Page 3 of The Rival Kiss

Of course he’s dragged my cousin into this.

“It’ll take you years.”

“Two. Tops.” He sets his jaw. “We’re motivated.”

I try not to think about why the way he saidmotivatedsends the good kind of shiver down my spine.

I fold my arms and tuck my hands in to warm them. Maybe I’m just chilled. And more importantly, there is still a reality he needs to consider. “You need a job in the meantime.” I nod to the drawing. “If Norman finds out about that, he’ll invent some reason to fire you. It’s not like you’re particularly loved by the bosses.”

Harry concedes my point with a nod. “That’s why I’m keeping it under my hat for now. I’ll make it public when we’re closer to being ready. We’ll need to engage the community, get businesses willing to take on apprentices, gather financial support and a school board. But timing is important.”

“No duh.” I’ve stumbled across this way too easily. “You need to be more careful.”

We stare at one another for a moment, Harry’s expression enigmatic. My brain whirs to process what I’ve just heard. My hackles still raise at the way Harry gets to just thumb his nose at the status quo and do what he wants. That he acts without considering every angle, without respecting the people and the hard work behind the current system, and most of all, without the stomach-turning anxiety at the thought ofwhat if it goes wrong?

It just isn’t fair.

But another part of me can see the world he’s painted, and my pulse increases of its own volition.

As for what Harry is thinking—he holds my gaze, mouth even, no tics or tells in sight. A poker face worthy of Vegas. Is he just processing his shock that I’m worried he’ll get caught?

He breaks my gaze and flicks a glance at the computer on the desk behind me. “Enough about me. Why areyouhere?”

I shrug, my gaze sinking to the cupboards beneath the whiteboard. No way am I telling Harry what that email is about.

But he persists. “What’s so important it couldn’t wait till 6:00 a.m. Monday?”

An exaggeration. I do not clock in at 6:00 a.m. Mondays. More like six thirty. My response comes fast, sharp, and automatic. “None of your business.”

His face lights up, and I inwardly groan. I should’ve made something up. I should’ve confessed to an online shopping addiction, a scandalous affair, a side-hustle as a telemarketer—anything that would hide the truth.

“Anytime you say it’s none of my business, I know it’s good.”

I lunge for the laptop on the desk behind us, scoop it up and hug it to my chest. “And yet you will never know. Good night, Harry.”

I head down the aisle of desks walking as fast as my taco slippers can take me, and he calls out. “Come oooooon. I showed you mine.” I ignore him, navigating the darkened corridor by phone light.

My brief peace only lasts a moment as his long legs catch up with me. “Hey Maisie Daisey.”

I huff and don’t break my stride. Him and those stupid nicknames.

“Hazy Maisie.”

Just ignore him and he’ll go away.

“Oops-a-Maisie.”

Good grief. Any kind of conversation has got to be better than this. I keep my eyes forward so I don’t have to see his gloating expression when I speak. “I found out most of your secret on my own because you are careless about where you nap. Doesn’t mean I have to share mine.”

He ignores the jibe and holds up his phone.

“What if I trade you some juicy gossip? Check out the black eye Justin got yesterday.”

He flicks a picture up on his phone, and I gasp at the vibrant bruising streaked across my cousin’s face. “What happened? Is this some mess you got him into?” The pair of them have been buddies since elementary school back when they both lived in Australia—in fact, it was on a trip to visit Justin after he moved here that Harry’s widowed mom met his American stepdad. But Harry and Justin’s long-term friendship has always puzzled me because they’re complete opposites. Justin—slim, pale, and quiet—always makes me think of a scalpel. Harry, more like a sledgehammer.

Harry zooms in on an especially purple patch of Justin’s eye. “He did this all on his own. Karen’s ex came around drunk again. This happened right before the cops got there.”

“Ouch.” Justin and I aren’t close, but pride for my relative swells just the same. My cousin might complain about how small this town is, but when it comes to taking care of his neighbors, he does a pretty good job.

---