Page 65 of Engaging with Her Enemy

The door opened. Juliana came into the kitchen. “Good morning.”

Becky let the pan drop from her hand onto the counter with a clang. “Why aren't you in Atlanta to catch your flight? If you stayed because you plan on me talking about anything, you've stayed for the wrong reason.”

“Oh, you're going to talk. We're going to talk. You can do it here in front of Ms. Iris, or we can go somewhere else. But if you don't talk and I'm not on a plane to England to meet Grayson in the next five days, he said he's coming back to get me. And he'll have to pay a fine for the delay in the production. The filming of the British series has already been pushed back because of his movie production.”

“Fine.” She crossed her arms, not letting go of her spatula. She’d never heard of a baking utensil as a comfort item, but she needed something to give her the false confidence to go through with the conversation. “Ask all the questions you want.”

Juliana narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms as well. “When did you figure out you had a learning disability?”

Ms. Iris's mouth dropped open, but she shut it quickly and waited.

Becky tightened her hold on the spatula. It was the one moment she had avoided for nearly two decades. “Freshman year in high school. Math class. Everyone else got things so easily, I guessed something was wrong with me.”

“Hudson sat in front of you. I've tried to put the pieces of that relationship together.”

“Yes, he did. I cheated off his paper. Both semesters. He told me that he’d let me cheat the first few times before he offered to tutor me. In secret.” He’d done a lame pinky-swear promising her that he’d keep her secret. And here she was, having to spill her guts anyway.

“What's your exact problem?”

Becky kicked her chin out a little. “I don't know. I never actually got diagnosed.”

“That means your parents don't know?”

Becky took a solid breath. “Not really. I think my mom has an idea about it, but before yesterday, no one else knew besides me and Hudson.”

Juliana's eyes softened a touch. The woman didn't have it in her to rail against someone without breaking down with sympathy. “Is it only math?”

“Numbers. I see things backward. I can't apply numbers to word problems. I can repeat simple addition in my head a hundred times and still not focus enough to get the number right. Hudson helped make sense of that. Organized my thoughts.” And so much more. Made her feel smart. Like she could do anything. She took a shaky breath.

“And college?”

“I started six years ago. Taking a class here and there. I didn't have enough to spend on more than one class at a time.”

“All those times you had to cut out early?” Ms. Iris murmured.

Becky let her arms drop. That was her only regret. “Yes. I'm sorry I lied.”

Ms. Iris shook her head. “No. It's alright. I understand, honey. I just hate it you felt like you needed to.”

“And you just finished?” Juliana continued. “Completely done?”

Becky leaned back against the table where her brownies cooled, finally releasing the spatula from her grip. “Yes. I got my grade and notification of my associate degree in business. Yesterday.”

Ms. Iris clapped her hands together. “My word, girl. I'm so proud of you!” She hugged Becky tight, rocking side to side. “You could have told me anything. No one would have thought twice about it. You always try to be so darn independent.”

“My turn,” Juliana said from beside her. She snatched Becky close. “Don't youeverkeep anything from me again. I can't believe you didn't tell me. I'm pretty pissed about it, but I'm so proud of you.”

Becky squeezed her back. “Thank you.” They’d accepted it so easily. But these two women were her best friends.

“You have no idea how mad I was yesterday. At you and Cameron.”

Becky pulled away. “Why were you mad at Cameron? How could Deputy Dog do anything wrong?” Other than spread the juicy news from Hudson. Her heart seized again, and she took a quick, gasping breath to even it out.

Juliana shook her head. “We aren’t getting into that yet. You and I aren't done making up. Eliza said she'd cover your shift, so we can go to Valdosta with Cameron and Addie. Addie is getting a tattoo and asked us to come along.”

“A tattoo?” Becky tapped her chin with her finger. “I've thought about getting a tattoo.”

Juliana let her head drop forward. “Why do you keep so many secrets from me?”

---