The conversation between the two men hadn't continued when the two children had finished their homework and came downstairs.
"Mom, are we going to sleep here or go back to Grandpa's house?"
Megan asked her mother, but both children had already packed their school bags and brought them down, clearly meaning to return to the suburbs.
"You guys go back and spend some time with Grandpa."
Winnie did not ask the children to stay, fearing that Brian would take the opportunity to stay.
"Aren't you coming back with us?"
Megan inquired of her mother with slight disappointment.
"Come back with us, you've been out relaxing for days, it's time to go back."
Brian brought the children over today not just to talk about Gloria, but most of all to get the children to cooperate with him to bring Winnie back.
"I'd like to take a few more days off ......"
"Grandpa still needs someone to take care of him, so you should go back, Mom."
Luke interrupted his mother's refusal, having said on the way here that the three would work together. Besides, he was worried about his mom living alone.
"Go back, Dad just got out of the hospital and still needs someone to take care of him, so you can help out a bit. Besides, he likes to talk to you and Vanessa. Go back and stay with him for a few days before he goes to convalesce. I don't know how long he'll be back from this trip."
Brian used his father to convince Winnie.
This trick did work well, and Winnie couldn't find an excuse to refuse.
"Your father promised to let me come back and stay for a few days."
"He doesn't want to give you trouble, in fact he misses you. Go back, and you can rest just as much, the kids are all my business."
"Luke, go help mom pack the computer, Megan, you go help mom with her bag and we'll go home together."
Brian didn't wait for Winnie to agree before instructing the two children to do their part.
The children were cooperative enough to rush off to do as told.
Winnie had no choice but to sigh sort of helplessly.
She still had a year to go before the problems between her and Brian were resolved, and in that year she still wanted to keep her distance from Brian, not wanting to get herself in too deep, not wanting to forget the pain.
The next day Wendy asked Gloria out.
Things didn't get any better with Gloria, and instead it was getting festering. So now she was a popular figure, and the places they met had to be screened closely.
The location was chosen by Gloria, a cafe in a small alley. The cafe was so hidden that reporters couldn't find it at all, and she used to hide here to meet people whenever scandals appeared.
"What do you want from me?"
Gloria asked indifferently.
"Nothing, just trying to explain the misunderstanding you had about me."
Wendy's attitude was much more enthusiastic than Gloria's, and to get Gloria to believe her words, she did need to do some work on her attitude in response.
"Explanation? The facts are right there, what is to explain?"
"Penny is pushing the problem to Winnie, but right now I'm not sure you guys didn't have anything to do with this."
Gloria treated Wendy unkindly, but compared to Penny, who was full of bad idea, she didn't think Wendy had that much intention.
Only, no matter what Wendy was like, she was her opponent. Since it was an opponent, she had to be treated toughly.
"It's not what you see between me and Penny, we have nothing to do with each other, we just used to know each other and now I take pity on her to visit occasionally."
Wendy first explained the relationship between herself and Penny. Penny didn't ask her to explain. But she felt the need to clarify herself out first so that things wouldn't get to Brian that she was implicated.
"You guys are really protecting yourselves at a critical moment. Wendy, don't think of things so naively, and don't think of me so foolishly. These things aren't innocent even if you explain them."
"You and Penny are partners, she comes up with ideas and you carry them out, you think I can't see that? You're still here pretending to be a good guy."
"You're cute enough."
"But if you let Penny know about this cuteness, will she still be able to help you? If she doesn't help you, Brian can get farther and farther away from you."
Gloria didn't even give Wendy a chance to defend herself and directly poked Wendy's lie.
Wendy was embarrassed and flustered to look at Gloria, she did not expect Gloria to be so straightforward.
It was true that she couldn't let Penny know what she said today, and if she did, their plan would definitely be aborted.
"You can think what you want, but I came over here today to talk to you about this one."
Wendy had no way in explaining the relationship between herself and Penny, but could only explain the most important purpose of her coming.
Wendy continued.
"Penny and I are targeting Winnie, and we're not targeting to get Brian, so this time it really has nothing to do with us."
"We don't have the time or energy to find someone to follow you, and we never saw you as an adversary. So ......"
"Didn't see me as a adversary? You don't think I'm qualified, do you?"
Gloria gave Wendy a chance to speak, and she was listening carefully to her explanation, but there was something about how she listened with contempt.
"You're overthinking it. You are trying to get Brian while Penny and I treat Winnie with a kind of hatred, we must avenge ourselves, we gave up on Brian a long time ago."
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