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I ducked into the other room where I found Serena and Ashley.
Vincent joined us a minute later, without his father in tow.
Serena made Ashley recount for me the story of how she and Vincent met. Ashley, it turns out, had been assigned to investigate Vincent, and had joined his company undercover, working as his PA and expecting to arrest him.
I laughed at the story, and judging by the looks they gave each other, it had worked out exceptionally well.
She’d expected to put cuffs on him, and I stifled a giggle as I wondered if eventually she had, in a more intimate setting. Sandy would have blurted that question out, but I kept it to myself.
I looked around. Dennis and Jennifer were still unaccounted for.
“You have to think outside the box,” Josh’s father told him loudly as I approached.
“I do,” Josh responded.
“Mind if I borrow this young man for a minute?” Lloyd asked me.
“Sure thing.” I left them alone for more father-son time. When I looked back, Lloyd had a blue folder in his hand and took Josh around the corner.
* * *
Josh
Dad pulled me around the corner for privacy and put a hand on my shoulder. “Something’s come up, and we need to talk.”
I shifted. “Okay.”
“Your Uncle Logan has been diagnosed… The specific issue isn’t for me to discuss, but the short of it is that he’s stepping down.”
Dad’s cousin Logan had been running our European operations out of London forever, and I had been scheduled to replace him eventually, a move I’d been meaning to talk to Dad about pushing further out ever since I’d started at Rossi’s.
Dad continued. “He wants to spend time with the family, which is understandable, and that means I need you over in London in three weeks.” He opened the blue folder that held my future in it and placed it on the table.
“You brought that here?” I asked.
“I promised to always keep it up to date.” He pulled out a pen and signed both copies before handing me the same pen.
Ambushed again. I had no play here, and he knew it. Refusing to sign and fighting with Dad on today of all days was out of the question.
I took the pen. “I don’t think the timing will work for me.”
“We can talk back home.” He gestured to the paper. “Let’s get back to the party before they finish all the champagne without us.”
I signed my name to both copies. I’d have to find the right time to tell him I wasn’t going to London, not without Nicole. But today was not that time.
* * *
Nicole
I joined Kelly,who had broken free to check what was simmering on the stove.
She looked back toward the main room for the third time.
That’s when I noticed the wetness in her eyes. I guessed at her concern and gave her a side hug. “Dennis probably just got lost.”
“I hope that’s all. Something awful went down between him and Adam in college, and neither of them will deal with it.”
I leaned close. “Jennifer and I talked. She’ll make sure he shows.”
