Page 44 of Beau and the Beast

"Oh—I was just coming to get you,” she said, smiling. “Will you join us for dinner? You must be famished—and we ordered something vegetarian for you."

He hadn't noticed the fact that the staff was gathered in the dining room until Violet gestured in that direction. Alfie, Song, James, and Geoffrey were seated at the table. He could see where Violet had been seated, and where a place had been set for him.

Beau didn't want to talk to anyone, didn't want to tell them how it was going at all. But that had been kind, for them to think of him. He allowed himself to be guided to the table and he took a seat.

"There's a place down the street that makes incredible lasagna," Geoffrey said, gathering up a large tin container and passing it across the table to him. "This time, I asked them to make it with vegetables instead of ground beef."

"I thought I was going to hate it but it's actually a good change," Song said.

They all watched Beau intently as he scooped a serving out onto his plate.

He hadn't realized how starving hungry he was until he'd gotten close enough to smell the aromas of garlic and browned cheese—but now that he was serving himself, he was practically drooling. The others had already started eating, but they paused now.

"You should eat more vegetables anyway," James said, scolding Song. The man just shrugged.

Beau was the center of attention, everyone practically holding their breath as he cut a bite and raised it to his mouth.

"Well?"

"It'sheavenly," Beau said truthfully. Everyone around the table smiled in apparent relief. "Absolutely delicious. Thank you so much for thinking of me."

"Of course," Violet said.

"We usually eat dinner at seven," Alfie said, "and we usually order out since we're all lousy cooks."

"I'm a halfway decent cook," Beau offered. "I could make something sometime, if you don't mind soy meat."

James smiled. "Might be nice for a change—eating something that doesn't come out of a styrofoam container."

"Hear, hear," Geoffrey said, raising a glass of wine.

Beau looked from face to face as they ate, shocked that they continued to welcome him.

They resumed the conversations that must have been going before Beau arrived. Violet was talking to Geoffrey about some issue they'd had with a wire transfer to a city Beau didn't recognize but that he eventually deduced was located in South Africa. On the other side of him, James and Song were talking about ideas for a fundraising campaign.

"I'm sorry to interrupt," Beau said, "but what do you alldohere now? For Wolfram I mean?"

Their conversations around him ground to a halt and Geoffrey chuckled.

"We're superheroes, kid," he said.

Violet rolled her eyes. "He means we do good in the world."

"We take Wolfram's money and put it in safe, morally-sound investments so that it can grow a little," James said, further explaining, "and then we put it into the causes and the places on the earth that need it the most."

"So, what, non-profits? You just invest in different non-profits?"

"Sometimes," Song said. "We work to get the money where it needs to be, whether that's to a specific person in need, a group of people, an organization, or even a government that might need disaster relief."

"You'd be surprised just how much work goes into trying to figure out how to make good use of money," Violet said, cutting in.

"It isshockinglydifficult to do good in the world with money alone," Alfie said.

"That's... really admirable of you all," Beau said. "And you all worked on Wall Street before the curse and the crash?"

"Before we founded the Mueller Global Endowment Fund, we all worked with Wolfram at IW Securities Group," Violet explained.

“Mueller,” Beau said. “Named for Harriet and her sister?”

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