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“Indeed,” Elise Markham looked me over. “Strange.”

So, that’s how this is going to go!

“Mom and Dad,” Chloe said, “this is my boyfriend, Cole Hayward. He’s the western trainer from the barn.”

Her parents exchanged glances, then looked at her.

“Look, I told you I was bringing someone to lunch. Don’t be assholes,” Chloe groaned. “This is Cole. Be nice.”

Whenever I heard Chloe interact with her family, her demeanor surprised me. She didn’t mince words—ever. I assumed her father had the patience of a saint, that anything she did in his eyes was golden, and that her mother respected people more for standing up to her. Some businesspeople were like that, and women had to be twice as tough.

Still surprised, but polite, Tom extended his hand. “Apologies, Cole. Yes, welcome.”

“Thank you, Mr. Lews.” I minded myself but felt a bit silly for being so deferential in my forties.

A maid appeared to the couple’s right.

“Let Rose take your coats,” Elise conveniently ignored me.

I knew this was the moment where things either fell apart or went unimaginably better. The maid took my coat, then Chloe’s. But as she unveiled her pregnant bump, it was obvious. Gone was Chloe’s tight stomach.

“Let’s cut the crap, okay,” Chloe jumped in. “You can hand-wring all you want and say I am destroying the family name or killing Cal’s hopes of being president, but we know we’re all grown-ups and he already knows. Yes, I’m pregnant. Yes, it’s Cole’s. Yes, we’re⁠—”

Before she could finish, Elise launched forward. I worried she might lose it, so I tried to slow her. Instead, she pulled Chloe into a hug and stepped back, taking in her daughter’s growing stomach.

In confusion, I made eye contact with Tom. He seemed just as befuddled.

“Uh… okay? So is that a good thing?” Chloe looked at me for an explanation.

“Finally! We worried you’d never do it. All that nonsense with Jasper! And Gabe! And Brayden! There was no reason for you to give up on the idea of motherhood for another flake. Unless…” Elise turned to me. “You are a flake?”

I raised my hands and backed up a pace, bristling under her stare.

“No, ma’am. I am many things, but not a flake. And I love your daughter.”

Elise continued staring, hand on a hip. “And you will not just leave her?”

“No, ma’am.”

“And you’re not here to marry her and⁠—”

“Mother!” Chloe barked. “Stop it! We haven’t talked about that at all. Jesus! Can we at least eat lunch? I was promised food.”

I snickered. The woman always put food away, but even more now.

“I had them make salmon. Can you eat that?” Tom asked.

“Yes, Dad. I can eat fish. I’m not vomitous anymore. It’s fine.”

I stifled a laugh.

“Well, you can come in, but lunch won’t be ready for another half an hour,” Elise said. “We had some trouble with the fish man.”

They have a fish man?

“Why don’t you give Cole a tour around?” Tom said. “Show him the house.”

I sensed Chloe’s old man didn’t want to open me up to thirty minutes of sober, pointed questions from his wife.