A Quick Bite(4)

"That could be it," Thomas commented. "It would explain Aunt Marguerite's willingness to drive around downtown Toronto. She hates city driving and generally avoids it like the plague."

"If she drove," Mirabeau commented. "She could have had Bastien send one of the company cars out to chauffeur her around."

Thomas shook his head at the mention of Lissianna's brother, the head of Argeneau Enterprises. "Nope. She was driving herself and not happy about it."

Lissianna shifted impatiently, and asked, "So, how long till we can go?"

Thomas hesitated. "Well, it is Friday night, and the traffic might be bad, with everyone trying to escape the city for the weekend," he said thoughtfully. "I'm guessing we could go in another fifteen minutes and not risk being too early."

"How about if we leave now and you drive slowly?" Lissianna suggested.

"That boring, are we?" he asked with amusement.

"Not you. This place. It's like a meat market," Lissianna wrinkled her nose.

"Okay, brat." Thomas ruffled her hair affectionately. He was four years older and more like an older brother than her own brothers were, but then they'd been raised together. "Let's head out. I'll do my best to drive slowly."

"Yeah, right," Jeanne Louise said with a snort. "Like that will ever happen."

Lissianna smiled as they collected their coats and headed for the exit. Thomas was a bit of a speed demon, and she knew Jeanne Louise was right. She had no doubt they'd arrive early and annoy her mother. It was a chance she was willing to take.

Lissianna had forgotten all about Father Joseph when she'd suggested leaving, but there was no sign of him as they walked to Thomas's Jeep. He'd either given up, or taken his search elsewhere. Her next thought was for Dwayne, and Lissianna glanced toward the bins as Thomas drove by them, her gaze searching the shadows for his seated figure, but there was no sign of him either. He'd left, too. She was a bit surprised at his quick recovery, but then shrugged the matter aside. He wasn't lying unconscious in the middle of the parking lot, so had obviously managed to find a taxi home.

Traffic wasn't bad after all. It was late enough that they'd missed the worst of it and made good time getting to her mother's home on the outskirts of Toronto. Too good.

"We're half an hour early," Jeanne Louise said from the backseat as Thomas parked the Jeep behind Marguerite's little red sports car.

"Yeah." He glanced at the house and shrugged. "She'll be okay with it."

Jeanne Louise snorted. "You mean she'll be okay with it as soon as you give her your charming grin. You always could get around Aunt Marguerite."

"Why do you think I liked hanging out with Thomas when we were younger?" Lissianna asked with amusement.

"Oh. I see!" Thomas laughed as they got out of the vehicle. "So the truth is out. You only like me for my way with your mother."

"Well, you didn't actually think it was that I liked hanging out with you, did you?" Lissianna teased, as he walked around to her side.

"Brat." He gave her hair a tug as he joined her.

"Isn't that your brother Bastien's car?" Mirabeau asked as she climbed out from behind the front passenger seat and slammed the Jeep door closed.

Lissianna glanced toward the dark Mercedes and nodded. "Looks like it."

"I wonder if anyone else is here." Jeanne Louise murmured.

Lissianna shrugged. "I don't see any other cars. But I suppose Bastien could have arranged for a couple of the company cars to pick up and drop off people."

"If he did, I doubt anyone has arrived yet," Mirabeau said, as they started toward the front door. "You know it isn't fashionable to show up to these things on time. Only unfashionable geeks arrive on time."

"I guess that makes us unfashionable geeks," Lissianna commented.

"Nah. We're just trendsetters," Thomas announced, and they all chuckled.

Bastien opened the front door as they approached. "I thought I heard a car."

"Bastien, du-ude!" Thomas greeted loudly, then immediately stepped up to give him a hug that had the older man stiffening in surprise. "How's it hanging, dude?"

Lissianna bit her lip to keep from laughing and glanced toward Jeanne Louise and Mirabeau, then quickly away as she saw that they were also having difficulty controlling their expressions at the sudden change in Thomas. He'd gone from being just your average guy to a space cadet, in the passing of a heartbeat.

"Yes… Well… Thomas. Hello." Bastien managed to disengage himself from his exuberant younger cousin. As usual, he looked uncomfortable and not entirely sure how to handle the younger man. It was why Thomas acted that way, he knew that both her older brothers—at over four hundred and six hundred—tended to look down on him as a young pup, and it never ceased to annoy him. Being thought of as little more than a child at over two hundred years old could be terribly annoying, and so he acted like an ass around them. It never failed to make the older men uncomfortable and—Lissianna suspected—gave Thomas an advantage. Her brothers were forever underestimating Thomas because of their prejudices.