“It’s fine. Seriously, get home to hubby. I’ll call if I need anything else.”
She leans across to hug me as the plane drops lower for landing. “I’ll come right away. You know it.”
“For sure. But anything I need can be done over the phone. It’s probably best if you pretend you don’t know me for a little while. I’d hate for any of this to rub off on you or Little Key and your books.”
She thunks me on the head. Lightly.
“Very funny. You know I’ll go to bat for you every chance I get. This isn’t your fault, Lena Joly. None of it. Brady knew about this whole thing with Harry.”
“Yeah, but it doesn’t matter now—”
“You didn’tknowhe still had that crap.”
The way she sayscrapmakes me squirm.
The thought that even after all these years, Harry had it stored somewhere, and why? Was he waiting for a day when he could burn me to ashes if we ever crossed paths again?
“He’s fucking disgusting,” I spit.
“We hate him! And I’ll never be ashamed to be your friend. The only one who should feel any shame at all is that pig. How can people be sostupid?”
“No one knows he leaked them deliberately,” I say dully. “Only we know. And Brady, too, maybe.”
“Lena, for the last time—it’snot your fault. It doesn’t matter what other people say.” She eyes me sternly. “Have you been looking at shitty comments online again?”
“Hard not to when you have huge crowds of people yakking about your life.”
“I know,” she says gently. “The peanut gallery sucks, and being caught in it over something like this? Horrible. But he’snotgoing to get away with this, girl. Over my dead body.”
She looks fierce enough to make me believe it.
“I’d rather it was over his,” I say.
“That’s the spirit. How should we torture him first?”
Laughing bitterly, we hit the runway with a bump. I square my shoulders, drawing a deep breath.
Home, sweet home.
Truthfully, I don’t know how I’m going to survive this, but I will.
Elle watches me with sympathy, and she knows better than to break into a big teary-eyed pep talk.
“You’re going to get through this, boss lady. Spine of steel,” she whispers as she hugs me again. “Are you sure you don’t want that list of lawyers from Gruffykins? He’ll put you in touch ASAP. Give your name, and they’ll make room for you.”
Ugh, don’t remind me.
This is my first foray into the legal swamp, and it’s plunging into the deep end. But I nod like it’s not overwhelming to save face.
“I’ll figure something out, Elle. Love you,” I say as the plane rolls to a stop.
“You’re sure you don’t want to ride with me?”
“I’d better get home,” I tell her. “It’s just a short walk and an Uber ride. I’ll call you later.”
“Well, okay. Don’t do anything illegal, babe.”
With a rough laugh, I stand and shoulder my bag. We head for the exit, where a lady in uniform smiles at me. The flight attendants are almost invisible on these private flights unless you need them.
