Page 116 of A Shade of Myself
Emmett sniffed it. “Can I get some?”
“Lean in,” she said and sprayed him.
He wiggled his shoulders. “Refreshing.”
“At fifty dollars a bottle, it better be.” She waved the bottle at me. “Miriam?”
I shrugged. “Why not?”
After I’d been misted, enjoying the cooling sensation on my skin, I told my boss the details of Giselle’s illusion.
She sighed. “Here we go. This is where you tell me that you want to save these women. Then I point out that our client has said case closed, to which you reply, yes but her poor sister blah blah blah. Did I miss anything?”
“I’ve missed your overwhelming compassion and eloquence,” I said.
Tatiana snorted.
“But you’re wrong. Sometimes the truth needs to stay buried, so people don’t get hurt.” I fiddled with the bottle of spritzer that she’d left on the table. “Hurt more than they have been.”
Tatiana did a double take and even Emmett blinked in surprise.
“You’re just going to leave them stuck in that illusion?” Emmett played some Ella Fitzgerald off his phone. “Are you sick?”
“No, but Sadie isn’t worth risking over this.”
Tatiana smiled at the golem. “You’ve been listening to my playlist.”
“Yeah, it’s not half bad,” he said.
“And you, Miriam,” she said. “You’re showing real growth. I’m proud of you.”
“I don’t think there’s anything to be proud of. Either way, the real Giselle is a victim.” I shook my head. “It’s not fair.”
Tatiana tapped her hips. “Is it fair that I’ve had chronic pain for decades?”
“Tell me you filmed the guards strip-searching you when you set off the metal detectors,” Emmett said.
“Sha, you,” she said. “And you”—she wagged a finger at me—“not everyone is as in love with the truth as you’ve been. After all that our client learned, we should be grateful that all she did was end the assignment and pay in full.”
“So grateful,” I muttered.
Tatiana speared me with an unimpressed look. “Think about what she did to her twin. How might she come after you if you took her dancing away from her?”
“It’s a moot point, since I’m not doing anything.” I sighed.
Tatiana stood up, dragging the bag on the floor behind her, and patted my cheek. “Don’t frown. You’ll get wrinkles.”
Emmett watched her go with an admiring look. “Good to have her back.”
“Awesome.” Though I’d missed her too. There was something comforting about Tatiana’s consistency. “What’s the deal with her hips? If she’d had replacement surgery, shouldn’t that have stopped the pain?”
Emmett shrugged. “Hey, Laurent!”
The shifter entered the room. “What?”
“Did Tatiana have hip replacement surgery?” I said.
“Ask her.” He said it kind of cagily.
