His voice was a little rough from all the smoking and drinking he'd done over the past couple of days.
Mabel, who'd never really paid him much mind before, found herself oddly charmed by the way his voice sounded now.
"Is there something you need from me?" she asked.
"I heard your family's running into some trouble?"
Mabel didn't mince words.
Lance, a grown man, had spent all morning hemming and hawing over what to say, and here she was, young as she was, just coming right out with it. He had to laugh at himself.
"Yeah, we've hit a bit of a rough patch," he admitted.
Mabel arched an eyebrow. "You're not seriously thinking of asking me for help, are you?"
Honestly, she was still just a kid. She had no idea how she could possibly help out in something this big.
"That's exactly it-I was hoping you might help, but I don't know if you'd be willing," Lance said, deciding not to beat around the bush.
Mabel laid out her boundaries immediately. "If you're looking to borrow money, anything under five hundred dollars I can agree to right away."
"And if it's over five hundred?" Lance gave a wry grin.
"Over five hundred, don't even ask." With her stance that clear, Lance could only rub at his forehead in frustration.
They'd hardly even been in touch before this, and now he was basically showing up out of nowhere to ask a favor. He was fully aware how much of a stretch that was.
"So, have you had any luck on those dates your folks set up?" Lance asked after a pause.
"I'm not exactly rushing into anything." All that matchmaking-it had really been Lance's mother nudging things along, which gave Mabel's mom the idea in the first place.
She was still so young, after all.
Lance realized that too. She wasn't in any hurry. No one was going to force her into some arranged match-which meant his proposal, whatever he was imagining, would be meaningless to her.
So now what?
"Then what sort of partner are you looking for?" He had to at least figure that out, see if he stood a chance.
It was as if a light switched on in Mabel's mind—she suddenly saw exactly what was going on. Lance was looking for a marriage alliance, a way to get the James family out of trouble by linking their families together.
"I don't care about specifics," she said. "As long as he actually likes me, treats me well, and I'm always the one in his heart. That's all that matters."
Simple enough, but in reality, almost impossible.
Because Lance didn't like her. His heart belonged to someone else.
This was her answer-a gentle but unmistakable rejection.
So Lance didn't bring up meeting up again. Instead, he just had someone send the clothes over to Mabel for him.
Mabel accepted the gift-an outfit
he'd picked out for her-and
promptly felt a pang of guilt. She
transferred money straight to
Lance's account.
Lance refused to take it, telling her it was just a little something for fun, nothing expensive.
Maybe the clothes hadn't cost much, but owing someone a favor always came with a price.
Mabel sighed and, around lunchtime, headed to her family's company.
"What brings my daughter by?" Keen asked, clearly surprised.
"I thought I'd join you for lunch."
The cafeteria at her family's office was good, so she hadn't brought anything and wasn't planning on eating out either.
A delighted grin spread across Keen's face. "What's the occasion? Suddenly want to keep your old dad company for a meal?"
"Let me guess you want to buy something and need more spending money again?” he said, already reaching for his phone to send her some cash.
His own stash of pocket money wasn't much, but whatever he had, he was happy to give his daughter.
"No, that's not it." Mabel shook her head and pivoted the conversation to ask about the James family's recent troubles.
Keen's eyes narrowed a touch. "And why are you so curious about them all of a sudden?” Was his daughter interested in that James boy again?
Truth be told, he'd thought the
James family was harsh when they kicked out their adopted daughter, But, given the way Claire and the Jameses were linked, he'd figured it was worth letting Mabel try ber lück if she wanted.
If she liked the boy, he wouldn't stand in her way.
But Lance had just played hard to get, flat
at turning his daughter
down and claiming he already liked someone else. What father could
take that
Frankly, it was a miracle he hadn't jumped at this crisis as a chance to take a dig at the Jameses.
“Lance and I are kind of friends. Things aren't going well for his family, so I'm just asking what's going on."
She couldn't bring herself to explain that she'd accepted a gift and now felt a bit obliged to at least pretend to care.