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“True,” he said. He hadn’t talked to his other sister-in-law in a while. Normally his wife had those conversations.
He switched the phone over and called Jolene.
“Well,” Jolene said right away. “Fill me in.”
He was positive Jolene was up to speed. “Not much to say,” he said. “The wedding was beautiful, but Elise and Gabe are still keeping their distance.”
“I don’t know,” Carolyn said. “Diane and I agree that Elise looked uncomfortable when we told our fib.”
“What fib is that?” Jolene asked. “You need to keep me in the loop.”
“We went to talk to Elise,” Carolyn said. “We’d made a few comments about her and Zander making a cute couple even though that would never happen. She laughed and called us out on it. Then I pretended to let it slip that we had someone lined up for Gabe.”
“That’s a good move,” Jolene said. “What was the reaction?”
“Elise got quiet,” his wife said. He saw the big grin on Diane’s face. “She tried not to look at Gabe, but I caught her eyes moving there.”
“I agree,” Carolyn said over the phone. “We got her thinking. The idea is if she thinks we’ve got someone lined up for Gabe she’ll have to let people know he’s taken.”
“Sneaky,” Jolene said. “That’s something I’d do.”
“We are glad you approve,” Carolyn said. “Enough about us. What is going on with Ben and Eve?”
There was a loud sigh to that question. “Not much. It’s barely been two months since I’ve been dropping hints. I don’t see Ben much and Eve’s still a little fragile. I can’t put my finger on what happened to her.”
“That doesn’t sound good,” Diane said.
“I don’t think it’s bad. Just that she’s quiet and we know quiet to me can mean fragile,” Jolene said.
“Oh,” he said. “Not everyone can keep up with your enthusiasm.”
Jolene laughed on the other end. “Not sure why,” she said. “But I run circles around these kids mentally.”
“You think you do,” he heard his oldest brother, Gavin, say in the background.
“It sounds like we are all striking out for now. Maybe we’ll have some news to report in a few weeks,” Grant said.
They all hung up after that.
“Do you think we will?” Diane asked.
“This was your and Carolyn’s idea. You tell me?”
His wife laughed. “I think we will. Then you guys will be bowing down to us once again. Just like Carolyn and I did such good work with Trent and Roni not that long ago. We’ve got the finesse.”
“You two keep telling yourselves that,” he said.
“Oh,” his wife said. “We will.”
26
THE BIGGER PERSON
Gabe arrived at Elise’s house at the same time she pulled in.
“I thought you’d beat me here,” she said, getting out.
“I tried to kill some time,” he said. Though she left a few minutes before him because he was talking to his parents in the parking lot, she still had to drive ten minutes further away to get her car and return.
