Page 48 of Fractured (Not Quite a Billionaire)
“Karen,” Hemi said, “This is Josh Logan. And Josh, this is Karen Sinclair, my stroppy soon-to-be sister-in-law, who’s going to be emailing you and asking you to arrange for swim lessons and a Y membership any moment now.”
Karen waved her knife at Josh. “Hi. I don’t need anybody to arrange it. I just need somebody to pay for it.”
“Well,” Josh said, “that would be part of the arranging.” He was looking as smooth as ever even in a Sunday-casual golf shirt and slacks, his hair cut as ruthlessly short as Hemi’s. He’d gone to the Te Mana College of Unruffled Manliness, it was clear. He handed Karen a business card and said, “Just let me know when you’re ready,” then turned to me and said, “Whatever either of you need, Hope, please don’t hesitate to ask.” He glanced at my ring, which was a hard thing to miss. “And please let me wish you the best.”
“Thank you,” I said, horribly aware that I was wearing one extremely thin silk robe, Hemi’s gigantic diamond, and absolutely nothing else. I wasn’t going to be standing up, that was for sure. “But I know you’re already busy enough.”
“Not at all,” he said. “Just a question of delegating.”
“Set up accounts for them as well, please,” Hemi told Josh. “Store cards. Bergdorf’s, Saks. Macy’s, Neiman-Marcus. Hope will tell you.”
Hope would? I’d never even beenintoSaks. “You did a great job on the flowers out here,” I said to Josh. I didn’t mention the soundproofing in Hemi’s bedroom, and I hoped desperately that Josh wasn’t thinking about it. Or the soundproofing in Hemi’s office. I knew I was blushing, and I hated it.
“Thanks for this,” Hemi said, raising the envelope a fraction.
Josh seemed to take that as a signal, because he said, “Nice to meet you,” to Karen, and then slipped away as if he’d never been there. He had some special melting-away technique, like he’d mastered the art of invisibility.
“Wow,” Karen said. “Did he go to, like, butler school or something?”
I laughed, glad for the return to normalcy. “I was just thinking that.”
Karen said, “And seriously, store cards? Also, don’t normal people say ‘Congratulations?’ to somebody when they get engaged?”
“Not to the bride,” Hemi said. “To the groom. He’s the one who won the prize, that’s the idea.”
“Huh,” Karen said. “Stupid.” She stood up. “Well, I’m off to Brooklyn. See you guys later.”
“What?” Hemi and I said together.
“I told Mandy I’d come visit her now we’re back,” Karen said. “I want to tell her about New Zealand and everything. Plus I need to ask Mrs. Kim for a reference.”
Hemi had gone still again. “For what? And how were you planning on getting to Brooklyn?”
“For a job, and on the subway, of course.” Karen was making a business of stacking up our plates. “I’ve got all summer left, and you guys are working. When I took a walk yesterday, I saw a few Help Wanted signs, and I thought, well, I’m sixteen, right? Mrs. Kim runs the corner store near our old apartment,” she told Hemi. “And maybe you could give me a reference too. I should have two. I mean, not that you could say much, just that I don’t lie or steal, but whatever. Maybe that’s enough.”
“You don’t need to get a job,” Hemi said. “Or if you do, I can help you get an internship.”
Karen plopped down in her chair again with resignation. “Nope. I want a real job. A regular job. And I want it on the weekend.”
“But why?” I asked. “That’s when we hang out.”
“Uh…Hope,” she said. “It’s when you andHemihang out. Like, say, today?”
“But…” I began to say.
“Plus, I need my own money. And before Hemi says I don’t, and beforeyouask if I sure I’m well enough—yes, I do, and yes, I am. And besides, Koro says I can come live with him for the summer,” she finished in a rush, probably seeing the same tension in Hemi that I did.
“What?”Hemi asked.
Karen was sitting up straight, none of her usual easy-breezy manner evident. “He said if it got hard to be with you guys, or if you wanted to be alone, he’d buy me a ticket, and I could come spend the summer—wait, I mean the winter—with him. And that he’d teach me to fish, and cook, and use tools, and everything. Which would be pretty awesome.”
“He said that, did he.” Hemi sounded grim, and he looked that way, too.
“Yes,” Karen said. “He did.” She was staring at Hemi, and it was a faceoff. If ever a woman had two immovable forces in her life, I was that woman.
“OK,” I said. “Time out.” Hemi was about to say something, but I put a hand on his arm to stop him. “First—sure, you can get a job. I had a job when I was sixteen, so why shouldn’t you? And second, of course you can go visit Mandy, but you have to ask me, not tell me, and I have to call her mom. I’m still your guardian, and you’re still sixteen. And third, I get that it feels awkward, and that we’re all still figuring this out, but I love you, and I want you, and if you went to New Zealand, I’d miss you like crazy.”
Karen looked down at the table for a minute, and then looked up and straight at Hemi. “So I’m going,” she said. “To Brooklyn, I mean. Not to New Zealand. Not now.”
