Page 67 of Flirting with the CEO

"Nice to meet you, Zoey," Jake said. "We've heard about you."

"You have?" Zoey asked, stunned.

"My grandmother might have mentioned you in passing." That came from Cade. He winked at her and then added, “She used that tactic, too, to bring me and Meredith together, but I guess I never learn. She always has a plan.”

Zoey laughed. "I'm a bit overwhelmed.”

"Don't worry, so are we," Gabe said. "Anyway, Zoey, thank you for being here for Grandmother. With you here, she's got something else to focus on and won't turn on us anytime soon."

The mood had significantly lightened in the past few minutes. Knowing Grandmother wasn't in grave danger was a relief to us all.

"Now, how do we want to play this?" Jake asked.

"I'd say we take it one step at a time," Maddox said. "First, let’s see what the doctor suggests. Right now it’s just about hydration."

"I agree with him," I said. “All right, I don’t think there's any point in meeting up tonight, then."

We were going to hang around at Gabe’s bar in the evening, but none of us was in the mood for that anymore.

“Agreed. Okay, guys, let’s go upstairs and check on Grandmother,” Jake suggested.

We bid my brothers and half brothers goodbye, and then I was alone with Zoey.

“Should we buy some goodies and bring them to your grandmother once she’s home?” she asked.

I shook my head. "No, she's going to need her rest. The doctor said not to overwhelm her. I suggest we wait until she gives us the green light to visit her. And in the meantime, my brothers and I will take turns checking on them. Jake’s driver is already helping them with groceries. I’ll check in with Grandfather tomorrow morning to see if they need anything.”

"I think it's so endearing that all of you are coming together and taking care of them."

“I didn't think I'd say this, but I'm grateful that my half brothers are in Boston too."

She smiled brightly. "I'm happy you’re seeing the positive side of this. Do you wish you were closer to them?" she asked.

"I always figured it would make my grandparents happy if we were closer. But I never really thought about whatIwanted.”

“Food for thought, huh?”

Zoey was exceptionally good at seeing right through me and wasn’t afraid of asking the difficult questions and challenging me to do some introspection. I didn’t have any answers—yet.

“All right, so what’s the plan?” she asked.

“My family will stay for a bit, and they’ll keep us posted. Grandmother will flip out if we all stay here, so I'm going to focus on you today."

"How are you going to do that?”

“What do you want to do?”

“We could spend the day outdoors, maybe at a park. I’m afraid these sunny days will be gone before we know it.”

I nodded, taking out my phone.

"What do you think about a hike at the Cascade in Melrose?" I asked her.

She blinked, jerking her head back. "Wait, you just looked that up?"

"Yeah," I muttered. That wasn't totally true. When she'd mentioned camping a while ago, I'd done some research, and the Cascade popped up as a possible day trip.

"Okay then," she said, "I'm all yours. I can’t believe you’re going to be mine all day.”

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