Page 80 of The Rebel

A sense of sadness washed over me because I didn’t want our date to be over.

We reached the shore quickly enough. Anthony’s grandfathers grinned as we stepped off the boat.

“Hello, Daisy,” one of them said. I’d seen them both that day at LeBlanc-Broussard but didn’t know who was who.

“Hi. Nice to see you again…”

“I’m David,” he said.

“And I’m Felix,” his other grandfather added. “We’ve heard a lot about you from Isabeau and Celine.”

I was very tempted to ask how they could’ve possibly heard much of anything considering I’d only spoken to their wives twice, but I didn’t.

“You should’ve told me you were coming today,” Anthony said.

“You could’ve told us you’d need the boat towoothis beautiful young lady. Then our old asses would’ve stayed home,” David said in jest.

I really wasn’t prone to blushing, but my face burned like never before.

“Don’t put Daisy on the spot like that,” Anthony retorted, but his voice was full of amusement.

“It’s true, though,” David replied. “We just didn’t want to be in the wives’ way, so we thought we’d trawl about the bayou.”

“Your boat is amazing. We had a very nice afternoon out there, thank you. But we have to get back to the city, don’t we, Anthony?” I said.

David smiled, speaking to no one in particular. “You know, I can’t believe my wife was right again.”

Felix groaned. “The girls are always right.” He was calling Isabeau and Celine girls? Aww, that was endearing. He glanced at Anthony. “Don’t tell them that we actually said it out loud. It’ll only encourage them more.”

“Celine and Isabeau don’t need any encouragement or approval in order to believe they’re always right,” David said.

“And don’t worry. We won’t tell them anything,” Felix added.

“Much appreciated. We do need to be heading back, however.” Anthony put an arm around my shoulders.

I was feeling a bit weird. He was comfortable showing signs of affection in front of his grandfathers, yet he didn’t want his grandmothers to know anything. Why?

“Well, don’t let us keep you youngsters from having fun for the rest of the day,” Felix said. He took the keys from Anthony, and then they both headed onto the boat.

“How come it’s only the two of you going out?” Anthony asked. Was that a bit of concern in his voice?

David waved his hand. “It was too short of notice to have anyone join us.”

Anthony narrowed his eyes, clearly not buying it.

“We’ll be fine,” Felix said in a deadpan voice.

Clearly they didn’t enjoy being “chaperoned,” as Anthony had put it.

“If you need anything, let me know.” Anthony shook his head, taking my hand and leading me to the car.

Once home later that afternoon, I took a nap and then binged some movies. Anthony had plans with his family the rest of the day, which was fine by me. I was falling for this man hard, and I wasn’t sure that was wise. I had a lot to think about before Monday arrived.

CHAPTER 18

DAISY

On Monday morning,I whistled as I sat behind my desk, going through my emails. It was only eight o’clock, and I already had enough tasks to fill the whole week. This job wasn’t for the fainthearted.