A New Life

27.

(Brittany's POV)

"Santana? What are you doing here!?"

"Hello Brittany, can I come in?" of course she doesn't even give me a millisecond to respond she just strolls right in. "Oh? You have luggage?" I say surprised by the designer case that rolls in behind her. "I'm staying here." with some attitude she crosses her arms over her chest. "Oh, you are?" I say challenging her. "Yes. Too last minute to find a hotel and Taylor Swift is in town so the ones that were available were ridiculously high. And, we need to talk." she says very matter of factly. It is entirely my own fault this is happening. "You flew all the way here to talk?" this question instantly pisses her off. "I am here for a surgery, so believe it or not, not everything I do revolves around you Brittany. But whilst we are on the subject of talking, what did you expect? You are screening my calls, our friends calls. You think you can just up and leave and not say goodbye, then to make it worse, ignore us!" Santana begins to raise her voice.

"Hey babe, who is it..." I hear Jax approaching behind me, but his words trail off as he spots an angry looking Santana in our house. "Babe? Guess you two are fine then." I hear her mutter to herself. "Oh...you have luggage?" Jax mirrors my earlier comments when he notices the suitcase beside Santana. "Yep, I am staying here. Someone want to show me my room?" And in true Santana fashion she takes herself up the stairs, Jax is looking at me with a mixture of perplextion, anger and confusion. "Just..give me a minute." I whisper to him as I follow Santana upstairs. "You can stay in here." I point towards the door to a room that barely gets used, a simple guest bedroom with a nice little ensuite. "Thank you." she says with a sarcastic smile and begins to unpack her case, acting like I am not stood in the same room staring her down for answers. 

"I'll be down in a minute and we can talk." she says dismissing me from my own guest room. I don't think now is a good time for me to be confrontational. I head back downstairs and see Jax pacing around the foyer. "What is she doing here?" his expressions have become over the top. "I-I don't know, she just turned up." I say as my only defence. "We got to get her out of here." Jax protests. "Jax, I turned up at hers uninvited remember? She never turned me away...plus it's only going to be a for a couple of days I am sure. She is here for surgery." I explain, hoping it will balance Jax out. "Fine. Just a few days." he says before walking off back to beside the pool.

---

"I am going to head out...so you two can talk." Jax quickly leaves the room and practically runs to his car to get out of the awkward tension. "So umm....how are you?" Santana is sat across from me in the chair, drumming her fingers against the black leather as she stares into my soul, I am not quite sure what to say to start the conversation. "I am great. You?" she says short with no emotion. "Yeah I'm okay...." it goes back to an awkward silence, she just looks like she is getting more mad by the second. It feels like the sound of her fingers against the leather is getting louder and louder, that mixed with the ticking of the clock is making my palms sweat. "Just why?" she says, finally breaking the silence. "You won't get it." I say, not really giving her much more information that what I already have. "Won't get what Brittany?" her face remains cold. "I-I just...I am confused about what I want, too much was going on in London for me to concentrate. And I know if I had stuck around to say bye to the kids it would have just made things 10 times harder for me." I sigh. "I'm sorry...hard for you? What about our three kids Brittany? Mateo is convinced you've abandoned him." Santana's voice raises. "No he doesn't, he knows I love him." I scoff, not wanting to believe her words.

"Brittany, I had Mateo practically pleading for Grace and I to let him live with us in London. When I left he made me promise that I was going to come back. He is scared, traumatised even! And that is on you." Santana aggressively points at me from the other side of the coffee table. I knew me leaving would cause upset, but not to this extent. Not to the point where my son doesn't want to be here in Miami with me. "He wants to live in London?" I try my hardest to not let my voice break. "Yeah, he is pretty fucking adamant." Santana says, crossing her arms over her chest, still starting at me square in the eye. "I-I don't know what to say." I go into panic mode, I don't want my son to live in another country and be away from me and his siblings. "Well you best think of something quick to say because by the time I get back to London, that little boy is going to want an answer." Santana's tone is getting more sharp with every sentence. "He can't move to London, his friends are here, his school is here, I am here!" I plea. "You're here? You think he cares about that right now Britt? You left him, you left all of them and I had to yet again pick up the pieces. I can't wrap my head around it all. I mean, you turn up on my doorstep Christmas Eve seeking a place to stay because shit has gone south here, you spend all of Christmas with us, we were finally getting to a good place, you were cool with me proposing to Grace which I really fucking appreciated, more than you will ever fully understand. Then you up and leave with no indication of a reason, then act like the wounded party when I tell you that your son is fucking scared!" Santana says all in one quick breath.