When We're Thirty Casey Dembowski (the chimp paradox .TXT) 📖

“A what?” Will’s voice went too high at the shock of the word.

Hannah bent over herself laughing. She held a hand up, signaling him to wait for an explanation as soon as she caught her breath—which he wasn’t sure would ever happen. Her cheeks had turned bright pink with laughter, and it hadn’t died down. She had to be exhausted to laugh like that.

“Sorry to interrupt.”

They both froze, and Hannah’s laugh cut short at the sound of Jonathan’s voice. Will suppressed a shudder. Jonathan, who never came to the city, had appeared on the one day Hannah surprised him for lunch. Maybe his father was having him followed.

“Dad?” Will had spent years training himself to address Jonathan by his name at the office, but something told him this wasn’t a professional visit. For one thing, Jonathan wasn’t wearing a tie, and two, he didn’t just drop in. He expected others to come to him.

“William, Hannah.” He nodded at each of them respectively. “How fortuitous that you are both here. I have a few things to discuss with you.”

Hannah straightened next to him, but when he looked over, her face was placid, even expectant. After a moment, she turned away from Jonathan altogether, taking care to pack up the food.

“Shall we go to my office?”

“Of course, we’ll be right in,” Will said.

Jonathan turned and left the room, though his presence still hung heavily. Hannah hadn’t said a word, but her jaw was tight, her eyes practically slits.

“I have to tell you something,” she said after a few excruciatingly long moments. She sat down, head in her hands. A jumbled mess of words came out of her, but they were muffled by her hands.

Will drew them from her face, tucking them into his own. “Tell me, Abbott.”

“He gave me annulment papers when we were in the Hamptons,” she said, her eyes trained on their hands. “He thinks we’re going to have an heir and I’m going to take the Thorne fortune.”

“Oh.” A mixture of emotions went through him. It wasn’t surprising. What had been surprising was that his father hadn’t made a move yet. And annulment papers were far from the worst thing he’d done to a girl Will had brought home. He’d most definitely paid off two of Will’s prospects in his early twenties. “So that’s why you said we needed to act more like husband and wife?”

She nodded and gave him a wry smile. “That, and I really wanted to kiss you again.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?”

She shrugged. “It didn’t matter. I gave him the papers back, told him I loved you, and said he could go screw himself. Okay, I implied that last part, but still.”

He was impressed—not many people took on Jonathan Thorne. “You went toe-to-toe with my father over me?”

She flushed. “The thing is, I kind of like you.”

He kissed her because he wanted to and because he could—she was his girlfriend and his wife. “You just like having someone to keep your feet warm at night.”

There was a sheen in her eyes he’d never seen before. She shook her head, showing a bashful, adorable smile. “Let’s go see what he wants.”

Will had walked the halls of Wellington Thorne his entire life—running through them as an unruly kid, handing out mail as a petulant teenager, and following around the project managers as an ambitious college student. Aloof employees became invested coworkers. Their attention wandered. Will wasn’t the heir—that was Jon, destined by a chance of birth order and a penchant for business and finance. The younger Thorne would be general counsel and would fix their mistakes, but he could also be one of them. Will had been one of them for years. Walking down the hall with Hannah, her hand wrapped in his and her punk-chic style clashing with everything Wellington Thorne stood for, he had their attention again. Not a single eye stayed on its screen. Phone calls and conversations paused as they passed. The prodigal son had returned with a wife.

Sarah, Jonathan’s secretary for as long as Will could remember, sat at her desk outside his office. She glanced briefly between the two of them, her expression warming. Sarah had always had a sweet spot for Will. “He’s ready for you.”

Hannah kissed his cheek. “Here goes.”

Jonathan sat at his desk, flipping through papers. “Good, you’re here. I don’t want to take up too much of your time, as I’m sure you both have to get back to work.”

“Of course,” Hannah said, sitting down in one of the chairs opposite Jonathan.

“Well then, I would like to host a small gathering honoring your nuptials.” He folded his hands in front of him. “And I understand you two don’t want anything big, but there are certain customs we should still try and honor. We’ll need to run an announcement in the Times, and then a dinner at the house—I was thinking Thanksgiving weekend. A few of our closest friends.”

Will knew that “closest friends” meant at least a hundred people and expected that the Times announcement was already in the hands of the social editor, awaiting approval. The Thorne name demanded action in those circles. The only problem with all of this was that Hannah hadn’t told her parents yet. Did they read the Times? And if they did, would they check out the social section?

“Would that work for your parents, Hannah? I know all families have their holiday traditions, and I wouldn’t want to impose.”

“I think the date would be fine,” she said with hesitation. “But it’s probably over three hours one way.”

“I see. Well, they are more than welcome to stay at the house. Your sister too. Whoever has need.”

That was generous. The same offer had never been extended to Madison’s family. Though perhaps Jonathan, knowing everything he did, had realized about Jon and Madison all along. Maybe he had given everyone an out by not offering to host her family that fateful weekend. Still, inviting Hannah’s parents felt