Page 80 of A Conflict of Interest

Dad had shown up in the kitchen, too, obviously—where there was eggnog, there was Dad, and plus he had to hang out with Matthew Gould, who Dad was too awkward to refer to anything other than his “best buddy” even though I knew all the details well enough to know they absolutely fucked just like all the rest of the polycule. Anna had gotten her hopes up at one point that maybe only one of her parents was fucking her client, but I’d shot those dreams down.

So, in the end, Dad was too distracted with hisbest buddyand it was Miss Charlotte who noticed us first coming into the kitchen, and she scowled. “Oh, Veronica’s back,” she said, with the tone of voice like someone might complain about a sewer line being clogged again. “You still haven’t gotten away from her, Kelcey?”

Kelcey beamed. “Not at all! Maria and Chelsea were telling me how we should get married. What do you think, Miss Charlotte? Do you think I should ask her to marry me tonight?”

Miss Charlotte made a face like Kelcey had asked her to lick out the sink drain. “Kelcey, young lady, have some dignity. I swear.”

Kelcey nodded. “It would be rather dignified to marry such an amazing woman…”

Dad turned to me with a big, bright look on his face. “Veronica! Kelcey! Welcome home, you two,” he said, coming over and pulling me into a hug, clapping a hand on my back. “How was France?”

“Oh my god.”

“France was great,” Kelcey said brightly.

“Really enjoyed Krakow,” I said.

Kelcey nodded. “Nothing more beautiful than the Thames at night.”

“Anyway, I need some eggnog,” I said. Dad nodded, like it was all normal.

“Ah, it’s been too long since we’ve gotten to take a trip over there… we’ll have to make it a whole family event.”

“Count me out,” Miss Charlotte muttered. “All that moving around? Having to go out in the sun all day? Bleh. Let me stay inside and read a damn book.”

Miss Charlotte provided enough friendly fire that it gave me the cover to get my eggnog and get away from the conversation, getting out to the family room, greeting a million people there who were all a little more excited to see Kelcey than they were to see me, which I would have been justified to be annoyed with, but honestly, Kelcey was by far the better out of the two of us, so I kinda got it.

Also, about three people total actually correctly placed where our vacation had been to. That was fine. Kelcey and I had enjoyed it enough that I was hoping for more work assignments to send the two of us abroad to any location at all.

It had worked out well for both of us over the last two years—after the whole incident with Danielson had gone down, Kelcey had stepped up to negotiate and handle the situation, and she managed to prove herself to the rest of her office in the process. She’d come a long way, even though she was still working in the same position now—mostly just that she was happy there and wasn’t in any rush to go anywhere else. Apparently, even Miranda had developed a soft spot for her, and she’d earned a reputation for being the go-to woman when it came to negotiating situations when a client was having an ego meltdown.

The woman was fully in her element—had a delicate touch and could make anybody just want good things for her. I mean,hell, she’d even made me just want good things for her, and I was the most incorrigible person alive.

I’d left ECR and made it back to that old fashion branding firm, and I’d found myself pretty comfy in the industry—still hopped from job to job, but I stayed closer to one spot, and it had paid off, already getting into a more influential role where they’d sent me off for an important meeting in Milan to talk a big game for some key partners and make sure everything went smoothly. And judging by how well it had gone, I wouldn’t have been surprised if we had more in the works.

But that wasn’t exactly my number one highlight from the trip. Not when Kelcey surprised me with a dinner reservation at the most romantic place, took me up to the terrace, and dropped to one knee to ask me to marry her.

I was glad she did it in another continent. My reaction was so embarrassingly mushy, I could never have lived with myself if there’d been any chance of it making it back to Anna.

Anna and Lucy had gotten engaged in the summer last year and still had no plans for when their wedding date would be, content to just take their time—focus on work, more like—but I couldn’t get my head around the idea. I’d never have pictured myself being like this, but I found myself not wanting to wait another day to marry Kelcey. I mean, being able to look atherand call her my wife?

Maybe that thought was written on my face with the way I was staring at Kelcey sitting on the floor by the fireplace playing with the kids, me hovering off to the edge of the room stopping on my way back with a cappuccino and just gazing at her, because Anna caught me there, leaning against the wall next to me and saying, “I hear you had quite the tour of Europe.”

“Nobody knows where the fuck Milan is.”

She laughed, cupping her own coffee close to her lips, following my gaze to watch Kelcey. “I know you’ll die if I say mushy things to you, but… congratulations.”

“Ugh, figures Luce would tell you, useless lesbian that she is.” I laughed. “Ah, forget it. You know there’s one exception I can tolerate mushy things for. Thanks. I literally cannot believe how stupid lucky I am.”

“She feels the same way. And I guess I have to formally admit I was wrong about you…” She laughed, shaking her head. “In the end, not too sad you refused to stay away from her. You’ve really been making her happy.”

I ducked my head, looking down at my shoes. “Ah, well… she makes me a lot happier than that, so I’m still winning.”

“Gotten over your hangups over the scary wordwife?”

I elbowed her. “Maybe we can say things likeboyfriend, girlfriend, husband, wifejust gave me icks before because they weren’t about Kelcey. Maybe my heart just knew I had to hold out for her.”

“I’ll never get used to you being romantic.”

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