Page 22 of Faith

“Okay. Just know that we have plans for dinner.”

“We do?”

“Yes, the guys and Serenity want to have dinner with us.”

He frowned.

“Stop. You like both of them and you admire them. I know you like watching their demonstrations at Rough ‘n Ready; although, they won't be doing any more of those for a while.”

“Oh, yeah?”

“With Serenity pregnant, they won't do many more of them.”

“Ah.”

“You don't approve?”

“No, it's their business. Not my job to approve or not.”

“But you wouldn’t do that?”

“Do what?”

“Give up that part of the lifestyle.”

“I don't see myself doing that, but I have never seen me settling down with one woman either.”

She didn't know why, but that made her feel incredibly sad.

“All right, you go over those dossiers and I'm going to start a little research on my own. I think once you lay it all out for them, they'll be okay with the merger.”

“I don't like showing all my cards.”

“Not normally, but there is nothing normal about this.”

He grumbled as she gathered up her stuff.

“What time is dinner?”

“It's at seven.”

“Good.”

She turned to leave, but he stopped her with a comment.

“Are you sure you don't want to go to Maui?”

She shook her head. “I have some research to do here.”

“And by research you mean...”

She sighed. “I don’t want to go.”

There, she said it.

“Why not?”

“I hate these things. I like the background research, and I don’t mind getting dirty to get the job done. But I hate being there as your subordinate.”