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“We did good work there,” Diane said, lifting her eyebrows.
“You let yourself think that,” she said. “Royce and Chloe say differently.”
Everyone laughed.
She knew the story there.
The Fierces had Royce and Chloe partnered up in their minds. Chloe caught on fast and decided she wasn’t going to fall for their game and took the first step with Royce.
“Think of it this way,” Carolyn said. “If Chloe hadn’t realized what we were doing and with whom, would she have ever thought to take that step with Royce?”
Carolyn dropped the mic on those words and the two women left after that.
“Do you think that is the case?” Elise asked her father when they were back in his office.
“With Royce and Chloe?” he asked.
“Yes. Do you think if the Fierces didn’t start to scheme and plan that Chloe would have never looked at Royce that way?”
“Hard to say,” her father said. “The fact they’d worked together on and off for years and never took a step doesn’t mean anything. Could be they needed that push. Why? I already told them to leave you alone. I think they were pretty good, all things considered.”
“They were,” she said. “I expect they just can’t help themselves most of the time.”
“No,” her father said. “I don’t suppose you’ve got any plans tonight? Do you want to get dinner with your old man?”
Crap. She had plans. She hadn’t expected her father to do this to her.
There was no way she was going to cancel on Gabe when she’d been waiting on this night for weeks.
“Can I take a rain check?” she asked. “I just wanted to go home and chill out. You know, this is a lovebird night and if people see us out they might think I’m a loser with my father or that you’re my sugar daddy. Neither sits well with me.”
Her father laughed as she expected. “We can do that,” her father said. She went back to her office and texted Gabe to make sure they were still on for tonight. Now she just had to get through the next few hours.
“Good job,”Richard said into the phone an hour later. He knew Diane and Carolyn were going back to the office to compare notes with their husbands and then they would get Stacy and Jim on the phone too.
“We thought it was a nice touch to get our digs in,” Diane said. “Couldn’t let Elise think she was off the hook completely.”
“Nope. She even said that she thought you guys were good and it’s like you can’t seem to help yourself.”
There was a room full of laughter at that statement and he was grinning too.
“Got to love your daughter,” Stacy said. “She’ll make Gabe’s head spin. I guess I can understand why he needs us to back off. No reason to get her worked up.”
“That’s right,” he said. “She’s a hard one to handle. I kind of feel bad for Gabe, but hopefully he’s up for the challenge.”
“Does anyone think they have plans tonight?” Grant asked. “No one thought to ask Gabe that?”
“I didn’t want to pry too much,” Jim said. “The fact that he came to us and told us what he had was a step. I don’t think it was planned.”
“Most likely not,” Richard said. “I did try to get something out of Elise. I asked her to go to dinner with me.”
“Are you going?” Carolyn asked.
“No. She gave some excuse. At least I think it was. It could have been the truth and the same answer she’d give if we didn’t know what we did.”
“What did she say?” Stacy asked.
“That she didn’t want people to think she was a loser having dinner with her father on Valentine’s Day or be looked at like a sugar baby.”
