Page 88 of Fractured (Not Quite a Billionaire)
“Of course, it was only for a few weeks,” he’d had to add. “But I won’t dwell on that part.”
Which was all great. Well, notgreat,but not as horrible as the rest of it. Not as horrible as what had happened with Hemi.
Now that I was home, though…or, rather, at Hemi’s…
On the elevator to the penthouse, I lowered my forehead onto the cool wall, shifted the shoes I was carrying to the arm carrying my laptop bag, and touched the pendant at my throat.
When you need to remember that you have a power and a light inside you that nothing and nobody can ever put out. Those times when you most need to know that, when it’s hard to believe—you could wear this, and touch it, and remember.
I wasn’t my mother. I had the strength to endure, and that had come from her. But I had the strength to choose, too. Even when the choice was hard. Even when it felt impossible.
As soon as I entered the foyer, I heard voices from the kitchen. Inez, the Spanish-accented syllables sharp, a little loud, and a higher voice that was Karen. I set my bag and shoes down and headed in there, grateful for the cool marble against my hot, aching toes.
After this, I promised myself, a cool shower. And a change.
“It is too short,” Inez was saying as I walked into the kitchen. “You cannot wear that, not on the streets. You look like aputa.Like a streetwalker.”
“No, I don’t,” Karen said. “It’s a normalskirt.And that’s slut shaming.”
“I will shame you, yes,” Inez said. “Your sister would shame you for this.”
Karen huffed out a breath. “That’s not thepoint,”she began, then caught sight of me. And, yes, her skirtwasshort. Not to mention the white tank top that was more like an undershirt, and the deep purple ribbons of bra straps, if anybody had somehow missed the bra itself, showing under the thin white fabric.
“Hey,” she said, sounding surprised, and maybe a little alarmed, too. “Aren’t you supposed to be at work?”
“I quit. And I need to talk to you. Hello, Inez,” I added. “Sorry to interrupt.”
She studied me, then asked, “You want a cold drink?”
“Oh, man,” I said with a sigh. “I’d kill for a cold drink. Thank you. I can get it, though.”
“No. I will make you lemonade,” she pronounced. “With ice. It will be good for you.”
The closest thing to the lemon ice I still remembered from Saturday, and I wanted it. Pretty desperately, in fact. “Thanks,” I said, and she looked at me some more, then inclined her head toward Karen, and I nodded.
“Living room,” I told Karen. “I’d say terrace, but too hot.” Besides, the glass walls still freaked me out, if I were forced to be honest.
Instead, I sat on the blessedly cool leather of the couch, wishing I could take that shower first, but what if she left while I was in there? “We’re moving to the apartment,” I told her.
I got a blank stare for that.“Huh?”
“Not forever,” I said. “At least I hope not. But I need to go for…for now. I need to think. I need some space.”
I hadn’t been sure until the doorman had been holding the huge brass-edged door for me. The cage was gilded, but if I couldn’t leave it, it was still a cage.
“Butwhy?”Karen said. “Hemi’s awesome. Sure, he’s bossy and everything, but so are you. And he’s goteverything.I mean, not just money. Koro, and New Zealand, and everything? Plus, he really loves you.”
“I know,” I said. “I love him, too. That’s the problem. Not that we love each other, but that he’s got everything, and he thinks he knows everything, too. I just…” I passed my fingertips over my still-damp forehead and tried to focus. “I need some thinking time. I quit my job, and I think it’s going to take me a while to get another one. I just need to…to regroup, and to start over with him.”
“You brokeup?”
“No. It’s just a break. Not a breakup.” Surely not.
“Then why do I have to come?” she asked.“Idon’t need a break. I’m doing the cooking thing with Inez, and Charles says he’ll teach me to drive, and I’m going to the Y, and…everything.And our apartment barely hasairconditioning, and it’ll be so horrible, after here.Everythingwill be so horrible.”
Why did she have tocome?Leaving her behind had never occurred to me.
“Oh,” she said, reading my expression. “Maybe Hemi will kick me out, you mean?”
