Elle happily agreed, but she arrived at the restaurant to find not only Abby but Jacob waiting for her as well.

"What is he doing here?" Elle asked out of surprise.

Coincidentally at the same moment Jacob spoke up "What is she doing here?" He questioned.

"Now, now." Abby said, pulling her friend to sit down at the table with them. "I thought it would be fun to all enjoy a meal together. You two barely speak, and you're both so precious to me. I hope you'll try to get along better, at least for me sake."

Elle's mouth was drawn in a tight line. She wasn't happy about the arrangements, but she didn't really have a suitable excuse to leave. She sat down, and instead pulled out her phone to complain to Adam about the uncomfortable arrangement.

'Isn't it nice to enjoy a meal with your friend? You haven't met with her in a while.' Adam wrote.

'This feels like a meeting of strangers; it's just awkward. Also, somehow I got stuck eating dinner outside again. It's bad enough that you and I eat out at least twice a week, now I'm adding to it.' Elle complained.

"Who are you texting? Your boyfriend?" Abby's teasing voice sounded from across the table.

Elle looked up to see her friend looking at her with a suggestive look in her eyes. "No one in particular." She said, putting her phone aside. "How is your work going?"

"It's going well. I seem to be getting along with the other professors." Abby replied vaguely. "What about you? Is your project going well?"

Elle couldn't help the smile that pulled up the corner of her lips. "It's going well, but everyone also seems to be enjoying themselves."

"That's great."

"There seems to be an issue with the software though. I'm not sure about it, but the values on the sales report seem off."

Jacob coughed, almost chocking on his water.

"What's wrong?" Abby asked, handing him a napkin.

"Nothing." Jacob mumbled. "The system is reliable; you shouldn't worry yourself about the software Elle."

"If I require advice I'll ask for it." Elle said, doing her best not to roll her eyes.

Jacob didn't say anything else and simply focused on his food for the rest of the night. Elle did the same, not bothering to try to maintain a conversation. Although it wasn't an ideal result Abby was quite pleased with herself. At least they weren't bickering. She hoped that slowly she would be able to bring the two step-siblings closer together. Unfortunately, even she could not predict the storm that was about to occur.