Page 28 of Push & Pull
“Because you’re a rich person who is close with Hailey Lambert. She’s only friends with people like her. Or, old neighbors like me from back in the day. I highly doubt you’re the latter. I would have remembered you.”
Simone happened to catch a mischievous look coming from the bed. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Oh, nothing bad. Only that I was a horny high schooler. Didn’t always score, but I definitely would have tried with a hottie like you.” A self-satisfied giggle tickled Simone’s ear. “I highly doubt you would have gone for a girl like me, though.”
The part of Simone who wanted to roll her eyes was at odds with the side that remembered how hard Petra hit it the night before.A part of me is still recovering.That was the one stuck on the memory train. The one rolling her eyes couldn’t stand the change in subject.
“How was your meeting?” Simone asked.
“Changing the subject?”
“Making polite conversation in the wake of all that’s happened this week.”
Petra rolled back onto her stomach, chin propped up on her hands. “It was fine. I got the final details about my job up in New York later this week. Everything’s as I expected.”
“So… what do you do again?”
“I work for my uncle. Guess you could call me a case manager. I’m meeting one of his clients and securing payment for work completed.”
That certainly sounded fancy, but something about the non-words Petra said tipped off Simone’s bullshit radar.At the end of the day, it’s none of my business.Besides, what Petra said about rich people caring too much about what other people did continued to ring in her ear. Simone had her moments of being a hopeless heiress disconnected from most of American reality, but shetried,damnit.
“Do you work for a salary, or by the hour?”
“Why? Do you have advice for me, Ms. Evans?”
“Only if you think your uncle is ripping you off. Life’s expensive.”
“My uncle and I have an agreement about what I’m owed to get by. Besides, I may have a studio apartment back in Chicago, but I’m happier out on the road. I like traveling around. In fact, if I decided to strike out on my own, I might become a digital nomad.” A scoff tempered those hopeful words. “I was actually about to head to Southeast Asia to do that when the pandemic hit. All of my plans were stalled. Now? I need money. I’m sucked back into my uncle’s vortex.”
“There are jobs that will let you travel.”
“Sure, but where I come from the family business is everything.”
“That’s as true in Greece as it is in Italy, huh? Oh, andyou’renot from Greece.”
“Did I say I was from Greece? No. My family is from Greece. My grandparents, actually. Not that I ever met them. I’m the first kid down the line to grow up out of the culture, though. My mom and uncle can both speak some Greek and Italian. I think they speak more Italian than Greek, actually.”
“What about you?”
“I took some Spanish in high school. That’s Mediterranean, right?”
“Close enough.” Simone checked for a response from Hailey in her email, but there was nothing. Eventually, she would have to write back to her stepmother. Not tonight, though. The adrenaline was still too high in Simone’s system.
“Te quiero…” Petra drolly said, kicking her feet behind her. Every time they came back down, they slammed into the bed with apft.“Do you know how to say that in Greek? It’s one of the only things I know.”
“No.”
“S’agapo.That’s a contraction, you know. It’s actuallyse agapo,but nobody says it like that, according to one of the women my uncle used to date.”
“Are you close with your uncle?”
“Yeah, right! Are you close with your stepmom?”
“Point taken.”
Petra hopped off the bed and approached the table. “I’m going to take a shower. Do you want to join me?”
Simone swore she hadn’t really understood that until she looked up into Petra’s expectant face. “Excuse me?”
