Page 143 of Family Bonds- Kelsey & Van

“I thought Barry and Christian were close,” he said.

“In Christian’s eyes. They were early on, but Barry got cold toward Christian two years ago. Not sure why. He’d never say and they worked fine together after that. I just figured it was a fight over work. It would happen.”

“Thanks,” Van said. He and Kelsey left.

“What are you doing?”

“Calling Christian and asking him to meet with me on Monday at my house. I work from home. No reason he can’t come to me. I’m his boss.”

She laughed. “It’s nice being the boss, isn’t it?”

“I guess so,” he said.

“What’s the next step?” she asked, rubbing her hands together. “I want to be here for it.”

“I need to talk to your father and my lawyer.”

“Let’s call them,” she said.

“Kelsey, I appreciate it. I really do, but I need to deal with this myself.”

“Nope,” she said. “You don’t. I’m taking Monday off and I’m planting my butt in the house. Even if it’s just for support.”

He squinted one eye at her. She’d do that too.

40

CONSPIRACY THEORIES

How dare Van tell her not to come today?

She’d played the whole “sure, baby, I’ll let you take care of this on your own” thing.

He had another thing coming if he thought she’d actually listen to him though.

Kelsey had stayed at her house last night, but she was on her way to Van’s now rather than going to the office.

He told her the meeting was at ten, but she didn’t believe it.

She’d even tried to get it out of her father when it was going to be, but that proved useless.

When she pulled into Van’s a few minutes before eight, she saw Christian getting out of his car.

Ha, he was trying to pull one over on her. Making her think it would be after the first ferry arrived.

Nope, Christian probably spent the night on the island to get here early and get back.

She waited until Christian was in the house and then parked behind him, grabbed Frankie and ran up the front steps. The door was unlocked and she walked in.

“What are you doing here?” Van asked her.

She lifted her chin. “I left something here and was getting it on my way to work. Am I interrupting anything?”

Frankie started to bark and snarl in her arms. He’d never done that before.

“What’s wrong with that dog?” Christian asked.

“Maybe he smells a rat,” she said, grinning and moving into Van’s bedroom. She grabbed the first thing she could of hers, which was her brush. It was lame and she knew it.

---