Page 5 of A Break in Communications

She was a short woman with the same brown waves and dark eyes as me, but the rest of her face couldn’t have looked more different from mine, infuriatingly about thirty times prettier than I was, including full lips that I’d hated her for. Wasn’t her fault, just ever since a past boyfriend had looked between me and her and straight-up told me not even an hour later that I should get fillers. I didn’t get fillers, but I did get rid of the boyfriend.

She was also a dumbass, so I just stood there for a second wondering if I should have gone out and entered through the window instead of dealing with her, while she still didn’t noticeme, but I lived on the fifth floor and I wasn’t exactly auditioning for Spider-Man in the next movie, so… I leaned against the wall next to her and cleared my throat, and she jumped, turning to look at me.

“Oh my god, what are you doing here?”

“What am I doing here. Hm.” I checked my phone like I was thinking over the answer. “That’s a hell of a question. Don’t know, really. Might try making some dinner? Seems like a good place to do it.”

She turned and hunched her shoulders, crossing her arms. She had a way with a stern look when she wanted to, but while she was dressed like the Michelin Man, it didn’t exactly scream serious. “I’ve been trying to get in touch with you. Are you seriously working until nine o’clock?”

“No, I was at the club with my secret girlfriend I’m hiding from Mom looking for a third to hook up with.”

She wrinkled her nose. “On a Tuesday?”

Honestly, not the first objection I would have picked, but not a bad one. “Lucy keeps me busy most days.”

She narrowed her eyes. “Your secret girlfriend?”

“Ew. Don’t put that on me. She’s the one at work who—forget it. Forget.” I waved her off. “You didn’t just text? Just came here and stood with your head on my door?”

“I did text you!” She pulled her phone out, waving it in my face, to where she’d absolutely, one hundred percent texted Grandma instead,where are youuuuu Mom’s worried you’re dead.Grandma was leaving her on read. Given how often Veronica texted the wrong person and how few fucks Grandma had left to give, I wasn’t surprised.

“Ah. Indeed. I must have been in the middle of something and forgotten to respond. Well,” I said, pushing off from the wall and fishing my key from my pocket, unlocking my door, “now you can tell Mom I’m doing just fine, and you can go dosomething productive with your life, whatever the hell it is your job is these days.”

“I’m plenty productive,” she said, trying to follow me inside. I slipped inside and pushed the door mostly shut, stopping her at the crack. “Hey—are you just going to put me out into the cold? I want a cappuccino.”

“There’s a coffee shop down the road. By the way, can you tell Mom the holiday party at my work is going to be horrible, so that she doesn’t show up?”

Veronica puffed out her cheeks, glowering at me. “If you make me a cappuccino.”

“Son of a bitch. Fine,” I sighed, throwing the door open. “You’ve got a deal. Just be out again once you’ve finished your drink.”

She stumbled in through the door, turning immediately into my tiny kitchen and flicking on my mini espresso machine. “Oh my god, so you know Uncle Matt is showing up on Saturday—”

“Veronica, I’m going to take a shower.”

“That’s okay,” she said, not missing a beat as she set about using my espresso machine more quickly and efficiently than I could. “I’ll talk louder.”

Maybe Mom showing up at the holiday party was better than this… I just had to hope she wouldn’t crash on my couch.

∞∞∞

“You okay, Anna?” Kelcey said as I trudged to my office the next morning, clutching my coffee cup for dear life.

“Yeah, just… tired. Someone exhausting crashing on my couch last night.”

She beamed. “Let me know if I can pitch in, help you out at all—”

“I’llreallybe good. Thanks, though, Kelce.”

The office was bustling this morning—I usually arrived early, but thanks to my jackass sister keeping me up late last night harassing me, I’d slept in this morning and had barely dragged myself into work at nine. And of course I got the smug greeting from Lucy as I walked across the office, looking up from where she was relaxed at her desk with the easygoing posture that said she’d been here a while already, holding a half-empty coffee mug.

“Always a pleasure seeing your smile in the mornings, Preston.”

“If you want to see my smile, talk to me less.”

“Your loss, darling.”

I wasn’t letting her get under my skin.Ihad a job that was a ticket straight to the executive office. And once I was in there, I wasn’t going to put pictures of trees, I was going to put pictures of company events with Lucy cropped out.

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