Faith and Lies (Vera Reid, Reid Family Book #2)

Part 28

"I can't believe you talked me into this." Edwin said, staring up at the large house from the end of the walkway. 

"It's just dinner with people you've already met. Nothing's changed." Vera said but like Edwin, she hadn't moved. They both stared up at the house, froze in place and more nervous than they'd care to admit. 

"I wasn't referring to dinner." He said and Vera frowned. 

"It's too late to back out. We're married." Vera said and Edwin shook his head. 

"No, I meant going into business." He said, making her narrow her eyes at him as she turned to face him. 

"Come on, don't be a baby. They're waiting." She said, looking around and noticing all the cars parked out front. "We're the last ones."

"That's wonderful." He said sarcastically as they began to walk towards the house. 

This wouldn't be his first time up against the Reid family. He'd met them twice- once right after Vera and he announced they'd be going into business together, and another time just last month, at Ben's birthday. That was it. For the most part, they were a lovely group of people but most people are until you cross a line. That was exactly what they'd done, and he'd told Vera that when they did it. 

He didn't know why she'd insisted on doing things like they did, but then again, he'd learned that Vera rarely shared her plans. She'd just make them and then proceed. Even with him, he never knew what she was about until it was time to act. He wished he'd gotten to know her better before everything happened. The cold, detached Vera he knew now was far from the warm and generous woman his cousin had described to him. 

Vera knocked on the door gently before turning to Edwin. She reached out, pushing a few rogue strands of hair away from his face, then she nodded. 

"You look perfect." She said, her voice cold and severe before she turned back to the door and knocked again. 

"Thanks." He muttered, unsure how to take it when she said it like that. She was a hard woman to read, always so quiet and pensive and always, always in control. He reached up as the door opened, mussing up his hair a bit in an act of rebellion, as if telling her that she did not have the final say in everything. Vera pretended not to notice. 

In reality, Vera had turned out to be the perfect business partner. She was very smart, very creative and grasped concepts quite easily. She was adaptable and maybe it was her unique financial position, but she was also always ready to take a risk. He could depend on her to be thorough and accurate, and in exchange, he trusted her business instincts the same way she trusted his. Somehow, the business was growing but they were still looking for that one thing- the big project that would launch them to the top of the list in their markets. That was how they'd gotten themselves into this mess...

"Vera." 

It was Luke who answered the door, making Edwin pause for the a moment.  He had only met this man once before and had nearly fainted. Unlike Vera, Edwin was aware of who Luke Farina was thanks to Tom. He'd been careful not to say too much during the last year, always letting Vera do the talking so as to gauge what it was she did and didn't know. It turned out that Tom hadn't told her about her brother in law, or about Harold. 

"Luke, how are you?" Vera replied, allowing him to greet her as they stepped in the door. "You remember Edwin, right?"

Edwin hardly heard the words coming from Luke or anyone else as they were greeted. The same "you remember" phrase repeated over and over again.  For the most part, everyone was polite, some even friendly, but in the back of the room, staring him down with a frown was the man he was the most nervous about greeting... Michael Reid.