But that wasn’t any of his business.
Her smile grew bigger as she glanced behind him. “Betsy! Zippy!”
“Hi, Sable,” Betsy said, walking in holding her daughter’s hand. “Matthieu.”
Matthieu placed his hand on Betsy’s shoulder as he leaned in to kiss her right cheek, then her left.
Betsy blushed slightly. Then he felt a punch against his thigh and glanced down at Zippy who attempted to push him.
“What are you doing?” he asked.
“Don’t kiss my mama!” Zippy told him with a fierce frown. “She has a husband!”
Ahh.
“Oh, Zippy, it’s all right,” Betsy said. “He’s French. They greet people like that.”
He’d only met Zippy once. Maybe no one had mentioned that to her.
“He don’t sound French,” Zippy said, still glaring up at him. “And I don’t care. Don’t kiss my mama.”
“Who is kissing your mama?” Ink asked as he stepped into the room. “Good, Matthieu, you’re here. What are you doing out here, though?”
“He’s kissing Mama!” Zippy complained.
Ink stilled and stared at Matthieu, then Betsy. “Someone want to explain?”
“On the cheek!” Sable said quickly. “The way the French do.”
“Could be a dinosaur kiss, but a kiss is a kiss,” Zippy said, crossing her arms over her chest as Matthieu took several steps away from her.
“Ahh, right.” Ink shook his head and walked forward, hugging Betsy to him and kissing her gently. Then he crouched and spoke quietly to Zippy for a moment.
When he stood, Zippy was no longer glaring at Matthieu. But she was giving him suspicious looks.
He winked at her and she huffed.
“What are you guys doing here?” Ink asked.
“Zippy has a teacher-only day, so we’re going to go to the movies. But you forgot your lunch so we brought it in for you.” Betsy held up the bag and Ink smiled at her.
“You didn’t have to do that, Brown Eyes,” he said.
“I know. I wanted to. We’ll see you at home.”
A soft sigh filled the air and he glanced down at Sable. She was staring up at Ink and Betsy with longing. Which confused him. Didn’t she have a husband? He stared at her ring finger. Yep, she was married. So why did she look so sad and envious?
Ink walked back to the meeting room and he followed after saying goodbye to the two women and Zippy.
When he walked in, he nodded at Ethan Stone who was sitting at the table. Stone had worked for Ink for a long time. Brody was also there, but as usual, he had his head in a laptop and didn’t see him walk in.
The other man wasn’t one that Matthieu knew. But he could guess who he was. He seemed impatient, he had his fingers tapping against the table and he shifted around impatiently as Matthieu and Ink sat.
“I don’t mean to be rude, but I don’t have much time. I can’t afford to sit around, waiting.”
“You’ve been here five minutes,” Stone said dryly.
The other man glared at him.
