The Armstrong Assignment (A Janet Markham Bennett Cozy Thriller Book 1) Diana Xarissa (the beginning after the end novel read .txt) 📖

“And I need a drink,” Tony added.

Lucy wailed. “I can’t look. You’ll have to guide me until we get back down to the ground.”

“Come on, then,” Tony said in a grudging tone.

“Are you coming with us or walking back?” Theodore asked as Janet followed them all to the lifts.

“I’ll walk,” she replied, quite happy to be on her own on the streets of Paris, even after dark.

When the group emerged from the lift, though, Janet discovered that she wasn’t going to have to walk alone. Dixie was waiting for her on a bench just a few steps away from the tower.

“Ready for a stroll through Paris?” she asked Janet as they approached her.

“Yes, of course,” Janet replied.

“Don’t believe every horrible thing she tells you about me,” Lucy said. “She’s never liked me.”

“That isn’t at all true,” Dixie replied. “I just think it’s time for you to grow up a little bit, that’s all. You’ve no more willingness to take on responsibilities now than you had when you were eighteen. You’re going to have to grow up at some point.”

Lucy laughed through her tears. “That’s rich coming from you,” she said. “Every time you get into trouble, you call my father and he bails you out. Who do you think rescued her when she decided she didn’t want to get married to the man with the island? My father. Who has always been there for her when she’s been dumped? My father. Who invests in all of her businesses and keeps them profitable? My father.”

Dixie held up a hand. “You can say what you like about my personal life. I’ll be the first to admit that it’s been something of a train wreck, but don’t you dare suggest that my professional life is in any way similar. I may be a terrible judge of character when it comes to men to date, but I’m much more successful when it comes to business partnerships. Your father invests in my business schemes because they make him money, in some cases a great deal of money. Not one of my businesses has ever failed, and he’s never done one thing to help keep any of them profitable.”

Lucy shrugged. “And in spite of all of that, he still won’t marry you.”

“That’s quite enough,” Theodore said. “This is not the time or the place for this conversation. If you two want to have a fight, do it in one of your hotel rooms where you won’t have an audience.”

Janet looked around and realised that at least a dozen people were standing around, presumably listening to the conversation.

“Hopefully, they all speak nothing but French,” Tony murmured.

“It doesn’t matter. We’re just fortunate that the press haven’t turned up,” Theodore said. “Imagine how Bobby would react if that argument were splashed all over the papers tomorrow.”

“Let’s go,” Lucy said, giving Dixie an angry look. “We’ll continue this later.”

Dixie shrugged. “If you insist,” she said.

Janet and Dixie watched as Neil, Theodore, Tony, and Lucy walked to the nearest taxi rank. As their car drove away, Dixie chuckled.

“And now, we can have a very interesting conversation,” she told Janet.

Chapter 12

“I imagine Lucy had quite a few horrible things to say about me when you got back to the restaurant,” Dixie began as she and Janet strolled slowly along the street.

“Actually, she was crying too much to say much of anything,” Janet replied.

Dixie sighed. “I don’t actually dislike her. I even enjoy her company sometimes, but she can be incredibly difficult, as well.”

“It seems as if she had a very chaotic childhood.”

“Chaotic? That’s a good way to put it, actually. Bobby had to fight quite hard to get Lucy away from her mother.”

“I can understand a mother not wanting to give up her child.”

Dixie waved a hand. “The woman was unstable and unsuitable in every way. She knew nothing about taking care of a child and she wasn’t particularly interested in Lucy. She simply didn’t want Bobby to have her.”

“Lucy said that her mother kept her hidden for six months.”

“She did. Bobby was beside himself. He didn’t eat and he barely slept until she was found.”

“That must have been difficult for everyone.”

“Everyone except Lucy’s mother. I’m sure she was over the moon, watching the upset she’d caused. Bobby had private detectives searching all over the country, talking to everyone who’d ever known her, but he couldn’t find Lucy.”

“She did say that her mother eventually returned her to Bobby.”

“Yes, because, as I said before, she didn’t really want Lucy, she just didn’t want Bobby to have her. The going into hiding episode was proof, really. If she truly had wanted to be with Lucy, she could simply have stayed in hiding with her. After six months, though, she got tired of being a mother and of having to be responsible for another person. The courts were happy to agree with Bobby at that point, as well. He was awarded sole custody, and Lucy was much better off for that.”

Janet wasn’t going to argue, but she did think she’d quite like to hear Lucy’s mother’s version of the story. “It’s a beautiful night,” she said after a moment.

“Paris is a beautiful city. I came here with two of my husbands and it was very romantic both times.”

“I’m hoping my husband will be able to get here soon,” Janet replied, feeling as if she hesitated only slightly over the word “husband.” Being married still didn’t feel quite real, even with the rings on her finger. She could only hope that that would change once she and Edward were properly together.

“I was rather hoping that Bobby might propose on this trip, but that seems less and less likely by the minute,” Dixie sighed.

“Oh?”

“Lucy