Page 43 of A Conflict of Interest

“Mm-hm. That’s all. Okay, I’m going to go…talkto someone now.”

Still, after I’d hung up and gotten out the door to go down the stairs and climb into my car, I couldn’t deny the jittery nerves I had all through me. And the fact that I’d been thinking the same thing… that I really wanted to just call this a date, to believe Veronica really had changed, to take her word, to let her have me.

But I’d been burned so many times before. Maybe it was a sign of something that Veronica had been the one burned this time.

Zayn’s was a cozy little sandwich shop on a quiet city block under rows of trees dressed in light dustings of last night’s snow, and I ducked my head against the drifting flurries blowing down from the roof, wrapped my scarf tighter around my neck, and hurried into the warmth of the interior, and I couldn’t help myself from sweeping my eyes over the place immediately, my heart beating faster. When I saw Veronica sitting at a table next to a tall, thin Christmas tree, tapping her fingers anxiously on the table as she looked at her phone…

She was so nervous. About meeting me? If I believed everything she’d said yesterday, about how much I meant to her and how much she was feeling around us—around this—then it made sense. But… there was no way any of that made sense. This wasn’t a fairytale. Someone like Veronica Preston didn’t suddenly turn around a hundred eighty degrees just because she liked me.

But when my stare got a little too intense and it must have prickled her awareness, and she looked up, meeting my gaze across the café, I couldn’t help but think there was no faking that reaction—the way her pupils dilated a little, her breath visibly catching, the slight tilt in her brows as they came together and arched up, looking at me like I was some kind of miracle.

I told her she just wanted me when she couldn’t have me. Was that seriously all there was to it?

I could not go doubting my own convictions two seconds after I’d made them to Lucy.

I smiled and waved across the room to her, and she softened into the sweetest smile that was just all the mushy heart-melting things in the world and waved back, and I pointed at the Christmas tree and mimed throwing her into it. She looked between me and the tree and shrugged as if to sayguess it can’t be helped,miming being thrown towards it, and I stifled a giggle that turned into a “whoops” when someone bumped into me from behind and I realized I was standing in the doorway playing charades with my ex from across the room. I’d officially lost it.

I stopped at the counter to place my order, and I was bouncing with excitement the whole time waiting for the moment when I got to walk over and sit down with a nervous rush across from Veronica, who’d dressed up just a little bit for this. I’d dressed up a lot, but that was just… me. Still, with her perfect smoky-eye makeup done and a nice, silky red blouse, she had me seeing stars.

“Okay, admit it,” I said first thing, “how early did you show up?”

“Not throwing me into the tree after all?” she said through a brilliant smile.

“I am if you dodge the question! You’ve got three seconds to answer before I activate power mode.”

She blushed, looking away, but she kept her chin up and a defiant little smile playing on her lips. “I got here just a second before you did.”

“Oh my god, you’re a liar,” I laughed. “Okay, I’ll imagine it was like two hours and you can correct me if I’m wrong.”

“It was less than two hours,” she said in that polite, measured tone that said it was less than two hours but more than a second. I’d let her sit with it.

“I hear you’re, um… causing a fuss. With ECR and Lakeshore. And, um… with Christopher?”

“Filthy lying cheat of a man Christopher fucking Beckham,” she said lightly. “Is more or less what I told Danielson… I was going to have Anna apologize to him on my behalf once this was done.”

I laughed. “Veronica… do you even know the first thing about Christopher?”

She tented her hands, smiling brightly at me. “I know that he took your spot, and that’s completely unacceptable.”

“It’s not his fault,” I laughed.

“I know. That’s why I’ll apologize. But he stilldidit, and that’s why I won’t apologize until after it’s done.”

I hung my head, stifling laughter. “You are… nothing if not a strong force of will. I’d been thinking you’d changed so much I didn’t recognize you, but… that’s the most Veronica thing I’ve ever heard.”

“Here’s another thing that’s just as Veronica,” she said through that playful smile she did where it tugged more at one corner of her lips than the other, her eyes smiling before the rest of her face. “I’ve been working there for six months… I feel like I’ll lose my mind if I keep going. So I threatened to walk out if they didn’t get you back on the case—”

“Oh my god, Veronica—”

“—but I’d already had one foot out the door anyway, emotionally at least.”

I squeezed my hands on the table, trying to be upset but secretly or not-so-secretly glowing a little on the inside. “I told you… I don’t want everyone else taking care of me.”

She shrugged. “I’m the one who got you into this mess… I’m not looking at it like I canrescueyou from it, but I want to at least be able to help fix the problem I created.”

I sighed, looking down. “You know, I, uh… our conversations helped me a lot too. As me and Nic. You always knew the right thing to say and you always made time and space for me.”

She tried to stay cool, but I could see her reactions—the tightening in her throat, a subtle swallowing motion, and she looked down at her hand, inspecting her nails, to distract me from the color creeping into her cheeks. “Worked out well for me, too. I’ve gotten into looking at pretty setups for charcuterie boards after seeing how nice yours are.”

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