Page 28 of Merging with the Billionaire

He let out a chuckle. “Contrary to what you—and most of the world—think, I do have more than one mood. I’m not all business, all the time.”

Tiffany’s lips curved up in an appreciative smile. “Good, there’s no point to life if all you do is live to work.”

“Says the woman who does exactly that,” she heard her brother Roger jest as he came up. “Who are you to lecture Conrad on having a personal life when you so clearly don’t have one of your own?”

“I’m working on that,” Tiffany admitted, glancing at Conrad out of the corner of her eye. She wanted to add she was working on it with Conrad, but she wasn’t even sure what was going on with them or whether she was ready to go public with it. The last thing she needed was her brother lecturing her again about not getting mixed up with him on a personal level. She was surprised her brother had been okay with her inviting Conrad to church today when she had brought it up to him via text.

Everyone has a right to establish their own relationship with God, Tiff. I won’t be the one to keep Conrad from the peace and joy I’ve found.

Thanks, big brother, I appreciate your understanding.

Just promise me, you’ll be careful. We still don’t know if Conrad has told us the truth about what he is really up to.

Do you have to be so skeptical?

I have to be, since it seems like you’ve decided to not be when it comes to him.

I don’t want to fight about this. Thanks for understanding about church. I’ll see you tomorrow.

“What do we do next?” Conrad’s question brought Tiffany back to the present.

“We go inside for the service,” Tiffany explained.

“Celeste is saving all of us seats,” Roger added as they headed towards the sanctuary doors.

Before they could enter though, Diane greeted them with a smile and look of curiosity as she eyed Conrad. “Good morning, Tiffany, and who’s with you today?”

“This is Conrad Gaines,” Tiffany paused for a moment, debating about how to introduce him further.

“Good morning, ma’am. I’m pleased to be here. I work with Tiffany at Boswell Energy.”

“A work friend, Tiffany, how nice of you to invite him. You should introduce him to my grandson. He’s around here somewhere,” Diane said with a rascally grin. “I’m sure he’d love to catch up with you and finally take you out on that date.”

“We need to be getting inside, Diane. Celeste is waiting for us,” Roger interrupted the matchmaking grandmother.

With a disappointed look, Diane handed all of them their bulletins with the weekly announcements in it before they entered the sanctuary. They found Celeste towards the middle of the sitting area. She waved them over, a smile on her face.

“Good thing you got in here when you did. The place is nearly full. I wasn’t sure how much longer I could hold these spots.”

“We appreciate it,” Tiffany said, returning her new sister-in-law’s smile. “We wouldn’t want Conrad to have to stand during his first time here.”

The music started prompting all of them to turn to face the stage. The band began with a couple of upbeat contemporary songs, followed by a set of slower ones, finishing out the time of worship.

Everyone took their seats as Pastor Greg came to the front. He took his usual spot behind the glass podium, placing his tablet and Bible on it.

“Good morning, Journey Church. I know the weather is wonderful today and you’d probably rather be out at the park, so I’m glad all of you decided to come here anyway. When the snow melts and the weather warms, it reminds me of when I was a child and I couldn’t wait to go play outside during the first weeks of spring. When the grass came back and the flowers bloomed, I became so excited. I couldn’t wait to run down the block to my friend’s house and go with him to the park down the street.

“Eventually, we grow up, but even as an adult, I still love when the seasons change. I may not run down the block like I used to as a kid, but now I get to see my own children playing with their friends at the park and it brings a smile to my face.

“You’re probably wondering by now, why I’m going on and on about springtime. It’s because I want to point out that like the flowers, bees, and grass, we are meant to re-emerge. That though for a time we may have remained hidden due to doubt, or fear, or loss, we aren’t meant to remain like that. Like nature, we have a designer who has created us to bloom. And like the changing of the seasons, we have a purpose. We are meant to be exactly where we are, doing what God has designed us for.”

Tiffany glanced over at Conrad, curious to see how he was reacting to the message. He seemed to be listening intently, but she couldn’t tell anything more than that.

Once the service concluded, their group made their way into the foyer.

“What did you think of the service?” Celeste asked Conrad. “Would you want to come back?”

“Don’t press him, Celeste,” Tiffany chastised, not wanting to force Conrad to make a snap decision about anything without time to think.

---