Page 34 of Gold Digger
“Who says you’re not a proper member?”
“I’m the result of an affair. Technically I’m not sure I should even have their last name. Anyway, I need my own career, away from them. I’m very good with numbers, and I know how to make money.”
“I can understand you wanting to branch out from your family, but haven’t you got enough money?” I said wearily.
“Yes, I do,” she agreed. “But I need more. A lot more.”
“Of course you do,” I repeated. “So what does this have to do with me?”
“I want to hire you to help me. Investors are not always logical. They do not choose the companies to use just based on objective facts. There seems to be a subjective element which I can’t grasp. Also…” she looked away for a moment, then back at me, “people don’t like me.”
“Oh.” I felt my annoyance and anger deflate slightly at that bald statement. “Vicky, I’m sure?—”
“It’s okay. I know that I’m different. I state facts, always. But I really can’t understand why you wouldn’t. I can’t lie, or at least I see no point in it. But…” she swallowed before continuing and I could sense sadness and discomfort, “but I hurt people’s feelings sometimes, and I don’t realise I’m doing it. People don’t always want to hear the truth.”
“No, they don’t,” I said more softly now. I could see that hurting people upset Vicky.
“And most of the time, I don’t even know I’ve hurt somebody’s feelings because they don’t tell me. It’s easier with Margot and my half-siblings. They know that they need to spell everything out to me and be really clear. But even then, I can run into trouble. My half-sister sometimes takes things the wrong way. She got married to Blake last year and told me before one of her dress fittings that she wanted me there and she loved me, but she didn’t want any honest opinions about the dress. So I didn’t say anything. After half an hour she begged me for my honest opinion.”
I winced. “Which was?”
“It looks itchy.”
“Ah.”
“It did. There was a lot of lace. I’m afraid that when I look at lace, all I can think about is that it looks really itchy. I couldn’tseeanything else. That’s literally all I could think about when I was looking at her.”
“She was upset,” I concluded, and Vicky’s face clouded.
“It wasn’t just the dress she wanted an honest opinion on. It was Blake too.”
“You don’t like him?”
Vicky shrugged. “I do not feel he is an adequate partner for my half-sister or stepfather for my niece, and I couldn’t come up with any quality I admired about him other than the fact his tie coordinates well with his shirt.”
“Oof,” I said with another wince.
“The thing is, if I can’t even manage with people who know me well, then how can I deal with clients or potential clients?”
I gave her a long look. She was telling the truth, but there was something she was holding back.
“This is not the only reason you want to hire me.”
Vicky looked away from me, and for the first time, she seemed uncomfortable.
“I don’t have any friends,” she said, her voice smaller than before. “And I’ve never had a boyfriend. People think I’m weird.”
“You think I can help you with that?” I said softly.
She shrugged. “I need a people person. My half-brother has tried to help me… but he’s just too overprotective. I need to hire someone. Someone with ‘almost unnatural intuition’.”
“You really did a deep dive on those school reports, didn’t you?”
“I know that you need money for your sister, and I know how much Margot has given you, but it won’t be enough for ongoing care. I will pay you more than enough for your sister’s therapy, to continue your psychology course and for you to move out of this flat.”
I stiffened. “What makes you think I want to move out of this place?”
“It has damp. You sleep on a sofa. The area is not safe.”
