Page 92 of Enchanting the CEO

"Gabe, I can tell you're up to something."

"The less you know the better, Grandfather."

"All right. Whatever I don't know can't hurt me or your grandmother."

That made me laugh. He was exceptionally skilled at delegating things like that. I supposed it was one of the reasons why he'd been such a successful businessman.

"Oh, and bring that girl of yours," he added.

"I was going to anyway," I said.

As soon as I hung up, I wrote in the group chat with my brothers.

Gabe: Hey, you already got the invite for Grandfather’s birthday, I guess?

Jake: Yeah.

Gabe: So what are we doing about convincing Grandmother to use a catering company?

Colton: We're on it. The girls are planning something.

My brothers were good at this. For some reason, Grandmother treated their better halves differently than she treated us. She actually took their advice instead of brushing them off and accepted more coddling from them.

I was fiercely protective of our grandparents, and that had always been the case. Once, soon after the scandal broke, a teacher at school made a comment that my grandparents had to have done something really bad for my father to turn out that way. I’d gotten into a shouting match with him. It was the first and only time I got suspended. My protective instincts grew stronger over the years, especially in these past few months when we've had health scares with both grandparents.

I got out of the family chat and noticed a message from Diane.

Diane: Wish me luck. One of the families in the tour canceled, so I only have three tourists, but fingers crossed they enjoy it.

Three? That wasn't even enough people to actually consider it a group. She'd put four different types of smiley faces, and I knew exactly what that meant—she was trying to see the positive in this. But I knew she was worrying.

I went back to the family group, but instead of sending a message, I accidentally hit Colton's number. I was about to disconnect, but he answered.

"Hey," he said.

"I called by mistake. I wanted to write in the family chat."

"Everything all right? You sound off."

"You picked up on that?" I teased. "My, my, you are getting more in tune with the family."

"Don't be a jackass."

"Sorry, you're right. So, Diane is now starting to offer tours on her own. It's her own business, and I’m damn proud of her. Long story short, she's got her first one today, and a big group canceled. She's only got three people."

"It's always rougher in the beginning," Colton said reasonably.

"I know. But it's going to make her worry. I wonder if... No, that's stupid."

"Go on.”

"Maybe I can just pay people to join the group without her knowing."

There was a pause, and then Colton said, "That sounds something like Jake would do, not you."

I sighed. "I don't even know why my mind went there. Spending time with you is rubbing off on me." But then I had an idea. "I just thought of something better."

"What, paying off a group of kids? Jesus, Gabe."

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