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Zoey shook her head. “No, no one can make it. Not even our parents are coming … which is why the duet would be such a nice touch.”
“Wow,” Dillon said, looking at Zoey with mock disappointment. “I can’t believe you’d use that to try and get me to agree to doing something you can tell I really don’t want to do. I thought you were better than that.”
“Fine,” Zoey said with a sigh, then perked up and added, “I’ll just make Gabe do it with me.”
“Hey,” Gabe complained, and Dillon and I laughed while she worked on getting her husband to do the duet with her.
While they continued their banter, I wrote up a rough schedule for the night of the party, including bits of information about theme, decoration, and food ideas. Excitement and adrenaline coursed through me at the thought of finally having my first party with my new business.
I’d dropped off the business plan and loan paperwork at the bank that afternoon, so I was just waiting to hear back from them, and Reardon, and then Party with Laurel would finally be in business.
“Okay, this is great. I’ll shoot this off to the two of you, and Chloe to get final approval, then get started. As I said before, if you want to help, I can put you on the schedule, but if not, my team and I, minus Chloe, of course, have it under control.”
“I’d like to help,” Zoey said.
“I trust you.” This was said by Dillon, who I already knew was planning on taking more of a hands-off approach.
“Perfect,” I said, rising from the table, then going to give Zoey and Gabe, hugs. “Thanks so much for meeting.”
“Thank you for agreeing to meet here,” Zoey replied.
“No problem,” I said, then turned to Dillon and asked shyly, “You wanna come over for dinner?”
It wasn’t the first time I’d propositioned him, so that wasn’t what made me shy, no, it was doing so in front of Gabe and Zoey. Even though they knew about us, it was still hard to get used to being a couple in front of other people.
“I thought you’d never ask,” Dillon said, standing, then shocking the heck out of me when he pulled me in for a kiss.
I was so caught up, I barely heard Zoey cheering in the background.
35
Dillon
I’m not going to make it back for the shower. I have a meeting I need to take and the only day they can do it is today. Tell Ass and Chloe that I’m sorry, and I’ll make it up with a big gift.
Although it sucked that Jazzy wouldn’t make it back in time for the showers, I knew she’d only miss a family event if it meant great things for the company. Which meant, her instincts about Boise had been correct.
Bummer, but I’ll let them know. Thanks for doing good work.
Did you ever doubt it? she asked, causing me to smile. My twin was nothing if not sassy as hell.
Not for a second. I’ll save you some cake.
You’d better.
Promise.
I read back through the texts from Jasmine, surprised I hadn’t received any further texts in the last couple days.
She must be really busy in Boise.
I parked and hurried into the bowling alley, eager to see Laurel.
Yeah, bowling alley. My cousin was a nut and Chloe a saint for putting up with him.
It felt like it had been forever since I’d gotten to spend any real time with Laurel. Sure, we’d spent a few nights together, and got a little time in the mornings before we went our separate ways, but we’d both been busy with work and it never felt like enough.
I’d just closed the deal with San Francisco, and Laurel had been hard at work on Chloe and Reardon’s party, so we’d had a lot of late nights and working lunches. Luckily, Reardon had proved my theory about the flower shop, so Laurel had been working with the knowledge that she owned the shop, free and clear, which had been a huge relief.
