“Your punishment is also to help me planit.”
“Fair enough.”
“And you have to kiss me again,” I tellhim.
“Don’t push your luck.”
Twenty-One
By the time Friday rolls around, I’m nervous, but I’m ready. True to his word, Connor helped me plan the whole weekend down to the last detail, never once teasing me about the intensity with which I selected every bar and restaurant, or why I believe my sister’s entire future hinges on how much fun is had this weekend.
Tonight I will begin Operation Liberate Shannon. But first, I have to get through the workday.
Things get off to a shaky start. Connor is summoned to Brad’s side first thing, Ben joins him not long after and they’re gone for hours, only increasing my unease. It feels like there’s something going on that they’re not telling me, a feeling that grows when I ask Connor how it went and all he manages to say isyeah, good.
While Ben and Connor are busy with their mysterious backroom dealings, Martin, John, and I wade through the backlog of dashboard support requests, which come at us thick and fast now that we’ve succeeded in getting more people to useit.
It’s amid these stirring activities that an email comes in letting me know I have a visitor waiting downstairs. This is unexpected; Ineverhave visitors.
I consider the possibilities as the elevator glides downstairs and decide that my mystery visitor is most likely to be my old teammate Leon, who emailed last week letting me know he’d found a new job and wondering if his desk cactus had survived. His new office was also based somewhere in FiDi, and I promised we’d meet for lunch one day soon to return the precious cargo back tohim.
I’ve taken less than six steps before I realize how far off the mark I was—I’m just rounding the security gates when I catch a glimpse of my sister sitting on a leather bench by the window, scrolling on her phone, when she wasn’t supposed to arrive in New York for another four hours.
I rush toward her, and she glances up when I approach, popping up and sliding her phone into her pocket. She looks as pristine as always, though not dolled up today like Real Estate Barbie. She’s in jeans (surprising) and a camel-colored trench coat, rolled up to the elbows so she can showcase her many bracelets. Though hers are about four times the price of the bangles Mom wears, the effect is the same. I wonder if I could point this out to her or if it would be considered an act ofwar.
We embrace, and I search her face when I pull back, looking for signs of distress.
“Is everythingOK?”
“Why wouldn’t itbe?”
“I just—what are you doing here?”
“Visiting you for the weekend, remember? You didn’t hit your head or anything, did you?”
Her exaggerated concern draws a small smile from me, but I won’t be deterred. “No, I mean, what are you doinghere,at my office? Your plane hasn’t even taken off yet.”
She opens her mouth to reply, when I see an arm snake around her shoulder. Daniel.
“What ishedoing here?” My voice drips with venom.
“Hello to you too, Annie.”
If I don’t look directly at him, maybe he’ll disappear. I keep my focus firmly on Shannon, hoping she’ll have some reasonable explanation for all this.
“Well,” Shannon begins.
Dan interjects. “We thought we’d make a weekend ofit.”
“Wealready were making a weekend of it,” I reply. “Shannon andme.”
“Dan wanted to come and see the city too,” Shannon says. “He’ll make himself scarce tomorrow when we’re dress shopping. It’s no big deal.”
No big deal toyou!I want to scream. I can’t believe she’s falling for this crap.
“You should have told me,” I say, ready for mutiny. “Sam won’t want more people in the apartment.”
“I know,” she says, contrite. “Don’t worry. We got a hotel.”
