Henrietta jumped a little when she saw her husband still waiting up for her in the living room.
"Keen, how come you haven't gone to bed yet?" She was always the night owl between them, so him staying up wasn't strange, but he usually waited for her in bed, not out here in the living room.
Anyone who didn't know better would think something terrible had happened, like the family business going under.
"What took you so long? Mabel's already been home for ages," Keen said, getting up and taking her coat.
"What? I thought she was going out with Lance?"
"She came back pretty quick. Guess she wasn't into him?"
"Nah, he wasn't into her." Keen laughed a little. "Your daughter got turned down. Apparently he already likes someone else."
He could make jokes now, but when he'd been with their daughter, Keen had acted like it was the biggest injustice in the world.
"Seriously?" Henrietta frowned. “Why didn't Octavia ever mention this to me? Is she trying to keep it a secret?"
Keen just kept smiling while Henrietta quickly pieced things together. She wasn't naive. Octavia must've known her son was interested in someone else, just didn't like it. So, instead, she went into matchmaking mode, trying to set him up with other girls to keep him away from his crush. Mabel-only child, great background-of course she fit Octavia's criteria.
“How long did she really think she could keep this from us? I used to think the James family was a good option, but now... honestly, they're not all that.” Henrietta sighed, brushing off the idea of a family alliance.
She'd hoped her daughter would be happy with someone from a "nice family" like the Jameses, but now it looked like finding a guy with potential somewhere else was a better move.
"Come on, don't get all worked up. Just ignore her from now on, it's not worth your energy."
The next day, Octavia called, asking what Mabel thought of her son. Henrietta didn't even hesitate—she just told her straight up that the two of them weren't a match.
"How are they not a match?" Octavia sounded shocked.
What was she talking about? Their families were such a perfect fit-how could they not be?
"You'll have to ask your son."
"What's that supposed to mean?" Octavia pushed, but Henrietta had already hung
up.
Truth was Henrietta wasn't even
that mad, but she wanted Octavia to know she saw through her little act. If Octavia couldn't be honest or even
pretend to apologize she wasken
getting any kindness in return.
Octavia stared at her phone, chewing on her frustration.
If this connection with Mabel's family didn't work out, what would Latham say? That
she wasn't good enough?
She dialed her son right away.
Lance saw her name flash on his screen and ignored the call.
Nothing annoyed him more than his mom making plans for him behind his back. His days were packed as it
to go on blind dates. He'd already told her a bunch of times that he liked Claire and she was the only one he wanted to marry. Why wouldn't she let it go?
was, and now she wanted him t
Octavia tried a few more times, but he didn't pick up.
The longer this went on, the angrier she got, so she just grabbed her bag and headed straight to his company.
She wasn't looking for Latham this time, but a lot of the employees just assumed that's what it was. The boss's wife storming.in, looking absolutely furious, was enough to spook anyone.
"Do you think Latham and Octavia had a big argument?"
"No way, Latham's supposed to be the model husband, right?"
"Honestly, Octavia just seems like she's in one of those moods. Remember yesterday? She was acting the same way..."
People whispered among themselves, careful not to get caught.
Octavia didn't care what anybody said. She walked straight upstairs, but when one
of the assistants actually stepped in to stop her, she felt her anger go up another notch.