"One of these days, I'm going to find something to charge that bastard with," Will grumbled. "Or take matters into my own hands and give him another black eye."
"He abandoned Milo. What rights exactly does he think he has?” Val asked through gritted teeth.
"I replied and asked him just that. But he didn’t reply back.”
“Typical of him,” Val said. "Don't lose any sleep over this. We're here for you, okay? Anything you need, tell us." Val took one of my hands in hers, as if feeling that anxiety was gnawing at me. I couldn't explain why I was nervous—legally, I had the upper hand. But a pit formed in my stomach every time I thought about the semi-threatening e-mail. After finding out Milo had overheard me insulting Jeff, I couldn't help but feel like I was failing at parenting.
"Let's circle back to the promotion," Val suggested, smiling sweetly at Will. I knew her effort was partly so she'd take my mind off my troubles. "Where the captain fails, we can succeed."
"Yeah, unlike him, we know what works on you. Also, we're related, so we have a have an ace up our sleeve—we can pull out the emotional card."
"You girls give yourselves too much credit," Will informed us.
"Might we remind you that we have a documented history of talking you into things? Remember when we convinced you to play laser tag with us after you swore you'd never do it? And we beat you?"
He slapped his forehead theatrically. "Not that again. You've been holding that over my head for too long, so I've got to come clean. I let you win that one."
I'd suspected that might have been the case for years now, but hearing it out loud still stung. I took great pride in our one and only victory.
Val chose the path of denial. "He's trying to save his own ego. We'll let him think we've bought it."
Chapter Nineteen
Lori
"Wait, why are we getting into your car? Are we driving somewhere? Why didn't you tell me to meet you there?" I asked when I met Graham the next day. He'd asked me to drive to the stadium, only to now inform me we were driving in his car to another location.
"Because I'm whisking you away."
"Oh." I fidgeted with my thumbs behind my back, smiling sheepishly. "Well, whisk me away, Frazier."
He pulled me flush against him, kissing me until I tingled in intimate places. Did he not know what danger an under-sexed and under-kissed woman was? He couldn't kiss me like that in public, or he was risking me jumping him like I had in that tent and my kitchen.
As we climbed into the car, I wondered if we were heading to the beach, or if he had a restaurant in mind. The truth was, it didn't matter. I was just happy to spend some time with him. We'd talked on the phone every day this week, but nothing beat admiring those fine muscles, that sculpted jaw.
"We're going to a park I love," he informed me. I beamed, looking out through the window, at the people, the cars. I was being whisked away to a midday date in a park. Could life get better than that?
"How did it go with the new wedding location?" he asked.
"Joanna replied this morning. She agreed to my prices." I'd told him about Joanna's restaurant on the phone, and now I filled him in on the details.
"I like seeing you so excited. You light up."
I relished his compliment. We talked a little about everything until he pulled the car in front of Griffith Park.
We climbed out of the car, and he headed to the back, opening the trunk and retrieving two blankets and a huge lunchbox.
"What's in the box?" I asked.
"Our afternoon snack."
"You... prepared this?" My voice was high-pitched, but I had the strangest feeling I was actually dreaming all of this. Maybe I'd dozed off at my desk researching groom costumes for Chihuahuas.
"I did."
Graham took my hand and gave it a small squeeze, kissing my forehead. Not a dream, then. He led me through a narrow passage flanked by greenery. The smell of patchouli was thick in the warm day. The path opened up in a beautiful clearing. Enormously old California oak trees lined the other end of the clearing. This was one of my favorite parks. Central Park in New York had nothing on it. Griffith Park was five times bigger and contained some of my favorite landmarks: the Hollywood sign, Batman's cave, and even an outdoor theater.
"Let's go under those trees," Graham said.