Work Text:
“Your meeting with Valentino’s people has been moved to Thursday and the samples from the Diego Sperra line will be arriving in a couple of hours,” Betty rattled off from her notepad. She delivered the last message with sideways smile. “Oh, and Hilda and Papi thank you for the flowers, it was very sweet of you. They send their love.”
Daniel, mid-flow in writing, chuckled at the last message. Without even lifting his eyes from the sheets of paper below him, without even thinking, he responded, “Tell them I love them too.”
It was a shockingly long time before Daniel registered the silence that had fallen on the room. He froze, pen hovering above dotted line, as he took in what he had just blurted out.
‘I love you’? To Betty’s family? What the hell, Daniel?
Daniel suddenly felt quite ill and his head snapped up to check if Betty had heard what he had said. If her stunned silence was anything to go by, she had. Her glasses were slowly sliding down her nose and she was making no effort to push them up. Her hands were clung tightly around the stack of documents to her chest. She was doing that face of hers.
“Oh-Oh my God, Betty, I’m so sorry. Was that weird? Did I overstep?” Daniel began, all flustered movements and stuttered words. He wrung his hands, trying (and failing) to come up with an excuse. He briefly shot up from his chair then sat down again. His heart pounded in his chest and he could barely hear Betty’s words for the blood rushing in his ears.
Betty pushed a hand through her hair, grimacing and tilting her head side to side, as if weighing up the exact degree of his faux pas. “Well, I don’t know, Daniel, that was pretty, uh…I mean, I know you kissed Hilda that one time, but jeez, I didn’t know you were THAT invested..”
Crap. Crap. Crap.
“No – Betty, no, that’s – that’s not what I meant – “
“And, you know, Ignacio is of course a great catch, and I’m sure you’d be good together, but I don’t think he’s ready to get back into the ‘scene’ like that, if you catch my drift – he’s still missing my mother a lot and the age gap will be hard to get over. I hope you can understand.”
Daniel’s next hurried apology stopped halfway up his throat.
Up until now – and he wasn’t sure how he missed it – he hadn’t noticed the barely concealed smile that was growing on Betty’s face, or the mirth twinkling behind her glasses. He caught a flash of her orthodontics and realised he’d been had.
“You were joking.”
Betty laughed then, a proper, satisfied laugh. “Of course I was, dummy!”
Daniel exhaled, tension melting off his shoulders. He couldn’t help but smile as he leant forward to cup his forehead in his hands. “I thought I was being totally weird. I’m sorry, Betty, it just came out. I don’t think I’ve ever said that to anyone before apart from my mother.”
“What are you apologising for? I think it’s really sweet, Daniel.”
Daniel opened one of his eyes just a crack through his fingers, to check she wasn’t joking again. “Really?”
Betty took a seat opposite the desk, efficiently making herself comfortable in a way only she knew how. “Yeah, of course. My family loves you. I think it’s nice that you feel the same way. They know you’re a good man. They like you, Daniel.” Her words didn’t seem to have an effect on him so she repeated them in simpler and simpler terms until he looked satisfied. Betty rolled her eyes.
“Right, I’m done pumping your ego. Get ready for your next meeting.” She got up from the desk and headed towards the door.
“Oh, one last thing, Betty?”
Betty (adorably) spun on her heel. “Yes?”
Smiling but sincere, Daniel said carefully, enunciating, “I love you, Betty.”
This earned him another eye roll. “Get back to work, Daniel.”
He didn’t see her grin as she walked out the door.