Page 125 of The Flirt

"And what night was it?"

I told her the precise date because I remembered vividly.

"How fast can you get it?" I asked.

"Darling, this might take time." I groaned, and she sighed. "Well, I'm sorry, but I don't have a lot of information to go on, and it might take a while to convince the council to give out the names. But I can charm those old bastards if I put my mind to it."

"Thank you. I appreciate it."

"Of course. It's not every day that my second-born asks me for a favor. So, you want to surprise dear Scarlett, huh?"

"Yes," I said. "It's her favorite spot in the city, and she really liked that painting. Fingers crossed that you find it."

"Oh, I will. When I put my mind to something, I don't accept failure."

"That's the family motto, isn't it?" I asked.

"It kind of is." There was a short pause, and then Mom said, "Darling, I can't tell you how happy I am that you have Scarlett in your life and that you've let her in. For the longest time, I didn't think you'd do that with anyone."

"What do you mean?"

I swear to God, if any of my brothers told Mom about my celibacy idea, I’m going to lose it. There was such a thing as too much information, even within a family.

"Just that you were so alone after your divorce. What troubled me was that you seemed to want it that way."

All right, that didn't sound like she knew facts. It was just her mother's intuition at work.

"I thought it was best for Bella," I admitted.

"Ah."

"I didn't want to fail Bella again," I went on.

"My darling, you didn't fail her. Quite the contrary. You're a wonderful father. Look, all we can do in life is keep moving on and put our best intentions behind everything. You did that. Relationships are hard."

"You and Dad have made it work for many decades. So have the grandparents."

"That's true, but if experience has taught me anything, it's that we’re the exception. Your dad and I are soulmates, and we were lucky enough to find each other when we were really young. But I think we're all lucky if we find our soulmate at all in our lifetime.” She chuckled. “Listen to me. I got all cheesy on you."

I laughed. "That's fine, Mom. Don't worry about it."

"One word of advice. I think gifts are fantastic. And grand gestures in general. But so is being open with each other. Expressing how we feel."

“Not my strong suit.”

“Hmmm, maybe that can change. I’ll keep you posted about the painting, okay?"

"Sure. I appreciate it," I said.

After we hung up, I managed to go through a good chunk of my to-dos for the day. But my mind was still on her words.

I knew where she was going with this. I usually wasn't a man of many words. I was far better at doing things rather than talking about them. But I wanted Scarlett to know without a doubt how I felt about her. I knew it was early, and that there was a real risk that she wasn't there yet. I'd been divorced for years, but her breakup was recent. Still, I wanted to lay it out for her.

I was going to spoil her even more than usual tonight. I debated taking her out—it was Friday evening, after all—but she was always exhausted in the evening, especially after a full week of work. But that didn't matter. I could take care of her at home as well.

At four o’clock in the afternoon, Joel put a dent in my plan with a text message.

Joel: Hey, boss. Not sure if you're aware, but our chef is super sick. She's barely standing on her feet, but she insists on working.

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