Page 124 of Serving the Mogul

“Because I’m exhausted or because it’s Dina?” I asked softly.

“Mostly the former, but a bit of the later,” he admitted. Reaching up, he pushed his hand through my hair. “She’s hurting you, treating you like she has.”

I couldn’t deny that. But…

Shifting my gaze to his, I said, “You can’t fix that hurt, James. This is between Dina and me, and we’ll have to be the ones to work things out. Okay?”

His jaw tightened, and he averted his gaze. But eventually, he looked me in the eye and nodded. “Okay.”

I leaned toward him with a kiss, then murmured against his lips, “Thank you.”

He tried to deepen the kiss, but I nudged him back.

“I need to take care of a few things.” Namely, I had to hit the bathroom. But Dina had called five times and texted twice. I couldn’t avoid her any longer. I had to make this call.

Phone in hand, I went to the bathroom. I didn’t call Dina, though. I needed my head in the right space before dealing with Dina, and my head was never in the right space after a long nap.

Ten minutes later, I headed into the kitchen and poured a glass of sweet tea from the fridge. I sat at the breakfast nook, staring out the window at the spectacular canvas the sunset had made of the sky.

“You okay?” James asked, moving to join me.

“Yeah. Getting ready to call Dina,” I told him with a weak smile. I placed the phone on the surface of the breakfast nook and retrieved my sister’s contact information. I switched the call to speakerphone when the ringing began.

“Tina!”

The strident tone of her voice immediately put me on edge. “Yeah? Sorry I missed your call. I was sleeping. I’ve had a bus—”

“Whereareyou?” she demanded, interrupting me. The words came out shaky and on edge, coming so fast they spilled over one another.

“I’m with James,” I said, mentally bracing myself for the confrontation to come and how to handle it. My plan so far was that Dina would have to accept it, or I’d stop talking to her until shewasready.

“Oh, thank goodness. Give me a minute…” Over the phone, I heard her unsteady breathing and then Ned talking to her.

“Dina?”

She didn’t answer, and my unease grew by leaps and bounds.

I picked up my phone.

James slid off the stool, his hand settling on the small of my back.

I could still hear Ned talking, and the soothing words he spoke to my sister weren’t doing shit to make me feel better.“Just breathe, Dina…it’s okay. You want me to talk...okay, okay…”

“Dina, either you tell me what the hell is going on or put Ned on the phone.Now,” I demanded, feeling a little sick inside.

She took a deep breath, and I could hear the watery, uneven rhythm even on the phone line.

“I’ve got it, okay,?” she said.

I had no idea if that was directed at Ned or me, but she kept talking, so I didn’t care.

“Tina, there’s a fire on your street.”

“I... what?” I looked up at James, not sure if I’d heard her right.

“It’s your house,” she said. “One of your neighbors called me when she didn’t get an answer from you on your phone…that woman you’ve helped with her cats when she goes on vacation? Maryse?”

“No, that’s Mavis. Mavis has the cats. Maryse has the big Doberman that likes to escape and terrorize everybody, only he’s a big coward who couldn’t scare a fly,” I said, the words coming out oddly toneless. “A fire? Where?”

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