Rachel had been going nonstop all morning, and she was starting to feel the exhaustion settle in. She leaned back into her chair to rest for a moment. “You pick the place,” she said. “Moon & Barrel.” Rachel was speechless. He chose that ridiculously overpriced place again! Tyler noticed her silence and asked, “What’s wrong, Rachel? Can’t bear to spend the money?” Rachel didn’t dare say that. No matter how reluctant she felt, now wasn’t the time to be stingy. If she messed this up, the project would fall through. “You pick the time. Today?” “No time like the present.”

“Fine, after work—” Before Rachel could finish her sentence, her phone buzzed again. This time, it was a message from Yvette: [Grandpa wants everyone home tonight for dinner. He wants to discuss Dad’s condition.] Rachel scoffed sarcastically. Someone finally showed concern for Jim’s condition. She continued speaking to Tyler. “Sorry, Yvette just messaged. My grandpa asked everyone to go back tonight. He wants to talk about my dad’s health.” Tyler’s voice was tinged with mockery. “Let me guess, you saw how expensive my dinner spot was and made up an excuse to bail?” Rachel couldn’t help blurting out, “Tyler, are you crazy? Come on, you’re a boss now. Why are you still acting like some moody teenager?” Instead of getting upset, Tyler seemed oddly pleased by Rachel’s irritation. He actually liked seeing her react this way. Back when she used to call him ‘Mr. Hunt’ all the time, it was clear that she didn’t really mean it. It was just superficial politeness. He didn’t want a phony, sugar-coated version of her. He wanted the real Rachel. Rachel took a deep breath and forced herself to calm down. Tyler had this uncanny ability to get under her skin. She could handle anything else with grace, but when it came to him, she turned into a firecracker. One spark, and she’d explode. She tried again, more composed this time. “I really do have something important tonight. We can have a meal tomorrow instead. Besides, it’s only one day later. It’s not like you’ll starve to death or something.” “If I do starve to death, will you die with me?” Tyler was still teasing. Rachel started to wonder if he had actually lost his mind, but she couldn’t say that aloud. So instead, she played along. “I would feel terribly guilty.” “Your acting needs serious work. That sounded so fake, I lost my appetite. Forget it—tomorrow, then.” Clearly, Tyler wasn’t even interested in pretending to believe her. Rachel let out a sigh of relief, her voice now sweet and polished. “Alright then. See you tomorrow, Tyler.” The moment the call ended, her smile disappeared. Just dealing with Yvette was already enough to fray her nerves, and now she had Tyler to contend with. To make matters worse… Rachel glanced at Cecilia and muttered, “Don’t you think that if Tyler were a woman, he’d be the ultimate mean girl?” Just imagining it made her skin crawl. Cecilia nodded in total agreement. “I was thinking the same thing.” Tyler really did have that ‘mean girl’ energy. After wrapping up her work for the day, Rachel gave it some thought and eventually decided to stop by a department store to pick up some health supplements for Gerald. Whatever everyone else did or said, she had her own standards. This was also a discussion about Jim’s health. She couldn’t show up empty-handed. She drove there in the car Tyler had gifted her. She was heading to a place she hadn’t set foot in for many years. Standing outside the Lloyd family estate, Rachel felt the same as before. This place had never felt like home. Rather, she felt like a guest here.