Page 77 of The Forever Rule

“That’s why it’s so hard for him to get on the schedule for the monthly dinners.”

“Same with Kyler.”

“I don’t mind though, them having to travel so far to us seems a little ridiculous for dinner.”

“That’s what I was thinking. Also, because the town was founded by our great-grandfather, at least in his mind, things were passed down. And then my brothers and I bought some more of the land from a company that Dad sold to.”

She frowned. “What do you mean?”

I ground my teeth, before forcing myself to relax. “Dad was on his way to selling it to a company who wanted to build a strip mall in the small town.”

Her eyes widened. “Are you serious?”

“Yep. So we outbid him, had to get loans because again, we aren’t multimillionaires. But we were able to give the land back to the town. We’ve never lived in town full time. We were there for summers as kids, but I try not to think of it as us owning a town.”

“Dad really was an asshole.”

“He was.” We were both silent for a moment, memories of my time with Dad filling my mind and I had a feeling Isabella’s was doing the same.

“So do you go to the lake often? Or is it really just Hudson’s place?”

“I used to go more. But I don’t really take time off.”

“I don’t know what time off is.”

“You do get vacations with us.”

“Well, that’s good. A little scary though.”

“We are scary, but I promise we don’t bite.”

She rolled her eyes. “You should go to the lake though. If you are this stressed that you’re having a peace talk lunch with me, you should go relax.”

“And should I take Blakely then?” I ask, only teasing.

Her eyes narrowed, and I realized I might have stepped in it, before she shrugged. “Just don’t fuck with her. But maybe? She hated her last job so much, even more than I hate mine. And then she spent three months dealing with the fallout. So maybe having a weekend at alake would be good for her. But I don’t want the details. It was already awkward enough.”

I blinked, a little confused. “Oh. Maybe.” I had only been kidding, but now the idea held merit. Of course, that meant I would have to break my own rules.

But I was getting good at that.

As we’d settled the bill, splitting it evenly because of course we did, we headed out of the small diner. Isabella frowned and I looked down at her.

“What is it?”

“I just realized that Sophia’s studio is down the block.”

“Really?” I asked, looking where she pointed. “I didn’t know that. I must have walked by it a thousand times.”

“It really is a small world. I don’t like it,” she said with a laugh.

“Noted.”

As if we had conjured her, Sophia came around the block, hand in hand with a tall man with broad shoulders and blonde hair.

“Who’s that,” I whispered.

“Her boyfriend. His name is Cale.” I raised a brow. “Spelled with a C. Don’t worry, Kyler already made all the vegetable jokes.”

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