only been rubbing salt in the wound, which was true. But I always liked to know all the facts, especially if they concerned me. Isabelle talked me out of being pissed at him. She told me Ian had tried to protect me, which I wasn’t used to, considering I was the older one.
"Okay, so let's talk about this, then,” I said, pointing to the stack of documents in front of me.
"Just so you know, the fact that you're evasive about it proves my point," Ian said. His shit-eating grin was back.
"Ian. Work. Now. We only have forty minutes before our phone call with the first client."
"That’s enough time to get the scoop from you and discuss the agenda."
I shook my head. "There's no scoop. There's nothing."
"Yeah, I don't buy it. But whatever works for you, man."
We started talking about the documentation for project Z, and maybe because we’d just been talking about her or maybe because I hadn't stopped thinking about her since she left my apartment, an image of Mel popped up in my mind. I hadn't gotten to kiss her neck last evening, and I was still beating myself up over it. I’d fantasized about it the whole night.
"No, no. You're not allowed to space out if I can't tease you about Mel," Ian exclaimed. "Holy shit, you were thinking about her, weren't you? You don't have it bad. You have it very, very bad."
My family was getting a bit too good at reading me.
“Just wait until our parents get wind of this,” he went on.
“They won’t,” I said. “Unless you blab.”
He held up a finger. “You forget we have two sisters.”
I laughed, sinking lower on the leather seat, glancing at the stack of papers in front of me.
“I can’t believe I have to review these today,” I said.
“Don’t remind me. I’ve got a stack too, and I didn’t even start.”
“You think we’re crazy for taking on project Z?” I asked him. We were very well off just by offering our programming services to our existing clients, as well as licensing a virus protection software we’d developed.
“Probably, but we’ve never backed down from a challenge. And it’ll be worth it if it helps people not go through the same thing our parents did.”
The same thing motivated both of us. Josie had already been in New York, so she didn’t get wind of our parents’ troubles, but Isabelle, Ian, and I grew even closer during those hard years.
My phone started buzzing on my desk.
“It’s Mom,” I said, checking the screen. “That’s weird. She never calls in the morning.”
Ian chuckled. “Unless she got news from a certain sister last evening. And that’s my cue to go to my own office.”
I answered the phone as he left the room. I checked in with my parents a couple times a week, but maybe this was an emergency. As a rule of thumb, I always picked up the phone.
“Hey, Mom.”
“Darling, how are you?”
“Busy,” I replied.
“You always are. Well, I won’t keep you for long. Isabelle told us you got her a puppy.”
Right. So it wasn’t an emergency. Ian was right. I had to laugh. At least they didn’t know about Mel. I should consider myself lucky.
I picked up a pen, intending to leave notes at the edge of the document whenever something stood out.
“I did.”
“And this woman you went to the shelter with is a friend?”
I stopped in the act of marking the document, laughing. I wasn’t sure if this was Isabelle’s work—asking Mom to dig for info—or if Mom was curious.
“What are you asking, Mother?”
“Well, what I did.”
“Why would she be anything other than a friend?” I was interested in her answer.
“Just a mother’s intuition.”
That was clear as mud.
“Mel is a friend, Mother.”
“Hmm....” She didn’t sound at all convinced.
“Was there anything else you wanted to talk about?” I asked.
“No, no. I’ll let you get on with your work. Have a great day, darling.”
“You too.”
After the call disconnected, I remembered my conversation with Mel about her dad. She and I were so similar in this regard—always looking out for our family and trying to give them the best. I remembered her telling me about this medicine she wanted to get for her dad, and I knew just the person to call to make it happen. Ian and I had contacts in the pharma industry, and while I typically wasn’t one to ask for favors, this was important to Mel, and she was a friend.
For now.
Chapter Eleven
Mel
“Thanks for helping me,” Charlotte exclaimed. My best