The morning after the Lodges returned to Riverdale, Alice made her way down her large marble staircase to the small elegantly carved white wood table beside the great big double doors into her mansion. "Good morning, Madam." Her butler, Lionel, came in from the kitchen. "What can I do for you this morning? Shall I make you the tea for your morning headaches?"
"No, thank you, Lionel. I don't have one this morning. Hardly had anything to drink last night." She smiled and winked at him before he chuckled. "I'm just checking my mail." Alice said as she picked up the pile of envelopes sitting on the white table near the doors. She began to flip through them, sighing or rolling her eyes every now and then, especially when she saw one from her mother in California. "Probably another note from her telling me that Hal's in prison because I wasn't a good wife to him." She assumed with another sigh and she threw that letter right in the trash without even opening it.
FP made his way down the stairs and he stepped up behind Alice, rubbing his tired eyes before hugging her from behind, wrapping his arms around to her stomach. "Good morning, honey."
"Hmmm...Good morning." Alice smiled immediately after feeling his touch and she hummed as she rested her head back on his shoulder behind her.
"How are you feeling today?" FP asked, smiling at her.
"I'm good actually. Still trying to wrap my head around Hiram and Hermione being back, but I'm good." She admitted.
"Good." He grinned and kissed her. "Whatcha doing?" He asked, looking at the mail in her hands.
"Oh, just avoiding lectures from my mother of the year again." She chuckled, searching through the letters again for a few seconds before getting bored and setting them back down on the table and turning to face FP, wrapping her arms around his neck. "I love you." She said with a soft tone, leaning up to kiss him.
"Hiram?" FP said just before their lips touched.
"W-what?" Alice looked at him with confusion.
FP was looking over her shoulder at the envelope on top of the pile on the table and he pointed at it. "You got a letter from him and Hermione."
Alice pulled away from him and turned to look at the letter, picking it up. "Hmm…" She opened it, reading it to herself first before reading it out loud. "Dear Alice and FP...Yes, we know he's going to see this too. We would like to invite you to Lodge Manor this morning. We have a business proposition for the both of you and we would love to discuss it in full detail over brunch. Be at our home around nine-thirty. There's a big pay out for the both of you and a few others who are willing to work with us. See you soon. The Lodges."
"What the hell could they possibly want us for?" FP wondered aloud.
"I have no idea." Alice admitted. "But it's probably something that could get us arrested. I'm not planning on sharing a cell beside my sorry excuse of an ex husband. We're not going." She set the letter in the trash with her mother's unopened letter and walked around FP toward the living room.
FP bent over, pulling the note out of the waste basket and reading it again to himself. "Maybe we should still go."
"Are you crazy?" Alice chuckled ridiculously.
"I just wanna know what their plan is. Whether we help them out or not...I'm still curious and maybe knowing their plan will tell us what they're really doing here." He fiddled with the paper in his hands.
"Hmm...I am very intrigued to know what this 'potential' the town has Hiram was speaking of." Alice said, biting her lip. "And my nosy journalist instincts are starting to get a bit anxious." She chuckled. "And I'm hungry and Hermione's got good taste in food. So let's go." She laughed a little, prompting FP to laugh as well. Alice lifted a finger. "But whatever their proposition is, we say no. I don't want to associate myself with criminals anymore than I already had with Hal."
"Understood." FP nodded. "And I can't stand them anyway. Ever since tenth grade, they've been awful."
Alice giggled and wrapped her arms around him again before pulling him in for a gentle kiss.
FP changed into some nice pants and a white button down shirt while Alice put on a casual skirt and shirt, fixing her curls before placing a beige cloche hat on her head, pinning a decorative pink flower to the side of it. They put their shoes on and made their way to Lodge Manor on the other end of the Northside of town. Though the Cooper mansion was quite large, it had nothing on Lodge Manor nor the Blossom's homes, Thornhill, which both had their own large number of acres to themselves spread out along the green grasses and tall woods near the border between Riverdale and the village of Glendale on the other side.
They drove Alice's top-down convertible through the large iron gate leading into the driveway to the biggest mansion in town, looking up at its massive pillars that reminded anyone of a castle. "I always thought they sold this place to some fancy mobster or something. Never thought Hiram still owned it." FP said as he put the car in park, shutting it off.
"Hiram IS some fancy mobster or something." Alice chuckled, opening her door and stepping out of the car. FP got out and flattened the shirt on his chest a bit more, hoping to hide any wrinkles as he fixed his eyes on what Alice wore compared to him. Just as they made their way around the car to take each other's arm, another car pulled up behind theirs and they turned to watch Tom Keller step out of his expensive automobile.
Tom wore a nice gray suit and hat with a small feather in it as well as a pair of exorbitant rounded sunglasses. "Hello, you two." He spoke in his effortlessly husky voice, making his way up to them while removing his hat.
"Thomas. What are you doing here?" Alice asked, looking him up and down with a small smile. FP noticed, soon doing the same but more to compare himself to the wealthier, more muscular man and he internally sighed, looking away.
"I got an invitation from them for some brunch. Did you get the same invite?" Tom responded with his usual chivalrous grin.
"We did." Alice smiled back at him.
"After you." Tom gestured for the couple to go ahead of him.
FP took Alice's arm and guided her up the excessively large staircase leading up to the entrance of Lodge Manor. Tom followed behind, watching his feet with every step. Luckily, too, as FP looked back a few times to make sure he was not looking at his woman's behind. He smiled to himself when Tom passed the test and they made it to the doors, using the beautifully carved knockers to announce their arrival.