She glanced around to see if anyone had listened in, but it was a sleepy afternoon and city hall looked almost deserted.
So why did she feel like she had eyes on her?
She took a deep breath and forced herself to walk to the stairs and up to her office.
Rene would tell her what she needed to know. It wasn’t like she’d told him every single thing about her family.
She wished he’d told her that Charles would have access to their personal contracts.
“You’re back.” Gertie was walking toward her, her purse over her shoulder.
Gertie would be the perfect person to talk to. If anyone would know what was the truth, it would be Gertie. It was obvious her mother didn’t know about Rene’s dad and Charles’s mom. She would have said something.
But would she be betraying her new family if she even put the rumor out there?
“Yes, anything happen while I was gone?” Sylvie asked. She needed time to think. She wasn’t going to fall into Charles’s trap, and she wasn’t going to rush home to tell Rene what had happened. He would get upset, and there was nothing he could do about it. They had a plan when it came to Charles. They needed to follow it and not allow Rene’s anger to derail them.
“Your husband lost his damn mind,” Gertie said with a shake of her head. “I told him that was a responsibility, not a gift. You should go and deal with that.”
“He’s here?”
“He’s been sitting in your office for the last twenty minutes. I need him to understand I am not cleaning up any accidents.” Gertie continued walking, a hint of a smile coming on her face. “Though I will admit, that is a gorgeous ball of fluff right there. Good luck.”
What had Rene done? She hurried to her office and threw the door open in time to see her husband picking up a little dog and pulling some paper out of its mouth.
“You can’t eat that. You can’t wreck Momma’s office or she’ll kick both of us out,” he said.
“What did you do?” She set down her things and her heart was already melting because that was a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel in his arms.
“Zep said she needed a sponsor, and I remembered how you always wanted one of these.” He held the puppy, who was trying her hardest to lick him. She was a squirming ball of energy. “She’s got a heart condition. It’s why she was turned in. I can take her back to Zep. I wasn’t thinking. I’ll pay for all her meds . . .”
“You will not take that sweet baby anywhere but home.” He remembered the type of dog she’d always wanted when she was a kid. Charles was wrong. This man was not planning on dumping her. This man was trying his hardest to keep her happy.
She’d told him they should try a dog before they thought about kids. He presented her with one the next day.
She held her hands out. She knew exactly what to name this pretty baby girl. “Come here, Lady.”
Rene handed her the puppy and smiled. His normally under-control hair tumbled over his forehead, making him look younger, like he had when they’d been in high school and she’d had the worst crush on him. “You’re not mad? I didn’t think at the time. I took one look at her and she was ours. Then Gertie pointed out a whole lot of things to me.”
Lady was the cutest puppy ever. “I’m going to need a better handbag, because she is going to be one of those dogs.”
She would get too big to be hauled around in a designer bag, but she was perfect right now.
“I think I can handle that.” He was grinning at them both as she held the puppy against her. “You two are going to be a good team. You like her?”
She was already in love. “Yes. Now tell me everything I need to know. Has she seen a vet?”
Rene leaned over and kissed her. “I will tell you everything over dinner. Let me take my lovely ladies home. It’s been a long day.”
She wasn’t going to tell him about the rumors about his mom, but she wasn’t going to hide the fact that Charles had made a play. “It has. Charles is heading to the cabin tonight. I know that because he was waiting downstairs for me.”
Rene’s eyes went wide. “What did he do?”
“He offered me a hundred grand to divorce you.”
Rene seemed to breathe a sigh of relief. “He’s not very smart. And he doesn’t know you at all. He should have brought you a puppy.”
She leaned into the hug he gave her. “You are much better at knowing what I want.”
His arms wrapped around her and he kissed her forehead. “I’m sorry he bothered you. I’ll make it up to you, though.”