30. Happen Regardless
HAPPEN REGARDLESS
“Well, hello there, handsome,” she said the next Friday.
Fletcher twisted his head when Paris said those words to him.
Paris let out a light laugh and put her hand on his arm.
“Didn’t expect you to say that here.”
“I checked to make sure no one was around. What are you doing at this end of the hall? I’ve got a meeting with West.”
“Right now?”
“Yes,” she said, frowning. “Why?”
“Because so do I?”
“Crap, do you think he knows?” she whispered and pulled his arm, then his body around the corner. She probably looked like a fool sticking her neck out to see if anyone just saw her make that move.
“He knows a lot of things. Can you be more specific?”
“About us?” she asked, her voice still low.
“Considering your parents know and I had dinner with them two nights ago, I’d say it’s a good bet.”
Her parents told her to tell West, but she argued he wasn’t her boss. Not really.
He owned part of her business, but that wasn’t the same thing.
And Fletcher didn’t appear to be that concerned with West knowing.
To her, she just had to get through everything one hour at a time.
The meeting with the FBI had come and gone.
Just like she expected, she had three attorneys in there with her along with Fletcher.
Braylon representing The Carlisle Group, Spencer as the lead attorney who managed her firm, then her father.
He flew in on Monday morning, spent a few days going over everything, and Wednesday afternoon walked into Fletcher’s old office while she sweated through her suit praying she was allowed to leave.
It was stupid on her part to think otherwise.
Nothing more happened than her being questioned exactly as Fletcher had said. All files were turned over without question. There was no reason not to.
Whatever happened in the future was out of her hands.
They’d told her her name would be kept out of it. That it took time to build a case against someone and they’d be gathering more information.
“Maybe I should have said something before now.”
“That’s your decision.”
“Mine? He’s your boss.”
“I’ve been letting you call those shots.”
“Now you’re being cute,” she said. “Poor timing.”
He nudged her back into the hallway. “I’m always cute and my timing is on point. Flawless. You can’t say otherwise.”
This teasing side of him.
Yeah, she loved it one hundred percent.
No more Mr. Robot here.
“Now isn’t the time,” she said.
She squared her shoulders, took a deep breath, and stopped at Vanessa’s desk. “He’s waiting for both of you.”
“Thanks,” she said, moving past the desk and into her cousin’s office.
Fletcher held the door for her, then shut it behind him.
West was seated off to the side. In the comfortable chairs.
The ones where she didn’t feel as if she was being called into the principal’s office.
“And you even show up together,” West said.
Paris groaned. “So you know?”
“Know what?” West asked.
His smirk said she was going to be played with. “That we are dating.”
“Nope,” West said. “Or now I do.”
“Then what did you know?” she asked, frowning and flopping on the couch. She gave Fletcher a glare that he better damn well sit next to her after she’d just confessed.
“That everything seems to be blowing over. Or it will. Guess it’s not now.”
Fletcher looked at her.
“What don’t I know? Will I have to go back for questioning?”
“He meant over with that, but not with us,” he clarified.
“I don’t do man-speak.”
“Even with all your brothers and cousins?” he asked.
“The girls stuck together in my house,” she argued. She turned back to West. “Why are we both here then?”
“Because I wanted to see how you were feeling, Paris,” West said. “Then get an idea on if you need Fletcher keeping an eye on you. Guess it’s going to happen regardless.”
“I don’t need anyone to keep an eye on me,” she argued.
“Has she been like this all along?” West asked Fletcher. “She sounds more like London than Paris.”
“I thought that, but don’t know them like you do.”
“Hello, I’m sitting right here.”
How dare they turn this into a joke. “So I see,” he said.
“So Fletcher has no worries that we are dating? You’re not going to give him some long lecture or anything?”
“Why would I lecture him?” West asked. “He’s old enough to know what he wants and what he’s doing.”
“That’s a crack at your age,” she said, elbowing him. “You’re even older than West.”
He narrowed his eyes. “Doesn’t seem to bother you much.”
“Well, I won’t waste either of your time,” West said. “Abby will be here soon and we’re going to visit my new nephew.”
“How is Carson doing?” she asked.
They’d had the meeting with the FBI on Wednesday, Lily was induced on Thursday morning and Carson Carlisle was added to the family tree a few hours later.
“Doing well. She was discharged a few hours ago.”
“That seems fast.”
“She didn’t want to stay there,” West said. “But Braylon has a nurse stopping over tomorrow to check on her.”
The things her family did to care for those they loved.
“My parents stopped over this morning,” she said.
“Their flight is tonight?” West asked.
“At six,” she said. “How long is Aunt Aileen staying?”
“Probably a month. She’ll have plenty of time to visit with Calder and Sam while she’s here.”
“I’m looking forward to my new niece in December. I guess that is the hardest thing being here. I don’t get to see Camden and Elise much.”
Her oldest brother, Phoenix, got custody of Elise when his best friend had died a few years ago. Then he hired Crystal as his nanny, fell in love, had a son, Camden, shortly after and now had a daughter on the way.
“I want to say it’s hard being away from your siblings, but I see enough of them,” West said. “And talk to them when I don’t see them.”
