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“I might’ve lost my temper a bit with her last week because of her insubordination,” she mumbled, rolling her eyes and clearly blaming the loss of her control on Kaitlynn. “And dismissed her out of hand.”
“Yes, I heard about that,” I murmured. “What of it?”
“Well, I need her to come back, you see. She’s a dreadful little nuisance, yes, but honestly, no one makes a cup of tea like she does. And I’m never in a good mood without my morning tea. Meanwhile, I can’t just ask her to return.” Laughing, she slapped out a hand. “Can you imagine me stooping to such a level?”
“I can’t. Honestly,” I agreed.
“Well, then we’re in agreement. She must be the one to come crawling back to me and begging for her job back on her own, which is why I need you to make sure she doesn’t gain employment elsewhere. I don’t care what you have to do, just make sure she comes back to JFI.”
Gabby gasped in outrage. “You want him to sabotage—”
I shut her up by grabbing her wrist and applying enough warning pressure that she stopped talking to send me a hard glare. We shared a silent look before I returned my attention to Lana. “Seems like a reasonable request,” I answered. “I’ll make sure she accepts work from nowhere but JFI.”
Next to me, Gabby twisted her hand until she was gripping my wrist and digging her fingernails deep into my flesh, letting me know just how much she disapproved of the bargain I’d just made.
In front of us, my mother seemed pleased by this turn of events. Clasping her hands together, she breathed out a long, delighted breath. “Excellent,” she cheered. “That takes care of the business portion of the evening then. Now, as soon as dinner’s ready—”
“Ma’am?” a voice said from the opening of the hall that led back to the dining area.
I glanced over to find a uniformed waiter standing there. He bowed slightly to Lana and added, “Dinner’s ready.”
Next to me, Gabby groaned, “Oh, you have got to be kidding me.”
I glanced her way to find her gaping in disbelief at the waiter, so I turned back to study him more closely just in time to catch him spotting Gabby as well and gaping right back at her with the same surprise.
“Gabriella?” he rasped, shaking his head in confusion as if he was sure he was seeing things. Then he peered my way and instantly narrowed his eyes. “Oh,” he muttered bitterly. “I see.”
As he spun away and stalked off, Lana fluttered out a hand. “What was that?” she asked, shifting her gaze between me and Gabby in open curiosity. “What just happened?”
Gabby looked so miserable I knew she wasn’t going to answer. And I didn’t have a clue as to what was wrong until—ah hell. I suddenly recognized him.
“Was that Daffodils?” I blurted, making my mother echo, “Daffodils? Who’s Daffodils?”
Gabby narrowed her eyes at me and even bared her teeth in my direction. “Yes,” she snarled, clearly aggravated. “That was Diego.”
I shook my head, confused. “Well, what the hell is he doing here?”
She winced, and her face brightened with embarrassed color—or was that guilty color?—before she answered, “He works at Preston Estates. Obviously.”
Yeah, but—Oh.
Realization struck me like a thunderbolt. Daffodils had been the reason Gabby had been inside this very building on Halloween night.
But why had she been here to seek him out? She’d made it sound as if the attraction there had always been one-sided, that she’d never returned his feelings.
Unless she had.
The realization stabbed me straight through the gut.
Fuck.
I’d never caught Gabby lying to me before, but clearly there had been more going on between her and the waiter who liked to bring her flowers at the café than I’d originally assumed. I didn’t like learning this. I didn’t like thinking of her as a liar.
It made me feel betrayed.
“Excuse me.” Lana clapped her hands to get our attention. “But who is that young man and how does he know our Gabriella?”
I glared at her, too upset to even breathe right. Unable to deal with this and my mother, along with everything she’d piled on us tonight, I growled, “We’re leaving.”
