Page 80 of Operation Protector
Not for the first time since Ali had come into his life, Colby was glad he wasn’t a blusher. “Who told you that?”
“Hayley told me early on that Cutter had decided.”
He hesitated, then asked, “He really got you and your wife together?”
“He did. And believe me, it wasn’t easy. I was stubborn. My logical, fact-based brain did not want to even play that game with him, but he made it impossible not to. Thank goodness. Katie’s the best thing that ever has or ever will happen to me.”He tilted his head slightly, assessingly, before adding, “Just as Ali will be for you, I think.”
He remembered last night, and the long, sweet hours they’d spent together. And smiled. “I love her.”
De Marco smiled. “That’s obvious.”
“If you two are done, the play is about to begin.”
Quinn’s voice in his ear startled Colby, and considering what they had just been saying, he could only hope they hadn’t been listening all along on the Foxworth end. Especially when he knew since Grace was in school Ali was there with them, no doubt hearing everything. But then, he’d already told her those words last night as he’d held her close, finally letting himself believe.
Good, because I love you, too. I think I have ever since I realized everything Grace says about you is true.
The joy ran deep, and he couldn’t help smiling.
“Now, that’s the happy Liz needs to see,” de Marco said. Then, for the sake of the earpiece that was in his left ear so neither of them would be visible from what would be Liz’s table, he said, “Ready when you are, Quinn.”
“No changes,” Quinn said. “She’s with the Community Development guy we researched.”
Colby remembered how they’d been happy to discover this was the first public engagement of the two, because it implied she was just beginning to try and reel the guy in. She probably needed some rules bent, and would offer to make it worth his while to bend them.
“We’re on,” came Teague’s voice a moment later, from where he was stationed outside the door, wearing something Liz would be sure to overlook, a waiter’s outfit. “They’re on their way in.”
“Rick is ready, too,” Hayley said.
She was back in the restaurant’s office with Rick Giles, the manager who was readying to step on stage. Colby had met himbriefly, when they’d first arrived. The man was middle-aged, a bit round, and looked slightly nervous as he fiddled with the mic Foxworth had rigged him with, attached invisibly to the back of his name tag. They would be able to hear the entire exchange at the table, for as long as the man could manage to be there.
Oddly, his nerves had calmed Colby a little. This man, who didn’t know him at all, was going to play a crucial role in his fight for Grace. And when that man turned to him and said, “Foxworth saved my life, and my son’s. I’m honored to help them do the same for you,” Colby had never felt more humbled.
Except when he’d first held baby Grace.
And last night, when Ali had said she loved him.
He’d spent so long afraid to hope. But now here it was, bubbling up inside him like the untouched glass of champagne on the table before him.
“We’re celebrating, remember?” de Marco had said when he ordered it. “We’ve found what we need to take her down, and we’re delighted.”
Colby had stared at the face he’d seen in the news so many times. “How much of what you do is acting?”
De Marco had burst out laughing. “Oh, so much,” he’d said.
And then they were there. Liz strode in as usual, dressed to the nines, head high, phone at her ear.
“You said she always does that, the phone thing?” de Marco asked.
Colby nodded. “Half the time, probably more, it’s not even real, she’s not talking to anyone.”
“But she wants it to seem like she’s so in demand that her guest should be grateful that she’s allotted him some of her precious time.”
He smothered a laugh. “You sure you haven’t dealt with her before?”
“Yes. But I’ve dealt with her sort dozens of times. They’re half the reason I went to work for Foxworth.”
They stayed quiet after that, according to the plan. The food on his plate would have been appealing at any other time, under any other circumstances, but right now his gut was churning enough that putting anything in it seemed like a bad idea. But he tried not to let it show, tried to present the demeanor of a man who had found a solution to the biggest problem in his life, thanks to the man sitting across from him.
