“She likes clucking over us, though.”
“Sure. But she’s got Jas. She has other friends who aren’t us. What’s that thing she says? People come and go, you enjoy the parts in the middle? And it’s not like you’d never see her again, she’s your freaking business partner.”
“I don’t want her to be lonely. She has abandonment issues from her shitty father. What if I trigger those by telling her I want to leave?” Rhiannon played with her nails. “I don’t want to hurt her.”
“I think you’ll hurt her more by making her think she’s holding you back or something,” Jia remarked.
Rhiannon sighed. “This is why it’s easier to be alone.”
“Easier, but not nearly as much fun. Or as delicious, given Katrina’s culinary skills,” Jia offered cheerfully.
“Yeah, yeah. Okay, I’ll think about talking to her.”
“Is Samson . . . ?”
Rhiannon waved that worry away. “I’ll call him later. He’s feeling a little rejected right now, but once he thinks about it, he’ll understand. He’s going out with Jas tonight, anyway; that’ll cheer him up. Now, what’s up with you? I haven’t seen you in days.”
Jia bit her lip. She had told Katrina the bare bones about what was going on over the past Dev-packed week. Katrina had been worried, but apparently her friend hadn’t passed the message along to Rhiannon. “Um, I’ve seen that actor, Dev, again. And again. And again.” She thought for a second. “Yes, three times.”
Rhiannon’s eyebrows rose so high, they were in danger of climbing off her face. “Why on earth did you do that?”
“Well, because I accidentally told my mom we were together, and my family’s coming here soon and I don’t want to admit to them that I was catfished and he felt bad his cousin and brother did the said catfishing so he agreed to pretend to date me.”
Rhiannon steepled her hands under her chin. “I need a longer explanation.”
Jia ran through as much as she’d told Katrina. When she finished, Rhiannon rubbed her forehead. “His cousin?”
“Yeah.”
“I can’t believe I missed all this. How did you get into this mess?”
“I’m not sure. Sometimes things happen to me.”
Rhiannon edged her keyboard closer to her. “You know I’m going to stalk him, right?”
“I’m surprised you haven’t already.”
“My personal life is clearly distracting me. This is what friends do.”
“I don’t think friends regularly stalk people their friends are having fake relationships with.”
“It’s so wild, how you don’t hear how silly that sentence sounds.” Rhiannon twirled her pen between her fingers. “Has your family been driving you nuts?”
“No, actually. They seem to have calmed down. My mom said she’s waiting to talk to Ayesha before booking their flights, but they’re aiming for the end of the month. Noor and Zara have chilled out. I haven’t talked to Ayesha or Sadia yet.” Privately, Jia had wondered if she could have had this level of peace all along if she’d just made up a fake boyfriend that they approved of.
She could have a huge platform, do groundbreaking stuff, and no one relaxed until she had a man. Amazing. And annoying.
“Well, that’s—”
A knock came at the door, and a petite woman with blond hair stuck her head in. “Rhiannon? I’m sorry, but you said it was okay to interrupt? I need a few signatures.”
“Yes, Tina,” Rhiannon said warmly.
She walked in and handed Rhiannon a sheaf of papers. “Here’s that information you wanted, too.”
“Thank you.”
“I couldn’t find the files on the pension plans, though.”
“Hang on a second.” Rhiannon tapped a button on her phone. “Lakshmi can show you.”
Jia nearly groaned. Rhiannon’s assistant, Lakshmi, was cool, intimidatingly cool. She was also painfully dismissive of Jia, which brought out all of Jia’s worst habits, like baiting and poking.
“You know my roommate Jia, right? Jia, this is Samson’s aunt’s assistant. She’s on-site while we iron out the details of this merger.”
Jia waved at the young woman. Samson’s aunt owned a rival company that was close to being a sister company. “Hi, yes, of course. We’ve met a few times.”
Tina gave her a quick smile. It faded when the door opened and Lakshmi stuck her head inside. “Yes?” Lakshmi gave Tina a once-over, and then her attention moved to Jia. She bared her teeth. “Jia.”
“Lakshmi.” Jia twitched her skirt into place. Lakshmi wore a cropped tank and high-waisted jeans. The side of her head was shaved, and the rest of her hair was dyed blue. So damn cool. “Good to see you.”
“Sure. Come up with any life-changing makeup hacks lately?”
The sneer in the other woman’s voice turned Jia’s smile syrupy. Her mother had once said that the sweeter Jia’s smile, the more trouble everyone was in. “Sure. I was sent a new line of lipstick that tastes like fruit. Want to try it? It might wipe that sour expression off your face.”
“Ladies.”
Jia subsided at Rhiannon’s chiding tone and made a mental note to work on her bitchiness—er, crankiness—again.
Rhiannon gave Lakshmi a look. “Can you help Tina find the historical paperwork on the retirement plans?”
Lakshmi refocused on Tina. “Sure. It’s in the storage closet. I can show you.”
Tina’s lashes lowered. “Oh, you don’t have to take the time. I can find it.”
“Not a problem.”
Jia waited a good three seconds after the coast was clear before she muttered. “Should we lock them in that closet together so they can work stuff out or are we going to have to watch this dance for the next ten years?”
“Jia!” Rhiannon shrugged. “There’s no lock on that closet, or I’d say yes.”
Jia chuckled. She’d only been around Tina and Lakshmi together for a small amount of time, and their chemistry was blazingly obvious to her. She might be wary of Lakshmi, but that didn’t mean she couldn’t have her ships.
Rhiannon reclined in her chair. “Are you guys ever going to make peace?”
“Who, me and Lakshmi?” Jia tossed up her hands. “I’m happy to make peace. I’m extremely peaceful. She thinks I’m an airhead.”
“Because you act like an airhead around her.”
“If people want to assume the worst about me, why shouldn’t I annoy them with it?” Jia tried to keep her tone light, though it hurt to know how many people in her life regularly dismissed her. “If they think I’m useless, then I’m not going to try to change their mind.”
“I don’t think Lakshmi thinks that.”
Ehh, yes she did. But Jia didn’t want to argue with Rhiannon over her friend.
“In any case, as someone who used to struggle with her I’ll show ’em reflex, maybe try dialing it back a hair here or there. You don’t have to be so reactive to everything.”
Okay, that might be some good advice. Jia had worked hard at growing more mature over the last year or so. “I’ll try.”