After Happily Ever Afte- Astrid Ohletz Page 0,92

doesn’t matter. My accomplishments never mattered in this family. It was stupid of me to even ask. Come on. Let’s go.”

Austen handed Mila off to Tim, who hurried after them. “Dee, wait. Why didn’t you ask me? I could lend you some money.”

“Nah. You’ve got a family to take care of, and I know Uncle Wade doesn’t pay you as much as he should.” Dee gave her brother a friendly slap to the shoulder. “Don’t worry about it. We’ll get the money somehow.”

At the door, Dee’s mother caught up with them. “Danielle, wait. Take some cake.” Since Dee had already grabbed her jacket and opened the door, Phyllis pressed the box into Austen’s hands.

A piece of paper sat on top of the box. For a second, Austen thought it might be the bakery’s phone number. Then she realized it was a personal check. A check with a lot of zeroes. She swallowed hard. “Um, Dee…”

Dee turned.

With a trembling hand, Austen held out the check to her.

Dee’s gaze went from the check to Austen’s face, then back to the check and finally to her mother. “Mom, what…? You heard what he said. I won’t take any of his money behind his back.” She took the check and tried to press it into her mother’s hands, but Phyllis refused to take it.

“This isn’t your father’s money.” Phyllis pointed at the signature on the check, which was her own. “You didn’t just inherit your head for business from his side of the family.” She lowered her voice to a whisper, as if it was a secret she didn’t want anyone to know. “I invested the money I inherited from your grandfather wisely, and over the years, I increased it tenfold. Now I heard of this promising little company that produces toys for pet birds, and I’d like to invest in it.”

Dee stared at her mother as if she had never seen her before.

Austen could empathize. She had met Dee’s mother only twice before, but as far as she knew Phyllis had never contradicted her husband or shown any support for her daughter’s career. Austen had always assumed that she probably didn’t approve of women working outside of the home and would have preferred to see her only daughter married to a man, with a gaggle of kids.

“Mom…” Dee’s voice was hoarse.

“Phyllis,” Caleb called. “What’s taking so long? Don’t coddle the girl, or she’ll never learn.”

So that was where Dee got her ideas about what constituted coddling. Austen turned and stared at him. So supporting their daughter was seen as coddling in this family? Wow. A wave of gratefulness for her own parents overcame Austen. She couldn’t wait to get out of here so she could give Dee a long, tight hug.

“Be right there,” Phyllis called back. “I’m just giving them some cake to take home.” She turned back toward Dee. “I hope you enjoy it.”

“Um, I’m sure we will.” Dee gripped the check tightly. “Thank you for the…cake. We’ll pay you back for it, of course.”

Phyllis smiled pleasantly, as if they were really just talking about two pieces of chocolate cake and not fifty thousand dollars.

Jesus, this family was weird. Austen stumbled after Dee as if on autopilot.

Outside, in front of their car, they stopped and stared at each other.

Dee held up the check and studied it from all sides, as if halfway expecting it to be forged. “Who was that woman and what did she do with my mother?”

“I have no idea. I didn’t even know she had her own money.”

“Neither did I, and I bet my father doesn’t either.” Dee snorted bitterly. “Can’t have his wife outshine his financial success, so she just stays in the kitchen with the other women and pretends she doesn’t understand a word when the men are talking about investments.” Finally, she lowered the check and prepared to get in on the driver’s side.

“Dee?”

When Dee turned, Austen put the cake box on the roof of the BMW and rushed into her arms.

“Oof.” Dee wrapped both arms around her. Her chest lifted and fell against Austen’s as she breathed in her scent. “What’s that for?” she asked without letting go.

Austen buried her face against Dee’s shoulder. “For not being like your family,” she mumbled into the fabric of her jacket. “Even though your mother turned out not to be so bad after all. I just wish she would support you more openly and shout from the rooftops how proud of you she is. I know I am.”

Dee held her even more tightly. Normally, she wasn’t much for public displays of affection, but now she didn’t seem to care if half of Portland was watching them. “Austen?” she asked after a while, both arms still around her.

“Hmm?”

“Now that we have the money for the Christmas tree project and probably several other product launches, we’ll have to work a lot of overtime.”

Austen nodded, her face still pressed to her favorite spot against Dee’s shoulder. “I know. Don’t worry. I’m up for it.”

“I know. I’m not worried about that.” Dee hesitated.

“But?” Still in Dee’s arms, Austen pulled back a few inches so she could see her face. Dee looked uncharacteristically insecure, making Austen’s pulse speed up. “What is it?”

“Yeah, well, with us having to work late most days, all the back and forth between my house and your apartment seems like an unnecessary waste of time, so I was wondering…”

Austen held her breath.

“Wouldn’t it be more reasonable if you moved in with me?”

Austen’s lips curled into an amused smile. Leave it to her partner to phrase moving in together like a smart business strategy. “Reasonable?”

“Yeah. It’s slightly closer to work; there’s more space than in your apartment, and the neighbors aren’t as close, so they wouldn’t complain whenever Toby gets a little too loud.” Dee finally broke into a grin. “And I just want you there. I want us to live together, be partners in business and life and all that. So, what do you think?”

Instead of a verbal reply, Austen tightened the embrace, bridged the few inches between them, and kissed her.

“I take it that’s a yes?” Dee asked when they came up for air.

Austen laughed. “What do you think?”

“Hmm, I don’t know.” Dee looked at her with that playful twinkle in her eyes that only Austen got to see. “Maybe you need to kiss me again so I can make sure I understood your answer.”

“Well, you did say clear communication is important in business, so…” Austen threaded her fingers through Dee’s hair and pulled her down for a second kiss.