Page 47 of Exchange of Heart

He scrunched his eyebrows and took a few steps back. ‘Ah, no worries.’

His gaze lingered, confused and waiting… but for what? The truth? His head tilted like the tick of a clock, the angle sharpening more with each interaction.

Deciding he might need a friendlier dismissal; I held out my clenched fist. ‘Pound it.’ I smiled enthusiastically.

His eyebrows lowered even further in response. ‘Huh?’

Oh shit. That must be a thing guys only do in movies. I dropped my arm and laughed as though I’d made a joke, a little too loudly.

Paddy widened his eyes and took a few more steps towards the door. ‘I’ll, ah, leave you to it.’

If nothing else, I had the safety of an empty office again, which meant I could brush up on Zealy Insurance. I tapped at the black keys and dragged the mouse over the packages they offered on the website, determined to prove I could do this without Corey’s help. Corey’s dad would see him in a new, professional light.

You’re welcome, Corey.

Not only did we have a truce, but I would repair his father–son bond.

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Corey

Bloated and nauseous from the god-awful period causing me to wear a pad for the first (and hopefully only) time in my life, I slouched at Nora’s sad little desk in a ridiculously cheerful dress covered in sunflowers at nine-thirty on Friday morning. While my stomach gurgled like a garbage disposal, I wondered if Nora’s morning coffee perked her up. Last night, we’d stood in the street holding a plain black umbrella for half an hour while praying for a random lightning strike from a cloudless sky before her grey eyes drooped and she trudged to bed. This morning, we’d come to the conclusion that maybe we simply needed to prove to the universe we could behave while impersonating each other, but how she remained cheerful all day without dropping the facade was a mystery. She must have some little pills tucked away in a hidden compartment of her desk or something. I’d dared to frown yesterday and Izzy immediately hurled questions at me as though I was dying.

‘My head is throbbing.’ Izzy fell into her chair next to me, her hand rested on her cheek.

Well, so is this vagina that doesn’t even belong to me, I wanted to tell her. Instead, I put on Nora’s gracious smile.

Freddie strode to my desk with ruffled hair. ‘Nora, I need you to come take notes at a meeting with me.’ His eye twitched.

‘Don’t you have an assistant for that?’ I clenched my teeth. Nora wasn’t his little lap dog.

‘Yes, yes. But she’s caught running errands. Zealy Insurance won’t wait for her.’

My ears pricked up like Lucky’s when the metal lid peeled from his dinner tin. ‘Zealy Insurance, did you say? Let me grab my laptop.’

How the hell was Nora planning on executing a meeting like this without my help? My throat thickened as my trembling fingers plucked items from my desk, my brain unable to focus as I tucked my laptop under my arm.

‘Why are you bringing a stapler?’ Freddie stared at the black item in my left hand.

‘Oh, right.’ I placed it back on the desk and wiped my sweaty hand on the sunflower on my hip.

If Nora didn’t read up on our packages and coax information from Paddy because she thought she could bluff her way through client meetings like this, my father will have her packing my desk within minutes. My stomached hollowed as I realised I had no choice other than to watch my life play out, out of my control.

I shuffled Nora’s wedged shoes down the hall behind Freddie to stop myself from storming to the boardroom I knew so well. As we got closer, I spotted my gorgeous face behind the glass door. I’d thought Nora’s insistence on arriving early at work this morning was strange. Now, it all made sense. I followed Freddie through the door as Nora adjusted the glasses she kept insisting on wearing.

‘Hi, Freddie is it?’ She shook Freddie’s hand with a menacing gleam in her eye.

Freddie gave his hand a little shake when she released it.

Her eyes widened for a moment before offering me her hand. ‘Hi, I’m Corey,’ she introduced herself to me in a tone I knew too well, considering it reminded me of my father’s hostility.

I grasped her hand and squeezed it tight enough to win a small yelp from her.

‘I’m Nora. It’s so nice to meet you.’ I hoped my gaze displayed my annoyance at being caught off guard.

She smirked, and I suddenly understood the fury she encased every Monday evening as she sat behind my head of blond curls. The slight upturn of the left side of my lips, the downturn of my eyes, the fucking audacity radiating from every inch of my skin. I’d never hated the sight of myself more than right now.

‘Shall we?’ Freddie waited for me to pass him and take a seat at the marble table I’d chosen during our renovations last year.