“We’ve been over this.” Now Marjory looked tired. “I wanted a shifter for him. Now I see that you’re the only one he will ever love and I’ve accepted it. Let’s not rehash this.”
I held up my hands in surrender. “I wasn’t trying to be difficult. I just … isn’t it possible it was really her? If she was trying to pull one over on me, wouldn’t the perpetrator assume my mother would have liked my future mother-in-law?”
Marjory didn’t answer.
“She has a point,” Galen noted.
“Maybe.” Marjory shook her head.
Galen was all business. “You can think about it at the office today. Hadley is going into work with you. I’m going back to Wesley’s ranch.”
“You said I only had to work in the morning,” I argued. “You said I could go back out in the afternoon.”
Galen shook his head. “I said that we would talk again at lunch. That’s all I’m committing to right now.”
“Galen.”
“Hadley.” His eyes were fierce. “You have to give me space to do my job. We’ll talk at lunch.”
He was dismissing me and I didn’t like it. “Fine. I’m going to be mad at you for the rest of the day.”
“I’ll try to survive.”
10
TEN
As irritated as I was that Galen and Booker were going without me, part of me knew it was for the best. I couldn’t cross over to save Wesley yet. I needed to know more about what I was dealing with.
Plus, well, Iwasthe mayor. I had a job to do and I had every intention of doing it.
Marjory smiled when I walked into the office, the best greeting that I’d received from her in the past few weeks. I smiled in return, went to my office to drop off my bag, then returned to her desk. I was determined to turn this relationship thaw into a long summer stretch.
“So, how are you?” I asked as I sat down across from her.
If Marjory was surprised I suddenly wanted to be chummy, she didn’t show it. “I’m well. How are you?” She didn’t wait for me to answer. “How are the wedding plans coming?”
The wedding was a sore subject. Marjory wanted to take over and turn it into an overblown affair. Galen and I wanted to keep it simple. Despite Galen warning his mother that we would be making the decisions, Marjory kept trying to sneak in food and flowersuggestions. I didn’t take it personally — it was simply her personality — but Galen was another story.
“It’s going well,” I replied. “We’re going to have a seafood bar and steak.”
Marjory frowned. “That sounds like a lot of food.”
“I want seafood and Galen wants steak. We need to compromise.”
“Oh, well … that sounds like a good compromise.” She faked a smile that was more of a grimace. “Who is going to stand up for you, Lilac or Aurora?”
I shrugged. “In theory Lilac, but I’m not sure we’re going to do it like that,” I said. “The wedding will be so small that it makes more sense for everybody to stand up.”
Marjory’s eye twitched. “Are you sure you don’t want to go all out? You are the mayor.”
“Being mayor has been surprisingly fulfilling,” I replied, “but I only want the people we love there.”
“That is your choice.” Marjory looked away. “Are you inviting Julian to attend?”
Ah. This was what she was really interested in. I should have seen it coming. “Probably.” I worked to keep my voice breezy. “He and Galen are bonding. It’s slow going, but I think they’re going to be okay.”
“Galen should not bond with him.”
