Page 18 of A Conflict of Interest

“Yeah, actually.”

“Ew.” I downed the rest of my coffee, setting it down, pointedly looking at anything other than Anna.Ewdidn’t come naturally this time. What came naturally was… thinking about Kelcey. How embarrassing. “Look, I’m… sorry about the event. I won’t show up at your events anymore.”

“Yeah? You actually mean that?”

“Yeah… and even if I’m ever planning on going back on my word, you can always just tell me Kelce is going to be at a given event and I’ll run away. Doesn’t even have to be true.”

“Ha.” She rolled her eyes through a little smile, punching me lightly on the unbruised shoulder. “Giving me the secret weapon, huh?”

“I’m just saying. Turns out that girl’s got some strength in her. Guess taekwondo sticks with you.”

She arched an eyebrow. “Kelcey Huntingtondid taekwondo?”

“Yeah, when she was little, her parents had her go for a few years. Apparently she actually really liked it, but she says she was never any good at it. Bet she’d be good if she picked it up again now. Or judo.”

“That girl never stops surprising me… first she’s apparently a pro at tracking down contractors and now she did taekwondo.”

I stopped. “Uh… contractors, huh?”

“Yeah, put her on a job with some independent work and some margin of error, so she could get through some stuff and improve on her own, but apparently she didn’t need the margin of error. Had a contractor in mind and a sample script before theday was out and they’ve already gone and signed contracts less than a week later.”

Weird. Wonder who the contractor was. Probably some absolute piece of shit woman and her boss who’s a little annoying. “She’s a lot smarter than she seems at first,” I said. “Girl’s pretty clever.”

“Uh-huh. You should say that to her. She still carries the scars of you telling her how she’s dumb and only good for her body.”

“I didn’t mean it like—” I shifted, my whole body prickling. “It wasn’t like that.”

“I know. You were just trying to make her hate you,” she said coolly. “Instead you made her hate herself.”

Well, that hurt. I’d probably have preferred she split my skull with a sledgehammer than say that, but I guess here we were. “I didn’t… mean for it to be like that.”

“Then fix it,” she said, looking idly out the window.

“I don’t knowhow.”

“You’re a smart woman, Veronica. You can figure it out yourself.”

“Smart?You’re callingmesmart? Jesus, woman, I thought maybe you were smart until now.”

“You can’t hide forever behind those kinds of comments.”

Ugh. What if I really wanted to? What then? Did she think about that? No, of course she didn’t. She never thought about that.

“First I get beaten up with a Christmas tree and now you come in to beat me up emotionally too.”

“Trust me, I’m of half a mind to beat you up physically, too.” She sighed, relaxing, and she gave me a thin smile. “I’m going to say the thing you hate the most now.”

I winced. “Oh, god. What is it?”

“You’re my sister and I love you—”

“Ew—”

“—and I want you to be happy. And I’m happy for you if you’re with a man or a woman or… or anyone else. But I think you and Kelcey would be happy. If you could get over yourself a little.”

“Ugh.” I put my head in my hands. “Gross. Gross, gross. Don’t look at me. Don’t talk to me. Uh… thanks,” I mumbled, and I stood up. “Let me clean up my mess.”

“I can handle a mug or two. You should get back and rest your shoulder.”

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