Chapter Sixteen
"If dad doesn't get here in ten minutes I'm leaving," Emma stated in an impatient tone, although they hadn't been waiting for Will that long.
"No one is leaving, we're having lunch together as a family," Diane declared, as if they were around the dining room table and not in her old office.
Emma sent her mother a disapproving grimace, while Nat began to chuckle next to her. Emma lifted an arm and for a moment Diane thought she'd hit her brother, which would have had unforeseeable consequences, but then she probably remembered where they were and stopped herself. Instead she continued to type on her phone and Diane assumed she was chatting with Marissa. Whatever plans the girls had for the afternoon, they had to wait.
Marissa had visited Diane that morning to apologize for the previous day and even though Diane suspected it was only to make sure Emma wouldn't be grounded, she still appreciated the gesture. She had reminded Eli's daughter that Emma was still not eighteen, so different rules applied to her and Marissa had promised to cooperate next time. Diane could only hope her talk with both girl would prove to be effective.
"What are you doing here?" The wide grin on Will's face showed that it couldn't haven been a bigger surprise to see his family there.
"I thought instead of kidnapping you, we'd bring the lunch here," Diane chuckled pointing to the food containers. Will got even more excited when he saw where the lunch was from and approached Diane's desk with hurried steps.
Diane had planned to surprise him with dinner from the same restaurant the other day when she'd found him eating pizza with Gillian in his office. But this time she had consulted Elsbeth to make sure they wouldn't show up vain.
"Can we finally eat?" Emma asked, sounding even more annoyed now, so Diane raised a brow to silence the girl, but handed her a food container and one to her son.
"Thank you for doing this," Will's smile was enough for Diane to get her mind off Emma's inappropriate behavior. "It's good to see you back here," he noted.
"You said the office was too empty," she reminded him with a grin.
"Not anymore," he looked from her to the kids, then back at her. "Wish we could do this every day."
"Emma might not like the idea," Diane chuckled, glancing at her daughter who was typing on her phone with one hand, while eating with the other.
"I think she'd love it," Nat teased his sister, who only looked up a few seconds later, when the silence must have been too suspicious.
"Is there something wrong?" she asked glancing from one parent to the other, ignoring her brother.
"I just wish we could have lunch together like this more often," Will filled her in on the conversation.
"I said you'd love to," Nat grinned, but pulled away from Emma a little in case she got upset.
"And I said you might not like the idea," Diane rolled her eyes at the siblings. "We'd appreciate if you put your phone away while we eat," she added, getting annoyed by Emma's behavior.
"Sorry," Em mumbled with a smile and hid the phone in her pocket. "Uhm…actually, I'd like to ask something"
"Go ahead," Will encouraged his daughter after sharing a look with Diane.
"Mom…I'm sorry, but I don't particularly enjoy working for the campaign. It's just not really my thing you know? So I was thinking maybe I could work here instead," Em finished her request, with a puzzled look.
While Diane could have anticipated the former, she was a little taken aback by the latter. Emma hadn't been too excited to spend her summer with work on the first place and now she actually volunteered.
"Five minutes ago you couldn't wait to leave here," she reminded her, confused as to where she got this idea from all of a sudden.
"I was just hungry," she defended herself, clinging to her lunch, so Diane glanced at Will to hear his opinion.
"There's not much you can do here, making copies, getting coffee, I'm sure the campaign is more exciting," he mumbled, he was obviously unprepared for Emma's request too.
"I'd rather do the Starbucks run than spend hours on the phone talking to strangers," Emma whined. "You never know, I might want to join the family business one day. You could even take me to court with you. It would be a lot more exciting," she pleaded and at this point Diane actually begin to consider the suggestion for real.
"Someone's really sucking up," Nat observed, but this time he jumped from his seat so Emma's anger wouldn't reach her and sat next to Will, where he probably felt safe.
"What do you think?" Will asked Diane silently.
