“Well, you’re already having sex.”
“Are you going to sit there and tell me
that’s all that matters?”
He grinned. “It’s a good start.”
“It is, I won’t argue that. But it’s not a
reason to get married.”
“There are lots of reasons to get married,
including the fact that you like someone, you have terrific sex, and it’s
sensible. They don’t call it a contract for nothing.”
“It’s not enough for me, especially when—”
Emily looked away. Especially when she wanted much more than a contract with
Derian.
“Uh-oh.”
Emily smiled sadly. “Yes, uh-oh indeed.”
“Does she know?”
“Of course not.”
“Maybe you should’ve told her.”
“No. That’s not fair.”
“Honey,” Ron said gently, “love isn’t about
being fair or unfair. It’s about being honest.”
“There’s nothing dishonest about keeping
one-sided feelings to oneself.”
“When you see her again, you should
reconsider.”
“By the time I see her, it won’t matter any
longer.”
Emily’s phone rang and she grabbed it like a
lifeline. Please let there be some problem she needed to take care of. She didn’t
want to talk about Derian—it took all her energy not to think about her.
“I think you better come down here,” Vonnie
said ominously.
“Oh no, tell me Donatella hasn’t slithered
back in.”
“See for yourself.”
Emily jumped up. “I have to go.”
“This isn’t over,” Ron said.
Emily shook her head. “I’m afraid it is.”
*
“What is it?” Emily whispered as she
approached Vonnie’s desk. The door to Henrietta’s office was slightly ajar and
she really didn’t want to go in there and see Donatella where Derian should be
sitting.
“Go on in,” Vonnie said with an air of
resignation.
Emily steeled herself and pushed ahead.
Henrietta sat behind her desk, looking just
as she had the last time Emily had seen her there.
“What are you doing here?” Emily blurted.
“The last time I checked, this was still my
office.”
“You’re supposed to be home recovering.”
Henrietta gave one of those peremptory
motions of her hand, less a wave and more an incision, cleaving air. “I
promised my doctors I would not come into the office to work. There’s nothing wrong with my
brain, and if I’m sitting at home I can be looking at my computer, which is
probably a lot better for my overall state of health than staring at daytime
television. Have you actually looked at what’s on there recently?”
Emily grinned despite herself. She was just
so glad to see Henrietta with color in her face and fire in her eyes again she
couldn’t be angry with her, even if she was still too thin and just a bit
fragile looking and should not be there. “Television in general is not
something I usually have time for.”