Page 18 of Fractured (Not Quite a Billionaire)
“Uh…getwhatdone?” I asked.
“Shoes, of course,” she said as if I were dim. “Now that I know what will work with the dress. Underthings. Stockings. All that.”
“But…” I said, “surely you don’t, um, make all that. Or sell it, or whatever.”
She looked at me in surprise. “Didn’t Hemi tell you?”
“Tell me what?”
“That I’m your personal shopper today. And we’d better get our skates on, like I said. Things to do. Chop-chop.”
“But you can’t…you must be busy,” I protested.
“Too right I am. I wouldn’t do it for anyone else, either. Got to help him get it right this time around, though, if I can. We want the second time to be the charm, so let’s go make the magic happen.”
Hope
My first impulse was to let it go.
Well, no, that wouldn’t be quite true. Myfirstimpulse was to put my hands over my ears and sing. My second impulse was to run away. I didn’t give in to either.
Karen hadn’t noticed anything, was just putting her clothes back on and looking happy. Iwantedher to be happy. I wantedmeto be happy.
That would be why I didn’t say anything all through lunch. I told myself that I didn’t want to talk in front of Karen.
That wasn’t the real reason, of course. Oh, well.
When Violet was flipping her way through the racks in a lingerie store on a narrow street lined with boutiques, though, I knew I couldn’t wait any longer. Karen was safely ensconced in a cafe, because: “No offense, Hope, but I don’t really want to look at your sexy underwear anymore. Awkward.”
No excuses. I summoned my courage and asked Violet, “What did you mean, ‘This time?’ About Hemi? What second time?”
Violet looked up from where she was studying a particularly fetching garter belt, then rejected it and moved on to another one that looked the same, only even more fragile. She’d already picked out the sheerest white stockings I’d ever seen. If all of this didn’t rip when I put it on, it was surely going to rip when Hemi took it off.
Do not go there. Be strong. Face facts.
“Oh, bugger,” Violet said, fingering a tiny scrap of lace that I knew would carry a price tag to make my head spin. “I don’t go in for the marriage bit, despite doing the dresses and all. I forgot the rules. No referring to the ex.”
“What ex?” I asked through a mouth that had insisted on going dry even as I thought,You know how many women he had before you.Nothing new here. Move on.
“Whoops,” Violet said. “Ihaveput my foot in it, haven’t I? Never mind, darling. All done and dusted. His first marriage, that’s all. Anika. Now,thatwas a stormy one. No wonder he’s gone for somebody so…” She broke off and laughed. “Better quit while I’m behind, I guess. Come on. I’ve found the right ones at last. Let’s try them on, though I already know I’ve hit it, and then we’ll do shoes. Except…nightie, maybe. Hmm. Yeh. We’d better do that. Long, of course. Lace, or dots, maybe, I’m thinking. White, naturally. Maybe some stretch. Totally ladylike, but not one bit ladylike, because transparent. No undies. Yeh. We’ll let Hemi despoil his gorgeous little bride. He’ll love it. Let’s go look.Somebodyelse will have had ideas as good as mine. And if we buy it today, I’ll have time to get it shortened for you.”
I stood my ground. “When would that have been? His first marriage?” I knew why I’d been so nervous this morning, why everything had felt so off. Why Hemi had been so strange.
At least, I thought I did.
Her eyes narrowed the tiniest bit, and she studied me for a moment, then said slowly, “It was yonks ago, honestly. Water under the bridge. When we were at design school, here in Auckland. Until she wanted the baby, I guess.”
Hemi
I was in a quick goodwill-cementing meeting with the lead buyer for Smith & Caughey’s when my phone buzzed.
Normally, I’d have turned it off. Today, I hadn’t. Instead, I’d left it sitting on the conference table. Now, I glanced at the screen. It wasn’t my attorney. It was Hope. I hesitated a second, then said, “Excuse me a moment,” and walked out of the room.
I never did that. Interruptions were rude, and they were unprofessional. But I did it today.
“Sweetheart,” I said the moment I was outside. “How’re you going? Finished already?”
“I need you to come pick me up.”
