Thorne''s gaze fell on Gaylord''s hand covering Charlene''s. He simply lifted his teacup, took a sip with a faint smile, and said nothing.


    Moran was speechless.


    Then again, Thorne had never been in love with Charlene, and with their divorce on the horizon, it made sense he wouldn''t care if another man made a move on her. Still, Moran was surprised to see Charlene was so in demand—first Stewart Ferguson, and now another suitor of such high caliber.


    Given the friction between Charlene and Vesta, Gaylord had initially worried the meeting would be awkward. But he soon saw that Charlene and Thornemunicated remarkably well. In fact, Thorne was quite considerate, even refilling Charlene''s teacup himself when Gaylord was distracted.


    His attitude made it seem as if the animosity between Vesta and Charlene was a thing of the past. Yet, in their previous encounters, the two women hadpletely ignored each other, suggesting a deep-seated grudge that was far from resolved. Gaylord chalked it up to professionalism; as adults, both Thorne and Charlene were simply good at separating business from personal matters.


    Their discussion finally wrapped up around five in the afternoon. Thorne nced at his watch. "It''s gettingte. Why don''t we all have dinner together?"


    Charlene saw no need for that. She stood up. "I have other ns, perhaps next time. I''ll follow up with Mr. Sanderson on the details of our coboration."


    "Alright."


    They shook hands once more, and Charlene left with Gaylord.


    Moran, who had been bored out of his mind and ying games on his phone, finally put it away. Watching Charlene''s retreating figure, he suddenly remembered something. "Hey, didn''t you two decide to put the divorce on hold for now? Is there a deadline for that?"


    Thorne took a sip of water. "No."


    "What? You didn''t set a date?"


    Thorne set his cup down and stood up. "No."


    "So you''re just going to let it drag on? How long can this go on?" Moran wondered. If this went on for five, or even eight years, would Vesta really be okay with that?


    Thorne just smiled. "Don''t worry, it won''t drag on forever."


    Moran rxed a bit. Thorne seemed to have a n, so he figured he must have a timeline in his head and didn''t press the issue further.


    ...


    Meanwhile, Vesta returned home


    after her outing with Jasmine, and her family immediately began asking how thest two days had gone. When they heard Thorne hadn''t shown up at all, the Hawkins and Spencer families weren''t too disheartened. Content bétongs


    "The fact that Thorne trusts you to be alone with Jasmine means he still has faith in you and isn''t nning to break up," Laverne


    Hawkinsmented Thats a good Sign."


    "Exactly, exactly," the others chimed in.


    Nearly two weeks had passed since Thorne and Charlene''sst divorce deadline. Normally, they would have already filed the paperwork again, but this time there wasplete Silence on the matter.


    "Vesta, why don''t you do some digging?" someone suggested. "Ask Mr. Albright or Granger?"


    Asking Moran was a possibility. As for Granger Harden... Vesta lowered her eyes. "Okay, I will."