Chapter Twenty-Five: For Love's Sake-5

"President of what?" I mumbled mostly to myself. "The United States," Charles answered almost smugly, approval on his face before he turned to focus on me. "Luke's come a long way in not just doing his responsibilities but excelling at them. Yet he's still young and impulsive." A very brief statement, politely said too, but heavy with meaning. "That's true," I said, finding a surge of quiet courage knowing that no matter how we thought of each other, Charles and I were two people who cared deeply about the same person. "Luke's impulsive about a lot of things—he's done enough of them with me since the day we met. But I think if there's one thing he's held off doing for a long time, it's trusting that he can let himself love someone and make them happy. I'm pretty sure it's the least impulsive and reckless thing he's done in a while and that counts for something." Whether I'd spoken in martian or not, I doubt that it would've mattered to someone as perfectly composed as Charles Hedenby who now decided to show nothing on his face as he comfortably let the silence descend after I let my mouth run off with me. Right. Now might be a good time to slowly back away and out the door, Max, before you get blacklisted from holidays with the father-in-law. Then Charles smiled slowly, broadly, and genuinely this time, his features softening. He surprised me further by taking my hand in his and placing his other one on top of it. "I'm glad you can see that, Maxine, and appreciate what it means. I am glad to meet you, after all." I was stunned—probably because I hadn't expected it to be that easy—but then should've I really expected it to be so bad just because Luke's family was, well, on the flip side of my own? I didn't have a chance to contemplate it any further because Luke's call wrapped up and several VPs started to trickle in. The rest of my team settled in chairs in the back of the room and watched as Luke and Bryce collaboratively delivered the presentation to a group of very serious-looking people. I was proud of Luke—of his enthusiasm, of his ability to not take himself too seriously and of the amount of heart he put into his pitch that there was not a single shaking head at the end of the whole thing. Even his father, who quietly observed in the corner, wore a faint smile on his face the entire time. We all felt good at the end of it, aware of that excited buzz a meeting room gets now and then when the light bulb comes on and everyone sees the light and the possibilities it brought out of the shadows. The executives wanted to talk after the break and I followed everyone else out, smiling at Luke who stood at the doorway. It was just a second or two but he secretly caught my hand as I passed, giving it a quick squeeze as he dazzled me with a smile on my way out. We all went back to our desks, trying to continue on with our day. At least I did except that somehow, news of my engagement to Luke had spread like wildfire in the office. No one was directly confronting me about it but I couldn't miss the covert conversations and the furtive glances at my left hand where I did wear my ring. It was a little fancier than my typical office outfit but you know, what can you do? Since Luke's proposal, I really hadn't had time, or the mental energy yet, to plan out what I was going to say to people and fortunately, not too many asked me. Theodora, of course, was going to be the exception. She called me into a one-on-one to wrap up my transition from hers to Bryce's supervision and she was uncharacteristically subdued as she went through the motions of completing my six-month assessment. For all her past criticisms, her review of me had been short of glowing. "I hope you understand that any previous feedback I'd given you were in the spirit of developing you further in the role and expanding your career path in the company," she said casually, her expression completely neutral. I almost snorted. I glanced heavenward but I did NOT roll my eyes—at least not noticeably. Theodora wanted to expand my career as much as the tight space she'd give a bug between her shoe and the pavement before she squashed it. When the conversation petered out into awkward silence, I sighed loudly. She was no longer my direct supervisor so perhaps I could be honest. "With all due respect, Theodora, I'm not going to get you into trouble with what you seem to think as my new superpowers of persuasion care of my engagement to Luke," I said mildly. "I don't need to because you're going to do that on your own if you continue to treat the people around you as you have treated me. It didn't start with me but I sure hope it ends with me because the next time you misstep with someone else, you might not be able to catch yourself and land face down on the ground." Her eyes glinted, her jaw clenching as she bravely held my gaze for a few seconds before looking away. "Thank you for that feedback, Ms. Moss. If you don't have any other questions, I'll give you back the rest of your afternoon." Happy to leave that piece of ugliness at that, I went back to my desk, trying to get something, anything, done in this slightly peculiar day I was having. That's when Luke rang my cell. "Hi, baby. Dad just left for a couple more meetings but we were talking earlier about getting together for dinner tonight," he said in a rush of breath. "Okay." A long pause. "Okay meaning you're good with it?" Luke clarified. "I told him to come by around seven. That should give us enough time to put something together, I think." "You told him what?" My head jerked up when I realized that I might have screamed a little and everyone else in the office was looking at me like I was pole-dancing naked on my desk.