Page 6 of Tattle Tail
An uncomfortable silence fell between them.
The comm unit vibrated with another message. Peaceable grabbed the device and tapped out a message furiously. She did not want to think of Joseph out on his hot date or the feelings of jealousy roiling in her gut. He had hot dates, and she had this, whatever this was.
“Wear the sweater with the flashing stars,”she wrote.
“That’s terrible advice.”
“Then you will be sure that the female is attracted to you and not your ability to have others pick your clothes.”Her lips twitched because it was a good insult, not because she enjoyed herself.
Gross. Imagine.
Lord Resolve cleared his throat.
“Apologies,” she said, still holding the comm unit. “I am on a lunch break, but I am expected to be available.” Technically true, but a demanding employer was not the current source of her vexation.
“Your mother tells me you have an important position at CayneTech.”
“I am Winter Cayne’s assistant.” That position originally meant assisting in product development, but in the last two years had morphed into administration.
“Only an assistant.” He smiled as though the information pleased him.
“I work directly with the owner of the company and have several employees under my supervision,” she clarified. “My original position was in quality control, running checks on tech specifications.”
“And Winter Cayne promoted you.”
His tone bothered her, detecting a subtle insult in his words. Unfortunately, she had encountered this before from males who doubted her qualifications. They subtly—and not so subtly—implied that any success in her career was based on her physical attractiveness and not skill. Worse, they often felt the need to explain simple facts about her field to her.
Malesplaining. How tiresome.
Ears back, she said, “I earned my promotion.”
Another incoming message stole her attention.
“You have a good eye for color and style. I value your opinion. Please, blue or green?”Joseph wrote.
“Green. It complements your eyes,”she wrote, then deleted. He did not need to know that she had contemplated his eye color, because she had not. She could barely describe his hazel eyes.
Eventually, she wrote,“Green.”
Peaceable gave a weak smile to Lord Resolve and set the device down again, determined to ignore it. He gave a strained smile in return.
This is going great. Mother will be so pleased.She could only imagine the tongue-lashing her mother would give her when she found out that she ignored Lord Resolve to respond to an annoying male’s bothersome messages.
She studied the menu to hide her irritation. This was typical of her mother, always playing matchmaker and springing suitors on an unsuspecting Peaceable. And Lord Resolve, of all people.
What did her mother think would happen? That Peaceable would overcome a lifetime of shyness and awkwardness to charm a male into loving her?
Her fingers worried at the edges of the menu.
No, Tolerance expected that Peaceable having known Lord Resolve since she was a kit would put her at ease. It was thoughtful and unsettling all at once. In Peaceable’s mind, Lord Resolve was an uncle. One she had not seen in a decade, but still an uncle.
She set the menu down and said, “I know what she is doing, and I do not like it.”
His ears twitched forward. “And what is that?”
“Matchmaking. I am not interested. Forgive my rudeness.”
Peaceable folded her arms over her chest. A sneeze would have been a more dramatic way to make her lack of interest clear, but such an insult would be too harsh. Despite not having seen him since she was a kit, she remembered him fondly. He had helped her parents when they fled Talmar and sponsored them for citizenship on Corra. He was practically family.
