Page 61 of Tangled
Jessica sat back and tapped a pen on her notebook. “Sabina and Ava will give me access to everything, and I need the rest of today to go through it all. After that, I may have some additional questions for you.” Scarlett nodded, and Jessica continued. “I also want to head down to LA to see if I can find Gracie’s sister. I know you said you could look for someone,” she said, turning to Sabina, “but if she’s living on the street and has mental health issues, that’s something I have experience with, and she may be more willing to talk to me.”
Sabina hesitated, then nodded. “We’ll keep someone on standby, though, in case you need backup.”
Jessica nodded. “Once I have a picture of all the people in play, I’m going to dig into them. I know you’ve been doing a fair bit of that already, Ava, and I may want to call on your particular hacking expertise,” she added with a grin. “But I have contacts that are outside the system that I’ll tap into first so you can be more targeted when needed.”
Ava nodded. “Call any time, night or day.”
“And me?” Scarlett asked.
“Like I said, I will probably have questions for you after I go through the electronic files, but for now? Rest and grow that baby,” Jessica said.
“Pregnant women work all the time. I’m not completely useless,” she countered, feeling inexplicably annoyed. Especially since she’d just been telling them how grateful she was for their help.
“They do,” Jessica agreed, ignoring her tone. “And you will, too, once we know your life isn’t in danger. But for now, you are useless to me. You’re a nurse, Scarlett. And a damn good one based on the information I dug up on you. This, though”—she waved at the papers on the table—“is my world, and I have my process. I don’t need or want any of you hovering over my shoulder right now. I will come to you when I need you. For now, I need to do my thing. And since youarestill sick and youdostill have people who want you dead, my opinion is that tending to yourself—and that baby—is a good use of your time.”
Scarlett sighed, then reached for the tissue again and dabbed her eyes. “Sorry,” she said. “I think this,” she said, gesturing to the papers as well as the apartment, “is so foreign to me. I’ve never in my life been a kept woman. Add to that how sick I’ve been and everything with Gracie, and my emotions are ping-ponging all over the place. Which is also something that has never happened to me. Believe it or not, I’m usually a rock.”
“I have no problem believing that,” Jessica said with such ease that Scarlett believed her. “But if there’s one thing I’ve learned in life, it’s that we can’talwaysbe the rock. No one can. And there’s no shame in that.”
“I second that,” Ava said, and Sabina nodded. “You know, Mitch used to annoy the hell out of me just to push me to benot okay. I know that sounds weird, but like you, I’m a rock. I like having a boss who can rely on me.” She nodded to Sabina. “I thrive on being the person people feel they can talk to about anything. I want people to count on me. But he pushed me to see that I can’t, and shouldn’t, be that all the time. It’s made me a better person. A better friend to myself and certainly a better partner to him. It also made me realize how much strength there is in both giving and receiving support—it’s not fair to always be the giver and not allow your friends to give in return.”
Scarlett smiled. “Kind of like that old adage of you should always visit your new neighbor and ask to borrow a cup of sugar so they know that they can do the same?”
Ave’s lips twitched. “Yeah, a little like that. Relationships are stronger, we’re stronger, when we trust others with our happiness as well as our struggles.”
Scarlett weighed the words and knew they held more than a thread of truth. Then Sabina snorted and shook her head, drawing everyone’s attention.
“What?” Ava said.
Sabina’s lips twitched as she fought a smile. “Sorry, I still sometimes have a hard time thinking of Mitch as that insightful. I mean Iknowhe is. I’ve seen you two together in more ways than I want to admit, and you definitely complement each other. It’s just sometimes hard to believe. No offense, but he’s grumpy as hell and although, like all the Warwicks, he’s a rock-solid human being, he’s not someone I see relaxing on a Friday night with pizza and a movie.”
Scarlett’s gaze darted to Ava. She didn’t think she’d like anyone saying those things about Brad. And they’d definitely get her back up. But all Ava did was smile and shrug.
“He is grumpy. But he’s my grumpy asshole. And for your information, Friday night movies are kind of our thing. Eleanor likes them, too.”
Again, Sabina snorted. “And how often do you make it through those movies before other things start to take priority? I really don’t think it’s the movies he likes.”
Ava gasped, but it was so over-the-top, no one could mistake it as anything other than mock shock. Especially not when she followed it with something between a chuckle and a giggle. “I think the longest we’ve ever sat through a movie withoutother thingstaking priority is forty-five minutes, so you may have a point. Still, they keep Eleanor occupied, so I’m not going to complain.”
“As lovely as all this conversation is—especially for someone not having regular sex,” Jessica said with a pointed look at Sabina, “can one of you show me to the cabin now and I can get started?”
“We have some very hot operatives I could introduce you to,” Ava offered with a grin as she pushed back from the table.
“She is Tucker’s type,” Sabina said, also rising as she gathered the papers.
“I’m not sure I want to be anyone’s type,” Jessica replied. “Nor do I need to be distracted.”
“Tucker woulddefinitelybe a distraction,” Ava said, pulling on her jacket before handing Sabina hers.
“If he’s in town when we wrap this up, you should stick around for a few days. He really would be distracting. In the best sort of way,” Sabina said as she tugged on her hat.
“Are you supposed to be talking about your employees that way?” Ava teased.
Sabina laughed. “Tucker would have my butt if I didn’t. Seriously, look at her,” she said, waving to Jessica.
“Look at me what?” Jessica asked, her voice making it clear she wasn’t sure she wanted to know the answer.
“You’re gorgeous, smart, fight for the underdog, a few years older than he is, and built like a goddess. I know that’s a weird string of things to put together. But you are, literally—”
