She smiled ruefully. “You think that after all these years, I’m blowing off working for a man?”
“Yes, because the only other time you blow off work is to see us.” There was a masculine rumble in the background, and then Louisa said, “Connor says you must really like this guy.”
She did. A lot. “Why does he conclude that?”
“Because you never willingly take time away from work. Even when you have dinner with us, you check your email several times. So who is he?”
She shook her head. “I’m not going to tell you who he is, because you’ll have Connor run a background check on him.”
“Would that be bad?” Louisa asked hesitantly.
“No, he’s clean.” She’d done her own homework before having dinner with him last night. She wasn’t stupid. “His name is Danny.”
“Is he a lawyer?”
“No.”
“A client?”
“Of course not.”
Louisa huffed a sigh. “Are you going to tell me where you met him or not? You don’t have time to play twenty questions.”
That was true. “I met him at Winners Inc. He’s another client.”
There was silence on the other end. Then Louisa said, “Is that wise? You don’t date another drowning person.”
“Connor was drowning and you went out with him,” Jules pointed out.
“I wasn’t drowning though.”
She frowned. “Would you consider me drowning?”
“You went to a life coach, so it sounds like you have hold of a preserver. But it doesn’t matter what I think, and really, I don’t know why he’s going to your life coach either.” Connor’s rumble carried through the line again. “Connor says to bring Danny to dinner.”
She stilled. That was tantamount to taking a guy home to meet your parents, and they all knew it.
“That wasn’t a request, Julianne Emory,” Louisa said in her directorial voice. “Seven o’clock, sharp.”
She shook her head. “I don’t know—"
“I do, and we won’t take no for an answer.” Louisa paused. When she spoke again, her voice was softer. “We love you. You can’t blame us for wanting to make sure you’re okay. Because you can’t tell me you don’t like this man.”
“No, I can’t,” she admitted just as softly.
“Great, so we’ll see you both tomorrow night. Connor says he loves you. I do too.”
She murmured back, feeling a little awkward the way she always did when Louisa got mushy. She ended the call, wondering what Danny would say to their change of plans.
Might as well find out now.She opened her texts.
Jules
My friends insisted on dinner tomorrow night.
Danny
You canceling on me?