“Nice,” said Wes in admiration.
“It indicated you were being held hostage.”
“There are other options for staying put that don’t include kidnapping,” said Nadine.
“Maybe, but on the off chance this was more than you being an avoidant bitch, I thought I should check it out.” Lisanne looked Nadine square in the face, then glanced at Wes. “No offense.”
“Thanks,” said Nadine, oddly touched.
Lisanne looked meaningfully at the door.
“Right,” said Nadine. “Do you want to come in?” At least this semiawkward meeting was putting off the messier and more awkward conversation to come.
“Don’t mind if I do!” Lisanne walked in and stopped. “Whoa, is that a Nobel? Obviously, I’d prefer a Pulitzer but respect the flex of letting the world’s most prestigious prize hang out in the hall.” Before Nadine could answer, Lisanne turned away from Sir Latimer, her attention caught by Janice. “A cheetah? Is this place for real?”
Showing Lisanne the house and introducing the cats took a goodthirty minutes. When Wes left them in the study, Nadine knew she could no longer put off the inevitable. At the same time, the forced lightness of conversation with Lisanne hit her hard. She didn’t want their friendship to be like that.
Which meant she had to woman up.
Lisanne sat in one of the green leather club chairs in front of the fireplace, an empty decanter on the oak cabinet behind her. Nadine took the other seat.
Luckily, Lisanne was as direct in her personal life as she was in her professional one. “I’m going to leave why you’re living in Dot Voline’s mansion with Wes for a slightly later but important conversation,” she said.
“Okay.” Nadine braced herself. “You’re here because of the way I’ve been acting.”
Lisanne scowled. “It’s obvious it’s something I did, and I’m pretty sure it’s about my new project, but I don’t get why you’re being like this.”
Obviously, it wasn’t on Nadine’s to-do list to admit to a friend that she felt envious and threatened. She could lie and say that wasn’t true and make up a reason, but if she did, that would be the end of her close friendship with Lisanne. The lie would cause a break that would widen over time, until they were mere acquaintances, then nothing.
“I want to be able to talk to you about my work,” continued Lisanne slowly. “I don’t want to censor myself because you might be jealous.”
Oh, she said it. Named that humiliating emotion right to Nadine’s face. Of all the things to accuse a friend of, that was one of the worst. It laid bare Nadine’s hopes and dreams and acknowledged that Lisanne had been the one to achieve them. It confirmed Nadine’s loser status.
“I am jealous,” said Nadine, giving up any pretense to the contrary. If it was this obvious, it would be more embarrassing to deny it.
“Oh my God.” Lisanne was on the edge of her chair. “Do you know how many times I had to listen to Daniel praise your work? Watch youcollect another award? And you’re mad because for once, foronce, I’m finally getting a chance.”
“What?” Nadine stared at her.
Lisanne threw up her hands. “Before you started, Daniel was almost wetting himself with his new star hire. I’d been there a month, and when I started, they didn’t bother to send out an email to my team. They didn’t have a laptop ready.”
“I didn’t know that.”
“Sorry,” muttered Lisanne. “I guess I’d been holding that in for a bit.” She let out a huge breath. “I don’t get it. The story has nothing to do with your beat at all.”
“It wasn’t the story,” Nadine said, looking at the decanter to avoid Lisanne’s gaze. “Things were going so well for you when they were going so badly for me. I had to quit the politics beat. I got demoted fromobits, for God’s sake. Then there was you. Daniel’s new favorite and about to embark on the kind of work I wanted to do.”
“Youcouldhave been involved,” said Lisanne, her voice rising. “I tried to include you.”
“I can’t.” The words came out high and loud. “I can’t. I’ll screw it up again.”
“That’s ridiculous—”
“This is why I don’t want to tell you things,” snapped Nadine. “You don’t get it. It might be ridiculous for you, but it’s important to me, okay? It’s a problem for me. It matters tome.”
They stared at each other across the marble-topped coffee table that squatted between the two chairs. Nadine twitched. This was getting intense. She needed to move around.
“Want to go for a walk?” she asked.
