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Important to note.
Head, Richard. Foot, Jane. Obviously.
Down one side were me at Richard’s left, Ian, Lou, then Chelsea.
Down the other side, Mary to Richard’s right, Michael, Portia, then Daniel.
I heard Ian sigh.
Then I heard Portia ask in all innocence, “We are?”
“Chelsea,” Daniel said low.
“Men,” Chelsea huffed then leaned forward to look at me. “I bet you know how well Ian knows me.”
“Do you read bad romance novels? Or is it maybe too much Real Housewives? I mean, I’m truly curious. What is it?” I asked in return.
Her face twisted.
Ian caught her expression and murmured, “What’s that about dishing it out?”
Chelsea tossed a poisonous look at Ian.
“What are they talking about?” Portia asked Daniel quietly.
“I’ll tell you later,” he replied in the same tone.
“I’m only saying, I’ve known Ian and Daniel very well for a long, long time,” Chelsea told her.
“Yes of course,” Mary rushed in to save the situation. “They’ve known each other since they were children.”
I glanced at Richard to see his reaction to the devilry that he’d designed.
He was using his knife to push sauce and halibut on his fork, not a care in the world.
Until…
“Chelsea, tell us how your design business is going,” Lady Jane requested.
Richard’s head snapped up and his gaze was sharp and unhappy on his wife.
“She’s having just a few growing pains,” Michael quickly answered for his daughter.
And there it was.
According to Richard, Chelsea was here to dish it out so we’d take it.
Surprisingly, Lady Jane had other ideas.
And it seemed the person most surprised about this was her husband.
“Oh?” Jane inquired. “Too bad.”
“She had hoped,” Mary put in, “with all the work you’ve been doing here at Duncroft—”
“Oh no,” Lady Jane cut her off before Mary could finish her pitch. She inspected Chelsea from hair to spilling décolletage in a guileless parody of the famous Sofia Loren, Jayne Mansfield photo. “I believe Chelsea’s talents don’t quite fit in Duncroft.”
I choked on my halibut.
