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“Whatever will your cat do without you?” Natalie asked.
I held my tongue about how well I could take care of a pussy and choose to ignore her question. “If you aren’t going to do this, then other arrangements need to be made.”
“Are you saying you’re going to do it?” she asked.
“Yes. There was never a question for me. It’s what my father wanted, it’s what needs to be done. As it is my father’s last wish, I’m going to honor it. The question remains, are you going to do the same? Can you?”
She tilted her head up as she looked at me. I could tell she wanted to tell me no. She wanted to shove this all in my face and walk away from me. As much as she wanted to do it, I knew she wouldn’t. She was too stubborn to say no. She was too loyal to let my father down. She was too defiant in her hate for me to let me win. All things I knew about her and they were exactly why I said the things I did. She stared at me for a few minutes and no one in the office moved as if they were afraid to and piss Natalie off even more than she already was. I held her gaze, daring her to look away, to tell me no, to deny my father what he wanted.
I knew the moment she gave in. It was in the subtle movement of her shoulders, how they relaxed in surrender and her eyes got a little darker. It could have been in sadness or acceptance I couldn’t be sure. But the fire was still there as she gave me the briefest of nods.
“We leave tomorrow,” I said and walked out the door.
Chapter 5
Natalie
“Oh no you don’t,” I said to Jason as I followed him out of Kevin’s office.
“No, I don’t what?”
He turned around and took a few steps closer to me, his eyes intent on mine. I had to resist the instinct to move away from him. I could see the anger he had been hiding just below the surface or maybe it was just how he looked at me. There had rarely been any time that the man had looked at me with anything more than disgust, annoyance, or plain hatred. I caught a bit of all three as he stood in front of me.
“You don’t get to decide what we’re doing and then just walk away. You might be trying to keep your job but that doesn’t mean that you get to boss me around on this.”
“Okay,” he said and crossed his arms and leaned away from me.
“What do you mean, okay?”
“Did you not want to leave tomorrow? Did you not want to get this over with as soon as I do? Were there things that you needed to take care of that will require more time than a day? Tell me what do you need, princess?”
“Don’t call me princess.” I hated when he called me that, it was always said in such a condescending tone. As if I thought I was one when I had never done anything to be considered one, nor did I think of myself one by any stretch of the imagination.
“Stop acting like one, Campbell, and I will.”
I rolled my eyes at him. “Do you even know where we’re going? Did you forget that we needed to get the clue to start this scavenger hunt?” she asked.
“We’ll get it. You’ll figure it out. It was what you were always so good at doing when you were on the show. Why would it be any different now?”
“That isn’t the point. We’re supposed to be working together to solve this. I’m not going to be doing all the work.”
“You think you did all the work? You think you were the only one who busted her ass to make the show as great as it was?”
“No. I couldn’t have done it without your father.”
“You’re impossible. You never understood what I did. What I can do. You don’t respect me.”
“I never said that. You don’t respect me. You think I just float around on the screen and smile and laugh and make everything look easy.”
“You do make it look easy, but I know how hard that is. Looking natural on camera does not come naturally. It was why I never wanted to do what you did. Why Dad never ask me.”
“Is that what this is all about? You resent me because I took the job that should have been yours? You with your California smile and surfer bod, you think you should have been on camera with your father. That wasn’t my choice. You decided to stay away from your father, not me. Don’t blame me for your choices or that I benefited from them.”
“Natalie, I never resented you. I could never resent you. You had a relationship with Dad that was completely different from mine. We both have our strengths. Mine is behind the camera, yours isn't. You couldn’t organize yourself out of a paper bag with both sides cut open.”
“How is it that you always seem to compliment me while also insulting me? It’s the most annoying gift ever.”
“Talk about the pot calling the kettle black.”
