“Nope.”
Another petal hit the ground. “So, whatever happened between you and…”
“Don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“I haven’t even finished.”
“I know who you mean.”
“You said that you didn’t know what I was talking about.”
Caught, Natasha crumpled a third petal in her hand. “Whatever. That’s behind me now.”
Thought so. “You can’t leave it at that. Last I heard, you and she were tearing it up in San Francisco. And Hong Kong.”
“You’ve been all over the world. Hong Kong isn’t that special.”
“Would you come off it? You came here for a reason. If it wasn’t to rant about her, then what was it?”
Natasha sighed. “There is so much drama at the office right now!”
Jamie sat back. “How’s that? Etta hasn’t said anything about drama.”
“Because Etta spends her days doing important business while I run the front lines. Of course there’s always drama, but… it’s so bad recently. Pretty much ever since Ms. Thompson joined the office.”
“Oh?” That piqued Jamie’s interest like nothing else. “Etta said something about tearing her a new asshole because she missed a meeting. Was it because of her assistant?”
“That guy was an ass and nobody was sorry when she fired him. I mean broke up with him. I mean, whatever.” Natasha crossed her arms and legs at the same time. “But yeah, that’s the tip of the iceberg. She comes in latea lot, but she never missed a meeting again. I think one time she came in drunk, but don’t quote me on that.”
“What’s her deal?” The woman had bought Jamie a wedding dress, but she never quite got a full read on her.
“Amanda says she’s going through a lot.”
“Why the hell would Amanda know that?” That reminded Jamie of something. “Hey, I thought you guys were buddies.” They arrived at her bachelorette party at the same time and everything. “Now you’re saying you hate her. Either it’s high school level of hate, or she did something to really piss her off.”
“Well, Amanda sees her a lot because she takes notes at meetings and sometimes overhears things between her and Ms. Coleman. Personal things.”
If Natasha were to bombshell about their affair behind Jamie’s back, she would have had a different expression. Jamie chose to breathe easy. For now. “Go on,” she said.
Natasha stared at the petals she had strewn on the brick walkway. “It doesn’t matter. It was a fling.”
“With Amanda?” Hold up now!
Natasha blanched. “No! I really shouldn’t say it.”
“You wouldn’t have come out all this way when you don’t even have a car unless you wanted to say it.” Buses didn’t go farther than a mile up that way, either.
“Fine. Eve wasn’t really interested in me unless I was playing ‘hard to get.’ I was a notch on her bedpost.”
Jamie frowned.Who was that with her when they put me in the cab the other night?Jamie had wondered that ever since, and her nosy side cursed her for being too drunk to see well. “Did she tell you this? Or dump you?”
“No. Not technically.” Natasha’s sighs couldn’t possibly get more dramatic than they already were. “I sort of broke it off with herafter we got back from Hong Kong. Went back to giving her the cold shoulder and blocking her number. I mean… that wasn’t very mature of me, but she’s not someone I want to confront. She’s used to getting her way, you know?”
“I highly doubt she would hurt you.”
“I didn’t say that! You know how I am with confrontation.”
“Yeah, Captain Passive Aggressive. How’s that working out for you?”
