Page 104 of The Paris Roommates: Dean
He could still hear her telling him those words last night for the first time under the Paris stars. Was that only yesterday? “She does. I’m counting on that helping me win her back.”
“Women like the grand gesture, and you keeping your word and giving her half the cave definitely qualifies,” Brooke said. “But you have to sell it without conditions so she’ll believe it’s not a bribe. Make it a straight-up business transaction.”
“I agree,” Madison chimed in. “She has to feel like she can walk away.”
“It’s like that bird analogy,” Sawyer pointed out. “You have to let it go if you love it.”
A few people bit their lips to contain laughter, but Dean wasn’t one of them. He knew he couldn’t bribe Jacqueline’s heart. He’d tried that with his alcoholic father when he was a kid and failed.
He took Brooke’s hand and looked at his friends. “You guys are—”
“We know.” Brooke hugged him.
“As a business partner in PRG,” Kyle said, “I’d like to call an official vote to confirm our interest in giving Jacqueline half the cave when we win. Because with this idea, we are so winning.”
God, Dean hoped so, but he had to take a breath when everyone put their hands up to vote to give his dream girl half the cave. “Whether we win or not, we shouldn’t forget what’s important. Us. The love and respect we have for one another. The commitment we have to help each other. Thank you for going the extra mile with me and with my Jacqueline stuff. Brooke, please tell your father especially how much I appreciate it.”
“You can tell him in person soon enough,” Brooke told him. “He’s also happy to keep hunting for bottles on trips to the countryside now that he’s moving here and retiring. He says he’ll need something to do. Maybe Nanine would even like to join him.”
“That would be great.” Thea clapped her hands. “Now that we’ve left the house, she says it’s rather quiet. This might make her happy.”
Everyone smiled at that. “That’s what we all want for her, isn’t it?” Dean said.
“Now that we have established the fact that we are still in the hunt for the cave, what are we going to do to help Dean and Jacqueline reconcile?” Brooke asked, that fix-it gleam in her eyes. “We started kicking things around earlier.”
Thea raised her hand. “I have some thoughts.”
“So do I,” Sawyer added. “They don’t involve poetry, Dean, so you won’t have to memorize love sonnets or anything.”
“I’m digging the poetry actually,” he admitted, “and it seems I really like a good story, even if it’s called history.”
“The word story is in ‘history,’ you idiot.” Brooke swatted him playfully. “Now, as for the ideas we talked about—”
“I still think we should kidnap Jacqueline and tie her to a chair to make her listen to what Dean and the rest of us have to say,” Madison broke in with an eerie smile.
Dean puffed out a laugh. “That’s…perhaps a last resort.”
“Since my fiancé is a lawyer, I think I can say Jean Luc would advise us not to follow that plan,” Thea said with narrowed eyes.
“Don’t be silly, Thea,” Brooke told her with a chuckle. “Madison is only kidding.”
“Am I?” Madison pointed to the kitchen. “We have everything we need here. Twine—”
“We get the picture,” Kyle interrupted with a Texas-sized grin. “But maybe we should stick to viable ideas that won’t traumatize Dean’s dream girl. Personally, like I said earlier, I don’t think makeup flowers are enough here.”
“Word,” Dean said with a snort. “If only…”
Brooke tapped her fingers on the counter. “Flowers are fine when you’re late to something or you have to call off a date last minute. We’re talking a big-time gesture here, in addition to selling her half the cave if we win it. Something that will tell her you love her and won’t mess up again.”
Yeah, that. “No messing up. How in the world do I convince her of that?”
“Maybe Pierre will have an idea?” Thea blurted out.
Everyone stopped and looked at her, and her cheeks instantly turned red.
“Maybe,” Brooke said, her fingers tapping in a healthy staccato now. “We all agreed earlier that Pierre is the hook to get Jacqueline to meet up with you again, Dean. She’s going to want to see the bird.”
“He’s a parrot,” Madison corrected, “and are we really sure we want to use Pierre like that?”
