“Hey.” Whitney double-knocked softly on Carina’s open office door. “You busy?”
Carina looked up from her computer. Her dark hair fell away from her face, resembling how she wore it back in college. “Working through briefs.” She pushed her chic rectangle readers, the same bright magenta as her lipstick, to the top of her head. “You okay?”
Friends since college, Carina knew Whitney so well it was hard to keep a secret from her. “Yeah. I was going to run down to The Wrap and pick up some dinner.” She pressed her hands against her lower back and stretched, eager for the walk more than the food. “Want to join me?”
“No. I can’t.” She sat back in her chair, mirroring Whitney’s stretch. “William is meeting Marie and Brad for dinner. They’re passing through on their way to Primland to watch the meteor showers tonight.”
“I heard about that.” Marie and Brad had been friends with them since college. “They always do fun stuff like that.” Whitney had always wanted to go to the observatory tower in the Blue Ridge Mountains. Even on a regular night with nothing but darkness and a gazillion twinkling stars it would be quite a show. “Why aren’t you joining them for dinner?”
“I’ve got too much to do.”
“So does William, but he made time to go.” Whitney realized she was projecting her own challenges with life/work balance onto her sister-in-law, but the words were already out there.
“Look who’s talking. You’re here in the office too.” Carina’s brow raised, and she tossed her hair back as she laughed. “Talk about the pot calling?—”
“It’s entirely different for me,” Whitney cut her off. “I’m not married, so working late has no consequences for me. You, my dear, are. And since you’re married to my brother, and I love you both, I’d kind of like to see that work out.”
“We’re fine,” Carina insisted.
“I know, but we see all the time that it doesn’t take much for a marriage to suffer from neglect.”
Carina’s eyes widened. “Did William say something?”
“No. Nothing like that. It’s on me. I got Jen Proctor’s final papers in today. You know how I get a little wave of nostalgia and sadness as each marriage goes officially kaput.” She waved goodbye to an invisible relationship.
“That was a long, drawn out divorce.”
“I never want that to happen to the people I love.”
“Don’t worry about us, Whitney. We’re doing fine. One of us tries to be home for Chloe every evening, and we’ve got help. It all works. Divide and conquer.”
“Yeah. No. That’s great forChloe, but Carina, that doesn’t do a thing to keep your marriage strong. I don’t have to recite the statistics to you. You’re the one who tracks them.”
“The data.” Carina nodded slowly. “Yes.”
Whitney watched the wheels turn in Carina’s mind. Some people knew song lyrics, but Carina understood statistics, and she loved letting data do the talking in a case.
Carina’s mouth dropped open, but not a single word came out.
Whitney had a feeling she might get a don’t-put-your-nose-where-it’s-not-invited speech, but Carina put down her pen. “Whitney. You’re right.” She pressed her fingers to her temple. “Man, it is so easy to get caught up in the minutiae of work.”
“And winning?”
“You know how I love to win.” She let out an audible sigh. “And you’re right. William works every bit as hard as we do, but he’s making time for this visit. Why aren’t I?”
Whitney shrugged.
Carina reached over and switched off the large monitor in front of her. “Because you’re right. Second time today. You’re on a roll. You know what else we need to make time for again?”
“What?”
“Yoga. Let’s do that this weekend. Okay?”
“Yeah. Absolutely. I mean, that’s from total left field, but I miss the workout and the girl time. Let’s do that. So do you need me to pick you up something from The Wrap?”
“No.” She stood. “Tonight, I'm going to join my husband and the Bakers for dinner at Bookbinder’s.” Carina retrieved her handbag from the bottom drawer. “Thank you.” She rushed over and hugged Whitney.
Standing there awkwardly in the embrace, Whitney mumbled, “Well, aren’t I just the best darn sister-in-law in the world?”
