The moment her smile began to dim, he took her free hand. "No, I'm just being silly. You have to take it. You deserve this! We'll find another time to make ours."
Emma grinned at him, and her eyes were a little glassy. She nodded shakily, then put the phone back to her ear.
"I'll do it."
Her smile widened as she listened to Dennis and Gary felt a terrible flash of jealousy against the musclebound goof who could make his Emma smile like that.
He crushed that quickly as Emma didn't need his paranoid negative feelings.
"See you shortly." Emma hung up and looked at the time on her screen. Her eyes went to Gary. "I'm so sorry, Gary. I have to leave now if I'm going to make the class. I won't be home until close to ten."
He forced a smile on his face. "Quite the complex plan to avoid groce
