Page 114 of The Charmer

Mom came right to us, looking at me apologetically. "I’m so sorry about Bella's outburst," she whispered. "She... well, she and I were talking, and I think she might have jumped to conclusions. Georgie, it’s so nice to meet you. I’ve heard so much about you. I believe you’ve met most of my sons already, but why don’t we make the rounds?”

As I introduced Georgie to everyone, I kept my eyes firmly on her, looking for any sign that it was too much.

Then my grandmothers came in. Both of them had huge grins. "We heard Georgie's here," Celine said.

"Hi, Isabeau. Hi, Celine," Georgie said, looking at my grandmothers like they were her saviors. Little did she know, they were just going to pile on more. In fact, maybe I'd been too quick to judge Mom over the "girlfriend" incident. I could imagine Celine and Isabeau, especially the latter, filling Bella's head with stories about their lilac perfume and giving me and Georgie as an example.

"Georgie, darling, it’s good to see you,” Isabeau said.

“I wanted to thank you for talking to one of my clients. She contacted me and reinstated our contract.”

Isabeau beamed. “Good for her!”

My grandmothers didn’t say more and moved right on to the brunch offerings.

“Now, we've made some of our specialties. You're welcome to taste all of them, of course, and give us your opinion," Celine said.

"I’m going to take it easy on the food. I was sick yesterday evening," Georgie replied.

Celine straightened up, and Isabeau’s eyes went cold.

"You were sick after you went to The Apothecary?" Isabeau said, then turned to Celine. "We must pay a visit to that kitchen."

I was so shocked that they knew about our date that I didn't reply quick enough.

Georgie's mouth was simply open.

"How would you even know about that?" I finally asked sharply.

Georgie seemed to want to disappear into the floor. I really should've prepped her better.

"Oliver called to brag that he'd gotten yet another LeBlanc to agree that The Apothecary's jambalaya was better than mine," Isabeau said. "And I was suspicious because as far as I knew, all the LeBlancs had already been there. He didn't really volunteer the information, but I put two and two together."

"Oh!" Georgie exclaimed, but she was still red in the face.

"Way to put someone on the spot, Isabeau," Anthony said, walking into the living room from behind her. Beckett was with him too.

"I believe you've already met these two," I said to Georgie.

"Oh yes, we did." Beckett narrowed his eyes at me. "It seems I’ve missed an episode or two. When did this become real?"

Anthony groaned. "Dude, you're worse than the grandmothers."

"The details don't matter," I said vaguely, and I could feel Georgie relaxing beneath my touch. Good. Because this was real, and my girl needed to know that.

Zachary had gone toward the couch after the introductions, but he hurried back over as Isabeau and Celine ganged up on us.

"You need my intervention? Calming spirits and all that?" he asked me without further ado.

Georgie started to laugh. Zachary had this unique power of putting people at ease. I called him our problem solver.

"Dude, I would've needed your intervention a few minutes ago. Now it's too late."

Zachary looked at Georgie. "Truly sorry. I was too busy discussing with Bella if... never mind.”

Beckett glanced at me and said, "I was about to pile on, but I think you've had enough teasing for today."

"Mark my words," I told Georgie. "He usually doesn't let me off the hook so easily. It's all because of you."

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