“It’s not really that easy.”
“It is. Stop worrying.”
She rolled her eyes at him. Before he could reply, David poked his head through the doorway.
“Maya, your mother is here,” he said.
For a moment, her heart skipped a beat and her body actually let her believe his words.
Such hope filled her that it was crushing when her brain caught up to what he’d said.
“My mother is dead.” She’d have been horrified if she’d said that to anyone else. She wouldn’t want to make anyone feel bad for getting that wrong.
But it was hard to care about David when he was such a selfish, nasty individual.
“What? She said she was your mother,” he said. “Why would she say that if she wasn’t your mother?”
It struck her who was out there.
Oh, great.
“Did she happen to say stepmother?”
David ran his hand through the air dismissively. “It’s the same thing. What’s important is that I’m not your personal assistant. So you need to tell her that she can’t just come in here to see you whenever she likes. I don’t pay you to chat.”
“I’m on my lunch break,” she told him.
Not that she wanted to talk to Kathryn. That was the last thing she wanted to do. And she knew she couldn’t talk to her in here. This was where she ate. She didn’t want to ruin her appetite. Kathryn was an expert at that.
“Just don’t talk while you’re being paid,” he informed her before storming off.
She wrapped up her sandwich with a sigh and stood. Matthieu stood with her.
“You don’t have to come with me. Kathryn isn’t a threat to me.”
He shot her a stern look. “Where you go, I go.”
Right. Well, if he wanted to subject himself to Kathryn, that was his funeral.
She walked out into the foyer to find Kathryn staring around with disdain on her face. Of course this place didn’t meet her standards.
Nothing met her standards.
Except her horrid sons. Which meant her standards were warped.
“Kathryn, what can I do for you?” she asked tiredly.
“Really, dear,” she said, turning to her with a fake smile. “Is that how you greet me after you haven’t seen me in so long?”
“It’s been less than three weeks,” she informed her. And frankly, infinity wouldn’t be long enough.
“And I’ve been under a tremendous amount of stress. Would it have hurt you to think of someone else for a change?”
Great.
She couldn’t help herself. Could she last even one minute without being nasty?
The short answer was no.
