Page 178 of The Husband Game

But when Charlie was done, Dustin gently guided him down the hall in search of the coat check.

Unfortunately, they ran into Kate Foster first.

Dustin was immediately wary but her expression was kind as she looked Charlie over. “I’m sure you both want to head home so I’ll be quick. Charlie, would you be willing to come by the office in the next few days to discuss some security issues?”

“Of course.”

“The sooner the better, but I want to give you some time to decompress before you have to deal with it all.”

“I appreciate it.” Charlie hesitated. “I—”

Kate pointed a finger at him. “Don’t even think about apologizing. You weren’t in the wrong here.”

“I know but if I had warned you … I didn’t think she was quite this … unhinged.” Charlie grimaced.

“Remind me sometime to tell you about the stalker Dustin had his rookie year.”

Charlie craned his neck to look at Dustin. “You had a stalker?”

He rolled his eyes. “Don’t remind me. The woman left her previously worn underwear in my stall. I’m still traumatized.”

Although given the choice, he’d take that over Charlie’s mom any day.

“Yikes.”

“We massively tightened security after,” Kate said with a rueful grin. “So, you know, some good came from it.”

“That’s something,” Charlie agreed.

Kate smiled at them both. “Okay, well, that’s it from me. Feel free to head out now if you’d like.”

Charlie gave her a concerned look. “Hey, this situation with my mom didn’t disrupt the event too much, did it?”

“Absolutely not. We have contingency plans for all sorts of things going haywire and you dealt with it well, Charlie, I’m just sorry you had to. Nothing to fret about though. We collected lots of money for the hospital and the guests had a wonderful time.”

“That’s great to hear.”

“Go home and take care of yourself, okay?” Kate looked between Dustin and Charlie. “And each other.”

“Okay.” Charlie squeezed Dustin’s hand. “We will.”

“And I’m a phone call away if either of you need me.”

“Thanks, Kate. Appreciate it.” Dustin gave her a sincere smile. “Have a good night.”

“You too. Or, the best you can, anyway.”

After they said goodbye and claimed their outerwear, Dustin headed for the exit but Charlie stopped him.

“Wait, Dustin. Before we go, there’s one thing I want to do.”

Dustin gave him a puzzled look. “What’s that?”

“Take me down to ice level. You can get access to it, can’t you?”

“Yeah, of course. But why?”

“I’ll explain it when we get down there.”

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