Total pages in book: 31
Estimated words: 29346 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 147(@200wpm)___ 117(@250wpm)___ 98(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 29346 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 147(@200wpm)___ 117(@250wpm)___ 98(@300wpm)
“I didn’t pick up right away,” I explain, flipping the napkin on my lap. “You’re looking beautiful, Paislee. Pearls suit you.” She’s wearing a set of fat nacre around her neck that looks to be worth more than my car.
“Morning,” she says. Her tone is grumpy, suggesting that my mess-up last night still lingers.
“Mr. Fréres? Is that you?” a syrupy voice intrudes from over my shoulder.
I lean back in my chair and spot one of my former students tripping over her feet to get to our table.
“Jessamyn, good to see you. You home for the weekend?” Jessamyn graduated a couple of years ago. She must be home from college.
“Sure am.” She beams. “Classes are going well. I took that world religion course you recommended. It’s real interesting. If you don’t mind, I’ve got a book you might be interested in. I can stop by your house and drop it off.”
“Well, I—”
“He’s busy this afternoon,” Paislee interrupts.
I arch my eyebrows, but she refuses to look my way. Instead, she tips her chin up as if to indicate that she said what she said.
“I’m busy this afternoon,” I repeat.
“I can bring it by tomorrow,” Jessamyn offers. “I don’t go back until Tuesday.”
A small growl rumbles through Paislee’s chest. On my left, Caro smothers a giggle with her hand. Jessamyn looks confused. Me? I’m thrilled. I stretch out an arm behind Paislee’s chair. “You can drop it off at my mom’s house tomorrow. You’ll be home, won’t you?” Mom nods over the top of her teacup. “I won’t be around, though, because Paislee and I are picking out wedding rings.”
“We’re what?” Paislee nearly shouts.
“Whoa. Is that what you two were fighting about? Did she turn you down? Here I’d thought you’d done something wrong,” Caro says.
“He had to do something wrong if she’s surprised,” Mom points out.
“What’d you do wrong, my boy?” This is from Marguerite.
“Just dumb men things,” I say, not wanting to dredge up the past. I squeeze Paislee’s shoulders. “But from the sounds of it, we’ve worked it all out. Paislee needs a custom dress.”
“Of course. I’ll design it myself.” Mom is ready to bust out her sketchpad between the scones and the teapots.
“I never agreed—”
“Marguerite, we can hold the wedding at Belle Époque, right?”
“It would be my pleasure.” The older woman’s eyes are glowing.
“You’re getting married, Mr. Fréres?” laments my former student. Disappointment drags the corners of her mouth down.
“Sure am. To Paislee Rhodes.”
“You’re Paislee Rhodes?” Jessamyn must’ve read the same tabloid article as the rest of this city. “But your dad—”
“Is an asshole, but that doesn’t affect Paislee. She’s her own person,” I interject. “Well, and soon to be my person.” I give my love a wink.
She’s still shell-shocked by all of this, but she’ll come around. After all, she was growling at the poor coed, and if that doesn’t say wedding proposal to me, I don’t know what does. “I’m hungry. Where’s my steak?”
Chapter Fifteen
Paislee
How have I gone from not being sure if I should give Gant another chance to us now getting married? I’m not sure if everyone is teasing or not, but they don’t look to be. I want to protest more, but this Jessamyn chick keeps sneaking glances our way. In fact, I lean over toward Gant, wanting to make it clear that he’s with me. Even if he’s not.
“I missed you,” Gant says next to my ear as he brushes my hair off my shoulder. I bite the inside of my cheek to keep from smiling at his words. I’m supposed to be mad. He and his family make it hard to hold on to anger.
Since the moment we all sat down at the table, everyone has been trying to talk Gant up. When they finally got out of me why I was mad at him they found it hilarious. They were shocked that Gant had used his words wrong, which is something he never does. They insisted it was because I have him all twisted up inside. That he was merely trying to get me to let him show me around. They kept slipping in little comments about how they’ve never seen him act like this before.
“I might have missed you a little,” I dip my head to say.
“What was that?” Grandma asks.
“Nothing,” I rush to say.
“She missed me.” Gant fills her in, giving her a wink before taking another bite of his steak. I elbow him in the side. “See, we’re already having silent fights like an old married couple.”
Everyone laughs. Even I can’t fight the smile. I have to admit that being around everyone feels nice. Maybe I judged Gant a little unfairly, but I’m still not ready to fully let my guard down. Never mind marry a man that I barely know. Yet, the thought of being his wife causes my heart to do a little flutter. It makes me want things that I’m not sure I should.