“Thank you, love, for singing my praises.” He took my hand, kissing the back of it. Goose bumps broke out on my skin, and he looked at my arm, seemingly perplexed for a few seconds. No one could fake goose bumps. “But Jude is right. Our visions have to align for this to work out.”
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Jude straightening up. Was this some sort of reverse psychology that Griffin was employing?
“And you think they don’t?” Jude asked. His voice was tighter than it had been all evening.
“Not sure.” Griffin was goading him. Genius. He shrugged and then took another slice of bread, putting sundried tomato paste on it. “You said yourself that the mission statement is something you care deeply about, and you figured I didn’t quite understand it.”
Jude put one hand on the table, drumming his fingers on the surface. “I might have jumped to conclusions. I believed all the rumors circulating about you, but now I realize that might have been a mistake.”
Yes. God, yes.I wanted to chant, “Victory!” Could it really be this easy?
“But we can meet again and discuss the business. I don’t know why I brought it up. It’s not a good subject for dinner,” Jude finished.
“Oh, good,” Emma said. “I respect your work, darling, but you know I don’t like to spend my meals talking about it.”
“Of course, dear,” Jude replied, and my heart all but melted.
“How long have you two been together?” I blurted.
“We got married twenty-nine years ago, but this September, we’ll celebrate our thirty-second anniversary since our first date. Let me tell you,” Emma said in a conspiratorial tone, “it was quite a challenge to keep this one hidden and then to get my dad’s blessing.”
“And why is that?” Griffin asked, sounding thoroughly amused.
Jude glowered at his wife, but it was all pretense. “Her dad thought I wasn’t going to amount to much. That I couldn’t take care of his precious daughter.”
“But then Dad completely fell for you,” she said with a dreamy expression, “just like I did.”
As the main course arrived, Emma and Jude regaled us with stories regarding their grown children. I was thoroughly relaxed, and so was Griffin. We’d gotten past the hard part. Besides, ifJude’s previous reaction was any indication, Griffin’s deal was safe too.
“Emma, I agree with you,” I said as I gobbled down my fish. “I think it’s the best thing I’ve ever had. Pity it’s so overpriced.”
I caught Griffin watching me with a strange smile before he shook his head lightly as he focused on his steak.
“Penny for your thoughts,” I whispered, leaning into him.
He brought his mouth to my ear. “Later.”
His breath tickled me, and I giggled. When I looked up, I realized that Jude was looking at us intently. This was going well!
After we cleaned our plates, we ordered a mix of desserts and split them. I was about to burst at the seams, but dessert was even more delicious than either the appetizer or the main course.
Just as Emma was eating the last of the tiramisu, Jude leaned into her, asking something in a whisper. Griffin frowned. Emma nodded, and then Jude looked at us with a huge grin.
“I have an invitation for you two,” he said.
Griffin turned rigid but casually replied, “Okay.”
“Two Saturdays from now, Emma and I are going to our weekend home overnight. We’d love for you to join us if you don’t have other plans.”
Crap. Of course this couldn’t be so easy.
“We wouldn’t want to intrude on your personal time away,” I hedged.
“Nonsense, we’d love to have you over,” Emma said. “Phoebe, I would love to get to know you better.”
Come on, Griffin. Come up with something smart to get us out of this.
“Thank you for the invitation,” he said in a measured tone. “Love.”Oh my God, he has to stop calling me that. Here I go again with the goose bumps.I couldn’t understand why that one word affected me like this. “Didn’t you say you had that birthday party the weekend after next?”
