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I may or may not have switched Ariana’s schedule to match Graham’s—two birds, one stone and all. In my defense, she warranted looking into.
Nothing she did made sense.
She was too educated to be here, too combative with me despite the fact that I was her boss, and too idiosyncratic, exhibiting behavior none of my sizable staff ever had.
If I had reason to look into Graham, I certainly had reason to look into Ariana De Luca.
With that in mind, I slipped on my suit jacket, grabbed the Graham dossier, and headed to the break room.
“Can you adopt me?”
The fuck?
I froze, just short of the doorway.
An awkward laugh crept out of Ariana’s lips.
“What? Why?”
“Mom went back home yesterday, so I might have to go back soon. I don’t like it in California. The beaches are cool. So is Disneyland when I’m allowed to go. But my mom is never home, Aronne and Alex are really mean, and they live with us, so Alex never stops bullying me.”—Wait, she never told me that—“Plus, I never get to see my dad or Bastian.” She took a deep breath. “I know you hate Bastian—”
“I don’t hate your brother…”
Unconvincing.
“—but he’s the best big brother ever, and I miss him.”
Back at ya, kiddo.
I waited for Ariana to shit talk me.
She didn’t.
“Remember when I told you that people are usually mean when they’re jealous?”
“Yeah?”
“I was wrong. People are mean for lots of reasons. Jealousy is just one of the big ones.”
“What’s another reason?”
“Because they’re scared, angry, sad—it can be anything, really.”
“How do I do anything about it if I don’t know what’s wrong?”
I dipped my head a little past the bend, just out of sight.
Ariana shifted in her seat before I slid back behind the wall, and I could picture her turning to Tessie and reaching for her hands.
“Sometimes, there’s nothing you can do but do your best to be kind to others and hope that, one day, they’ll be kind back.”—What a crock of bullshit.—“But other times, you have to stand up for yourself. It’s up to you to know when to do which. You’re smart. I trust your judgment.”
“If I stay in California, do you think Bastian will visit me?”
“Have you ever asked him?”
“No. I’m afraid he’ll say no.”
Fuck me.
