Page 73 of Kiss Me Again
I make a face at her. “Thanks, Mom, tell him all my secrets.”
She smirks. “It’s about damn time you bring someone around her, missy. I have years of good-natured teasing to unload on him.”
He chuckles. “And, to be sure we’re on the same page, Ellen, the kids don’t know about us.”
“We know. We’ll play along. And I understand it. Smart to tell your ex-wife first. You certainly don’t want the kids to be the ones to tell her.”
He nods. “Thank you for understanding.”
The side door opens just barely, and I see Dad struggling with a tray of grilled burgers as he tries to slide in. I grab the tray for him. “Hey, Dad.”
“Hey, kiddo. Where are the rugrats?”
“Bathroom. Mom is making them wash their hands.”
“Oh, that’s probably a good thing.” He eyes Cormac. “And you must be their dad.”
Cormac smiles and shakes his hand as I introduce them. “It’s nice to meet you, Geoffrey.”
“Likewise. Ellen, the fries ready?”
“Hot and ready, just like me,” she flirts.
He kisses her cheek while I fight the urge to gag. Cormac sees it and teases, “Hey—they’re into each other, even after all this time. I think that’s great.”
“That’s because they’re not your parents,” I say flatly, and he chuckles, then pulls out my chair for me. The kids join us, digging into every morsel. Conversation is light and breezy, and as nervous as I am about everything, I start to unkink. It’s nice to have the people I care about most together and sharing a meal. With Cormac’s weirdness in the car over—whatever that was—the night goes swimmingly.
After ice cream sundaes, Mom sits the kids in the living room with a Disney movie, and rejoins us. “So, Cormac, how is the progress going on at the resort?”
“Excellent, thanks to Lily.”
I laugh and shake my head, but they exchange a glance, and she asks, “How’s that?”
He explains, “She impressed our biggest investor during a dinner meeting, and he was ready to sign the next day.”
“Impressed him how?” Dad asks.
“She cooked for him and during the meeting, schmoozed better than most people I’ve known in business. Lily could teach a class on how to win friends and influence people.”
I laugh. “You’re making that up—
“No, honey, that was all you. Clint loves you. He asks about you every time we talk.”
I shrug sheepishly. “I just did what I’ve seen other people do in my restaurants. It’s not hard.”
He laughs. “If you call securing a finicky multimillion investor dealnot hard, then he’s right and I should hire you on at MacMillan Co.”
“No, thank you, please. Corporate life is not for me.” When I sip my water, I can’t help but notice the looks on my parents’ faces. “What is it?”
“Nothing, dear,” Mom says and drinks her decaf.
Cormac can tell something is off, too. “Did I say something wrong? She was amazing with him. I meant no disrespect.”
“No, no, it’s not that,” Dad says.
“Then what?”
“Forget it, Cormac,” Mom dismisses with a nervous shake of her head. “It doesn’t matter.”