Page 75 of Love In Translation

This was the reality of her life. And it sucked dragon balls.

Rheo checked her watch and looked over the meeting room, wondering why so few people were seated at the desks. The meeting was supposed to start in a few minutes. Pushing back her chair, she popped her head out of the booth and caught the eye of a fellow translator standing in the hallway next to the entrance to his booth, scrolling through his phone.

“Hi, Yusaf.” She gestured to her booth. “What’s going on? What’s the delay?”

He looked up and smiled. “Yeah, one of the members collapsed and they called an ambulance. Security pushed the meeting back an hour. I’m going to grab a cup of coffee. Would you like to join me?”

His offer surprised her. Before she left, her colleagues avoided her, possibly because they thought her meltdown was contagious. Yusaf’s offer meant they’d put her mistakes behind them and moved on. She should too. If she was going to do this job, then she had todoher job and stop looking for pitfalls and problems. She had to be all in.

But before she could move forward, there was something she had to do. When it was over, she could start fresh in every way.

She sent Yusaf a smile. “Can I take a rain check?”

She caught the disappointment in his eyes, and a little flash of contempt. He thought she was the Rheo from before. The one who kept herself apart, who didn’t bother to engage.

“Yeah, sure,” he said in a flat voice. Rheo suspected he wouldn’t make the offer again.

As he started to walk away, she grabbed his arm. When their eyes met, she managed a tentative smile. “Please ask me again—I promise to say yes next time. I just need to phone my grandmother. It’s something I’ve been putting off because we’re about to have our first argument in...well, the first one ever. I’ve always looked up to her, and I’m about to disappoint her. She’s not going to be pleased.”

Yusaf looked surprised, then gratified, to hear her explanation. “The weight of family expectations, huh?”

She nodded, grimacing. “But I’m trying to live my code of what’s right and wrong, and not theirs.”

“Good luck,” he said, smiling. “And we expect to see you at our next poker night, Whitlock.”

Damn. “I don’t play poker, but I’m willing to learn,” she told him.

Yusaf grinned. “Neither do we, to be honest. Mostly we look at cards, throw chips into a pile, and insult each other in ten different languages.”

Poker sounded like fun. She needed friends, not only to fill her time but to create a richer, fuller life. Connecting with her coworkers would be a good place to start.

Turning back into her booth, she sat, picked up her cell from her desk, and hit the green button to FaceTime Paddy. Her grandmother answered almost immediately, holding a tumbler in her hand.

Paddy, her white hair immaculately coiffured, and wearing a white open-neck shirt and heavy silver necklace, lifted her drink in greeting. “Darling girl, it’s good to see you.”

She looked happy and hearty, full of the joy of life, but Rheo was about to ruin her afternoon. Oh, well...

“Why are you looking, as my Texan grandfather used to say, like you hanged the wrong horse thief?”

Courage, Whitlock. Find it and speak.

“I screwed up at work, I had to take a leave of absence, I went to Gilmartin, and lived in the Pink House without your permission for six months.” Rheo machine-gunned her words, thinking they’d sound better if she said them fast.

Paddy’s expression hardened, and her blue eyes turned frosty. “I saw the viral video, I know you’ve been away from work, and I sure as hell knew you were living in the Pink House. I’ve been many things in my life, my girl, but I am not stupid.”

Rheo stared at the screen, trying to take everything in. She understood the individual words, but they didn’t make sense. Paddy knew? Everything? Already?

Her grandmother drained her drink and looked around for a waiter. Rheo’s eyes widened when she saw a Chris Hemsworth doppelganger, wearing only a pair of swim trunks. Tanned skin and impressive shoulders and biceps. Paddy asked him for another gin and tonic and turned the screen so Rheo could admire his washboard stomach.

“Meet my granddaughter, Harry,” Paddy said. “Rheo, this is Harry.”

Harry tipped the phone so Rheo wasn’t looking at his crotch and grinned, flashing perfectly white, straight teeth. “G’day, Rheo. Your grandmother’s told me a lot about you.”

Rheo waved at Harry, said hello, and when Paddy turned the camera back onto her lined face, Rheo frowned at her. “Who is Harry and why is he fetching you drinks at what looks like a seaside villa?”

Paddy raised an imperious eyebrow. “Harry is my new friend Stuart’s grandson. He’s been working on yachts in the Mediterranean. A nice boy,” she explained.

Who was Stuart? She’d never heard Paddy mention him before. And today she didn’t care. She had bigger things to think about right now. Like...why wasn’t Paddy having a shit fit? Paddy wasn’t reacting as Rheo expected, and she didn’t know how to feel about that.

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