Sophie (The Boss 8)

I couldn’t take any more. “Why don’t we go to the house. I can get Olivia’s things around in a jiff.”

“We’ll meet you there,” Valerie said cordially. “Where is Olivia?”

“She was taking a riding lesson,” Neil said, gesturing behind him.

“Ah. Good. She’ll smell like a horse, then, when we’re late to dinner with the Tellers,” Valerie responded through clenched teeth.

Just then, Olivia bolted from the stable, her arms wide. “Grandma!”

Valerie’s tight smile became genuine. She crouched down for her welcome hug. “Surprise, my darling!”

“There’s my best girl,” Laurence said. His joy at seeing her faded at the sight of El-Mudad emerging behind her. “I see you still have your houseguests.”

“We do,” I chirped sweetly. “I hope they stay forever. They’re like family now.”

Neil’s grip on my hand tightened.

“I’m sure,” Laurence replied curtly. He turned his attention to Olivia. “What do you say you come with grandma and grandpa for the weekend?”

“Can we go to the zoo?” Olivia gasped. We rarely took her into the city, so the Central Park Zoo was a treat for her with Valerie.

“Of course, we can!” Laurence declared. “It must get boring, being stuck out here all the time.”

Olivia frowned. “I go to school now, grandpa.”

I wondered if it ate Neil up to hear her call Laurence that. At least, I wondered if it ate him up the way it did me.

El-Mudad stopped beside Neil and nodded to Laurence and Valerie. “Nice to see you again.”

“I’m going to spend the weekend!” Olivia said happily.

“Are you? Well, you’ll have to beat me at memory cards next weekend,” he said with a sad shake of his head. He made as though he would hug her goodbye, but Laurence scooped her up and said, “Why don’t you ride back to the house with us?”

“We’ll be there in a moment,” Neil told them as they walked back to their car.

I kept my aching smile frozen in place until the Porsche backed out.

“They don’t have her booster,” Neil observed.

“I doubt they’ll get into an accident between here and the house,” I said, trying to be the reasonable person in the situation. I glanced over at El-Mudad. “I’m so sorry they treated you that way.”

He shrugged it off, but I knew it bothered him to see Olivia go without a proper goodbye. “I’ll stay here with the girls, and you can take my hug to Olivia.”

“I will.” I hopped up on my toes to kiss his cheek before we parted ways.

“This situation is rapidly becoming untenable,” Neil observed quietly, walking with his hands in the pockets of his jeans.

“You have to just ignore them. You know this isn’t coming from Valerie.” I hated to defend her; after all, she was a grown woman. She had to see how Laurence’s behavior had changed toward us, didn’t she? What little I’d heard about her love life post-Neil seemed like it had been nothing but turmoil until she’d met Laurence; maybe she felt like she had to go along with his shitty attitude.

That’s bullshit, I chastised myself. You’ve finally got the chance to dislike her for a legitimate reason, and you’re not going to seize it?

I shut that part of my brain down. It had taken a long, long time to get over my issues with Valerie. And they had been legitimate. But they were also in the past. The backsliding was killing me.

“Please, don’t make excuses for her,” Neil said tersely. “Because if I agree, you’ll see it as me defending her, and it will become a huge fight.”

“Whoa, since when do you get to tell me what I’m going to do?” I stopped in my tracks. “Don’t take out your anger at her out on me.”

He pinched the bridge of his nose. “I’m sorry. You’re right. It’s my fault. I forgot the date. And if Valerie had done it, I would have been just as annoyed.”

“Exactly. The only thing they’re assholes about is our relationship. Which still isn’t great of them. But be mad about the right thing.” I looped my arm through his and leaned my head against him as we walked again. “We need to sit down and have a serious talk with them. The insinuations and barbs aren’t going to solve anything.”

“Oh, but do we have to do it now?” Neil complained.

I shook my head vehemently. “Nope. Absolutely not. Because I want El-Mudad to be a part of that conversation. This is a family thing.”

Whether Valerie and Laurence liked it or not.

At the house, they waited in the formal living room. We spotted them standing stiffly in front of the windows when we entered from the foyer.

“Mariposa is getting Olivia’s things together,” Laurence said. “So, that will save you any effort, Sophie.”

“You know what?” I snapped, then took a deep breath. I refused to rise to his bait. “Listen. You guys have somewhere to be, so you don’t have time tonight. But when you bring Olivia back on Sunday, let’s have dinner and talk. Because it feels like there’s something wrong here, and it’s not getting any warmer or friendlier by ignoring it.”