Paris grinned. “It’s not the same with us.” She turned to Fletcher. “We have group chats with all of us. Then one with just the girls.”
Fletcher put his hand on her shoulder and gently nudged her out of the office. “Let’s go.”
When they were in the hall, she said, “Moves like that are going to get us noticed faster.”
“Does it matter?”
“Does it to you?”
“Does it seem like it?” he asked.
“I can’t get much of a read on you half the time. I’m not sure. That’s why I’m asking.”
She prided herself on being able to read people well, but Fletcher always threw her off.
“If it bothered me, you’d be the first to know,” he said.
The two of them moved out of that wing and closer to his office.
“Fletcher,” Mary said. She was watching the desk before anyone could enter the suite. “Security just called and said your son is in the lobby and on his way up. They verified and passed him through to the top. I’m sorry, I didn’t know you had a son. I had to bother Vanessa.”
He pulled his phone out to see if he missed a text, but there was nothing.
“Thanks.”
“See,” Paris whispered. “You didn’t even let people know you had a child and you’re saying it’s not a big deal for them to know we are dating?”
None of this made sense.
“People know I have a son. You didn’t know because it’s not something that West or Braylon would have said. But I don’t expect every employee to know it.”
Considering that there was a rotation of people at that desk all the time, what he said made sense.
The elevator dinged and a teenager came off of it.
She didn’t know how to play it.
“Hey, Dad,” Ian said. “Hope it was okay to stop over.”
“It is,” he said. “Everything okay?”
“Yeah. I just... I wanted to ask you something and didn’t want to call or text.”
Paris moved away from Fletcher when she realized he might not introduce her. She wouldn’t be hurt over that.
“I’ll catch up with you later,” he said.
She turned as she passed Ian. “Sure.”
“You smell like flowers.”
“What?” she asked.
Fletcher let out a soft groan. She heard it. She didn’t think Ian did.
“Sorry,” Ian said. “That was rude of me. It’s just that you smelled like flowers when you walked by. I tend to catch scents. I do a lot of cooking and go by the scents of things when adding seasonings more than the taste.”
“I love that,” she said. “That you enjoy cooking and found what works for you.”
She grinned and pointed her finger at Fletcher behind his son’s back.
Oh man, he got caught and it was nice to know she wasn’t the only one who might ride in the hot seat.
She rode the elevator down to her floor, got off and went into her office.
“Your parents are here,” Molly whispered when she went past the security door.
“They are?” What could this be about? “London isn’t here, is she?”
“No. She’ll be back soon. I put them in the conference room. I said you had a meeting with West but wouldn’t be long.”
“Thanks.” She walked down the hall and in to see her parents with coffee in front of them laughing. “Hi. You didn’t say you were coming.”
“We had to check out of our hotel and got sick of running around. We thought we’d say bye one more time before heading to the airport,” her mother said.
“I’m glad you did. You could have gone upstairs.”
“No,” her mother said. “I wouldn’t bother anyone while they were working.”
“I thought for sure Dad would have wanted to see West.”
“I saw West yesterday,” her father said.
“Oh,” she said. “I didn’t know that.”
“We don’t tell you all our moves,” her father said.
She was positive that meeting had to do with her situation with the FBI, then possibly getting inside information on her boyfriend.
Which they could have asked her for.
Sure, it was news to them she was dating someone, but at least they found out before she was going to be questioned by the FBI.
She’d been smart enough to not withhold that.
“I see that. But the fact you wanted to see me says you might have something you want to talk about?”
Her father just held her stare. He could make anyone squirm with enough time.
“Where are things going to go with you and Fletcher now?” her mother asked.
“Dad can’t ask himself?”
“I have no problem speaking for myself. But your mother is nosier than me.”
“Because you got all the information you wanted from West.”
“Your father does things his way, I do them mine,” her mother said. “You sound happy when you talk about him. I do like him even though he’s older.”
“I don’t think he comes off as that old, does he?”
It wasn’t as if Fletcher could be her father. He was barely fourteen years older than her.
“No,” her mother said. “He’s very... restrained. I’d expect that with his background. You’re the same.”
“I am.”
“But I wonder if maybe it could be boring for you,” her mother said. “Maybe you need someone a little different.”
“Don’t listen to your mother. She has ideas in her head about what her kids’ partners should be like. They won’t all be opposites.”
“We are in many instances, and the same in others.”
Different in that if she was in Fletcher’s shoes, she would have introduced him to her kid instead of all but pushing her to leave.
“I told your mother that. But with everything that’s happened, we just wanted to make sure one more time that you’re fine. London said things are good.”
“They are,” she said. She moved over and gave them both a big hug. “They’re great. I’m glad that you’re checking in on me.”
“You sound sad,” her mother said. “Like you’re forcing it now.”
Not much got past them. “Not sad. Just... conflicted. But not in a bad way. And before you ask, the meeting with West was fine. Things with Fletcher and me are good. There is still a lot I’m processing.”
Which wasn’t a lie.
Her parents stood up. “If you’re saying it, then we believe you,” her father said. “Right, Carolina?”
“Right,” her mother said, giving her one more hug, then whispering in her ear, “Call me anytime you need to talk or vent.”
She kissed her mother’s cheek. “You’ve got it.”