Page 58 of So Wrong It Must Be Right

“She said I can’t be in a personal relationship with Carter. That he’d never be the type of husband I’d need—to be her.”

“Do you really want to beGrandmother?” Kayla said it with such disgust, as if Grandmother wasn’t everything Dinah had wanted to be and was afraid she couldn’t live up to.

“Oh my God,” Kayla breathed, her eyes going wide. “Youdowant to be her!”

“She’s amazing. She’s strong and everyone listens to her and . . . no one questions her.” No one abandoned her or pushed her aside. She waspower, and Dinah had always wanted that kind of... certainty of her place in the world.

“There are a lot of amazing things about Grandmother, I will give you that, but she’s also incredibly cruel and unfeeling. Is that who you really want to be?”

“You say that like I have a choice.”

“Of course you do! We have a choice. We’vealwayshad a choice, Dinah. Youchooseto think Gallagher’s is your heart and soul.”

“No, I don’t. It’s how I was born.” She believed that. Shehadto believe that. If she thought she had a choice, if she deserted like Kayla and her father, what did that make her? She knew exactly what.

A failure. Alone. No one.

“Bullshit. It’s easy, is what it is. It’s safe. You know, I thought I was the coward in this relationship, but now I’m not so sure.”

Dinah wanted to stand up for herself. She wanted to argue or say nasty things back, but it hurt so damn much, and she was already so raw. “Why are you being so mean to me lately?”

“Because I love you and I see this pattern in the things you do. Things get hard and you hyper-focus on the wrong thing. You’re in such incredible denial about yourself and your worth, and I’m tired of pretending like I don’t see it, to spare your feelings.”

“Denial? My worth? Come on, Kayla, I—”

“You haven’t dealt with anything that happened in the past year. Not your father, not how it affects you as aperson, not just at Gallagher’s. Things have changed. It’s time you changed with them. If you want to be Grandmother, be Grandmother. Break up with Carter. Run Gallagher’s. Turn into an old woman who everyone is afraid of, and no oneloves.”

“I’m going to go.”

“Oh, no. I gave you a chance, but you asked. You will hear me out. You can choose to lose everything about you that makes me love you—your warmth and your honesty and your humor and your caring.” Kayla stood up, standing in front of her, looking as fierce as Dinah had ever seen her.

“I never understood, Dinah, because you’re not like them. You care so much about people—not just that goddamn waste of space. You care about the people who make up that business, and if you want to get to the point where you don’t anymore, the point where all you see are dollar signs and reputation, and whatever it is they see, then go ahead. You can do all that, you canchooseall that, but I don’t think that’s what you really want. If it was what you really wanted, you’d have already got after it. You’d have broken up with Carter without a second thought.”

“It isn’t that easy.”

“No, it’s life. It isn’t easy, but it is something you have to do. Just like leaving is something I have to do. We’re at the point where we have to choose for ourselves, but it is a choice.”

“I’m in love with him,” she said, wishing the words back the minute they escaped, raw and confused.

That stopped Kayla in her tracks though. “You’re in love with . . . Carter Trask?”

“I don’t want to be. I shouldn’t be.” She started pacing between Kayla’s mountains of boxes. “But I can’t seem to get rid of that feeling. I can’t fight it. All of these feelings are there, and I am in love with him.”

“Have you told him?”

Dinah shook her head. “No. I wasn’t sure of it, and then Grandmother dropped this bomb, but love is just like the business thing. There has to be a compromise.”

“Eventually people run out of compromises, Dinah. Trust me. I certainly ran out of mine. Tell him. Show him. Don’t let Grandmother take this from you.”

“If I choose him, I lose everything that was always supposed to be mine.” She forced the words out past the fear, past maybe some of that denial Kayla was accusing her of having. But how could she lose what she’d always wanted, give it up for something that had come out of the blue? That could end, and hurt her?

“Yours? Maybe our lives aren’t ending up like we planned, but maybe there is a new, different path we’re supposed to take.”

“I refuse to take any path that takes me away from Gallagher’s,” Dinah said harshly, feeling harsh but certain. She’d always been certain. This had always been her. How could that change? “Gallagher’s is my heart and soul. I can’t let that go.”

“Then you need to leave,” Kayla said, shaking her head. “Because you’re not here to actually listen to what I have to say.”

Dinah could see the tears in Kayla’s eyes, hear the hurt in her voice. It matched Dinah’s own. “I don’t know when hating Gallagher’s happened, or why it means you can’t be my best friend anymore.”

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