Hello, people!
Happy Wednesday!

Usual housekeeping:

- I still don't own any of it.
- Team Momo wouldn't exist without Midnight Cougar and Alice's White Rabbit with their red pens, or without AGoodWitch, Maplestyle, Mel, and Eternally Addicted who pre-read and tell me if I'm off my rocker or not.
- 1.9k reviews! Thank you, people! I read all of them, but I'm stil working on finishing my next story, so time for replies continues to be at a premium. Be assured that I treasure all of them.

Now, ffnet should be working fine today, but in case you missed it, there was a major outage on Saturday ... right after I posted the update. So if you didn't get your alert, click back and catch up :)

On with the show!

Chapter 49 – BPOV

"No! She didn't," I protested.

After our post-massage romp derailed our dinner plans last night, we got our asses in gear earlier on Saturday and made a reservation for dinner at the resort's steakhouse.

Since this place was, indeed, a "white table cloth" kind of nice, we'd also had to adjust our attire. Luckily, I'd stuck in my bag a flirty, classy purple summer dress with ruffled cap sleeves. It looked wonderful paired with a pair of rose-gold flats. Edward could have dazzled anyone even if he'd worn a paper bag and cut quite a relaxed, tantalizing figure in a pair of navy chinos and polo shirt.

We were enjoying the prime cuts of meat the house offered and rehashing our chaotic stint back at work earlier in the week. Edward hadn't had a chance to relay the finer details about how the partners' meeting with Rebecca turned out.

I'd been marinating in curiosity ever since, but I didn't push—bigger things were at play than my personal craving for inside information. He'd tell me if and when he felt he could, and he didn't disappoint. Rebecca's dramatic ouster had become the first topic of discussion tonight, but it had come with a disclaimer. "Only if you don't mind talking about work," he hedged half an hour ago.

"She did. I must admit I didn't expect she'd go quietly," he replied, dabbing at the corners of his mouth with a pristine napkin.

I sipped my Chardonnay, considering his words. "Neither did I. I thought we'd never get her out of our lives. Or out of the office, period. What changed?"

He flashed me a devious half-smile. "Uncle Jamie happened. Another pre-emptive strike, if you will. He played golf with her father and made a point of telling him exactly why his darling daughter would be canned by the end of the day."

"Holy …" I trailed off. This wasn't the kind of place where I could swear out loud.

Edward nodded, then continued. "Yep. Rebecca turned as white as a sheet. That's when she gave up the fight. She knew we had her."

I speared a grilled scallop, chewing my food and my opinions at the same time. "So, she's out of our lives. Who would've thunk it?"

"Out of our lives. For good."

A few minutes passed, and we finished our entrees in silence, exchanging a look here, a light touch there. Then the server appeared to clear the table and coax us into having dessert.

"I am way too stuffed. But that lava cake looked sinful," I mused.

"Want to go halfsies on it?" Edward proposed.

"Sure, why not?"

"Very well, Mrs. Cullen. I'll bring that out shortly. Anything else?" the server asked.

When we waved him off, he left with a polite nod.

"That's the second time since we arrived," I noted.

A small distressed line appeared on Edward's brow, but his expression remained otherwise serene. "I wondered if you noticed. Does that bother you?"

"No," I rushed to reply. "It's just … I'm not used to being part of a unit. I've never been anyone's 'Mrs.' before."

"That's very, very good to know." His smile turned bashful. My Edward was blushing. I didn't think I'd ever seen him blush. "Would you ever consider it?" That second question came in a reverent, expectant whisper.

"Someday," I vowed. And I felt in my bones that it was the truth. I wasn't placating Edward or giving him what he wanted.

"I can work with someday, my love."

As I said last week, this story is winding down ... two chapters to go.

There are still a few sessions to go for the Business Class Girl 13th anniversary re-read in my group, with new batches of chapters starting weekly every Sunday. The special outtake I promised will post after the re-read is done, first in my FB group LaMomo's Lair (just type the name in the search bar) and then it will be posted on ffnet as a separate thread from the main story.
My group is also the place to be for teasers and news about my upcoming story, Dreams Unwind, which will debut on September 26.

See you on Saturday!