Total pages in book: 103
Estimated words: 96752 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 484(@200wpm)___ 387(@250wpm)___ 323(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 96752 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 484(@200wpm)___ 387(@250wpm)___ 323(@300wpm)
Ani looks back to Ivy for confirmation.
Ivy shrugs and sits back. “He didn’t use the word blight, but it was kind of implied. He was a bit on the dickish side. But I think it’s mostly because he wants to use this other guy he knows.”
“How much eavesdropping did you do today?” Heath asks, though he merely looks curious. I think Heath is endlessly amused by Ivy.
“It’s a hobby,” Ivy admits. “I definitely did enough to know that Reid was totally into Harper. He talked to his brother later in the day and said how was he supposed to know that someone that hot was a construction worker. He thought she was a model or something. You know, a model working her way into reality TV. I don’t think he knows how that industry operates. Also, Jeremiah talked to someone named Lenny. Jeremiah told him he didn’t think they would be able to get him on the show because there was already a contractor, but Reid said he would work on it.”
That gets my eyebrows rising. “He’s going to work on getting rid of me.”
“I’m not getting rid of anyone,” Anika assures me.
“Maybe we should get rid of Reid,” I offer since it seems like the best idea ever. “We can keep the brother. He’s at least got a brain.”
Anika’s head shakes. “There is no Dorsey brothers without Reid. He’s kind of the leader. Jeremiah does a lot of the artistic work, but Reid moves them along. At least that’s how they describe it. Harper, I can’t get rid of him. I signed a contract. If I fire him for anything other than a gross violation, I owe him a lot of money. Money I’m supposed to use to rebuild my new country.”
“How much are you paying him?” I probably don’t want to know. I know how much I’m getting, and it’s not much. But then I’m new, and she’s taking a chance with me.
Anika bites her bottom lip.
I’m putting her in a terrible position. “You don’t owe me that. I’m sorry I asked. I get it. This guy brings in viewers, and you need viewers.” I hate the thought of this. I don’t want to say these words because I’ve dreamed of this house since I was sixteen years old. “Maybe I should step out.”
“Absolutely not,” Anika replies with a frown. “This doesn’t happen without you. I need you to find a way to get along with Reid. It makes me sad. I thought he was nice.”
Heath holds up a hand. “I am going to get into serious trouble for saying this.”
“Then maybe you shouldn’t,” Ivy counters. “Unless you’re going to say the whole ‘maybe Harper’s being too sensitive about her grocery stores’ thing so I don’t have to say it. Because she can be mean.”
Heath sighs. “I was going to be nicer about it.”
I’m not mean. “He was an asshole.”
“He was not perfect,” Ivy concedes. “He wants his own guy in. Does that sound like anyone you know?”
Again with the calling me out when she could simply let me have this one. Sometimes I long for those years when Ivy wasn’t concerned about anything but her coding. “Fine. I did want my friend in. I learned a lot from her. He was an elitist asshole, but it’s not like I’ve never worked with one of those before.”
“He’s nervous because it’s his first time back in front of the camera in over a year. We all want to bring in our own people,” Anika says. “I want to bring in my hairdresser. You know Mandi from that salon over in the Bronx. But there’s some kind of royal hairdresser, and I have to hold up tradition and stuff. I’ve been told no glitter. It makes me sad. I look good with some glitter.”
Like I said. Real stress. “I will try hard to get along with him.”
“Once he sees the kind of work you can do, he’ll be thrilled to have you on the team.” Anika pours herself another glass of wine.
I’m not so sure of that, but I put a brave face on. “I’ll watch some of his show and try to get a feel for his design work. We’ll be fine.”
I can lie. I can also work with people I don’t necessarily like. I do it all the time. Pretty much every time I go into the office.
Anika breathes an obvious sigh of relief and squeezes my hand. “Thank you. I actually kind of thought the two of you would get along. You would make the cutest couple.”
“Absolutely not.”
Heath takes a drag off his beer. “Emma thinks you would be good together.”
I turn to Ivy and hope that the daggers I am sending her with my eyes get my point across. “What did you do?”
Emma is the artificial intelligence program Ivy and Heath have been working on for the last year. It’s what brought them together in the first place. Heath’s grandmother was an old-school matchmaker in Little Italy. They trained the AI on her methods of finding compatibility. And one of the things they did to train her was have all of their friends fill out Lydia’s forms. For practice, of course.