Page 102 of Flirting with the CEO

She was right. Grandmother looked much better, although she hadn’t yet made any plans for Martha's Vineyard. She also hadn’t requested to hold Ben even once. In the past, she'd barely put him down or shared him with anyone else, so I took it as a sign that she hadn’t fully recovered. But it gave me peace of mind that she seemed to accept that and was acting accordingly.

Half of my mind was still on my research. My lead scientist was in the lab today. I’d left him some formulas to play around with. I was trying to loosen my reins, but I wasn’t too successful. I usually would have spent the whole weekend there, but my brothers and I decided not to postpone this any longer. We needed to speak to our grandparents.

"Okay, I think the little guy is done," Zoey said once the bottle was empty.

Spencer came in at that moment. “Hey, you two. Penny said you fed Ben. I’m gonna burp him.”

"Can I do it?" Zoey asked in a shy voice. I’d never heard her sound like that.

"Are you sure?" Spencer asked.

Zoey nodded.

"Here. This is the cloth we use." He handed her one from the dining room table, arranging it on her shoulder. “He doesn’t need burping as much as before, but he still gets a tummy ache if I don’t do it at all.”

Zoey kept Ben on her shoulder for a few minutes, and then Spencer looked at me.

"How about going outside and breaking the news?"

I nodded. "Let's do that."

Everyone else was sitting outside. My half brothers and Gabe sat nearest to Grandmother. Our grandfather was between Natalie and Meredith. Jake stood next to his wife.

"You know how I measure how well Jeannie's doing? By how much she's plotting, and I'd say she's up to 95 percent," Grandfather said.

"She's already got plans for the rest of the boys?" Natalie inquired.

"Of course," Grandfather assured her.

"So who's next?" Meredith asked.

I walked away from the conversation quickly. I did not want to be privy to that information. Then I’d feel compelled to tell whoever it was, and... well, let's just say, sometimes it was better if you didn't see things coming. It was certainly true in my case.

I cleared my throat. Gabe looked up; he'd been grinning but toned it down. Maddox seemed to immediately catch on and elbowed Nick, who was sharing something with Leo and Grandmother.

Leo also went quiet.

Grandmother narrowed her eyes. "What's going on?"

"How can you tell something’s up?" Leo asked.

"You boys never stop giving each other a hard time even for one second. Now you're all silent." Grandmother looked around, then said, “Spill.”

I nodded at Maddox. He was the one who'd been in contact with Father, so it made sense for him to lead this conversation.

I glanced around and saw Jake staring at us. I figured this had to be hardest on him. He'd been the one to discover the clues that led us to our father’s infidelity, after all.

"All right, Gran, Grandpa, we've got to share something with you."

It still jarred me to hear him say Gran and Grandpa. They'd always been Grandmother and Grandfather to my brothers and me. Mother always insisted we use the proper form.

"Dad contacted me a while ago," Maddox began.

Grandfather turned white. Grandmother pressed her lips together.

"He needs a bailout," Maddox continued. "He started a business that went belly up, and he needs to settle some debts."

"And he dared ask you for money?" Grandfather asked.

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