Page 34 of My Silver Lining

“I’m the last guy you need to worry about. That’s not really my thing.”

“Oh, trust me, I know.”

There was a knock on our bedroom door, and Lulu moved across the grand room and pulled the door open.

“What are you two doing here?” Lulu said. “We were just coming downstairs.”

“Francois has ten minutes to sit down with you two, and nothing is happening downstairs. Everyone is just arriving and having cocktails. He wanted to meet with you and just, you know, talk for a few minutes,” Noemie said, as she pushed into the room and took me in. “You look very handsome, Rafe.”

“Thank you. You look lovely, as well.” Lulu’s mother wore a black velvet dress that was long and stopped at the floor. Her blonde hair was tied back at the nape of her neck, and she was wearing a lot of sparkly jewelry that I imagined cost a ton of money.

“Hello, Rafe,” Francois said, taking both of my hands in his and closing his eyes briefly before opening them and quirking a brow. “I know we met briefly at lunch. But we didn’t geta formal introduction. I’m Francois Tremblay, and you’ve got some magnificent energy.”

“Mom, we need to get to the party,” Lulu said, as another knock came from the other side of the door.

“I brought the party to you,” Noemie said as she waggled her brows. A woman I recognized from our lunch walked inside with a tray holding four champagne flutes.

She walked over to the table in the corner that had four chairs surrounding it, and Noemie and Francois took their seats as Lulu groaned and led me there, as well. There were fresh flowers in the center of the table, which Francois slid to the side before taking a sip of champagne.

I thanked the older woman for the drink, and she left the room.

“We have a few minutes before we get swamped downstairs,” Noemie said.

“I planned to meet with you tomorrow, Francois.”

“Tomorrow is going to be busy with the family photos and the interview,” her mother said as she took a sip of her bubbly.

“The interview?” Lulu gasped. “What are you talking about?”

“The press is coming. Hunter and Charlotte set this up, claiming it was an interview for Hunter and Uncle Charles, with him just being reelected. But obviously, it now involves the whole family with us all being here. And your father thinks it would be great to have Rafe present. You know, it would be a good thing to make your relationship public, so everyone can stop talking about Bucket and see that you’ve moved on.”

I noticed Lulu’s shoulders stiffen, and I reached for her hand beneath the table. She glanced at me, and my gaze locked with hers, and I tried to reassure her without speaking.

It’s fine. We’re fine. We’ve got this.

“We will sit in on the photos, but we’re not being interviewed. We aren’t politicians. We’re here to celebrate a birthday, not give political statements,” Lulu snipped.

“I couldn’t agree more,” Francois said as he continued studying me. I didn’t mind it. He appeared to be trying to see into my soul, and I was fine with it. I was an open book. No way he could tell this relationship was fake just by looking at me, but Lulu seemed uncomfortable. She left her hand in mine, which made it obvious she was definitely nervous. Francois finished his thoughts. “It doesn’t surprise me that Charlotte wanted to turn a family celebration into a photo shoot and press event.”

“Yet you made sure she got the better reading at the holiday dinner.” Lulu pulled her hand away from beneath the table, clearly more comfortable now. “Come on, Francois. You basically said that Charlotte saved all humankind, and you made me some kind of colonial whore. What the hell was that about?”

My head tipped back in laughter, and I had no idea what we were talking about, but she was funny as hell.

Her mother gasped. “I knew you were upset about that.”

“I never said you were a whore. Charlotte was the one who said that. I said you were a lot of fun, and you had the hots for Ben Franklin. That’s not a bad thing, Lulu. And just because your cousin was a healer in her last life doesn’t mean she’s a saint in this one,” Francois said, tossing a wink at her.

He was probably in his mid-sixties, had long, dark wavy hair, and was wearing a black velvet suit with a pink floral button-up beneath.

Lulu sighed. “Whatever. Ben Franklin was hot, so I can live with that.”

“Are you getting a feel for these two, present day?” Noemie asked, looking between us, like this man could tell her everything she needed to know.

“Yes. It’s very strong. The connection between them. They don’t even know how strong it is,” he chuckled. He then continued to stare at us and smile and then closed his eyes and smiled some more. “Wow. This is better than I imagined.”

“It is?” Noemie asked, a wide grin on her face.

Lulu was chewing on the corner of her lip, and she peeked up at me.

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