Page 33 of Between Steel and Secrets
She met Liam when we were kids, after the trouble that followed me in the first grade.
Emerson perches herself on the edge of my desk. “Listen, whatever is going on between you and Liam, that’s your business. But if something is happening to you, medically, that becomes my business.”
“Why?” I glare at her. “I’m an adult. I can make legal and medical decisions for myself.”
“Because your father and I care about you. Yes, you’re one hundred percent right, you are an adult, but you’re also on our medical insurance. So, if you’re making a visit to the emergency room, unless you plan on footing the bill, we’re going to know about it, and we’re going to ask questions. Besides, if something is wrong, your father and I want you to get the best care.”
I snarl at her and push my coffee cup away, no longer interested in it. My stomach is churning and I can’t handle another sip of the sweetness this morning.
I get that she’s trying to be helpful, but I’ve always had weird symptoms since puberty. It’s just that they’ve gotten worse recently. The last thing I want is to be pulled out of school right before the semester starts and forced to have a mountain of tests run on me, to reveal nothing.
How do I even describe the crap that I feel without sounding like it’s in my head?
“Are we done, Emerson?”
She exhales a heavy sigh and smiles. “No, but I get the feeling you’re done talking to me about it.”
“I have work to do.”
I spend much of the morning filing, and the paperwork keeps mounting up, with lots of receipts for Blue Sky Resort.
There’s a ton of hotel receipts, which make little sense since the resort is only a few minutes from here.
“Ariella, why are we sending people to the Blue Sky Resort?” I ask over my shoulder as I file the receipts away for tax purposes.
She hurries from her desk, her olive eyes wide and her freckles becoming more pronounced as the color of her cheeks reddens.
The look on her face is fueled by concern.
Did I say something wrong?
“You weren’t supposed to see that—” she says and glares at me.
“It was mixed into the stack of papers that I have to file. Why are there dozens of rooms being reserved at the resort? Seems like a weird get-together to have you guys hosting an event.”
She gives me a look, but the silence that follows tells me I’m completely off base. “Oh,” my eyes light up like I get it, but quite honestly, I have no clue what’s going on around here.
Mom is out in the field, doing who knows what. She always keeps me in the dark about her job. Most of it a “need to know” basis, and as an intern, there’s a lot I apparently don’t need to know.
But Ariella has always been a bit more honest and upfront with me about the job.
“It’s a private client; they needed some assistance.” Ariella ushers me back to my desk, shutting the filing cabinet where I was shoving all the receipts for the hotel.
“Seems weird, but whatever. If it pays the bills?—”
“It doesn’t,” Ariella says, and then shuts her mouth, perhaps slipping up.
I raise an inquisitive eyebrow at her, and she forces a smile. “It’s charity work. Now, go get back to your desk, I’ve got some more files for you to deal with.”
“Wonderful.”
During lunch, I sit quietly at the park in the shade and pull up Liam’s contact information. Not that he ever gave it to me, but I saved his phone number.
I keep writing him a text and then deleting the contents, unsure what to say.
Finally, I hit the button and call him.
Of course, he doesn’t pick up the phone. He probably thinks it’s a spam caller.
