"Dane."
Claire's voice was bright and crisp, completely masking her guilty conscience.
Dane found it highly amusing; this girl practically vanished the second she went home.
She clearly hadn't been missing him at all.
"Made it back to the James Village?" Dane couldn't really bring himself to criticize her.
After all, he had zero dating experience himself, and he hadn't exactly been the most attentive partner.
Unlike Lincoln, who always remembered to book flights for his girlfriend and drop her off at the airport.
Dane completely lacked that kind of awareness.
Claire had booked her own ticket.
And Dewitt had driven her to the airport.
Dane had wanted to see her off, but Claire never gave him the chance.
"Yeah, I just got back. Had a massive feast."
"Patti's cooking is absolutely incredible."
Claire didn't want to brag, but Patti's culinary skills combined with the fresh village ingredients created something truly unforgettable.
Dane chuckled on the other end of the line. "How does it compare to Sully's?"
He had tasted Patti's cooking before.
Truthfully, it was exceptional.
It wasn't necessarily that her techniques outclassed Sullivan Quinn's.
But she had the massive advantage of superior ingredients.
Plus, she had been perfecting those exact same recipes for decades; cooking them was second nature.
"They each have their own unique flair," Claire evaluated diplomatically.
"My palate isn't exactly refined enough to give a professional critique anyway."
She couldn't declare one better than the other, but purely in terms of technical skill, Sully was undeniably superior.
But Patti's secret weapon was the fresh mountain produce!
The James Village had incredible natural resources; whether it was the vegetables,
the chickens, or the ducks, the flavors were always phenomenal.
Claire casually chatted with Dane while scratching the chubby cat's belly.
Dane asked her to pass along his regards to Pandora, and Claire happily agreed.
After a brief chat, Jenny called out, asking if she wanted to play Bridge.
There wasn't much entertainment in the countryside.
When Dewitt returned a couple of days ago, he had set up an automatic Bridge table in Pandora's small living room.
Now that everyone had finished eating, it was the perfect time for some games.
Even though the people of the Jam
Village were quite wealthy.
es wasnt a popular pastime
here.
Pandora had always been strict knew how harmoneen about it, and the older generation net
to earn
sŵnovels
They occasionally played a friendly game of poker or simple card games, and that was about it.
They did have regular playing cards, the kind you shuffled by hand.
The elderly folks would play a few rounds whenever the mood struck.
They could sit around all afternoon.
If Pandora ever wanted to play Bridge, she would simply invite people over to the Estate.
Playing with the matriarch was never considered gambling.
Yes, the double standard was very real.
They used poker chips, buying in for about a hundred bucks each.
It was just a casual, low-stakes game.
Pandora's deck of cards was a stunning vintage set.
It was passed down from the early twentieth century, incredibly valuable, and utterly beautiful.
All the elders loved it.
But the younger crowd definitely preferred the automatic shuffler.
Pandora figured that since all the young people were back for
holidays, they needed somervel
ing to
do.
It was perfectly fine for them to have some fun.
Claire studied so hard every day; didn't she deserve to cut loose during her break?
Needless to say, the matriarch was incredibly considerate of the younger generation.
When it came to her granddaughter, she was the most open-minded grandmother on earth.
Claire was shocked to see they had actually bought an automatic table for the house.
"Come on, let's go play a few hands."
Jenny absolutely loved the game.
Ever since she got pregnant, her obsession with Bridge had only grown.
Mostly because she won all the time.
Gambling might be frowned upon, but winning money was always a thrill!
Edison never tried to stop her.
It wasn't like Jenny had much free time anyway.
Playing once a week was already a luxury.
"I'm really not good at this," Claire admitted. She honestly didn't know much about
the game.