"We could talk about it," she replied hesitantly and the smile on Emma's face suggested that she considered that a win already.
"Hope you don't plan to leave me too," Diane turned to Nat. At least she was sure about his answer.
"You know I love it there, sorry dad," he responded.
"I heard that you're doing a great job, your mom and I are proud of you," Will declared, making Nat blush a little.
Diane glanced at Emma to check her reaction, but she probably hadn't heard any of the conversation again, because her phone was back in her hand. Instead of scolding her Diane simply sighed and turned back to her own lunch.
As she looked around in the office she realized again how much she'd missed being there. She shifted her gaze on Will who probably knew what she was feeling inside and flashed her a half-smile.
Then she noticed someone approaching his office in the background, just to find it empty. When the person turned to face Diane's office she recognized Gillian. It brought back the memory of that night, so Diane gazed at her food, pretending she didn't notice her. But somehow she was glad Gillian witnessed their family lunch, it was sort of gratifying.
By the time Diane looked up again the woman was already gone, so she continued her lunch as if nothing had happened.
"Is it okay if I leave now?" Emma stood up once she finished her lunch, and even though Diane rolled her eyes, she knew she wouldn't be able to make her stay any longer.
"Just please make sure you're home by seven," Diane reminded her of their agreement, hoping Emma had learnt from yesterday.
"And I'll call if anything comes up, I promise. I don't want you to worry," the girl reassured her obediently.
"It was good to have you all here, you brightened my day," Will told his daughter, causing her to smile.
"Just think about the offer, I could bring you lunch every day. I could stay in mom's office, so it won't be empty," Emma pointed out, proving that she had been listening to some of their conversation after all.
"It sounds very tempting," Will admitted, glancing at Diane, who smiled in return.
Emma's presence could make Diane's absence a little more bearable for Will and that was definitely something to consider.
"If that's what you really want," she shrugged. She wasn't sure Emma wished to work there for the right reasons, but she didn't mean to stand in her way either.
"So you'll allow it?" Emma's face lit up.
"If it's okay with dad, it's okay with me," Diane reassured her with a smile.
"Thank you," Em seemed excited. "When can I start?" she addressed Will.
"How about Monday?" he suggested. "You can surely survive one more day on the campaign," he added playfully.
"Sure," she accepted his terms easily.
"We'll discuss the details later," he offered, allowing Emma to leave like she'd planned a few minutes ago.
"She didn't even last a week," Diane said a little bitterly, but also jokingly once Emma was out of sight.
"She probably has reasons we could never even guess," Will shrugged.
"Want me to leave while you talk about her behind her back?" Nat reminded them of his presence, not that they had forgotten.
"We're done," Diane smiled at her son.
"I need to go to the bathroom anyway," he declared as he stood up, so Diane didn't protest.
"He probably just wanted to give us some privacy," Will pointed out with a smile once Nat was gone.
"We have a smart son," she returned his smile.
"Can we repeat this sometimes?" he asked, his happiness written all over his face.
Truth was, it didn't even require that much effort from Diane to organize this lunch, and she was able to fit it in her schedule easily. She should have thought about it sooner. But she didn't want it to seem like she was unable to let go, or be a burden, but he clearly didn't look at her that way.
"But you've just given my office to someone else," she teased him, chuckling.
"I never said she can have your office," he pointed out with a grin.
"She will be very disappointed otherwise," she reminded him.
Actually she began to appreciate that Emma planned this out so well and had the proper arguments to support her request. She definitely had the potential of becoming a lawyer someday.
"Maybe if she's here, you'll also visit more often," he said with puppy dog eyes she could never say no to.
"Maybe," she responded and it was enough to satisfy him.
"I wish we could also share a drink, but I have court in the afternoon," he reminded her of something she missed as well.
"Some other time," she noted with a smile. "But I hope you don't plan to repeat this offer to our daughter," she joked, making him chuckle.
And as she observed him, she almost forgot she was only a visitor there at the moment, because it actually felt like she'd never left.