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Post by Amber Jacobs on Aug 17, 2015 4:21:06 GMT
Cooper grinned at Maddy, "You know, if you legitimately think that my work sounds interesting you might be the first," he teased before taking a sip of his drink. "I try to tell people that it's like a game of Monopoly, but everyone knows that I'm lying. Parker thinks that I should start installing his company's tech in our condos and hotel rooms, I think that with the way Riley is eying him right now that his company might get tied up in some sort of litigation before it even gets approved to roll out, and I'm an old fashioned guy. I like to read the papers and look before I leap. Parker here says it's turning me into a relic. I'm telling you this because Parker seems really interested in your opinion, so I was hoping you'd tell him to shove it for me - because I keep telling him and he never listens. But you seem entirely much more difficult to ignore."
Parker glowered briefly at Cooper before chuckling. "I don't know if this is really the right forum to talk about our business, Cooper."
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Amber bit her lip and nodded before taking a sip of his drink. She caught Brandon eying Melanie and laughed. "In the bathroom she asked if you were my friend, and if she could be your friend too, and then she said she wanted to draw you a picture. I think she likes you." Sure enough, the three year old had taken two crayons out of her purse and was drawing on a napkin, tongue poked out of her mouth in serious concentration as she scribbled. "I thought we'd give Cooper a minute to make adult conversation before giving her back and maybe go home early? I'm a registered democrat anyway."
She sighed and reached down for his free hand with her own. "I think that I used to be one and I'm still paying for it," she acknowledged with a shrug.
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Post by Brandon Finn on Aug 17, 2015 4:37:33 GMT
Madison laughed, flushing at his comment. She couldn't seem to help but blushing profusely when she was around men like Parker, or now Cooper. Something about their charm made it too easy for her to feel her cheeks begin to burn. "I don't think that knowing all of the details is necessarily a bad thing," she agreed tentatively. She didn't want it to look like she was picking sides between the two men and so she chose her next words carefully, "But maybe there's some merit to the technology angle too."
Taking another sip of her drink she shrugged, "But I'm just an editor, I really don't know anything about any of this stuff so unfortunately I might leave this one up to you guys to figure out." She smiled warmly at Cooper. "If you ever want a book recommendation though, I'm your girl."
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Brandon nodded, swirling his scotch around in the glass. She reached for his free hand and he squeezed it softly. "I don't know that you've ever been a shitty person in your life." Tugging their entwined hands closer to his body he was able to get her marginally closer to her. At least close enough that he was able to lean over and kiss her softly. "I'm sorry about all of that."
Looking down at Melanie's little crayon drawing he tried to think of something to say, even if it was a sorry way of showing Amber that he was at least trying. Trying to make up to her that this night had been a disaster, trying to show her that he wasn't going to leave her, or just trying to show her that he wanted to be part of her life. "So... uh... kid, what are you drawing?"
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Post by Amber Jacobs on Aug 17, 2015 4:52:29 GMT
Cooper grinned at Madison before his eyes flicked up to check on his daughter. "I will keep that in mind, I probably should read more anyway."
Parker chuckled and then took sip from his drink before smiling at Madison. "That was a very diplomatic answer, you know. Maybe Riley is backing the wrong candidate and you should go into politics."
"Nah," Riley laughed. "Madison is an honest person. I can't drag her into politics. She deserves better than that."
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Amber shook her head at Brandon and kissed him back gently. "Don't apologize. You don't have anything to apologize for," she assured him. She smiled softly when he turned his attention to Melanie.
The three year old grinned before holding up the napkin that she had drawn some unconventional shapes on. "I only has two coluhs," she explained. "It's for you!" she pushed it forward towards him on the bar before she very carefully - and with much effort climbed off of her stool. She then beamed up at Brandon, giggling as she waved at him and skipped away to scramble up onto her father's lap.
Amber smiled as the little girl ran off and then let out a sigh. Since Liv had left, her mind had been spinning as she mulled over what the other woman had said and had once again been hit with guilt and the realization that any unhappiness now was a direct result of the fact that she'd left ten years ago. She felt as though she didn't even have a right to be upset, despite the fact that she was due to how much she personally disliked Olivia Warren. She took a few large sips from her drink. "I meant what I said earlier, it's not my business what happened after I left and before I came back. You don't owe me any sort of explanation," she announced. She shifted, leaning her head on his shoulder for a moment. "All that matters is that I'm the person you want to take home tonight."
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Post by Madison Benson on Aug 17, 2015 12:27:37 GMT
She sipped at her drink, looking over at her friend for a moment. Something about the entire conversation had seemed very - forced? It would have been easy, she realized, to have just sat here and had a conversation with Riley. They could have talked about the girl's night they needed to pick movies for next week, or they could have talked about how Riley thought tonight was going so far. Those sort of conversations would have been easier. She would have even taken conversation with either of the men - as long as they had been relatively alone. There was a strange feeling that she was stuck in between a rock and a hard place and she didn't know how to get out of it.
"I wouldn't be very good at politics anyway," she dismissed, smiling at her friend. "Besides, I get to live vicariously through Riley this way and that seems much more exciting."
Turning back to Cooper she nodded, "Please just let me know if there's ever anything I can help you with in the book world."
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Post by Brandon Finn on Aug 17, 2015 12:40:31 GMT
There had never been much of a reason for him to know how to handle children. Growing up his extended family had swiftly categorized themselves into the adults, the teenagers, and the children. As he got older and the groups remained siloed, he just shifted groups without the implication that he should have mingled with any of the others. Now as an adult, family get-togethers were much less about making sure he got to know his younger cousins and his cousins' children, it was about making connections with the right family members for business purposes.
As Melanie pushed her little crayon drawing toward him he wasn't sure what he was supposed to do with it. "Thank you," he said, questioning if he was supposed to say more. Complement her on her color choices, considering that she had only had two, or remark in some way that she was going to be a future artist. Before he had time to worry about it too much she scrambled off back to Cooper.
Hearing Amber sigh beside him he drew his attention back to her, then she placed her head on his shoulder. He pressed a kiss to the top of her head. "You are the only person that I want to take home tonight," he assured her. "I meant what I said before - I want to do this the right way this time."
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