Part 20 (1/2)
It took a while for Tyler to respond.
I didn't send you flowers. I can't decide if I feel like a d.i.c.k or if I want to kill whoever sent them.
You didn't send the flowers?
No. There's no card?
No.
I wanna know who sent them.
Me, too.
Not for the same reason.
... which is?
I'm having violent thoughts. All I can say.
Quit.
I have a bad temper in general. Sending my gf flowers is not a good idea.
... I am not your gf.
Yet. You're not my gf yet.
I set my phone to silent and put it in my drawer, shaking my head, a dozen conflicting emotions swirling in my head and heart, including curiosity about the flowers. Who else would send them but Tyler?
”Ellie?” Jojo's voice came over the speaker, and I jumped. ”You've got a call on line one.”
”Is it a guy?”
”Yes.”
”Is his name Sterling?”
”No.”
I pressed the b.u.t.ton for line one and picked up the phone, fully expecting Tyler's voice to be on the other line. ”This is Ellie.”
”Bunny?” My father's deep voice boomed through the receiver, so loud that I had to hold the phone away.
I slowly pressed it against my ear, speaking softly. ”Daddy?”
”I heard the news. I'm so proud of you,” he said, his voice breaking. ”I knew you could do it.”
”Th-thank you. Daddy, I can't talk right now. I'm at work.”
”I know. I spoke to Wick this morning. He's impressed with you. He says you're the best a.s.sistant he's ever had.”
Wick didn't tell him about the a.s.signment.
”I actually just got a raise, so I'll um ... I've found a place. I'm moving out this week.”
”Nonsense, bunny. You've proven yourself. Maricela is packing for you now, and your pa.s.sport and plane ticket is at the house. We want you to join your sister in Sanya. Your plane leaves in the morning.”
”Who's we?”
”What's that?”
”You said we want you to go to Sanya.”
He cleared his throat. ”Your mother...”
After a short scuffle, my mother had possession of the phone. ”Really, Ellison, you couldn't have found something less ... desperate?”
”Excuse me?”
”A secretary? For J.W. Chadwick, no less. That's just embarra.s.sing.”
The blood beneath my cheeks began to boil. ”You didn't really give me a choice, Mother.”
”You're going to thank them for the opportunity, and you're going to meet your sister like your father wants, and then you're going to start with his company, under Finley. Do you understand?”
”Is this what Sally wants?”
Mother sighed. ”Your father felt Sally was too ... restrictive.”
”What about the contract?”
Mother chuckled. ”Well, it wasn't a legally binding contract, Ellison. It was more of an agreement on paper.”
I took a deep breath, relieved that I could be lying on the back of a rented yacht in thirty-two hours, soaking up the sun and drinking mimosas and eating my weight in lobster and Peking duck. The question was whether Finley wanted me there.
”Have you told Finley?”
”Not yet. It's the middle of the night there.”
”You just decided this morning that I wasn't dead to you?”
”Honestly, Ellison. Don't be so dramatic. We forced you to get a job, you did, so you're being rewarded for your hard work, and then you'll work under your sister. No one's dead.”
”Someone's dead.”
Mother tripped over her words. ”What do you ... who are you ... what on Earth are you going on about, Ellison? Who's dead?”