“Apology accepted.” Aud smiled faintly. “I’m
just trying to get you to look further ahead than your next race. You’re in
line to inherit, and it might be good if you and Martin were on speaking terms
so you’d have some idea—”
“You mean he hasn’t changed his will yet and
made Daniel his heir?”
“You know I can’t talk about that.”
But there was something in her eyes. “He has.
But he can’t cut me out all altogether, can he? Because of the terms of my
trust fund.”
“I can’t comment on that.”
“But you know, and you still push me to
return to the fold. Why?”
“Because you’re wasting your life, Dere,” Aud
snapped.
Derian laughed. “Really? This from someone
who copped out? Whatever happened to family law and serving the public sector?”
“It’s not a cop-out to follow family
tradition,” Aud said stiffly.
“It is when it’s not what you wanted.”
“Maybe when I was eighteen I didn’t know what
I wanted.”
“Maybe when you were eighteen you did, and
now you’ve forgotten.”
“I’m happy with what I’m doing, proud of my
work.”
“And I’m happy with my life.”
Aud’s shoulders sagged and she slumped back
in the booth. “Do we always have to fight when we see each other?”
“Maybe we wouldn’t if you’d stop trying to
talk me into a suit and an office.”
“Maybe I just miss you? Maybe I’d like to see
you more than every year or so. Dammit, Derian. I love you.”
Derian let out a slow breath. “Come on, Aud.
We’ve been down that road too.”
“You know what I mean.”
“Yeah, I do.” Next to HW, Aud was the person
who knew her best, who she trusted the most, even after all they’d been
through. They’d grown up together, dreamed together, been best friends, and
briefly, sweetly, young lovers. They’d managed to stay friends even after their
romantic stage had waned, at least until the halcyon days of college ended and
they’d had to move on. They’d both made choices that had taken them in opposite
directions, but she still remembered the dreams, and the sweetness. “I miss you
too.”
“Enough of this.” Aud reached across the
table and took her hand. “I’m sorry about Henrietta. She’s going to be all
right.”
Derian squeezed Aud’s hand, and for a moment,
she remembered when the two of them stood against the world. “She damn well has
to be.”
*
Emily woke before her alarm, switched it off,
and padded into the kitchen to make a cup of tea. At just after six, she
cradled the mug in front of the window, wrapped in her favorite pink fuzzy
robe, thinking about the day ahead. And purposefully not thinking about the
night before. When snippets of conversation floated into her head, or some
tactile memory of Derian’s hand on her arm flooded through her, she firmly set
the images aside.