so icily. Not even just like she was a stranger, but like she was a stranger who had pissed him off.

“Look, Sam, I know I fucked up.” Skylar said. “I’m not usually one for apologies, but I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have left the way I did, I shouldn’t have cut off communication as much as I did, I just… I don’t know. We graduated high school and it was like being in town was suffocating me. I don’t even really know what it was, I just knew I needed to get gone and stay gone.”

Sam looked at her for a long moment, and Skylar found herself fidgeting beneath his gaze, even feeling her face heating up. Skylar Wayne was fucking blushing.

“I can’t forgive you.” Sam said simply. “You completely ditched your entire life and ran off to drink your troubles away at college.”

Skylar looked down at her plate, blinking back sudden tears. She felt a sting, like he had slapped her across the face. “Oh. I-”

Sam cut her off. “I wasn’t finished. I can’t forgive you, but I don’t want to keep doing this distance thing either. You’re my twin sister, and there’s no way this is going to continue for another five years.”

Skylar looked towards Sam, surprised.

“We’re not just going to go back to how things were, but as pissed as I am at you, I’d be the asshole if I just ignored you the whole time you were here.” Sam said with some finality. “So let’s make an effort this week.”

“Alright.” Skylar said, feeling a smile spread across her lips. “Let’s do it.”

“I love having the both of you here.” Sophia smiled, taking Sam’s hand and reaching past Isla for Skylar’s. Skylar extended her own hand and threaded her fingers through her mother’s.

Isla and Isabelle both looked a touch awkward during this display of Wayne family closeness, but Skylar was feeling happy. She’d hoped things might have been a bit easier for her, but she realized now that was a stupid hope. She couldn’t just waltz back into town after five years and snap her fingers to make everything go back to normal and all her hot friends to line up and be models for her.

Yet, maybe there was still a way she could get all of this done in a week.

“Sam, would you mind being a photographer?” Skylar asked, inspiration striking suddenly. “If Isabelle does participate, I promise you can be the one who does her photoshoot.”

“I’m not really a trained photographer.” Sam said wryly. “I have no problems taking photos of my sexy wife though.”

“And other sexy girls?” Skylar checked.

“I suppose I could make the sacrifice.” Sam agreed. Isabelle rolled her eyes at her husband, but she gave him a fond smile afterwards.

“Excellent. Well, I won’t need you until at least two days from now. Tomorrow I have more models to round up, but the day after I might be able to start photoshoots. We’ll see how many models I can get signed on tomorrow.” Skylar said thoughtfully. “It’ll probably be a few days of shoots, hopefully there’s quite a few girls who need their pictures taken. I’ll have to get another photographer, to help you manage the load.”

“This can wait until after dinner, I think.” Isla said quietly, mostly directly to Skylar, who paused and nodded gratefully at Isla.

“You’re right.” Skylar admitted. “This is a family dinner, not a work dinner.”

Sophia gave Isla an approving look which had the brunette girl looking pleased with herself as Isabelle began to tell a story about Rosalie and Jon.

Skylar looked around the table and smiled a bit wistfully, her gaze meeting her twin brother’s. Identical pairs of green eyes looked at each other, and Skylar’s smile widened. She still wasn’t sure how she felt being back in Amethyst Shore, but at least she was home, with her family around her.

More work would need to be done before her and Sam were on good terms again, but at least he was willing to give it a try. She’d have to be careful over the next week to be in polite mode, which wasn’t exactly Skylar’s default mode, but she thought she could make it work. She hoped so, anyway.