Page 9

“Yes, yes. Have a good day, lovely,” Lizzie said, taking the phone back.

Silence followed before Lizzie added in a hushed tone.

“As long as she’s better than Victoria—that bitch.”

Charlotte cringed, remembering all three wasted years spent trying to make Victoria happy. Instead, Charlotte came out of it feeling incapable of satisfying anyone for more than six months. Her long history of flings before Victoria offered further evidence of this.

“Ali is genuine,” Charlotte offered up.

“Good. I love my fiancée. You know I do. But she has no idea how terrible the two-faced cunt can be.”

Lizzie grumbled, long ago having accepted that her fiancée’s view of Victoria was skewed. A fact Charlotte liked Sasha enough to grin and bear.

“So, tell me about Ali.”

Charlotte sighed, forever unable to lie to Lizzie.

“There isn’t much to tell really. She thanked me for getting an acquaintance an interview. Said she owed me a favor. So, I asked her and now here we are.”

Her explanation was met with silence for a long moment as Lizzie unraveled any hidden meanings.

“Let me get this straight,” Charlotte could hear their mother in Lizzie’s tone. “This woman who you’re attracted to and whose personality you enjoy and doesn’t bore you after thirty seconds… who you have described as sunshine personified has no idea you’re into her?”

“Weeeell,” Charlotte grimaced, pressing the brake pedal and slowing the car to a stop.

“You’re a chicken!”

“You wanted me to ask someone. I asked her.”

Lizzie groaned. “Does she at least know you find her attractive?”

Charlotte’s silence was damning.

“Twinnie, why?”

She sighed, flipping on her blinker, waiting for the arrow.

“I don’t know much of anything about her. I thought maybe this would give us a chance to get to know each other, no pressure, no strings. If it goes somewhere, great. If not, that’s okay.”

It made sense in her mind.

She remained open to there being more, be it casual or serious or just friendship. The Victoria who Charlotte first met and fell in love with wasn’t real. Never again would she allow someone into her world, into her heart, without knowing she and the people she loved were safe. And with her company’s upcoming acquisition, no time existed for games or to be distracted by silly things like relationships and feelings.

“I understand,” Lizzie’s tone conveyed the honesty in those words. “I hope she’s actually sunshine. You could use a little of that in your life.”

“You think?”

“Victoria was like a black hole. I think you deserve someone who brightens your day… not someone that sucks everything good out of it until there’s nothing left.”

A horn honked behind her. She blinked, noting the green arrow she hit the gas.

“How’s the wedding planning going?”

Lizzie huffed at the obvious change of subject. But Lizzie understood there was only so long Charlotte could discuss her love life… or lack thereof.

Lizzie proceeded to vent about all the things gone wrong since they last spoke. Apparently, the original caterers for the engagement party canceled last-minute, sending her into a spiral to find a replacement before breaking the news to Sasha. The Pryce family was old money with an image to uphold. Lizzie was good at helping Sasha realize the unimportance of worrying if some old bat you never spoke to outside of fancy galas thought the hors d’oeuvres were dry.

Lizzie’s yawn stretched long as Charlotte pulled into the parking garage and they said their goodbyes. She knew her sister well enough to know she’d sleep for another three hours at least. Putting the car in park she took a moment to switch mental gears. The coffee’s strong taste hit her tongue, the familiar flavor grounded her in a way so few things could. And she couldn’t help but stare at the ten digits scribbled across the cup, her mind already clinging to their shape. The numbers played on repeat in her mind as she left her car parked in its usual spot and headed for the elevator, glancing at her watch. Right on schedule. Once, she counted the steps it took to make it to the elevator and her office after reaching the fifteenth floor. Not the top floor, but high enough that the view was still quite splendid.