Page 99 of The Cinderella Secret
“Oh!” The secretary instantly relaxed into her chair. “Well, don’t worry about that. He’s great. Really nice. You’ll like him.”
“Oh,” said Ella trying to squarereally nicewith someone who explained things to Yang with emphasis.
“Actually, it turns out they’re all nice. I thought the red-headed one was possibly a demon in an Italian suit, but he’s actually kind of a sweetie too.”
“Oh,” said Ella, trying to square that with the man whom Eizo Matsuda described as an ice-cold bastard. “I’m sorry,” she said to the secretary, “I feel like I should know your name, Aiden probably said it, but I don’t remember.”
“I’m Jenna.”
“I’m Ella.”
“Yes,” Jenna said with a smile that said she was trying not to laugh, “I know.”
“I feel like his family is going to freak out that I’m here.”
“I don’t know,” said Jenna. “I kind of get the feeling that they don’t freak out a lot.”
“Huh. Wonder what that’s like?”
Jenna did laugh. “I wouldn’t know. My mom is currently freaking out that my sister is dating a Jewish guy. Like, hello, it’s New York. But Mom skipped straight tohow will they raise the children! Even though my sister’s only been on like three dates with this guy. Then my brother is freaking out because his kid got called to the principal’s office for the second time and we’re all freaking out because my dad started seriously dating someone for the first time since the divorce—which was a decade ago, by the way.”
Ella laughed. “I have three cousins—all girls. My uncle kind of loses his shit any time he finds out any of us are dating.”
“Yeah, it’s a dude thing. It’s like they think about their daughter having sex and they freak out and start talking about shotguns and how we can’t trust boys. Which, and you may never repeat this with my father in the room, kind of tells me more about how he thinks than about what other men think.”
“What do you mean?”
“Well, I think he thinks women are things to have sex with, but daughters and wives are actual people. But the idea that some other guy is trying to treat us like he’s been treating women freaks him out.”
“Oooh,” said Ella. “You can’t tell him that—he’d have to believe he wasn’t the good guy. You’re right. I don’t think we can repeat that in public.”
“It does make the menfolk and their fragile egos uncomfortable,” said Jenna, just as the door opened.
Ella saw Jackson pause on the threshold with a wary expression. She had his picture posted on her case board, so she was familiar with his appearance. But the photo, which had been a rather expressionless family portrait after his formal name change, didn’t capture his intense energy. “I can go back out and wait five minutes,” he offered, and Jenna chuckled.
“No, we’re probably done discussing feminist theory for a bit,” said Jenna.
“Well, whatever the conclusion was, I, and my fragile ego, fully support it,” said Jackson. The twinkle in his eye made Ella think of Aiden.
“Good choice,” said Jenna with a grin. “Jackson, this is Ella Zhao.”
“Nice to meet you,” said Ella, taking a step forward and holding out her hand.
“Nice to meet you too,” said Jackson, shaking her hand. He managed the nice feat of giving a firm handshake that neither crushed in competition or dead-fished in condescension for her delicate femaleness. She could feel him assessing her and wondered what conclusions he came to.
“Jenna,” he said turning back to the secretary, “do you have any gum? I had to smoke at the last place and if Aiden smells it on me, he’s going to flip a bagel.”
Ella tried to assess what that meant. She understood the general implication of bagel flipping, but not necessarily as it applied to Aiden. Was Jackson really worried about what Aiden would think? That seemed out of character for someone whose entire persona seemed based on not giving a shit about what anyone thought.
Jenna pulled open a compartment on her desktop organizer. “I have mint, tooth whitening, and Hubba-Bubba.”
“You do not!”
“Oh, yes, my friend,” she said, pulling out the pink package. “I do.”
Jackson grinned in delight and took the pack of gum, then he caught Ella’s eye, and a faint blush crept up his cheeks. “I mean, maybe mint would be good.”
“The Hubba-Bubba is for Aiden, isn’t it?” asked Ella.
