Page 96 of Conspiracies and Chemistry

“Now I’m worried. Did that dick, Cole, do something freshly shitty?”

“I—no. Not exactly.”

“Then what happened?”

I drained my wineglass. “The board met today and announced the new CEO.”

“Oh god. They brought in an outsider. Thosefuckers!”Fire erupted in her eyes. “Look, we’ll zhuzh up your résumé and mine our networks. We’ll find you that CEO role you deserve.”

“Hold on.” I set a hand on hers. “I got it.”

“You…got it?It,as in, you’re CEO? That’s amazing!” She set down her glass and grabbed my shoulders. “Why are you making a face like you’re about to puke up a canape?”

“Because I have to share it.” I closed my eyes, remembering his stony expression when he walked out of that conference room. “With Cole. Until one of us proves we deserve the position more than the other.”Hehadn’t looked like someone had taken his blown-glass dreams and smashed them with a sledgehammer. He’d looked calm and confident after. Like he knew he’d win the Hunger Games they’d set up for us. He was young and on the rise. No one would ever write off a harsh word from him asthat time of the month.He had every reason to be confident.

“What the absolute fuckery?”

I couldn’t help the smile that teased at my lips. “You talk like that in front of judges?”

“No, I save it for when my friend gets screwed over at her job. That guy’s been at the company for, like, a minute, right?”

“Ten or eleven months. I’ve worked there forfifteen years.Where’s the justice in that?”

“Seriously. We’ll work our contacts. We’ll find a company that actually deserves you.”

“Wait.” I might not have earned the CEO position outright, but that didn’t mean I wouldn’t get it eventually. I had cultivated my network at the company for years, I knew exactly how everything worked there, and I was clearly the best candidate. Besides, I had the beginnings of a plan to prove myself. “I think I want to give it a chance, see how it goes.”

“If you’re sure?” Justine’s eyebrows lifted.

“I’m sure. Let’s talk about something else. What’s going on with you?”

“Oh, you know.” She flapped her hand. “Same old stuff. New day, new divorce. Why do people get married, anyway?”

I snorted. “No idea. I mean, I guess if you want kids, it makes sense, but who has the time? I’d never have made it to even co-CEO”—god, why had I brought that upagain?—“if I had babies to raise. With five girls, my mom never had time for a career. And now my sisters with kids have, you know, respectable jobs, but…”

“But nothing like ours. Or Tessa’s. Having it all is the biggest lie they ever told us.”

“Yeah. I don’t miss it, though.” Maybe it was a lie. But it was something I’d told myself so often it sounded like the truth. “I have enough nieces and nephews to satisfy that maternal itch.”

“Or to stifle it entirely. Miss me with the diaper changing and tantrums in the grocery store, am I right?”

“Absolutely.” Though I loved the curl of little fingers around mine. The ten minutes spent chatting as I brushed out and braided my niece’s hair.

“Savannah’s got kids.” Justine tipped her chin at our friend, who held a platter of hors d’oeuvres out to a tall guy wearing jeans and a checked shirt.

“Yeah, and see what it got her. A twenty-year hiatus from the workforce that means she’s got no résumé and no retirement fund. I’m glad she’s found her calling in catering, but you’d better get her enough money from her ex to give her decades of security.”

“Don’t worry.” Justine’s eyes blazed. “That fucker climbed the corporate ladder while she raised his babies. He’s going to pay.”

“Good.” I watched checked-shirt guy take another prosciutto-wrapped fig. “What’s going on there?”

“There?” Justine snorted. “That’s just Savannah feeding some guy who likes to eat. Believe me, she’s never dating again. She tells me that every time we meet.”

“That guy looks like he’s into more than her cooking. His face looks like he swallowed a light bulb.”

“Could be just the glow of youth? He can’t be over thirty-five.”

I sighed along with my friend. “I just dropped two hundred bucks on a new moisturizer that promises to restore my dewy skin. As hard as it is to rise in the ranks in tech, it’s even harder for a woman with wrinkles.”

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